Raphael. Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals
Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi. 1513-1519. Oil on panel.
Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy. More.
Leo X, Giovanni de' Medici (1475-1521), pope
from 1513, second son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent. He was appointed
cardinal at the age of 13. He was employed as legate by Julius
II, on whose death in 1513 he was chosen pope as Leo X. He concluded
a concordat with Francis I of France; he consolidated and extended the
reconquests of his predecessor, Julius II. But it is as a patron of learning
and art that he is best remembered. He founded a Greek college in Rome
and established a Greek press. His vast project for the rebuilding of St.
Peter's cathedral and his permitting the preaching of indulgences in order
to raise funds provoked Luther's Reformation. He regarded the movement
as of little importance; and although he condemned the propositions of
Luther, his measures were not marked by severity. In his moral conduct
he maintained a strict propriety.