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 Lorenzo della Volpaia
Lorenzo della Volpaia (Florence, 1446 - 1512) was an architect, joiner, goldsmith and mathematician, but above all a clockmaker, and the founder of the della Volpaia family of clockmakers and scientific instrument makers. As an architect we know that he participated in the competition for the facade of S. Maria del Fiore in Florence in 1491. As a clockmaker, he gained honour and fame with the construction of the planetary clock commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent as a gift for Mattia Corvino, but later donated to the Signoria to be placed in the clock room of the Palazzo Vecchio. The clock was restored in 1560 by his grandson Girolamo. Lorenzo, probably a friend of Leonardo da Vinci, who was cited in his son Benvenuto's notebook, participated in discussions on the doors of Santo Spirito and on the placing of the David. Like Giuliano da Sangallo, he suggested that it should be placed in the Loggia dei Signori. His workshop in via degli Albertinelli, later renamed via dell'Oriuolo, was inherited and directed by his sons for the whole of the century.

For instruments by Lorenzo della Volpaia, see:
   Nocturnal And Quadrant, Signed by Lorenzo della Volpaia, Florence, Dated 1511 (Firenze, IMSS)

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