February 4th
1498: Death, in Rome, of the Florentine painter and sculptor Antonio del Pollaiuolo, who is buried in San Pietro in Vincoli. His younger brother, and fellow painter, Piero del Pollaiuolo (1443-96) is also buried in the church. 1787: Death, in Rome, of the painter Pompeo Batoni (b. 1708). |
February 7th
1550: Death of the Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli (b. 1493). 1878: Death of Pius IX, the longest-reigning pope in history. Pius IX (r. 1846-78) is buried in the church of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. |
February 9th
1621: Election of Gregory XV (r. 1621-23), who was the last pope to be elected by acclamation. This consisted of all the electors present at a conclave unanimously proclaiming one of the candidates Supreme Pontiff without the formality of casting votes. |
February 13th
1571: Death, in Florence of the goldsmith, sculptor and writer Benvenuto Cellini (b. 1500). Cellini is interred in the church of Santissima Annunziata. 1682: Birth of the Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (d. 1754). 1883: Death, in Venice, of the German composer Richard Wagner (b. 1813). |
February 17th
1652: Death, in Rome, of the composer Gregorio Allegri (b. 1582), who is buried in the Chiesa Nuova. 1653: Birth, in Fusignano, of the composer Arcangelo Corelli (d. 1713). |
February 18th
1455: Death, in Rome, of the Florentine painter Fra Angelico, who is buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. 1564: Death, in Rome, of the sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (b. 1475), better known simply as Michelangelo. 1682: Death of the Venetian architect Baldassare Longhena (b. 1598). 1898: Birth, in Modena, of Enzo Ferrari (d. 1988). |
February 20th
1431: Death of Pope Martin V (r. 1417-31), who is buried in San Giovanni in Laterano. 1816: Premiere, in Rome, of Rossini's opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). 1993: Death of the car designer Ferruccio Lamborghini (b. 1916 ). |
February 21st
1513: Death of Julius II (r. 1503-13), the pope who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. |
February 23rd
1447: Death of Pope Eugenius IV (r. 1431-47). 1821: Death of the English poet John Keats (b. 1796), who is buried in the 'Protestant' Cemetery, in Rome. |