Is Lord Prospero Visconti of Milan the Model for Lord Prospero of The Tempest?

Scholars have long considered that Prospero in The Tempest represented the great author himself, William Shakespeare, a magus that conjures plays on the "island" of the theater. But they also searched for an historical figure upon whom Prospero may have been based, a deposed Italian duke who sought refuge in the liberal arts-especially since Prospero is a name unique to the Shakespeare canon. Here, Chiljan demonstrates that the Renaissance Italian politician Prospero Visconti was the main source for Shakespeare's portrayal of the magus in The Tempest.