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Renaissance 3.0

The Royal House of Medici Holdings, Inc.

“Art Elevates
The Soul.”

The legacy of the Medici embodies man’s search for meaning.

His Royal Highness Ottaviano de’ Medici,
The Grand Duke of Tuscany

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At the heart of the cultural revolution called the Renaissance, for over 600 years the Medici dynastic legacy has been inextricably linked to the best of human achievement, to intellectual and philosophical enquiry across art and culture, international finance & diplomacy; to the very origins of modern democracy itself.

RHM renews this quest for noblesse oblige and what it means to be a “Renaissance Man” in the 21st century..

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Cultural
Patrimony

Iconic Florentine legacy.
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Fine Art

Exhibition & curation of masterworks.
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Real Property & Financial Technology

Restoration of culturally significant assets.
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Medicea Magazine

A quarterly journal on high culture and art, with rich historical context and commentary. A window on RHM activities and exclusive opportunities to participate. Noblesse oblige. Elevate your soul.
his royal highness ottaviano de' medici, grand duke of tuscany

HRH Ottaviano de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Co-Founder & Honourary Chairman

The Medici Grand Ducal House of Tuscany bears its titles as a result of the Papal Bull on 27 August 1569 by Pope Pius V to Cosimo I and to all his firstborn male heirs, or closest male relative of the Medici family in perpetuity, in the event of extinction of the firstborn branch of Cosimo I.

Upon the extinction of the Grand Ducal branch, H.E.H. Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, Grand Princess of Tuscany, decreed the Medici Ottajano line, direct descendants of Lorenzo “The Magnificent”, as successors.

Therein, in 2001, HRH Ottaviano de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, assumed his title per the decree by the Pope Pius V and per the dynastic rules of the family made in 1737 by the Grand Princess of Tuscany Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, which still requires the Grand Duke to live in Florence.

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Leadership

marquess patrick r bonney

Marquis Patrick R. Bonney

Patrick has spent half his career abroad in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto in investment...
dave martin

Don David Martin

International venture capitalist and value-add investor in companies involved in Augmented Reality (AR), Visual Reality (VR),...
nicola barbatelli

Don Nicola Barbatelli

Nicola Barbatelli is an italian art historian specializing in Italian Renaissance art. He is a scholar...
michael stark - The Royal House of Medici

Don Michael Stark

Michael Stark is an entrepreneur, investor, & community leader. As the Founder & CEO of Stark...

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The Medici & Florence

The Medici are one of the most important dynasties in Italian history, inextricably linked to the history of Florence, and hence to a city that is bound up in the collective imagination with the emergence of the Renaissance, the paradigm of republicanism and the origins of modern democracy. The Medici are an integral part of that history. Above all, the Medici succeeded in combining the major economic resources at their disposal with an intense political activity. They were also engaged in patronage, following the precepts of Gaius Cilneus Maecenas (68 BC-8AD), who believed that fostering arts and literature always brought a return in terms of political consensus. The Medici transformed Florence into an ideal city, with an architectural structure consisting of masterpieces unique in the world. They fostered the creation of magnificent and peerless monuments capable of expressing the unrivalled technical level achieved by the artists who worked under their protection over the centuries. Their far-sightedness made it possible to preserve a series of works of art of such power that they have continued to be a daily source of inspiration for later generations.

The Medici pursued a cultural itinerary marked out by the greatest masterpieces ever produced over the history of human life on this earth, making Florence a city in which man and his rational action are at the hub, a place in which one can ideally achieve perfection through the rules of perspective and geometry, a place in which man is fee to devote himself to understanding the meaning of perfection. In Florence, the mathematical perfection of forms became an echo of divine perfection.

Patronage became meshed with political power in its classic sense and the Medici were its epitome interpreters. Humanity owes a great deal to the family that more than any other succeeded in binding a historical era to the phenomenon of magnificence, in inspiring others to patronize artists to produce works of art that turned out to be unutterably exceptional. The Medici made their name at the height of a season when Florence was the hub of Italian, European and global history. The advent of perspective in the arts was a case history in science, a Copernican revolution ahead of its time, an accident that allowed artists to represent reality as an image of divine perfection. Florence created genius and genius repaid the city by making it ideal. It is also necessary to represent human creation at the core of genius, since the masterpieces that the genius of Florence succeeds in creating underlie the perfection that man himself strives for.

In Florence, the world became the result of art and of human will, a maze and a utopia as rational as could be. The Medici were the guiding thread of Florence as an ideal city, ever poised between active and contemplative life. They contributed to the creation of the world in which no fracture between action and contemplation could be perceived, in which man transformed the world into a work of art in which the human being expresses his innate creativity. The aim of humanist education was to create informed individuals, cultured men and good citizens, to make people aware and hence intellectually present within society. This is why the Medici are a family, or rather a dynasty, that must always be placed at the hub of a cultural revolution around which the Western world slowly took shape.

– Excerpted from “The Medici, The Power of a Dynasty” by Fabrizio Ricciardelli

Mexico City &. Puebla Exhibitions

Royal House of Medici sponsored two major exhibitions of Leonardo & followers works in Mexico City and Puebla in 2022 and 2023.

STORY OF A GREAT ARTIST SEASON

This exhibition gathers the maximum expressions of Leonardo’s artistic culture, involving the major students and interpreters of Leonardo’s thought. From Marco d’Oggiono to Giampietrino, from Cesare da Sesto to Bernardino Luini, passing through Bernardino de ’Conti and Salaì, these are the artists who had the privilege of entering the direct diffusion of Leonardo’s thought; those who received the lessons of the Master and most popularized his work in 16th century European painting. They are also the ones who first became fascinated by Leonardo’s exploits, collected the testimonies and often it is thanks to them that we can understand the gestation of works such as the two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks or the Madonna of the Yarnwinder. Through this group of exceptional painters, we have the opportunity to ‘recover’ some of Leonardo’s painful projects, the most unknown and which today are full of problems. One of these is undoubtedly the piece dedicated to Salvator Mundi and therefore to Leonardo’s commission of a ‘young Christ’ who preaches in the Temple.

A suggestive solution of this exhibition is certainly represented by the collaboration between the Master and his students: the Bare-breasted Magdalene is an effective example, where Leonardo prepares the figure – and perhaps also the landscape, while the pupil (in this case Marco d’Oggiono) completes the rest. But the collaboration between teacher and students is also produced in teaching, because Leonardo committed his followers through the study of drawing, to copy famous ancient drawings, or otherwise, to ‘review’ his own directly. An extraordinary example of this practice is represented in this exhibition by the beautiful Man’s Head which is set by Leonardo and was completed by his students.

In this exhibition there are several points of comparison with Leonardo’s most famous artworks, among these there is also the theme of the Battle of Anghiari, the unfortunate fresco created in the Salone dei Cinquecento in Florence and then lost due to the problems of the experimental technique pictorial. In this case, the understanding of this theme is demonstrated through a sketch of pawing horses with a rider and the famous The Fight for the Banner, better known as the “Timbal” version. A journey around Leonardo’s memories that is told through a group of paintings that make us understand the spread of an artistic phenomenon that has fertilized Europe from Lombardy, reaching unprecedented iconographic success.
his royal highness ottaviano de' medici, grand duke of tuscany

HRH Ottaviano de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

marquess patrick r bonney

Marquis Patrick R. Bonney

Lord Great Chamberlain of the Treasury of the Royal House of Medici

Patrick has spent half his career abroad in London, Tokyo, New York, and Toronto in investment banking advisory and private equity principal investing with global matrix reporting and P&L responsibilities. As co-founder of several platforms with a combined $2 Billion leveraged value, he occupied roles as Chief Investment Officer and Director of listed and private entities.

He speaks fluent Japanese and has two sons, one of whom is enrolled in fine arts at Tokyo University of the Arts. Patrick is deeply connected to social impact and creative cultural pursuits. He is a Patrician of Florence, Senator of the Grand Ducal House of Medici and Graduated Conventual Military Knight of the Order of Saint Stephen, founded by Cosimo I in 1651, with the position of Curator in the Council of the Twelve.

“What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” - Goethe.
dave martin

Don David Martin

Patrician of Florence, Senator of the Royal House of Medici. International venture capitalist and value-add investor in companies involved in Augmented Reality (AR), Visual Reality (VR), Gaming, Digital Currencies and Metaverse. Has built and exited numerous large scale business enterprises and occupied executive management positions.

He is proudly passionate about supporting leading-edge companies and individuals in the pursuit of their vision.
nicola barbatelli

Don Nicola Barbatelli

Nicola Barbatelli is an Italian art historian specializing in Italian Renaissance art. He is a scholar of Leonardo and his school; he is the author of at least fifteen monographs, researcher and reader of the work of the Master of Vinci.

He was a follower of the major expert of Leonardo da Vinci, prof. Carlo Pedretti, and with him, he published a very recent monograph on the subject of the Salvator Mundi. With prof. Pedretti, Nicola Barbatelli has written two essays and edited four monographic exhibitions on Leonardo.

Professor Nicola Barbatelli is currently the scientific director of the Museo Delle Antiche Genti in Lucania, the major center of study on Leonardo in Southern Italy. Among his discoveries is the Lucan Portrait, the enigmatic painting depicting the face of Leonardo.

Don Michael Stark

Patrician of Florence, Senator of the Royal House of Medici. Michael Stark is an entrepreneur, investor, & community leader. As the Founder & CEO of Stark Minds LLC, Michael champions creative people, ideas, and organizations with the intention of impacting our shared global future. Through its innovative agency framework Stark Minds acts as a catalyst, drawing in resources for the talented artists, executives and organizations it represents. Stark Minds offers leading edge Web 3.0 services and advisory support, translating the vision of artists & brands into the new commercial & cultural landscape.

Stark grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago and had a unique upbringing. Michael’s family was one of the first to adopt a child from China when it opened up the west, and subsequently took in 50+ foster children from all over the world. Through this experience, Michael learned that “everyone has a story to tell and something to contribute".

Michael earned a BBA in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. & M.B.A. from Loyola University Chicago.