Author:Paul Strathern
A dazzling piece of Italian history of the infamous family that become one of the most powerful in Europe, weaving its history with Renaissance greats from Leonardo da Vinci to Galileo
Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Strathern paints a vivid narrative of the dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage.
Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello; as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola; and the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis, who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns.
‘A great overview of one family's centuries-long role in changing the face of Europe’ Irish Independent
An excellent history...an entertaining, if ultimately dispiriting tale of the rise and fall of an ambitious banking family
—— Ian Thomson , Sunday TimesStrathern has done his research thoroughly, and tells a good story well
—— Sunday TelegraphA great overview of one family's centuries-long role in changing the face of Europe
—— Irish IndependentA great little book about the British obsession with the climate, it's full of fruitful parcels of meteorological lore.
—— Conde Nast Traveller... The writing possesses an affable charm and Fort has an appealing layman's enthusiasm for the subject.
—— Financial Times MagazineAn entertaining but rigorous antidote to the fast-and-loose-with-the-truth approach.
—— Radio TimesWonderfully engaging...Tinniswood has brought the Verneys to life in robustly vivid style
—— GuardianA wonderful group portrait of an eccentric and ill-starred dynasty. Expertly handling the humorous words and unwise deeds of several generations of Verneys, Adrian Tinniswood breathes life into the turbulent history of an entire century
—— Ross King, author of Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and Brunelleschi's DomeAdrian Tinniswood's The Verneys takes us on a fascinating grand tour through a world turned upside down. It is an intimate, engaging, and richly rewarding book, showing the seventeenth century in all its splendor and brutality
—— David King, author of When the World Came to Town and Finding AtlantisHow eloquently Mak rails against the alliance of consumerism and bureaucracy! ... He has a great eye for telling detail... Only a powerful, humane and serious mind could give coherence to mass detail which, however arresting piece by piece, would otherwise soon become wearying... as much a journey around Geert Mak's head as it is a journey around Europe
—— GuardianFascinating
—— David V Barrett , Independent
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