The Florentine conspiracy plotted by the Pazzi family, supported by Pope Sixtus IV and external accomplices including the Republic of Siena, the Duchy of Urbino and the Kingdom of Naples, was, as is known, aimed at crushing the hegemony of their rivals, the Medici family, by eliminating two of its young members, Lorenzo and Giuliano. The climax of the conspiracy was the attack on Sunday 26 April 1478, during mass at the cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore. The failure of the attack, in which Giuliano was killed but Lorenzo was merely wounded, resulted in an outcome that was contrary to expectations: namely, the total elimination of the Pazzi family and full affirmation of Medici power in Florence. The failed attack became a key element of Medici hagiography, and as such was frequently depicted in Florence in the following centuries.
From Sabatelli's autobiography, edited by his son Gaetano, we know that Luigi executed, at the request of Luciano Bonaparte, an etching dedicated to the attack. The plate, sent to Paris, has been lost, but we know the print from an artist's proof preserved in the Bertarelli Collection, Milan, along with another drawing in the same collection depicting the same subject (Du. Album Grande, 121 v.)

Here I present another important drawing by Luigi Sabatelli dedicated to the same subject, which is central to the history of the Medici family in Florence. A notable drawing given its format, technique, and its provenance from the collection of Damiano Pernati (1769-1841), a close friend of Sabatelli.

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