Francesco Algarotti

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Francesco Algarotti bigraphy, stories - Philosopher

Francesco Algarotti : biography

11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764

Count Francesco Algarotti (11 December 1712 – 3 May 1764) was an Italian polymath, philosopher, poet, essayist, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was "one of the first Esprits cavaliers of the age," a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and music and a friend of most of the leading authors of his times: Voltaire, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens, Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis and the atheist Julien Offray de La Mettrie.

Life

Algarotti was born in Venice as the son of a rich merchant. His father and uncle were art collectors. Unlike his older brother Bonomo he did not step into the company, but decided to become an author. Francesco studied natural sciences and mathematics in Bologna under Francesco Maria Zanotti and in 1728 he experimented with optics. (Zanotti became a lifelong friend.) He travelled in the North of Italy, but moved to Florence, and Rome. At the age of twenty, he went to Cirey and Paris, where he became friendly with Voltaire and Émilie du Châtelet.In 1740 Voltaire called him the Venetian Socrates, may be 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.Rictor Norton, "John, Lord Hervey: The Third Sex", The Great Queens of History. Updated 8 August 2009 Algarotti left for Italy and finished his Neutonianismo per le dame ("Newtonism for Ladies"), a work on optics (1737), dedicated to Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. Algarotti had made acquaintance with Antiochus Kantemir. In Summer 1739 he left with Lord Baltimore from Sheerness to Newcastle upon Tyne. Because of a heavy storm the ship went to Harlingen.Algarotti dedicated six of the letters that made up his Viaggi di Russia to Hervey; the others to Scipio Maffei. Returning from Saint Petersburg, they visited 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.MacDonogh, G. (1999) Frederick the Great, p. 142-145. In 1741 Algarotti went to Turin as his diplomat. Algarotti did not succeed to have the Kingdom of Sardinia attack Austria in the back.MacDonogh, G. (1999) Frederick the Great, p. 191. Frederick had offered a him salary, but Algarotti refused. First he went to Dresden and Venice, where he bought 21 paintings, a few by Jean-Étienne Liotard and Tiepolo for the court of Augustus III of Poland. at Legion of Honor at Hermitage Amsterdam

Algarotti and the other arts

Algarotti’s Essay on the Opera (1755) was a major influence on the librettist Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni and the composer Tommaso Traetta, and in the development of Gluck’s reformist ideology.Orrey, p. 81 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.Orrey, p. 83

In 1762 Algarotti moved to Pisa, where he died of tuberculosis. After his death Frederick the Great, who several times needed Algarotti writing texts in Latin, sent in a text for a monument to his memory on the Campo Santo in Pisa, Italy.

Also Lord Chesterfield, Thomas Gray, George Lyttelton, Thomas Hollis, Metastasio, Benedict XIV and Heinrich von Brühl were among his correspondents

Gallery

File:Pisa, Camposanto interno.JPG|Algarotti thumbstone on the left in neo-classical style File:Algarotti, Francesco – Tomba a Pisa – Foto Giovanni Dall’Orto.jpg|Tomb of Algarotti in Camposanto di Pisa, designed by Mauro Antonio Tesi. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 170-415, Potsdam, Französische Straße.jpg|Algarotti was involved in the design of the Französische Kirche in Potsdam; picture taken just after the war File:Francesco Algarotti.jpg|Francesco Algarotti by Giovanni Boggi, who copied J.É. Liotard

Works

  • at Digitale Ausgabe der Universitätsbibliothek Trier
  • , 1737. The International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS), University of Bologna
  • "Saggio sopra la pittura"

, Paul Wood