As I mentioned in the last post (March 21, 2013--sorry for the gap), Lorenzo traveled to Naples to convince King Ferdinand "that a large and potent pontifical state would irremediably alter the already fragile equilibrium amount Italian states." (The Medici, Story of a European Dynasty,by Franco Cesati).
Botticelli's "Minerva and the Centaur," commissioned around 1485 by/for a minor branch of the Medici family, has been interpreted as an allegory of Lorenzo's success with King Ferdinand. Not coincidentally, the Gulf of Naples can be made out in the background, while the goddess's cloak is studded with the three interlocking Medicean rings. (Source: The Medici, by Cesati)
This painting is in the Uffizi, where it is listed as "Pallas and the Centaur."
For an interesting read on the significance of the Roman goddess Minerva (also known as the Greek goddess Pallas Athena) go to this web-site: http://library.thinkquest.org/17709/people/athena.htm. For further reading, and other interpretations, visit this web-site: http://www.palazzo-medici.it/mediateca/en/Scheda_Sandro_Botticelli,_Pallade_e_il_centauro_(1482-1485_circa)
