Gentile de' Becchi
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Ghirlandaio_-_Tornabuoni_Chapel_-_a_Humanist_philosopher.jpg/220px-Ghirlandaio_-_Tornabuoni_Chapel_-_a_Humanist_philosopher.jpg)
Gentile de' Becchi (1420/1430 – 1497) was an Italian bishop,
Early life and priesthood
Gentile de' Becchi was born in Urbino, the son of Giorgio Becchi, member of a family traditionally linked to the powerful Florentine
As a priest, in 1450, with the support of the Medici, he was appointed to the parish of San Giovanni in
In 1473,
Humanist and teacher
In 1454, Gentile was chosen by Piero di Cosimo de' Medici as tutor to his sons, the future Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano.[3] In 1466, he accompanied Lorenzo de' Medici on an ambassadorial mission to Pope Paul II. The following year, Gentile accompanied Lorenzo's mother, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, to Rome, to negotiate agreements with the powerful Orsini family in order to arrange betrothal of Clarice Orsini to Lorenzo. Gentile de' Becchi then returned to Rome in April 1469, to accompany Clarice to Florence for her marriage.
Gentile became a prominent member of the Medici Academy, alongside the philosophers
In 1489, Lorenzo chose Gentile as tutor of his second son, Giovanni de' Medici, who had started on an ecclesiastical career in agreement with Pope Innocent VIII. While Lorenzo's wife, Clarice Orsini, who did not share her husband's Platonic ideals, was happy to have the Bishop of Arezzo tutor her son, and wanted him to be given exercises out of the psalter, it caused conflict with Poliziano, of whom she was deeply suspicious.[4] Giovanni was made a cardinal at thirteen and at thirty-eight succeeded Pope Julius II as Pope Leo X.[5][6]
Pazzi conspiracy
In 1478, the
Gentile de' Becchi, as
In 1481, Sixtus commissioned a team of painters including Florentines
Ambassador
Gentile de' Becchi's oratorial skills made him the chosen representative of the
Death
Gentile did not return to Florence after the exile of the Medici. He lived until his death at Villa alle Botte, and died, in 1497, in Arezzo, where his body was buried in Arezzo Cathedral.[3]
References
- ISBN 0718112040
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Cecil Grayson, Gentile de' Becchi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani – Volume 7 (1970)
- ^ a b c d e f Mediateca di Palazzo Medici Riccardi
- ^ Pottinger, pp. 72–74
- ^ Hugh Ross-Williamson, pp. 202 and 275
- ISBN 0-7064-0857-8
- ^ Brucker, pp. 258–9
- ^ Hugh Ross-Williamson, p. 177
- ^ Hugh Ross-Williamson, p. 178
- ISBN 0-88168-139-3p. 86
- ^ Hugh Ross Williamson, pp. 270–74
Bibliography
- Brucker, Gene A., Renaissance Florence, John Wiley and Sons, (1969) ISBN 0-471-11370-0
- Grayson, Cecil, Gentile de' Becchi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani – Volume 7 (1970) [2] (accessed 2014-05-20)
- Mediateca di Palazzo Medici Riccardi: Gentile de' Becchi, [3] (accessed 2014-05-15)
- Pottinger, George, The Court of the Medici, Croom Helm Ltd. London, (1978) ISBN 0-85664-605-9
- Williamson, Hugh Ross, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Michael Joseph, London. (1974) ISBN 0-7181-1204-0