Tommaso Portinari

Tommaso Portinari was an Italian banker and a manager of the Medici bank in Bruges.

He was born in a prominent Florentine family whose member was Beatrice Portinari, better known as a muse of famous Dante. His father already worked for the Medici as the manager of the branch office. After his death, Cosimo de’Medici had taken care of Tommaso and his brothers who were raised in the Medici household.

Around 1440 Tommaso was sent to Bruges to take up a position in the branch office established by the Medici bank. For the next 25 years he served junior positions in the bank, working on the establishing a network of contacts in the city. Tomasso spent a lots of time on the Burgundian court where he gained some influence. Since he was ambitious and dissatisfied with his status, he asked for promotion and in 1465 he was appointed manager of the Bruges branch. His new position, Tommaso used for the rise in the social circles, eventually becoming an advisor of two dukes of Burgundy.

However, as time has shown, his appointment to the position of manager proved to be fatal for the Medici. Namely, Tommaso gave large and risky loan on his own initiative to Duke Charles the Bold and when he was unable to repay it, as was often the case in such circumstances, the Medici were forced to declare the bankruptcy of the Bruges branch (1478). Tommaso was recalled to Florence, but already in 1480 he returned to Netherlands in attempt to recover some of the money.

He died a pauper in the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova.