Ignazio Danti

Ignazio (or Egnazio) Danti, O.P. (April 1536 – 10 October 1586), born Pellegrino Rainaldi Danti, was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate, mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer, who served as Bishop of Alatri (1583–1586).

Early life

Danti was born in Perugia in 1536 to a family of artists and scientists. As a boy he learned the rudiments of painting and architecture from his father Giulio, an architect and engineer who studied under Antonio da Sangallo, and his aunt Teodora, who was said to have studied under the painter Perugino and also wrote a commentary on Euclid. His older brother Vincenzo Danti became one of the leading court sculptors of late-sixteenth-century Florence, while his younger brother Girolamo Danti (1547–1580) became a local painter.

Danti entered the Dominican Order on 7 March 1555, changing his baptismal name from Pellegrino to Ignazio. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology he spent some time preaching but soon devoted himself zealously to mathematics, astronomy, and geography.

In Florence

In 1562, he requested a transfer from the Dominican compound in Perugia to the monastery of San Marco in Florence. Soon after, he found work on the side tutoring the children of wealthy Florentines in mathematics and science. In September 1563, he was invited by Cosimo I, Duke of Tuscany to participate in his cosmographical project, the Guardaroba in the Palazzo Vecchio. Over the next dozen years, Danti painted 30 maps of regions of the world (based largely upon published prints by Giacomo Gastaldi, Abraham Ortelius, Gerardus Mercator, and others) upon the cabinet doors of the Guardaroba.