Giulio de' Medici was a talented musician, and his circle included many well-known artists and thinkers of the Italian High Renaissance. For example, "in the days before his papacy, the future Clement VII had been close to Leonardo da Vinci," with Leonardo gifting him a painting, the Madonna of the Carnation. He was a patron of the satirist Pietro Aretino, who "wrote a series of viciously satirical lampoons supporting the candidacy of Giulio de' Medici for the papacy." As Pope, he appointed author Baldassare Castiglione as Papal diplomat to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; and historian Francesco Guicciardini as governor of the Romagna, the northernmost province of the Papal States.
Giulio de' Medici was a talented musician and his circle included many well-known artists and thinkers of the Italian High Renaissance For example "in the days before his papacy the future Clement VII had been close to Leonardo da Vinci" with Leonardo gifting him a painting the Madonna of the Carnation He was a patron of the satirist Pietro Aretino who "wrote a series of viciously satirical lampoons supporting the candidacy of Giulio de' Medici for the papacy" As Pope he appointed author Baldassare Castiglione as Papal diplomat to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; and historian Francesco Guicciardini as governor of the Romagna the northernmost province of the Papal States