THE ARTISTIC GENIUS OF TWO CITIES
A COMPARISON OF THE NATIVE POETS & ARTISTS OF FLORENCE & LONDON
“The quantity of production,” says Mr. Bryce, “bears no relation to the quality. Still less does the amount of good work produced in any given area depend upon the number of persons living in that area. Florence between A.D. 1250 and A.D. 1500 gave birth to more men of first-rate poetical and artistic genius than London has produced since 1250; yet Florence had in those two and a half centuries a population of probably only from forty to sixty thousand. And Florence herself has since A.D. 1500 given birth to scarcely any distinguished poets or artists, though her population has been larger than it was in the fifteenth century.”
THE GENIUS OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF FLORENCE, 1250 TO 1500, FAR EXCEEDED THAT OF LONDON FROM 1250 TO THE PRESENT DAY
Poets and Artists Born in Florence from 1250–1500
- Alberti, Leon Battista, 1404–1472, architect, painter
- Albertinelli, Mariotto, 1474–1515, painter
- Andrea del Sarto, 1487–1531, painter
- Angelico da Fiesole, Fra Giovanni, 1387–1455, painter
- Botticelli, Alessandro, 1447–1510, painter
- Cavalcanti, Guido, 1255–1300, poet, philosopher
- Cimabue, Giovanni, 1240–1302, painter
- Credi, Lorenzo di, 1459–1537, painter
- Dante, Alighieri, 1265–1321, poet
- Donatello, 1386–1466, sculptor and painter
- Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 1378–1455, sculptor
- Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 1449–1494, painter
- Gozzoli, Benozzo, 1420–1498, painter
- Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, painter, sculptor
- Lippi, Fra Filippo, 1412–1469, painter
- Lippi, Filippino, 1459–1504, painter
- Lorenzo, Don, 1370–1425, painter
- Medici, Lorenzo de, 1448–1492, poet
- Orcagnia, Andrea di Cione, 1329–1368? sculptor, painter
- Perugino, Vannucci Pietro, 1446–1524, painter
- Pesellino, Francesco di, 1422–1457, painter
- Pesello, Giuliano, 1367–1446, painter, sculptor
- Pollajuolo, Antonio, 1429–1498, sculptor, painter
- Pollajuolo, Piero, 1443–1496, sculptor, painter
- Robbia, Andrea della, 1437–1528, sculptor
- Robbia, Luca della, 1399–1482, sculptor
- Rossi, Giovanni Battista de, 1494–1541, sculptor, painter
- Ruccellai, Giovanni, 1475–1525, poet
- Spinello, Aretino, 1334–1410, painter
- Ucello, Paolo, 1397–1475, painter
- Verocchio, Andrea, 1435–1488, sculptor, painter
THE LAST FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF FLORENTINE CULTURE HAVE BEEN LESS PRODUCTIVE THAN THE PRECEDING TWO AND A HALF CENTURIES
Poets and Artists Born in Florence since 1500