Evaluations of the intellectual contributions of the Italian Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) are surprisingly varied. Large-scale summations of the merits of his philosophizing bring a diversity of results even from those well versed in Pico's works. In 1934, prior to the great explosion of scholarly studies that occurred during the later part of the twentieth century, Lynn Thorndike would lament that “one cannot but feel that the importance of Pico della Mirandola in the history of thought has often been grossly exaggerated.” Three decades later, however, Frances Yates would complete her account of Pico with the conclusion that “the profound significance of Pico della Mirandola in the history of humanity can hardly be overestimated.” The vast disparity between excessively laudatory and sharply opprobrious appraisals from historians of the past century should not detract from the fact that Pico's work has garnered the interest of famous European intellectuals throughout the centuries, eliciting evaluations from thinkers as dissimilar as Desiderius Erasmus, Niccolò Machiavelli, Johannes Kepler, Pierre Gassendi, and Voltaire, all of whom to some degree bestow praise upon this figure of the Renaissance. Among literary notables, John Donne and John Milton were readers of Pico's writings, and perhaps even William Shakespeare can be added among those influenced by his thought. Even Martin Luther would cast a sympathetic glance when noting Pico's difficulties with church authorities, and Blaise Pascal left evidence of having read some of Pico's works.