Medici Funerary Monuments in the Duomo of Florence during the Fourteenth Century: A Prologue to "The Early Medici."

Medici patronage of the arts in the fourteenth century has gone largely unstudied. Yet there is a notable paper trail, backed by a small number of sculptural remnants of funerary monuments, indicating that prominent members of the family understood the power of visual imagery for establishing their patrilines as leading families, both within the social hierarchy of Florence and within the Medici "consorteria." These sculptural remains give clear precedent for the early activity of Giovanni di Bicci and Cosimo de' Medici as artistic patrons in the fifteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]