ALGAROTTI, FRANCESCO, COUNT (1712-1764), Italian philosopher
and writer on art, was born on the 11th of December 1712 at
Venice, and died at Pisa in 1764. He studied at
Rome and
Bologna, and at the age of twenty went to Paris, where
he enjoyed the friendship of Voltaire and produced his
great work Neutonianismo per le dame, a work on optics.
Voltaire called him his cher cygne de Padoue. Returning
from a journey to Russia, he met Frederick the Great who
made him a count of P
Russia (1740) and court chamberlain
(1747). Augustus III. of Poland honoured him with the title of
councillor. In 1754, after seven years' residence partly in
Berlin and partly in Dresden, he returned to Italy, living
at Venice and then at Pisa, where he died on the 3rd of May
1764. Frederick the Great erected to his memory a monument
on the Campo Santo at Pisa. He was a man of wide knowledge,
a connoisseur in art and music, and the friend of most of
the leading authors of his time. His chief work on art
is the Saggi sopra le belle arti ("Essays on the Fine
Arts"). Among his other works may be mentioned Poems,
Travels in Russia, Essay on Painting, Correspondence.
The best complete edition with biography
was published by D. Michelessi (1791-1794).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed