Background
Leopoldo Cicognara was born in Ferrara on the 17th of November 1767.
anthropologist archaeologist art historian
Leopoldo Cicognara was born in Ferrara on the 17th of November 1767.
Cicognara resided for some years in Rome, where he devoted himself to painting and the study of antiquities and galleries. Later he visited Naples and Sicily and published at Palermo one of his first works, a poem of no merit. After exploring the island, he betook himself to Florence, Milan, Bologna and Venice, acquiring complete archaeological knowledge of these and other cities.
And in 1808 Leopoldo Cicognara was made president of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, a post in which he did good work for a number of years. In 1808, his treatise Delegate bello regionamenti appeared, dedicated in glowing terms to Napoleon.
This was followed by his magnum opus, the Storia della scultura dal suo risorgimento in Italia al secolo di Napoleone, in the composition of which he had been encouraged and advised by Wilhelm Schlegel. The book was designed to complete the works of Winckelmann and Doctorate' Agincourt, and is illustrated with 180 plates in outline.
In 1814, after the fall of Napoleon, Cicognara was patronized by Francis I of Austria, and between 1815 and 1820 published, under the auspices of that sovereign, his Fabbriche più cospicue di Venezia, two superb folios, containing some 150 plates.
Charged by the Venetians with the presentation of their gifts to the Princess Caroline Augusta of Bavaria at Vienna, Cicognara added to the offering an illustrated catalogue of the objects it comprised. This book, Omaggio delle Provincie Venete alla maestri Carolina Augusta, has since become of great value to the bibliophiles. Reduced to poverty by these splendid editorial speculations, Cicognara contrived to alienate the imperial favor by his political opinions.
Leopoldo Cicognara left Venice for Rome. His library was offered for sale. And, in 1821 he published at Pisa a catalogue, rich in bibliographical lore, of this fine collection, the result of thirty years of loving labor, which, in 1824, was purchased en bloc by Pope Leo XII, and added to the Vatican library. The other works by Cicognara are the Memorie storiche de litterati ed artisti Ferraresi (1811). The Vite de' più insigni pittori e scultori Ferraresi, Mississippi. The Memorie spettanti alla storia della calcografia (1831).
In 1795, Count Leopoldo Cicognara took up his abode at Modena and was for twelve years engaged in politics, becoming a member of the legislative body, a councillor of state, and minister plenipotentiary of the Cisalpine Republic at Turin.