MEMPHIS, Tenn. — They were filthy rich and liked to be in charge. And because of that, the world was changed forever.
They were the Medici family, the "Masters of Florence" who made their city the European center of art and culture and helped usher in the Renaissance.
For about 300 years, from the early 1400s to the 1700s, the Medici were patrons for some of the greatest painters, architects, sculptors
and other artists of the day.
"But don't just say they were sponsors. Without sponsors, there is no art," said Steve Masler, curator of an exhibit of art and artifacts from the Medici era on display in Memphis through Oct. 3.
"It was a remarkable coincidence or fate . . . that they were all together at the same time, the right artists with the right rulers," Masler said. "Without that combination, there's no Renaissance. It doesn't happen."
The exhibit at The Pyramid arena includes 240 items from more than 30 museums and private collections in Italy, the Vatican and the United States.
It includes paintings, statues, religious artifacts, personal belongings of the Medici family and even several drawings by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
"Masters of Florence: Glory & Genius at the Court of Medici" is part of a program started in 1989 and called "Wonders: The Memphis International Cultural Series."
Like many of the items in the exhibition, the drawings by Michelangelo and Leonardo are so fragile that they are displayed in clear plastic boxes in which light, temperature and humidity are closely controlled.
One drawing by Michelangelo is a sketch of the framework for a church facade he was designing in the early 1500s. It is an outline for marble cutters to follow. A drawing of a woman's face by Leonardo, "Dama Scapigliata," is so intricately shaded it looks almost three dimensional.
A sculpture called "Madonna Della Mela," by Donatello, shows a wiggling, infant Jesus trying to slip from his mother's arms while she offers an apple to tempt him to be still.
"In the Middle Ages, the figures were presented in kind of a very stiff, formal way, especially holy characters," Masler said.
During the Renaissance, artists began changing that style, with the idea that "they were real people so why can't we look at them that way?" Masler said. "That made everybody change the way they thought about everything."
When the Medici family commissioned a work of art or a building, they gave the artists and architects wide latitude in handling the projects.
On display is a wood model of the dome for the Cathedral of Florence designed by architect Filippo Brunelleschi in the early 1400s. At the time, architects used scaffolding to support a dome during construction. Brunelleschi decided not to use scaffolding and built the model so that workmen, and his clients, could see what he had in mind. He also designed tools for the workmen to use.
"He told them he could do it without the scaffolding, but he wouldn't tell them how," Masler said.
The Medici came to power through wealth gained as merchants and bankers. They primarily ruled from behind the scenes.
At the end of the Middle Ages, merchants traveling to foreign countries had to carry gold with them to make their purchases, which could be dangerous. The Medici set up a central bank in Florence with satellites in other major cities. A merchant could deposit his money in Florence and then make withdrawals from foreign banks.
"It was essentially check writing and branch banking," Masler said. "That's how they made their unbelievable fortune."
Though the Medici held no government positions for most of their reign, some family members eventually would be recognized as peers by European royalty.
Three Medici sons became popes and two daughters became queens of France.