Lorenzo de'Medici, Collector of Antiquities

Lorenzo de'Medici was a passionate collector of objects from antiquity and the post-antiquity period as well as an important patron of the arts in fifteenth-century Florence. His activities as a collector are documented in a group of 173 previously unknown letters included in this volume. As revealed in these letters, Lorenzo had a preference for small objects: coins, hardstone vases, and gems. This book reveals how such objects were studied, displayed, selected and valued by de'Medici and other collectors during this period.