Antonio Francesco Gori
Anton (io) Francesco Gori (born November 9, 1691 in Florence , † January 20, 1757 ibid) was an Italian archaeologist and priest. The antiquarian made a particular contribution to researching gems and the Etruscans .
Life
Anton Francesco Gori was a student of the Florentine Graecist Anton Maria Salvini . In 1726 he was ordained a priest and entered a Christian order. Gori continued the work of Filippo Buonarrotis , who in turn had continued Thomas Dempster's research on the Etruscans . From 1727 he published these works in an extensive epigraphic compilation, the Inscriptiones antiquae in Etruriae urbibus exstantes , which was highly regarded , as well as Monumentum sive columbarium libertorum et servorum Liviae Augustae et Caesarum. Romae detectum in Via Appia, anno MDCCXXVI . In 1730 he was appointed professor of world and healing history at the Studio fiorentino because of these scientific contributions . Since he moved to Florence he was in close contact with Philipp von Stosch . In 1735 he was one of the co-founders of the Società Colombaria and mainly promoted its branches in Palermo and Livorno . Although Gori, supported by the papal nuncio Domenico Silvio Passionei , raised his hopes, it was not he, but the physician Antonio Cocchi who became an antiquarian at the Uffizi in 1738 , since the new and for a long time the first non- Medici Grand Prince Franz I Stephan at that time The laicization of the Florentine state apparatus was promoted.
After Gori had ended his collaboration with Giovanni Lami's novella Letterarie , he took part in the Giornale de 'letterati , supported by Stosch . In 1743 he became the auditor (pre-censor) of the printed writings in Florence, in 1746 provost at the Baptistery of San Giovanni . When installing a new baroque altar , he took care of the preservation of the old Romanesque altar and the graphic documentation. He was highly regarded as a researcher, which was also reflected in his membership in important scientific and cultural societies. In 1737 Gori became a member of the Accademia della Crusca , 1755 of the Académie royale des Inscriptions et Médailles , the Accademia Etrusca di Cortona , Accademia degli Apatisi , Accademia del Vangelista and the Royal Society . He probably wrote comedy scenarios for the Accademia del Vangelista . After his death, his library was transferred to the University Library of the University of Pisa , the correspondence that has been received is stored in the Biblioteca Marucelliana and most of it can be viewed online. Its collection of antiquities, as well as medieval and renaissance art , which clearly reflected Gori's different areas of interest, is now scattered. His will was very lengthy and therefore the target of some ridicule. He was buried in the Church of San Marco in Florence.
In a bizarre way, Gori went down in history when he took the middle finger of the right hand of the famous researcher during the reburial of Galileo Galilei's body in a monumental grave on March 12, 1737 and kept it in a bottle at the Bibliotheca Medicea handed over.
plant
Gori has written several important works. The first significant writing was the three-volume Inscriptiones antiquae in Etruriae urbibus exstantes , published between 1727 and 1743 . With this he took up older research on the Etruscans and continued them. It was praised above all by Lodovico Antonio Muratori . This work enabled him to research and publish the Columbarium of the freedmen and slaves of Livia . The work Monumentum sive columbarium libertorum et servorum Liviae Augustae et Caesarum, enriched with numerous illustrations and documents . Romae detectum in Via Appia, anno MDCCXXVI was the second publication of the system after it was edited by Francesco Bianchini , but unlike Bianchini, Gori had direct access, which increased the value of the work despite the more superficial architectural representations. The 21 illustrations came from Girolamo Odam , the reconstruction he designed was used by Giovanni Battista Piranesi . Each of the stitches was sponsored by a wealthy patron including Joseph Smith and Thomas Dereham . In 1733 Gori published a translation of the work On the Sublime, attributed to Longino . The text, which was of lasting importance for poetics at that time, was published again and again until the 19th century .
In 1731 Gori began to publish his main work, the Museum Florentinum exhibens insignior vetustatis monumenta quae Florentiae sunt . Until 1743 he published several volumes. In doing so, he was guided by Filippo Buonarroti's principle of order . The aim of the work was the large-scale presentation of the private collections of antiquities in Florence, with sustained support from a consortium of aristocrats for reasons of prestige. The first three volumes are devoted to the glyptic , at work he was under the influence of Baron von Stosch. Gemmology was already important in the Inscriptiones antiquae , here Gori had published gems with name inscriptions . The three following volumes on the coins, which he published according to material and dimensions instead of regions and locations, were received more critically. Another volume with painted vases was planned for 1744, but he did not publish it, possibly because he had doubts about the Etruscan origin of the vases and realized from the Greek inscriptions that they were in fact of Greek origin. So he doubted the authenticity of the Lasimos inscription, which later turned out to be true. The Museum Florentinum was widely used and was published again and again for a long time. There were short versions of the work in French and German translations. Lorenz Natter inspired the work for his Museum Britannicum and Salomon Reinach used the images for his work in 1895. To this day, due to the collections that are now widely spread there, it has great scientific historical value. For the drawings, Gori commissioned Giovanni Domenico Campiglia , Giovanni Domenico Ferretti and Antonio Pazzi, among others .
Another three-volume work followed, the Museum Etruscum exhibens insignia veterum Etruscorum monumenta , published between 1737 and 1743 . Since 1739 the work had caused a long dispute with Scipione Maffei , Maffei held against Gori for a wrong understanding of the Etruscan alphabet based on Louis Bourguet . In addition, the work was criticized because of the extremely uncritical inclusion of controversial artifacts. Gori, for example, interpreted every figurative votive bronze as a representation of a deity, but according to Annibale degli Abbati Olivieri (1740) only four of the 34 bronzes were real. In the 1740s, Gori initially devoted himself to other publication and edition projects. He published various writings and translations by Giovanni Bartolomeo Casaregi and Silvio Silvini as well as a catalog on the oriental, i.e. Arabic , Aramaic and other oriental languages, manuscripts from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana .
Since 1748 Gori published his research in a separate series, the Symbolae litterariae opuscula varia philologica, scientifica, antiquaria, signa, lapides, numismata, gemmas et monumenta medii aevi . Here he published his research and editions in 20 volumes until 1754. In 1750 he and his student Giovanni Battista Passeri published the Thesaurus gemmarum antiquarum astriferarum , that is, on the gems with stars. Once again he devoted himself to the antique gems and showed mature methods in the representational typology. He was no longer able to carry out a planned major work on the gems. As the last major new subject area, Gori took on the discoveries in Herculaneum in the tradition of Ridolfino Venutis in Admiranda antiquitatum Herculanensium descripta et illustrata ad annum 1750 . Two years after Gori's death, Passeri published the work on the late antique diptychs , Thesaurus veterum diptychorum consularium et ecclesiasticorum . Gori's writing Picturae etruscorum in Vasculis about Etruscan vases was published by Passeri in 1767 under his own name.
Publications
- Descrizione della Cappella di S.Antonio arcivescovo di Firenze. 1728.
- Florentinum Museum. (12 volumes), Florence 1731–1762.
- Etruscum Museum. (3 volumes), Florence 1736–1743.
- Vita di Michelagnolo Buonarroti pittore, scultore architetto e gentiluomo fiorentino. 1746.
- Notie del memorabile scoprimento dell'antica città di Ercolano vicina a Napoli. 1748.
- Storia antiquaria etrusca. Florence 1749. ( online )
- with Giovanni Battista Passeri : Thesaurus gemmarum antiquarium astriferarum. 1750.
- Prodomo della Toscana illustrata. 1755.
- Monumenta sacrae vetustatis insigna baptisteri Florentini. 1756.
- Thesaurus veterum diptychorum. (Volumes), 1759.
literature
- Lucia Faedo: Gori, Anton Francesco. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Sp. 483-487.
Web links
- Literature by and about Gori, Antonio Francesco in the catalog of the German National Library
Remarks
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gori, Antonio Francesco |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gori, Anton Francesco |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian archaeologist and priest |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 9, 1691 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Florence |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 20, 1757 |
| Place of death | Florence |