Pope Leo X. alias Giovanni de' Medici
"On becoming Pope, Leo at once actively began all that encouragement of Literature and Art for which his pontificate is famous, inviting learned men from all parts of Italy to Rome, making plans for founding a great university there for the study of the Greek and Latin authors, corresponding with Aldus Manutius and others about inaugurating a printing press at Rome, commencing research work to obtain lost manuscripts of the classical age, planning schemes for important works to be executed by Raphael and other artists ..." (in: G. F. Young, The Medici, Vol. 1, London 1930, pp. 405-406)
Pope Leo X. alias Giovanni de' Medici (in the centre) with his cousins, the Cardinals Giulio de' Medici (left) and Luigi de' Rossi (right)
"He [Pope Leo X.] also set about assuring the future of his family. He created as cardinals his two first cousins, Giulio de' Medici and Luigi Rossi; also his nephews (each a son of one of his three married sisters), Innocenzio Cibò, Giovanni Salviati, and Niccolò Ridolfi. With five cardinals in the family there would be a good probability that one of them would succeed him as Pope. His schemes for securing to the family the Duchy of Urbino ..." (in: G. F. Young, The Medici, Vol. 1, London 1930, p. 406)
Pope Leo X. (on the right side) in discussion with Michelangelo (in the middle) about the construction of the St. Peter's Basilica – on the far left side we can see the artist of this painting, Jacopo da Empoli, and next to him Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, a cousin of the Pope
Leo X. said: „'Since God has given us the Papacy, let us enjoy it.' And he did. Hunting and Hawking parties in the Campagna, pleasant gatherings at his villa of La Magliana, convivial supper parties at Rome, the delights of literature, poetry, music, and theatrical representations ... Leo ... often spent a month or more at a time absent from the Papal city either fishing or pheasant shooting round the lake of Bolsena, or staying at his favourite hunting-lodge of La Magliana, five miles from Rome, in the fever-laden valley of the Tiber, taking part in grand battues of stags, wild boar, and every sort of game, and scandalising the Papal master of ceremonies by appearing in hunting costume and, worst of all, in long riding-boots." (in: G. F. Young, The Medici, Vol. 1, London 1930, pp. 414-415)
Giovanni de' Medici, the future Pope Leo X. (left)
with his elder brother Piero II. (right)