Domenico Augusto Bracci

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Domenico Augusto Bracci , often also Domenico Agostino Bracci , (born October 11, 1717 in Florence , † March 30, 1795 ibid) was an Italian antiquarian and gemologist .

life and work

Domenico Augusto Bracci studied in his native city of Florence and received a broad education, including in law, philology, the art of drawing , architecture and classical studies . Even at this time he was in contact with the well-known gem collector and researcher Philipp von Stosch and followed his work very closely. He was particularly interested in Stosch's work on artist signatures on gems . In 1748 he went to Rome with a letter of recommendation from Stosch's to Cardinal Alessandro Albani . Here he worked as a cicerone (tourist guide) and led mainly English during theirsGrand Tour . He often accompanied them to southern Italy on their visits to Pompeii , Herculaneum and Naples .

During this time Bracci also devoted himself to his own studies and within a short time, thanks to his great knowledge, he gained a high reputation among the Romans and guests interested in this area. Due to his willingness to discuss in coffee houses, he quickly became a well-known original in the city. In particular, he planned to continue von Stosch's work on artist signatures. For this project he won many subscribers from the wealthy guests in Rome . With this money he was able to win engravers like Pietro Antonio Pazzi and Francesco Bartolozzi , who made engravings based on drawings by Giovanni Battista Casanova and Gaetano Savarelli . Bracci suffered a major setback when he was attacked in 1756 and a large part of his records were stolen. Another setback for him was when von Stosch commissioned his competitor Johann Joachim Winckelmann, not him, to publish his collection. For the catalog published in 1760, Winckelmann also used unpublished engravings by Bracci and twice mocked his thoughts on the authenticity of supposed antique gems. As it turned out later, Bracci had been right in his assumptions about the authenticity. After Ridolfino Venuti , the papal antiquarian , died in 1763 , Bracci hoped for this position, which then went to his competitor Winckelmann.

In 1769 Bracci finally left Rome and went back to his hometown Florence. Here he received support in getting his lost copper engravings and drawings back and could devote himself to the publication of his research. In 1771 he published his first work on the late antique silver bowl by Flavius ​​Ardabur Aspar . In the preface he dealt with Winckelmann's criticism, which was anything but conducive to the distribution of the book and met with broad rejection. Although it was completed in 1768, a two-volume work on the signed gems was not published until 1784 and 1786, both in Italian and in Latin. In this work he mainly published the already well-known signed gems from von Stosch's work and only added a few antique, but various supposedly antique modern pieces, which he also identified as such. However, he largely adopted Stosch's attributions and interpretations without criticism. He also took over the engravings from his work, which were of a better quality than those that were available to him. The actual meaning of the work was shown in its appendix, in which he compiled a list of forged and suspicious artist's signatures for the first time. The work, however, could not develop a great effect, a planned third volume was no longer realized. At that time, expensive printing works were replaced by collections of imprints that were cheaper in comparison . After the little success, Bracci planned several other projects, such as a description of ancient Rome, a life story of Caesar , a story of art and a story of the elephants, none of which were implemented. He died in 1795 and his estate was auctioned off.

He was considered to be one of the best connoisseurs of ancient and post-ancient gems of his time, who has sustainably increased knowledge of this research area. In particular, his research on the stone cutter's signatures, culminating in the list of suspicious and false signatures, was an important and lasting contribution to glyptics and honored Heinrich Brunn's respect even in the middle of the 19th century . However, Adolf Furtwängler , the founder of modern gem research, saw his work extremely negatively: "His work is splendid, of very little value alone". Erika Zwierlein-Diehl sees it similarly critical , according to which only 14 of the signatures of the 44 newly edited signed antique gems have proven to be genuine. All in all, he can be classified as a mediocre scholar today and for his time.

He was a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries in London . The medalist Giovanni Zanobi Weber created three commemorative medals for him from 1775.

Fonts

  • Dissertazione sopra un clipeo votivo spettante alla famiglia Ardaburia trovato l'anno MDCCLXIX nelle vicinanze d'Orbetello ora esistente nel museo di SAR Pietro Leopoldo arciduca d'Austria, e granduca di Toscana. Venturini, Lucca 1771 ( digitized version ).
  • Memorie degli antichi incisori che scolpirono i loro nomi in gemme e cammei con molti monumenti inediti di antichità statue bassorilievi gemme opera. 2 volumes, Cambiagi, Florence 1784/1786 (Italian edition, digitized ).
  • Commentaria de antiquis scalptoribus: qui sua nomina inciderunt in gemmis et cammeis cum pluribus monumentis antiquitatis ineditis, statuis, anaglyphis, gemmis. 2 volumes, Cambiagi, Florence 1784/1786 (Latin edition, digitized version ).

literature

  • Giammaria Mazzuchelli : Gli scrittori d'Italia, cioè, notizie storiche e critiche intorno alle vite e agli scritti dei letterati italiani. Vol. 2, 4, Brossini, Brescia 1763, pp. 1946-1947 ( digitized version ).
  • Bartolomeo Gamba : Bracci, Domenico Augusto. In: Emilio de Tipaldo (ed.): Biografia degli Italiani illustri nelle scienze, lettere ed arti del secolo XVIII. Volume 3. Venice 1836, pp. 172-173 ( digitized version ).
  • Nicola Parise:  Bracci, Domenico Augusto. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 13:  Borremans – Brancazolo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1971, pp. 611-613.
  • Helga and Peter Zazoff : Gem collectors and gem researchers. C, H. Beck, Müinchen 1983, ISBN 3-406-08895-3 , pp. 122-127.
  • Miriam Fileti Mazza: Note su Domenico Augusto Bracci, antiquariolo a Roma dal 1747 al 1769. In: Francesco Caglioti, Miriam Fileti Mazza, Umberto Parrini (eds.): Ad Alessandro Conti (1946–1994) (= Quaderni del Seminario di Storia della critica d'arte 6), Pisa 1996, ISBN 88-7642-064-9 , pp. 221-246.
  • Barbara Bacchelli, Marina Carta, Riccardo Garbini, Lucia Suaria: Sfumature e digressioni nel percorso di ricerca nella catalogazione della cartografia storica: una traccia epigrafica. In: Luisa Spagnoli, Marina Carta (ed.): La ricerca e le istituzioni tra interpretazione e valorizzazione della documentazione cartografica. Gangemi, Rome 2010, ISBN 978-88-492-1939-5 , pp. 179-192, here pp. 184-189 ( digitized version ).
  • Stephanie-Gerrit Bruer : Bracci, Domenico Augusto. 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 , column 146 f.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Details on his family and training at Mazzuchelli: Gli scrittori d'Italia, p. 1946. The term “abate” frequently used here and elsewhere suggests that he was ordained a Catholic priest. For his brother Rinaldo Maria Bracci (1710–1757) see Giancarlo Savono:  Bracci, Rinaldo Maria. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 13:  Borremans – Brancazolo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1971. The brother Gio. Gualberto Bracci was the procurator of the Vallombrosans in Florence.
  2. ↑ On the opposition Bracci - Winckelmann see Stefano Ferrai: "Egli eccellente storico, egli ottimo critico, ...": Carlantonio Pilati interprete dell'opera di Winckelmann. In: Giulia Cantarutti, Stefano Ferrari, Paola Maria Filippi (eds.): Il Settecento tedesco in Italia. Gli italiani e l'immagine della cultura tedesca nel XVIII secolo. Il Mulino, Bologna 2001, pp. 417-465, especially pp. 454-460 ( digitized version ).
  3. ^ Heinrich Brunn: History of the Greek artists Volume 2: The painters. The architects. The goal lines. The die cutter. The gem cutters. The vase painters. Ebner & Seubert, Stuttgart 1859, p. 464 ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ Adolf Furtwängler: The ancient gems. History of stone cutting art in classical antiquity. Volume 3: History of stone cutting in classical antiquity . Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig a. a. 1900, pp. 419-420 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Erika Zwierlein-Diehl: Antique gems and their afterlife. De Gruyter, Berlin / Bosten 2007, ISBN 3-11-092040-9 , p. 280.
  6. ^ Nicola Parise:  Bracci, Domenico Augusto. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 13:  Borremans – Brancazolo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1971, p. 613. "... suo valore, che resta quello di un erudito tutto sommato mediocre, privo di capacità di giudizio in fatto di gusto e di arte, corrivo pertanto a grossolani errori di valutazione."
  7. ^ According to self-testimony on the title pages of his books.
  8. ↑ Giuseppe Toderi, Fiorenza Vanneli: La medaglie barocca in Toscana. Florence 1987, p. 267, No. 417-418, plate 140; Baccheli et al. a .: Sfumature pp. 188–189 Fig. 4–5; Arnaldo Turricchia: Le medaglie di Giovanni Zanobi Weber. Rome 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Bracci, Domenico Augusto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bracci, Domenico Agostino; Bracci, Dominicus Agostino; Bracci, Dominicus Augustus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian antiquarian and gemologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1717
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1795
Place of death Florence