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Michelangelo and Leonardo struggle to make their reputations in the brutal world of Renaissance Italy, as both must play a high-stakes game to win favour.

Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci struggle to find work and navigate the whims of patrons in Renaissance Florence. Florence at the end of the 15th century is famed for banking, trade and the skill of its artists. But being an artist is still a lowly trade.

The young Michelangelo is nonetheless determined to become an artist, defying the wishes of his father, and is lucky enough to catch the eye of the de facto ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici.

But Leonardo da Vinci is less fortunate. Struggling to find sufficient commissions in Florence, he instead offers his services to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, a violent and dangerous man who Leonardo approaches not as an artist but as an engineer, able to design weapons of war.

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59 minutes

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Wed 11 Dec 2024 01:00

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Credits

Role Contributor
Narrator Sophie Okonedo
Old Michelangelo Charles Dance
Michelangelo Eddie Mann
Leonardo da Vinci Jonny Glynn
Raphael Joshua Duffy
Director Emma Frank
Producer Richard Pearson
Producer Eddie Knox
Consultant Jerry Brotton
Executive Producer Alexander Leith

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