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Michelangelo: money and medals
Bronze medal of Francis I, by Benvenuto Cellini
Michelangelo's reputation as a unique, divinely inspired artist began during his lifetime, when his ideas and designs were taken up by younger artists. Therefore his influence on European art has been huge.
On this medal of Francis I, king of France, Benvenuto Cellini shows a recumbent figure of Fortune overcome by Virtue. Fortune is based on the figure of Night that Michelangelo made in the 1520s for the tomb of Giuliano de' Medici in the Medici chapel in the church of San Lorenzo, Florence. Giuliano, the son of Michelangelo's early protector Lorenzo de' Medici, had died young in 1516.
Francis I was one of the important patrons who sought to employ Michelangelo. Had Michelangelo gone to France in the 1520s, he would have received a house and 100 livres a month. In the 1540s Francis was still hoping to acquire works by the artist.