MARSILIO FICINO Beauty is the harmony which love desires Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) was a major Italian Neo-Platonist philosopher of the Renaissance. He was born near Florence, spent most of his career under the patronage of the Medici family, and was also the tutor of Lorenzo the Magnificent. For Ficino, the task of the philosopher is to interpret and develop historical treasures of wisdom, since wisdom gradually manifests itself through history. He saw himself as a Platonist, although he went far beyond...