Renaissance

===Cultural conditions in Florence===
{{Related articles|Florentine Renaissance art}}
[[File:Vasari-Lorenzo.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lorenzo de' Medici]], ruler of [[Florence]] and patron of arts (Portrait by [[Vasari]])]]
It has long been a matter of debate why the Renaissance began in [[Florence]], and not elsewhere in Italy. Scholars have noted several features unique to Florentine cultural life that may have caused such a cultural movement. Many have emphasized the role played by the [[House of Medici|Medici]], a banking family and later [[dynasty|ducal ruling house]], in patronizing and stimulating the arts. [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] (1449–1492) was the catalyst for an enormous amount of arts patronage, encouraging his countrymen to commission works from the leading artists of Florence, including [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Sandro Botticelli]], and [[Michelangelo Buonarroti]].<ref name="strathern" /> Works by [[Neri di Bicci]], Botticelli, Leonardo, and [[Filippino Lippi]] had been commissioned additionally by the Convent of San Donato in Scopeto in Florence.<ref>Guido Carocci, I dintorni di Firenze, Vol. II, ''Galletti e Cocci, Firenze'', 1907, pp. 336–337</ref>

The Renaissance was certainly underway before Lorenzo de' Medici came to power – indeed, before the Medici family itself achieved hegemony in Florentine society. Some historians have postulated that Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance as a result of luck, i.e., because "[[Great man theory|Great Men]]" were born there by chance:<ref name="burckhardt-individual">Burckhardt, Jacob, ''The Development of the Individual'', ''[http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/2-1.html The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003000844/http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/2-1.html |date=3 October 2008 }}'', translated by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878.</ref> Leonardo, Botticelli and Michelangelo were all born in [[Tuscany]]. Arguing that such chance seems improbable, other historians have contended that these "Great Men" were only able to rise to prominence because of the prevailing cultural conditions at the time.<ref>Stephens, J., ''Individualism and the cult of creative personality'', ''The Italian Renaissance'', New York, 1990 p. 121.</ref>
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