the primary opponent of Cosimo. They were also descendants of Chiarissimo I de' Medici, son of the founder of the Medici family, and father of Filippo, who married to Alessia Grimaldi of Genova, of the Grimaldi family of Monaco. Marriages of the Gherardinis over the centuries included the Houses of Medici, Strozzi, Bardi, Albizzi, Altoviti, Frescobaldi, Balestrieri, Alberti, Ricasoli, among others. Many of these families played a major role in the Renaissance, and were patrons of famous figures such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Vasari, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Machiavelli, and many others. Families like the House of Bardi, a noble family of bankers, were also early financiers of John Cabot and Christopher Columbus and their expeditions to the Americas. Patronage One of the peculiarities of this family, defined by historians as "rude" and hardly observant of the rules of public life, is a constant vein of patronage. Some serious patronage is well documented like the commission given to Fra Angelico to create an altarpiece for the family chapel near the Church of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence. Lotteringo Gherardini is buried in this church. The altarpiece was commissioned in 1418 but went lost. According to art historians, the Gherardinis supported Alessandro Turchi, called l'Orbetto, who they commissioned many works of art to. Nothing is known about the relationship between the family and Tintoretto, except that the Gherardinis were members of the Great Council of the Republic of Venice and, therefore, frequented Venice. However, in 1568 the Venetian painter drew the portrait of Francesco Gherardini. The portrait is on display at the Ca' Rezzonico Museum of Venice. Although there were contacts with Leonardo da Vinci, their full nature is not known. Leonardo drew both the portrait of Lisa Gherardini (Mona Lisa) and the Gherardinis' Chapel in Montagliari. An artist of the family, Alessandro Gherardini, pupil of Alessandro Rosi, obtained a commission by Prince Ferdinando de Medici for a fresco celebrating his marriage to Princess Violante Beatrice of Bavaria. The fresco can be seen today at the Pitti Palace in Florence. Other known artists of the Gherardini family were Tommaso Gherardini, Stefano Gherardini, Melchiorre Gherardini, and Niccolò Gherardini, a friend of Galileo Galilei and his personal biographer. Niccolo wrote the first biography of Galileo named Vita del signor Galileo Galilei (Life of Signor Galileo Galilei), and was a relative of Pope Urban VIII of the House of Barberini. A painting