Algarotti, Francesco, Count |
| AUTHOR, POET, ART CRITIC (ITALY) |
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BORN 11 Dec 1712, Venezia, Veneto - DIED 3 May 1764, Pisa, Toscana CAUSE OF DEATH tuberculosis GRAVE LOCATION Pisa, Toscana: Campo Santo, Piazza del Duomo |
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Francesco Algarotti was the son of a rich merchant and art collector. He studied natural sciences and mathematics in Rome and Bologna. His teacher Francesco Maria Zanotti became a lifelong friend. When he was twenty hetravelled to Paris, where he met and befrieded Voltaire. Two years later in London he was in a love affair with John Hervey and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Back in Italy he published "Neutonianismo per le dame" (1737). He visited Russia and was present when Frederick the Great was crowned in Königsberg. Frederick enobled him in 1740 and he travelled with Frederick to Bayreuth, Strasbourg and other places. He worked as a diplomat for Frederick and during a visit to Venice he bought 21 paintings. In 1749 in Berlin he finished architectural designs of Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and by 1759 he worked on a new style of Opera in Parma. His "Essay on the Opera" (1755) was an important influence to Gluck's opera "Orfeo ed Euridice". In 1762 he moved to Pisa, where he died in 1764. Related persons • has a connection with Friedrich II der Grosse, König von Preussen • was a friend of Voltaire |
| Images |
 The tomb of Frederico Algarotti at the Campo Santo, Pisa. Picture by Androom (06 Feb 2011) |
Sources • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909 • Francesco Algarotti - Wikipedia (EN) |
