Money and Beauty

The exhibition tells the story of the birth of modern banking in Florence, of the ensuing economic growth and how this affected life and culture in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The curatorial thesis testifies how works by many of the great artists of the Renaissance - Botticelli, Beato Angelico, Piero del Pollaiolo, the brothers Della Robbia - were created in parallel with, were even the fruit of, this modern system. The exhibition analyses the systems with which bankers created their immense wealth, illustrates their international relationships and how these were managed and affirms how patronage of the arts has its roots in penance before becoming an instrument of power. Organized in eight sections (The Florin, The Art of Exchange, International Commerce, Usury, Sumptuary Laws, Bankers and Artists and A Society in Crisis), the exhibition is concluded with the view of crisis and the political and religious whirlwind that was Savonarola.