Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), Italian poet. Petrarch was born at Arezzo although his family soon after moved to Avignon. He was educated at Montpellier, where he studied law, and Bologna. His work in various clerical offices allowed him time to devote to writing. His first large work was Africa, an epic poem about the general Scipio Africanus. He travelled widely through Europe collecting Latin manuscripts that had fallen into disrepair. His greatest work, the Il Canzioniere is a collection of over 300 sonnets, mostly dealing with his love for a woman named Laura. In later life he travellled around northern Italy as a scholar and diplomat. His attempts to bind classical concepts with his religious beliefs make him one of the earliest Renaissance humanists. This woodcut comes from Giovio's Elogia vivorum litris illustrium, published at Basel in 1577.