Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli
Hanging of Bernardo Baroncelli in Florence by Leonardo da Vinci
Born
Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli

15 January 1420
Florence, Republic of Florence
Died29 December 1479(1479-12-29) (aged 59)
Florence, Republic of Florence
Cause of deathHanging
OccupationMerchant
Details
VictimsGiuliano de' Medici
Date26 April 1478
CountryItaly
Location(s)Duomo of Florence
Target(s)Medici
KilledGiuliano de' Medici
InjuredLorenzo de' Medici
WeaponsKnife

Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli (15 January 1420 – 29 December 1479) was a Florentine merchant and a protagonist in the Pazzi conspiracy, a plot to remove the Medici family from power in Florence.[1]

Life

Bandini dei Baroncelli was born in Florence on 15 January 1420, the son of Lagia di Gaspare Bonciani and Giovanni di Piero Bandini dei Baroncelli. His father died when he was young – certainly before 1427 – and he was brought up by his mother and his elder brother Giovanni.[1] He became a merchant. He married Giovanna di Goffredo de Biros, with whom he had a daughter, Beatrice.[1]

The Pazzi Conspiracy

He is remembered principally for his participation in the Pazzi Conspiracy, a plot by the Pazzi and Salviati families to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his younger brother Giuliano.[1] The attempt took place during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence on Easter Sunday, 26 April 1478.[2] Giuliano was stabbed to death by Baroncelli and Franceso de' Pazzi, but Lorenzo was only wounded by the other conspirators and managed to escape;[3] Baroncelli also killed a Medici retainer, Francesco Nori.[1]

After the failure of the plot, Baroncelli fled Italy, but was eventually found and arrested in Constantinople.[4] Antonio Medici was sent to bring him from Constantinople back to Florence, where Baroncelli was ultimately hanged on 29 December 1479 at the Palazzo del Bargello.[5]

Baroncelli's execution was depicted in a macabre sketch drawn by Leonardo da Vinci while he was in Florence in 1479.[6] With dispassionate integrity, Leonardo had registered the colours of the robes that Baroncelli was wearing at the time of his death in neat mirror writing.

In culture

Baroncelli appears as a tenor in the opera I Medici by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1893).[7][8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli.
  1. ^ a b c d e Pampaloni, Guido (1963). "Bandini dei Baroncelli, Bernardo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 5: Bacca–Baratta (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
  2. ^ Smedley, Edward; James, Hugh James; Rose, Henry John (1845). Encyclopaedia Metropolitana; Or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge on an Original Plan Comprising the Twofold Advantage of a Philosophical and an Alphabetical Arrangement, with Appropriate Engravings. B. Fellowes. p. 272.
  3. ^ Koestler-Grack, Rachel A. (1974). Joseph, Michael (ed.). Leonardo Da Vinci: Artist, Inventor, and Renaissance Man. Infobase Publishing. p. 152. ISBN 978-0791086261.
  4. ^ Babinger, Franz (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691010781.
  5. ^ Morelli, Giovanni di Jacopo; Morelli, Lionardo di Lorenzo; di San Luigi, Idelfonso (1785). Croniche. Firenze: Gaetano Cambiagi. p. 195.
  6. ^ Popham, A. E. (1946). The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. p. 184.
  7. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "I Medici, 9 November 1893". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  8. ^ Farr, Robert J. (August 2010). "Review – Leoncavallo – I Medici". MusicWeb International. Retrieved 30 August 2010.


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