Contextualizing Lorenzo Morelli's Youthful Patronage (1463–1473)☆

Abstract

A ledger of the Florentine apprentice silk merchant and rising bureaucrat, Lorenzo Morelli (1446–1528), is notable for its references to distinguished artworks and furniture he commissioned from a young age. Study of the ledger, now housed in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze and catalogued as Gherardi Piccolomini d'Aragona 137, has for the most part focused on the immediate circumstances in which the few surviving artworks were commissioned, or more broadly, but imprecisely, the extent to which his marriage and the dowry it brought, influenced his patronage. However, study of the ledger has not extended much beyond Morelli's marriage arrangements or exploited biographical information in his contemporary libro rosso (red book) ledger. Nor have studies engaged extensively with the substantial body of published research on the Morelli family and their political careers and social networks. Doing so provides a more holistic view of Morelli's youthful patronage, greater insight into how his personal, social and financial motivations for patronage were interrelated and gives rise to a new hypothesis about the intended destination for an early group of commissions whose purpose was not recorded by Morelli.