Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici

Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, popularly known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (il Magnifico) by his contemporaries, was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the height of the Italian Renaissance. This patron of the arts was very popular with his peers and loved to enter tournaments, compose poetry and songs in his native Tuscan, play games, hunt, and indulge in the Florentine love of practical jokes. » more

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo Buonarroti is one of the greatest artists of all time and his name has become synonymous with the word "masterpiece". As an artist he was unmatched, the creator of works of sublime beauty that express the full breadth of the human condition. Yet in world where art flourished only with patronage, Michelangelo was caught between the conflicting powers and whims of the Medici family in Florence, and the Papacy in Rome but unlike many artists of his time, his genius was recogonised. » more

Leonardo da Vinci

The illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, just outside Florence. His father took custody of the little fellow shortly after his birth, while his mother married someone else and moved to a neighboring town. Growing up in his father's Vinci home, Leonardo had access to scholarly texts owned by family and friends. » more

Elizabeth Barret Browning

The couple Elizabeth Browning and her husband Robert Browning, has to qualify as one of the high profile couples of their times. And it is worth a mention that it was Elizabeth who shot to fame first and not Robert, as most people would think. Elizabeth Moulton Barrett, the English poetess and political thinker, not to mention, a feminist as well, was born on the 6th of March, 1806 in Durham, England. She was followed by the birth of eleven more children. » more

Leon Battista Alberti

Leon Battista Alberti was known as the Father of Modern Architecture. As an Italian humanist, architect and principal initiator of Renaissance art theory, Alberti was a multi-faceted personality with a kaleidoscope of talent and knowledge, being known as the prototype of the Renaissance ‘universal man’. Combining in perfect proportions and details, Alberti designed the Palazzo Rucellai on all three floors with the architecture of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian pillars. Versatile in both the Latin and Italian languages, Alberti scripted and wrote many love poems, fables, Latin comedy and dialogues. » more

Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi

Tomaso Peruzzi is the world famous Italian painter, architect, and designer who has created several masterpieces in the Renaissance period. From the Villa Farnesina to the Madonna with the Saints he has contributed a lot to architecture and painting. He was also a master in theatre settings and excelled in that during King Leo X’s reign. He died at a considerably young age of 57, in 1537. » more