Invention designed by Taccola. Underwater mask with breathing tube. Between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Siena developed a series of technical specialities. Siena's artist-engineers put their skills into practice for their small republic and demonstrated their skill in depicting machines and mechanical systems. The two most prominent Sienese engineers were Mariano di Iacopo, known as Taccola, and Francesco di Giorgio. Mariano di Jacopo detto il Taccola (1382-1453) was an Italian polymath, administrator, artist and engineer of the early Renaissance. He is known for his technological treatises De ingeneis and De machinis, which feature annotated drawings of a wide array of innovative machines and devices.