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Poliziano, Angelo

(Encyclopedia)Poliziano, Angelo pōlĭshˈən [key], 1454–94, Italian poet, philologist, and humanist. Of middle-class origin, he was given a classical education, completed under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medi...

Peri, Jacopo

(Encyclopedia)Peri, Jacopo yäˈkōpō pĕˈrē [key], 1561–1633, Italian composer and singer. Dafne (c.1597), perhaps the first opera, was composed by both Peri and Jacopo Corsi. The librettist, Ottavio Rinuccin...

Verrocchio, Andrea del

(Encyclopedia)Verrocchio, Andrea del ändrĕˈä dĕl vār-rôkˈkyō [key], 1435–88, Florentine sculptor and painter, whose real name was Andrea di Michele di Francesco di Cioni. He was a leading figure in the e...

Luxembourg Palace

(Encyclopedia)Luxembourg Palace, large Renaissance palace in Paris, on the left bank of the Seine near the Sorbonne. It was built (1615–20) for Marie de' Medici by Salomon de Brosse on the site of a former palace...

Pius IV

(Encyclopedia)Pius IV, 1499–1565, pope (1559–65), a Milanese named Giovanni Angelo de' Medici; successor of Paul IV. He was probably not related to the great Medici family. His career in Rome began in 1527, and...

Uffizi

(Encyclopedia)Uffizi o͞of-fēˈtsē [key], palace in Florence, Italy, built in the 16th cent. by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de' Medici as public offices. It houses the state archives of Tuscany and the Uffizi Gal...

Horne, Richard Henry

(Encyclopedia)Horne, Richard Henry, or Richard Hengist Horne, 1802–84, English author. His chief work was the allegorical poem Orion (1843). A New Spirit of the Age (1844), written with Elizabeth Barrett (later E...

Gemistus Pletho, Georgius

(Encyclopedia)Gemistus Pletho, Georgius jôrˈjəs jĭmĭsˈtəs plēˈthō [key], c.1355–1452, Byzantine scholar and philosopher, b. Constantinople. He represented the Orthodox Eastern Church at the Council of F...

Cappello, Bianca

(Encyclopedia)Cappello, Bianca byängˈkä cäpĕlˈlō [key], 1548–87, grand duchess of Tuscany (1579–87). Of a noble Venetian family, she eloped (1563) with a Florentine, Pietro Bonaventuri, who was later kil...

Luynes, Charles d'Albert, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Luynes, Charles d'Albert, duc de shärl dälbĕrˈ dük də lüēnˈ [key], 1578–1621, constable of France, minister and favorite of King Louis XIII. With the king's collaboration he caused the assa...