Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in Hungary
The Splendour of the Medici

The approximately two-hundred works displayed at the exhibition entitled The Splendour of the Medici – Art and Life in Renaissance Florence, opening on the 550th anniversary of crowning Matthias Corvinus king, provides visitors with an insight into the Medici patronage and art collection, as well as into the culture and life of the period defined by this family, which left the most visible mark on the golden age of Renaissance Florence.

The Medici were one of the wealthiest merchant-banker families in 15th-century Florence although their political influence was not manifested in titles and ranks at the time. Their leading role was expressed openly and officially to the public when, supported by the Spanish Habsburgs, their members became dukes of Florence and grand dukes of Tuscany. The family produced two popes, Leo X and Clement VII, who further increased the family’s prestige, while two female members of the Medici family became French queens.

On view are paintings by outstanding figures of the Renaissance and Mannerism, such as Fra Angelico, Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, Andrea Mantegna, Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari. Also on display are portraits of the Medici family and other famous personages who lived in an era when the desire to immortalise people and their fame revived the genre. The exhibition also includes sculptures and reliefs made of marble, bronze and terracotta by masters, such as Ghiberti, Donatello, Verrocchio’s workshop, Andrea della Robbia and Benvenuto Cellini, who aspired not only to revive the greatness of art in Antiquity but also to exceed it.