Historiography of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Cultural Politics and Theories of Cultural Hegemony and Opposition

“Thus the Republic died.” Or so it was believed when the new constitution of 1532 declaring Alessandro de’ Medici hereditary duke put an end to the legendary struggle between the Medicean and republican governments, “the great and memorable drama” of the Florentine Renaissance. 1 Duke Alessandro’s assassination in 1537 and uncertainty surrounding his adolescent and politically inexperienced successor, Cosimo de’ Medici, briefly rekindled hope for a return to a republic. However, not only did the eighteen-year-old cousin of the Duke survive the crisis, but Cosimo would go on to rule Florence for thirty-seven years and build a Grand Dukedom that survived until 1737. The consolidation of the Medici dukedom under Cosimo has had an impact upon the manner in which historians characterize the Duke and interpret the political, social and cultural aspects of his state. In short, Duke Cosimo, and not Alessandro, came to be considered the destroyer of Florentine liberty and republicanism. 2 As one scholar puts it, his time marked the political transition that “led Florence from a republicanism uniquely energetic in its cult of liberty to the drowsy acceptance of near-absolutist rule.” 3 Artists and intellectuals of the Medici dukedom have thus been portrayed as unable to recreate the cultural vibrancy that had characterized the Florentine scenes in the so-called High Renaissance. This thesis takes part in the vigorous attempt of recent scholarship to revise these historical assumptions, investigating some of the inner workings of the visual culture of sixteenth century Florence. In spite of Eric Cochrane’s call in his influential Florence in the Forgotten Centuries 1527-1800 (1971) for a more complete picture of Duke Cosimo and his politics, that remains a desideratum. 4 This thesis attempts to address this absence, by reconsidering Cosimo de’ Medici’s regime. It will focus on the ways in which the regime sought representation through works of art, particularly those produced for three