Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell'Accademia del Serenissimo Principe Leopoldo di Toscana e descritte dal Segretario di essa Accademia Lorenzo Magalotti
Varie Operette Del Conte Lorenzo Magalotti: Con Giunta Di Otto Lettere Su Le Terre Odorose D'europa E D'america Dette Volgarmente Buccheri, Ora Pub. Per La Prima Volta
Scelta di Curiosita Letterarie Inedite o Rare dal Secolo XIII Al XVII in Appendice Alla Collezione di Opere Inedite o Rare. Dispensa CXCVI. Le Regole Della Trappa
Count Lorenzo Magalotti was a Tuscanian diplomat, philosopher, and scientist. He read law, medicine, and mathematics in Pisa. He was a secretary of the Tuscan Accademia del Cimento and traveled to the Netherlands, England, Spain, and Portugal. He was the adviser of State to the new Grand Duke of Tuscany, who appointed him as a Tuscan ambassador to the Imperial Court of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna.
Background
Lorenzo Magalotti was born on October 24, 1637, in Rome to a Florentine aristocratic family. He is the son of Orazio Magalotti, Prefect of the Pontifical Mail and Francesca Venturi. His uncle Lorenzo Magalotti was a member of the Roman Curia and the cousin of Urban VIII and one of Urban's most trusted advisers. His cousin Filippo was rector at the University of Pisa. Orazio Magalotti, wealthy by inheritance, was a spendthrift. He went to Rome (where Lorenzo was born) with Urban to maintain his diminishing fortune, which he did. He was named to the Roman nobility and was employed, inter alia, as a papal ambassador. Despite the father's prodigality, one has to say that Lorenzo grew up in wealthy circumstances.
It is difficult to figure, from the existing literature, how extensive the estate that Magalotti inherited was. His extravagant father was frequently more of a burden than anything else. In 1679 Magalotti also inherited something (which he found to be too little) from a brother. He owned two estates from which he received rents. He had (the time is around 1695) 47,000 scudi in the land, from which he received a net income of only 600 scudi.
Education
After an early education at home, Magalotti was sent to the Jesuit Roman College at age 13 (probably in 1651 then) where he studied four years and to the University of Pisa in 1656 where he studied three. In Pisa, he studied law and medicine and was taught by such well-known figures as Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-1679). In Florence Vincenzo Viviani (1622-1703), one of the last pupils of Galileo, became his friend and mentor and he changed his sphere of interests to mathematics.
Lorenzo Magalotti was one of the first ten members of the Accademia del Cimento, which was founded in Florence in 1657 by Ferdinando II de' Medici and his brother Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici with whom Magalotti worked as a secretary, and which lasted only until 1667. Since 1660 Magalotti was the secretary of the Academy and reported its activity in the Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell’ Accademia del Cimento (Florence, 1667), essays on natural experiments mainly carried out by Borelli, Redi, and Vincenzio Viviani. The volume immediately attracted considerable interest and was translated into English and Latin. At this period Magalotti becomes Prince Leopoldo's main talent scout abroad. In 1661, when the family finances were in disarray, Magalotti went to Rome to obtain an ecclesiastic benefice to increment his income. He failed, but not long thereafter he became a Gentleman of the Chamber, a position that carried a stipend of some sort. In 1669 Magalotti composed for Pope Alexander VII an essay on the use of the instruments of the Accademia that were being presented to him. In recompense, the Pope gave Magalotti a so-called Spanish pension worth 50 scudi a year for six years. He also participated in the Acaddemia della Crusca and the Accademia degli Arcadii under the name of Lindoro Elateo.
In 1667, however, he abandoned scientific studies and embarked on a series of travels as a diplomat in the service of the Medicis, which enabled him to become familiar with much of Europe and inspired many of his writings. He traveled extensively, first privately, then as a diplomat for Grand Duke Ferdinand II (1610-1670) and later for Grand Duke Cosimo III (1642-1723). In 1667 Magalotti had made a pilgrimage to the blessed bones of the divine poet at Ravenna. Magalotti had met Sir John Finch and Henry Neville, he had improved his English and with his boyhood friend Paolo Falconieri, an architect, he made plans to visit Northern Europe. On 12 November 1667 Magalotti arrived in Utrecht to visit Johann Georg Graevius.
In 1672 he was, against his will, put in charge of the Grand Duke's museum. He visited Brussels, Cologne, the United Provinces, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm in 1673/1674 as a Tuscan ambassador. In 1675-1678 he was an ambassador to the Imperial Court of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna. In 1678, a sudden break in his relations with Cosimo III interrupted his dazzling scholarly career and journeys. Magalotti retired for a decade from public life, dedicating himself to the writing of Lettere familiari, published posthumously in Venice in 1719.
In 1689, he returned to public life - as "Third Counsellor of State" - and a prolific writing career: during these years he began his Lettere su le terre odorose d'Europa e d'America dette volgarmente buccheri. In September 1693 he became the First Counsellor of State. He remained so for the next twenty years, devoting himself mostly to his office, moving very little from Florence.
Magalotti published very little during his lifetime; his writings, which were much in demand, were circulated mostly in manuscript form and were not published until after his death. The most notable were the then celebrated Lettere contro l’ateismo his short stories and poetic works, his many letters on scientific and other scholarly topics, and the singular essays on odors. At some point, Magalotti became so interested in linguistics that he became involved in the Italian dictionary that was being prepared by the Accademia della Crusca.
Lorenzo Magalotti carried on an extensive correspondence, at least some of which has been published. Among his correspondents were Michelini, Viviani, and Redi, all of whom were Magalotti's close friends. Magalotti became a friend of Steno when he came to Florence. In England, he formed a friendship with Robert Boyle.
Lorenzo Magalotti was one of the most versatile spirits of his age and country. Yet in his time he acquired considerable fame. His impact on intercultural and scientific communication in the Europe of his time can not be overestimated. Due to his efforts, a great number of scientific figures managed to establish contact between each other or find financial support for their research. Via Lorenzo Magalotti in Rome was named after dedicated to him.
Magalotti had an uncle who was a cardinal, a brother who was an abbot, and five sisters who were nuns. For a few months in 1691, he himself was a brother in the Oratory of S. Filippo Neri, until he decided that he had no vocation for the religious life.
Politics
As a First Counsellor of State Lorenzo Magalotti distinguished himself by a clear Anglophilic slant in foreign policy.
Views
First a Galilean, then a free-thinker and friend of Saint-Évremond, and finally a follower of Pierre Gassendi's (1592-1655) corpuscularian philosophy, Magalotti experienced the contrast between the new science and religious orthodoxy to the full. He espoused ascetic practices that, for a while, led him to take the habit of the congregation of San Filippo Neri. The tension between new science and religious orthodoxy informs his anti-atheist Lettere familiari.
Lorenzo Magalotti was in the service of the Medici court virtually all of his life. Magalotti detested his servile position which he nevertheless never succeeded in leaving permanently. His only serious idea of how to leave, and it may well have been the only realistic alternative, was to enter another service, for example, that of Cardinal Chigi. In 1691 Magalotti simply abandoned the court, without a by-your-leave, and entered the Oratory of S. Filippo Neri. It lasted only a few months. He returned to Florence and, as soon as he could, to his position at court.
Magalotti knew as well as anyone that a scientifically valid explanation of the comet of 1664 could have made an important contribution to an explanation of the whole solar system. But instead of attempting one, he amused himself with the obviously ridiculous thesis that the tail of the comet was an optical illusion. As soon as he saw Cassini's much more penetrating and much better-informed explanation, he admitted that he cared no more for comets than for rainbows.
Membership
Lorenzo Magalotti was the secretary of the Accademia del Cimento, but his role in it extended only to composing the Saggi. On a visit to London, he was received into the Royal Society. He was also a member of the Accademia della Crusca and of the Arcadia.
Secretary
Accademia del Cimento
,
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
1660 - 1667
Royal Society
,
Kingdom of England
Accademia della Crusca
,
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi
,
State of the Church
Personality
Lorenzo Magalotti was the consummate courtier, and that once introduced into the Medicean court, late in 1659, he immediately attracted attention, especially the attention of Prince Leopold.
Lorenzo Magalotti had many gifts and a complex personality. He has the distinction of having written the best scientific prose in Italian after that of Galileo; his descriptions of experiments in physics are written in colorful, almost dramatic, language. His contacts with different cultures enriched and gave freedom to his expression, which led his contemporaries to believe that his style showed too much foreign influence. His literary style is characterized by lively prose and brilliant witticisms, which express his character as a man of the world but also may serve to disguise the spiritual disquiet which led him to enter a monastery for a few months in 1691. Magalotti seems in some ways a very modern figure, with acute critical abilities and a questioning mind, characterized also by a certain world-weariness.
Interests
Philosophers & Thinkers
Galileo Galilei
Writers
Charles de Saint-Évremond, Dante Alighieri
Connections
In 1680 his brother found him a rich widow in Naples, but he told the negotiators he had become impotent, but Magalotti decided that he was better suited for some sort of intellectual activity. He was never married and has no known children.
