(born 1462, Florence, Republic of Florence—died 1521, Florence) Italian painter. His name derives from that of his master, Cosimo Rosselli, whom he assisted on frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. His later mythological paintings exhibit a bizarre Romantic style. Many are filled with fantastic hybrid human-animal forms engaging in revels (The Discovery of Honey, circa 1500) or fights (Battle of the Centaurs and the Lapiths, circa 1500). His art reflects his eccentric personality. He belonged to no school of painting but borrowed from many artists, including Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci.
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(born Sept. 27, 1389, Florence—died Aug. 1, 1464, Careggi, near Florence) Founder of one of the main lines of the Medici family. The son of the Florentine banker Giovanni di Bicci de'Medici (1360–1429), Cosimo represented the Medici bank and handled papal finances, becoming the wealthiest man of his time. Another leading family, the Albizzi, had him imprisoned (1433) and tried to assassinate him, but a year later the Medici regained power in Florence, and Cosimo triumphantly returned. He was the architect of the Peace of Lodi (1454). An alliance with the Sforzas of Milan provided him with troops to crush a coup d'état in 1458, after which he created a Senate composed of 100 loyal supporters (the Cento). He was a patron of scholarship and the arts, including such figures as Donatello and Filippo Brunelleschi.
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