ABSTRACT
This chapter provides background on approximately sixty-eight artists who lived between 1250 and the seventeenth century, and was designed to bring distinction to these individuals and their homeland. A lawyer by profession, Lione Pascoli had a passion for art, evident in his collection of over 300 paintings. This passion is equally apparent in his fascination with documenting the lives of artists, which resulted in the compilation of three biographical compendia, two of which were published in his lifetime. Teodora Danti is one of the most fascinating women artists of the Renaissance to linger in obscurity today. Pascoli further emphasizes Danti’s intellectual abilities by indicating that she taught geometry and drawing to her nephew Ignazio Danti, who subsequently had a very successful career as a mathematician and artist. The biographer’s comments can, in fact, be corroborated by Ignazio’s own writings.
