14
CONCLUSION
The endgame
Painful arthritic gout afflicted many of the Medici men. But Piero il Gottoso, ‘frail, bedridden and bad-tempered’, suffered at least as much as any of his brethren. A collector like his father, Piero accumulated gems, coins, tapestries, cameos, silverware, jewellery, tournament weapons, musical instruments and books. He was so crippled by his condition that he had to be carried into his barrel-vaulted study-cum-library, which Luca della Robbia had sumptuously decorated.19
Cosimo de Medici died in 1464. For the funeral, Piero bought mourning clothes for four female slaves: Catrina, Chateruccia, Cristina and Zita. Piero’s library was a sanctuary, but his father’s death plunged him into a crisis. Despite his illness, and ...
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