Teenage Mutant Ninja Renaissance Painters

Known for many years before their famous appearances on children's prime-time television, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Renaissance Painters were at large in the Italian Mafia as far back as 1492, when Chris Columbus was only just starting to make half-decent films.

Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello were all humble contributors to the Renaissance tradition by day, but by night they formed the most feared and notorious gang of antidisestablishmentarianists since The Boys from the Basilica, defenestrating Protestant backside since 1517.

"La Pita", one of Michelangelo's most famous bakery product sculptures.

Many have questioned these mysterious ninja painters' (and sculptors') intentions, some citing them as more deranged than Vincent Van Gogh on opium, while others have since hailed them as the 15th and 16th centuries' guardians of the Roman Catholic Faith. Some leading historians even go so far as to say they were bribed by the Pope with indulgences. A smaller, but equally reputable group of historians, suggest pizza.

Fanatically loyal to the Pope, their religious terrorist activities in Protestant Europe are legendary, including (but not limited to) the Revolting Peasant's War of 1524, the Diet of Radioactive Worms, the sinking of the Mary Rose, the framing of Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, and (allegedly) placing laxatives in Martin Luther's cornflakes.

Martin Luther, after having a rather nasty laxative in his cornflakes.

While they have long since passed into the alfredo sauce of time, their exquisite paintings and calabunga T.V. show lives on in the hearts of stuffy art collectors and small children everywhere.