The artist, the philosopher and the warrior - Paul Strathern

In this masterful study, Paul Strathern (author ofThe Medici, andNapoleon in Egypt) details the incidental convergence of three of Renaissance Italy's most brilliant minds.The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warriorfollows Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia through the mountains, remote villages and hill towns of the Italian Romagna. This was a period of extreme significance and considerable danger, not just for themselves, but for the country they were helping to shape.

Borgia has become a byword for brutal and inhuman deeds, marred with the suspicion of incest. Depicted as a savage whose eyes were fixed on the prize of his own kingdom - a province in which he ruled supreme. But he was an educated savage and an unrivalled tactician, relying on surprise and patience.

Leonardo, possessed of the most inquisitive mind of his generation, is the exemplar of the Renaissance man. His paintings and drawings are among the finest and most famous in the world and his notebooks portray intricate scientific and technological investigations. But what led this master thinker to work for the tyrannical Borgia and how did he become involved with Machiavelli?

Machiavelli was the infamous author ofThe Prince- a work that was the culmination of all he had learnt throughout his long political career. Driven by an uncanny understanding of human nature, and the way people behave rather than how theyoughtto behave, Machiavelli became a master politician and diplomatic negotiator, unrivalled in Renaissance Italy.

The legacies of these three men shaped the Renaissance and all that came after it and their impact is still felt today. Paul Strathern's new book is a vivid and gripping account of what happened in one short season in 1502.