companies. Sassetti is even more culpable in the failure of the Bruges branch. He consistently overruled Angelo Tani, who opposed the branch manager Tommaso Portinari's reckless schemes, and even removed the last checks against Portinari lending excessive amounts to secular rulers, which would be a direct cause of the failure of the Bruges branch. It failed so spectacularly that the long-term viability of the Medici branch was damaged. De Roover detects in the accounting methods of the libro segreto a growing distraction by Sassetti, who was increasingly interested in secular humanist activities. De Roover's view must be set against the humanist activity of Sassetti throughout the 1460s. In 1460 he acquired and restored Villa La Pietra. In 1478 he purchased rights to a funerary chapel in the basilica of Santa Trinita. Work on the Sassetti Chapel was undertaken by Domenico Ghirlandaio between 1483 and 1485. It features a fresco cycle, dedicated to Sassetti's namesake, St Francis, as well as portraits of his family and images of contemporary Florence and an altarpiece on the theme Adoration of the Shepherds. References Bibliography 1421 births 1490 deaths Businesspeople from Florence Italian bankers House of Medici Medieval bankers 15th-century Italian businesspeople 15th-century people of the Republic of Florence