Averardo Serristori (1497-1569). Ambassadeur et intermédiaire culturel de Côme Ier de Médicis.

Abstract

This article analyses the role of the Florentine ambassador Averardo Serristori (1497-1569) as a cultural broker. This role has various facets: collaboration in the practice of gift-giving set up by Florence; participation in the formation of the collections of the Florentine princes; help given to Tuscan artists present in Rome. Serristori’s correspondence with Princes Cosimo I and Francesco I de’ Medici shows that he was not a mere executor. On several occasions, he plays an advisory role thanks to his position, his experience and his network of contacts. Serristori thus proved to be an essential intermediary in the relations between Florence and the two supranational powers of the time, the Empire and Papal Rome.