Biographies & Memoirs

Photographs

The most famous image of Niccolò Machiavelli, it was painted by Tito Santi after the Florentine Chancellor’s death. It shows him at the height of his power, in his elegant robes of office. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)

The Palazzo della Signoria was the residence of the Florentine executive (the Signoria) and the seat of the government. Machiavelli worked here in the offices of the Second Chancery from 1498 to 1512. Its fortresslike exterior suggests the city’s violent history. (Miles Unger)

Today, as in the sixteenth century, the Florentine skyline is dominated by the city’s great religious edifice, the Cathedral (on the right), with Brunelleschi’s soaring dome, and the Palazzo della Signoria (under scaffolding to the left). (Miles Unger)

View of Machiavelli’s property Sant’ Andrea in Percussina, revealing a typical Tuscan landscape, with rocky terraces and olive groves. (Miles Unger)

This modest farmhouse served as Machiavelli’s country retreat. Here in 1513 he wrote The Prince. (Miles Unger)

Ludovico Sforza was known as II Moro (the Moor) for his swarthy complexion. The scheming Duke of Milan was blamed for inviting the French invasion of 1494. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)

Charles VIII’s invasion of Italy in 1494 ushered in a long period of turmoil and humiliation for the Italian people. In Florence, the arrival of the French King contributed to the expulsion of Piero de’ Medici and the rise of Savonarola. His rapid conquest of Naples was followed by a dramatic retreat. (Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, N.Y.)

The sensual, worldly Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, was the epitome of a corrupt Renaissance Pope. He openly acknowledged his children, including the violent Cesare and beautiful Lucrezia. His feud with Savonarola ultimately ended in the preacher’s execution. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)

This portrait of Girolamo Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo captures something of the intensity and asceticism of the Dominican friar who dominated Florentine political, religious, and social life between 1494 and 1498. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)

The handsome, dashing Cesare Borgia, known as Valentino, was the son of Pope Alexander VI. His boldness, ruthlessness, and early successes were an inspiration for Machiavelli’s portrait of an ideal ruler in The Prince. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)

“Il Papa Terribile” (the Terrifying Pope), Julius II—portrayed here by Raphael—spent most of his reign at war, first against the Venetians and later against the French. He was also one of history’s great art patrons, commissioning Michelangelo to paint the Sistine ceiling and sculpt his tomb and hiring Donato Bramante to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)

Giovanni de’ Medici’s election as Pope Leo X on March 11, 1513, led directly to Machiavelli’s release from prison. On his accession, he was quoted as saying, “Now that God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.” In this portrait by Raphael, Leo’s cousin Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici (later Pope Clement VII) stands on the Pope’s right. (Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, N.Y.)

This engraving of the Battle of Anghiari is based on Peter Paul Rubens’s copy of Leonardo’s lost masterpiece. Even twice removed from the original, this view of the central battle reveals the savagery and energy of Leonardo’s original conception. (© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, N.Y.)

Like Leonardo’s battle scene on the adjacent wall of the Hall of the Great Council, Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina is known only in copies. Drawings for the fresco became a veritable school for generations of artists. (Foto Marburg/Art Resource, N.Y.)

Michelangelo’s tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, to whom Machiavelli originally dedicated The Prince. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource N.Y.)

Charles V (shown here in painting by Titian) ruled one of history’s great empires. He defeated the French king in Italy and, in 1527, sacked Rome. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource N.Y.)

Machiavelli’s remains were transferred to this impressive monument in Santa Croce from a more modest tomb in the eighteenth century. The Latin inscription reads, “For so great a name, no words will suffice.” (Miles Unger)

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