This is in fact a translation from Latin of a biography of Pico della Mirandola done by Pico's nephew Giovanni Francesco. It was done when More was a young man and when he was feeling the influence of the Italian renaissance through his correspondence and friendship with Erasmus. The biography is a panegyric and there is much here that More would have admired. Pico was a devout layman exceptionally gifted in intellect, abstemious, noble and prolific with his pen. More might well have seen Pico as an example of the kind of life that he wanted to live himself. This is a fairly short biography but is worth reading for More's translations of the Latin poems that were written by Pico himself and were included in the biography. Some of the poems were in sonnet form and More captures these melancholy verses particularly well keeping the Petrarchan rhyming scheme. ( )

Pico happened to be More's idol in youth, so he made translation of a)biography by nephew Gianfrancesco, b) 2 letters uncle to nephew, c) letter to Andrea Corneus. All in line with Girolamo Savonarola of which both Pico's were followers.