Gentile de' Becchi

Probable portrait of Gentile Becchi portrayed by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Tornabuoni Chapel. Gentile de' Becchi (1420/1430 – 1497) was an Italian bishop, diplomat, orator and writer. He was a member of the Platonic Academy of the Medici of Florence and tutor of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his son Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X. Of his writings there exist many letters, poems in Latin, and prayers which are praised by historian Cecil Grayson as his finest works. Despite his close association with Florence and the Medici family, de' Becchi did not neglect his obligations to Arezzo. He supported the founding of a convent of Poor Clares in the city, licensed the Olivetans to build a church and monastery, and made improvements to the Bishop's palace. In 1466, he accompanied Lorenzo de' Medici on an ambassadorial mission to Pope Paul II. The following year, Gentile accompanied Lorenzo's mother, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, to Rome, to negotiate agreements with the powerful Orsini family in order to arrange betrothal of Clarice Orsini to Lorenzo. Gentile de' Becchi then returned to Rome in April 1469, to accompany Clarice to Florence for her marriage.

Gentile became a prominent member of the Medici Academy, alongside the philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Cristoforo Landino, Agnolo Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola. He was known as a poet, as well as a theologian and orator, and communicated with other poets and humanists including Cardinal Jacopo Piccolomini-Ammannati, Francesco Filelfo, and Donato Acciaiuoli. Giovanni was made a cardinal at thirteen and at thirty-eight succeeded Pope Julius II as Pope Leo X.

Pazzi conspiracy

In 1478, the Pazzi conspiracy, involving members of the Florentine Pazzi family, and sanctioned by Pope Sixtus IV (a member of the della Rovere family) resulted in an attack on Easter Sunday, which left Lorenzo de' Medici wounded and his brother, the popular Giuliano, dead. Violent reprisals broke out in Florence with members and associates of the Pazzi family killed, including the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, a relative of Pope Sixtus, who was condemned to death and hanged. The Pope responded by arresting the Florentine ambassador, excommunicating Lorenzo de' Medici and the Signoria (Town Council) and forbidding the Florentine clergy from practising.

Gentile de' Becchi, as Bishop of Arezzo, stood by the Medici, breaking the interdict launched by Pope Sixtus IV against the Florentine clergy. With the archbishop Rinaldo Orsini, he convened a synod of the local clergy and succeeded in returning the normal spiritual and ecclesiastical life to the City of Florence. At the synod, de' Becchi delivered a speech in which he refuted all the arguments put forward by the Pope for the sanctions, and accused the Pope Sixtus of being behind the attack, in order to bring Florence under his control. The speech was immediately printed by Niccolò della Magna and circulated.

Ambassador Gentile de' Becchi's oratorial skills made him the chosen representative of the Republic of Florence on a number of diplomatic missions, besides his role in making peace after the Pazzi conspiracy. He occupied this role both under Lorenzo and his son Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, who succeeded his father on his death in March 1492.

Death Gentile did not return to Florence after the exile of the Medici. He lived until his death at Villa alle Botte, and died, in 1497, in Arezzo, where his body was buried in Arezzo Cathedral.