Michelozzo

Michelozzo (1396-1472), Italian Renaissance architect and sculptor, who strikingly combined Italian Gothic and classical styles. He was born in Florence and in 1420 became an assistant to the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, and aided him in executing the bronze north doors of the Florence Baptistery. In the 1420s and 1430s as partner of the sculptor Donatello, he worked on tombs for antipope John XXIII (in the Baptistery) and other notables. Subsequently he became the chief architect of the Medici family.

In addition to the many villas he designed for the Medici, Michelozzo designed the San Giorgio Maggiore Library in 1433 for Cosimo de' Medici. Later, for the same patron, he built the magnificent Medici-Riccardi Palace (1444-60) in Florence, a notable example of 15th-century Italian architecture and one of the outstanding monuments preserved in Florence today. Between 1437 and 1452, he rebuilt the Convent of San Marco in Florence. In 1446 he was given the important post of architect of the Duomo. Michelozzo's later work included the restoration (1453) of the Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall of Florence.