Tommaso Spinelli

See the book, "The Spinelli of Florence: Fortunes of a Renaissance Merchant Family" by Philip Jacks and William Caferro. Excerpts are readable on books.google.com, https://books.google.com/books?id=xr3cD7jJdLUC.

Tommaso is one of the most famous. From the above reference:

"Among this mélange of characters [referring to the Spinelli family], only one has earned lasting distinction, namely Tommaso di Lionardo Spinelli (1398-1472). A prominent merchant and celebrated patron, Tommaso's circle included political heavyweights, such as Cosimo il Vecchio and Pietro il Gottoso, and men of the cloth, such as Antonino Pierozzi, archbishop of Florence, Timoteo Maffei, rector of the Augustinian Canons Regular, Cherardo Maffei, Apostolic secretary -- not to mention the five popes whom Tommaso personally served as banker and depositary."

"Like all men of ambition, Tommaso was preoccupied by the image he would leave to posterity. Looking back over three decades in banking, he once boasted of his infallible record in financing both cardinals and popes, and having saved more than one from bankruptcy. Within a few years, however, a series of defaulted loans left his own bank severely crippled, and it was all he could do to enjoin God to spare him at least his good name. In these last years of his life, which saw bitter disillusionment and personal tragedy, Tommaso bared his soul to his most intimate friends. Capitalist and fervent Christian, he looked to piety for consolation from the vicissitudes of fortune and as a the one ballast in an inconstant world."