Francesco Algarotti
| Francesco Algarotti | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 11 December 1712 |
| Died | 3 May 1764 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | Philosopher |
Count Francesco Algarotti (11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764) was an Italian philosopher, essayist and art critic.
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[edit] Life
Algarotti was born in Venice as the son of a rich merchant. He studied at Rome for a year, and then Bologna, where he studied natural sciences and mathematics. He moved to Florence, but at age of twenty, he went to Paris, where he became friendly with Voltaire. Voltaire called him his "cher cygne de Padoue" ("dear swan of Padua"). Two years later he was in London, where he was made a fellow of the Royal Society. He became embroiled in a lively bisexual love-triangle with the politician John Hervey, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Algarotti left for Italy and produced his Neutonianismo per le dame ("Newtonism for Ladies"), a work on optics (1737). Algarotti later dedicated six of the letters that made up his Viaggi di Russia to Hervey. Returning with Lord Baltimore from a journey to Russia, he met Frederick the Great in Rheinsberg. Algarotti had obligations and came back the year after. Algarotti went with Frederick to Königsberg where he was crowned.
Frederik, who was impressed with this walking encyclopedia made him and his brother Bonomo Prussian counts in 1740. Algarotti accompanied Frederick to Bayreuth, Kehl, Strasbourg and Moyland Castle where they met with Voltaire, who was taking baths in Kleve for his health. In 1741 Algarotti went to Turin as his diplomat. Algarotti did not succeed to have the Kingdom of Sardinia attack Austria in the back. Frederick had offered a him salary, but Algarotti refused. First he went to Dresden and Venice, where he bought paintings by Jean-Étienne Liotard for the court of Augustus III of Poland.
Algarotti's choice of works reflects the encyclopedic interests of the Neoclassic era; he was uninterested in developing a single unitary stylistic collection, he envisioned a modern museum, a catalogue of styles from across the ages. For contemporary commissions, he wrote up a list for paintings he recommended commissioning, including to ask of history paintings from Tiepolo, Pittoni, and Piazzetta; scenes with animals from Castiglione, and veduta with ruins from Pannini. He wanted "suggetti graziosi e leggeri" from Balestra, Boucher, and Donato Creti.
In 1747 Algarotti went back to Potsdam and became court chamberlain, but left no long after, to visit the archeological diggings at Herculaneum. In 1749 he was back in Potsdam. It seems he was involved in the production of operas and involved in finishing the architectural designs of Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff who had fallen ill. It was probably Algarotti who introduced his friend Tiepolo to Karl Philipp von Greifenclau zu Vollraths where he painted his masterwork on the ceiling of the main hall of the bishopric residence. In February 1753, after several years residence partly in Berlin and Potsdam he returned to Italy, living at Padua, Venice, Parma. In 1759 Algarotti was involved in a new opera-style in the city of Parma, He influenced Guillaume du Tillot and the Duke of Parma.
Algarotti's Essay on the Opera (1755) was a major influence in the development of Gluck's reformist ideology.[2] Algarotti proposed a heavily simplified model of opera seria, with the drama pre-eminent, instead of the music or ballet or staging. The drama itself should "delight the eyes and ears, to rouse up and to affect the hearts of an audience, without the risk of sinning against reason or common sense". Algarotti's ideas influenced both Gluck and his librettist, Calzabigi writing their Orfeo ed Euridice.[3]
Algarotti moved to Pisa, where he died of tuberculosis. Frederick the Great erected to his memory a monument on the Campo Santo at Pisa. He was "one of the first beaux esprits of the age", a man of wide knowledge, a connoisseur in art and music, and the friend of most of the leading authors of his time.
[edit] Works
His chief work on art is the Saggi sopra le belle arti ("Essays on the Fine Arts"). Among his other works were Poems, Travels in Russia, Essay on Opera, Essay on architecture, Essay on Painting, and Correspondence.
- Correspondence with Frederick the Great
- Il newtonianismo per le dame, 1737. The International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS), University of Bologna
[edit] References
- ^ Walter Koschatzky (Hrsg.): Maria Theresia und ihre Zeit, p. 313. Zur 200. Wiederkehr des Todestages. Ausstellung 13. Mai bis 26. Oktober 1980, Wien, Schloß Schönbrunn. Im Auftrag der Österreichischen Bundesregierung veranstaltet vom Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Gistel, Wien 1980.
- ^ Orrey, p. 81
- ^ Orrey, p. 83
[edit] Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.- Haskell, Francis (1993). "Chapter 14". Patrons and Painters: Art and Society in Baroque Italy. 1980. Yale University Press. pp. 347–360.
- Laura Favero Carraro. "Francesco Algarotti". The Literary Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert Clark, Emory Elliott and Janet Todd.
- MacDonogh, G. (1999) Frederick the Great. New York: St. Martin's Griffin
- Orrey, Leslie; Rodney Milnes (1987). Opera, a concise history. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20217-6.
[edit] External links
- Online books by F. Algarotti
- Francesco Algarotti's House in Venice is a luxury apartment [1]
- Works by or about Francesco Algarotti in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
