In Assassin's Creed II, which 15th-century artist is revealed as an Assassin ally?

In Assassin's Creed II, the 15th-century artist revealed as an Assassin ally is Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo meets Ezio Auditore after Ezio's family is forced to leave Florence. He becomes a trusted friend and uses his mechanical and artistic talents to help decipher Codex pages and improve Ezio's equipment. The relationship is fictionalized, but Leonardo was a real Renaissance polymath active in Florence and other Italian courts.

The game uses several authentic features of Leonardo's reputation, including his studies of engineering, anatomy, and flight. It also places him in a broader network of Renaissance figures, but the artist most directly supporting Ezio is Leonardo. Michelangelo and Botticelli were real contemporaries associated with Renaissance Italy, while Raphael was born later and is not the ally depicted in the game.