power. With their large fortune, they spent lavishly on art and architecture propelling the progress of Europe as they did their own. Under the leadership of Cosimo, great painters such as Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Alberti, Fra Angelico, and Ucello were commissioned to produce some of the world’s greatest art masterpieces. Cosimo was influential in making Florence the cultural center of Europe and the birthplace of Humanism. Today the throngs of tourists who flock to admire the beauty…