“Violet, blue, green, red to keep me at arm’s length don’t work
You try to push me out, but I just find my way back in
Violet, blue, green, red to keep me out, I win”
~•~
“Maraviglia di mie belleze tenere/Non prender già ch’ i’ nacqui in grembo a Venere” - Angelo Poliziano
The very accurate representation of the hair of the goddess born from the sea and pushed to land by Aura and Zephyr-thick, windblown and highlighted with gold-must be a homage to Leon Battista Alberti, the great art theorist, who, two generations earlier, wrote, ‘I am delighted to see seven movements in hair, which is especially pleasing when part of it turns in spirals as if wishing to knot itself, waves in the air like flames, twines around itself like a serpent, while part rises here, part there’ (Della pittura, II 45).
Okay but we need to talk about how shit a brother Lorenzo was. Giuliano often downplays how shittily he was treated cause well he’s Giuliano so (feel free to add on because I only put what stood out most to me:)
1. Legit made him attack Volterra and to quote Giuliano, it was a “massacre”. I mean look how broken Giuliano was by that experience.
2. Giuliano having way more humility and realising that Volterra was a bloody mistake (literally) refused to bask in the glory after his victory in Volterra but Lorenzo acted like the victory was his and his alone. He continued to march acting like Volterra was worth it and he was some hero.
3. Despite all of Giuliano’s sacrifices for Lorenzo, Lorenzo replaced him with Francesco Pazzi. Yes, the same Francesco Pazzi who paid goons to hit Giuliano while he watched. The same Francesco Pazzi who publicly humiliated Giuliano. I mean how could Lorenzo not be aware of the feud that resulted in his brother’s imprisonment??
4. Lorenzo expressed his strong distaste towards Giuliano and Simonetta’s relationship. Which is ironic because he himself was seeing Lucrezia Donati while he was married and after he “promised” his heart to Clarice. Giuliano addresses this one quite hilariously minutes before he dies. Ugh his character was golden.
5. Okay now coming to how Lorenzo is a shit brother to Bianca. He completely strong arms her and forces her to marry Bastiano Soderini. I mean it’s great that he realised his mistake but he wouldn’t have cared if Bianca hadn’t reacted so fiercely (if you are picturing her slapping his face, you’re not the only one). Meanwhile, Giuliano purposefully loses the joust despite being fully capable of winning it because he doesn’t want to hurt Guglielmo. I mean his EQ is so much higher than Lorenzo’s because he knows how Bianca feels about Guglielmo. He doesn’t give a shit that Guglielmo is a Pazzi or the brother of his arch nemesis. He only cares about Bianca. When Lorenzo banishes Bianca and Guglielmo he does it for selfish reasons because Giuliano would not have wanted that.
6. Lorenzo only considered giving Imola to Giuliano when his mother forced his hand. He did not trust in Giuliano’s abilities. Somehow, surly Francesco has more charisma than Giuliano sheesh.
7. Lorenzo was not too keen when Giuliano went to deal with the Duke of Milan because he thought that only he could get the job done again sheesh but of course Giuliano proved him wrong.
8. In part 2, he doesn’t believe that Giulio is Giuliano’s son and claims that Giuliano had been with half the women in Florence. He said this despite seeing his brother get dumped by Fioretta and seeing her keep his ring. So, he knew that Giuliano was serious about Giulio’s mother yet he still chose to make such remarks and he degraded Giulio as a bastard which also taught Piero to be really bitchy towards his cousin. Again, Lorenzo has double standards because clearly he has had his fair share of dalliances who knows how many Ippolitas are in his past and well he emotionally cheats on Clarice even after he stops meeting Lucrezia so.
In conclusion, Lorenzo is not only a shitty brother but an all round shitty person and most of us still like him :)
Portrait of a woman said to be by Simonetta Vespucci (c.1490). Piero di Cosimo (Italian, 1462-1522). Oil on panel. Musée Condé, Chantilly.
The young and beautiful mistress of Giuliano de Medici, “the idol of Florence,” who posed for Botticelli, died of consumption at the age of twenty-three in 1476 and her lover would have had this portrait painted in memory of her. The depiction of a woman with a naked bust is unusual for a 15th century portrait. It can also be an ideal portrait, a Neoplatonic allegory of death, symbolized by the serpent which bites its tail, which leads to beauty. The funeral interpretation of the painting is reinforced by the black clouds and the dead tree which appear in front of Simonetta, on the left, while on the right, the trees have leaves and the sky is blue.
