Subsequently, in the ambit of the Medicean academy in Florence, he moved in the circle of Lorenzo de' Medici, among scholars like Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano.

After a period as apostolic administrator in Nicosia, starting from 1497 he was Patriarch of Aquileia,[4] a position he abandoned in favour of his nephew Marino (later also cardinal) in 1517.

[5] Grimani was already ill in the 1521 conclave, and died a year and a half later; he was buried in the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Rome, but later his remains were moved to San Francesco della Vigna.

[citation needed] Grimani was a noted art collector,[6] owning works by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, Titian, Hans Memling, Hieronymus Bosch,[7] Raphael and others: his collection now forms part of the Museo d'Antichità in the Doge's Palace in Venice, while several of his codexes are in the Archbishop's Library at Udine.

[8] The cardinal left his collection of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts to the religious community at S. Antonio di Castello.