Carlo Roberto Dati
Carlo Roberto Dati | |
|---|---|
| Born | Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Died | Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Other names | Timauro Antiate |
| Movement | Scientific Revolution |
Carlo Roberto Dati (2 October 1619 – 1676) was a Florentine nobleman, philologist and scientist, a disciple of Galileo (1564-1642) and, in his youth, an acquaintance of Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647).
Biography
Dati was born in Florence. He was first educated under Pietro Vettorio the Younger, but then learned classical languages from Giovanni Battista Doni.[1]
He befriended Lorenzo Magalotti (1637-1712) and Francesco Redi (1626-1697). Redi dedicated his Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti [Experiments on the generation of insects] (Florence, 1668) to Dati. A founder of the Accademia del Cimento, Dati participated assiduously in its meetings. He was admitted as a member of the Accademia della Crusca at the age of 21 year in 1640. He became Secretary for that society in 1647, and initiated the work that led to the third edition of the Vocabolario (1691) and wrote the Discorso dell'obbligo di ben parlare la propria lingua (1657), in which he staunchly claimed the supremacy of Florentine Italian. In 1645 he became a member of the Accademia degli Apatisti with the anagrammatic pseudonym of “Currado Bartoletti.” On October 1649, he earned the honor of being fully elected apatista reggente with the pseudonym of “Ardaclito.” In 1648, Upon Doni's death, Dati replaced him as professor of classical literature at the Florentine Studio.
He authored many scientific works, including the Lettera ai Filaleti della vera storia della cicloide e della famosissima esperienza dell'argento vivo [Letter to the Filaleti regarding the true story of the cycloid and the well-known sterling silver experience] (Florence, 1663), written under the pseudonym of Timauro Antiate. In it, he claimed the Tuscan - and thus Medicean - priority in the correct interpretation of Torricelli's 1644 experiment, which had sparked a lively discussion all over Europe. He also published many historical, political, and literary works, including the fascinating Vite de' pittori antichi (Lives of Ancient Painters, 1667), dedicated to Louis XIV (1638-1715), and considered the first attempt at a documentary history of painting in classical antiquity.[2] This work earned him a European reputation and was lavishly praised by Pierre Bayle.[2][3]
Dati became a friend of John Milton and Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder on their travels through Florence, and continued a correspondence with them. Dati was only eighteen years old when Milton met him, yet his eloquence and scientific and historical knowledge were already widely acknowledged.[2] He lavished praise on Milton in a Latin letter he wrote while Milton was still in Florence; Milton saved the letter and printed it in the testimonia that preface the Latin section of his 1645 Poems. Dati is commemorated in the “emblematic lines” of Milton's Latin poem Epitaphium Damonis when describing in allegorical terms his experiences in Italian academies (Epitaphium Damonis line 137); one of Milton's latin letters to Dati survives (dated 21 April 1647), as do two of Dati's italian letters to Milton (dated 22 October/1 November 1647 and 24 November/4 December 1648 respectively).[4] Milton listed Dati among his Italian friends in Pro populo anglicano defensio secunda.
In fiction
Carlo Roberto Dati appears in Lorenzo Lippi's Malmantile Racquistato under the anagrammatic name of Alticardo.[5]
Works
- Lettera a Filaleti di Timauro Antiate della vera storia della cicloide e della famosissima esperienza dell'argento vivo. Florence. 1663.
- Vite de pittori antichi scritte e illustrate da Carlo Dati nell'Accademia della Crusca lo Smarrito. Florence: Stamperia della Stella. 1667.
- Esortazione allo studio della geometria. Veglia prima. Florence: Stamperia di Borgo Ognissanti. 1814.
References
- ^ Fontani, Francesco (1794). Elogio di Carlo Roberto Dati recitato nella Reale Accademia fiorentina nell'adunanza del di 30 di Settembre, 1790. Florence: Gaetano Cambiagi. p. 37.
- ^ a b c Campbell, Gordon; Corns, Thomas N. (2010). John Milton: Life, Work, and Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780199591039.
- ^ Bayle, Pierre; Desmaizeaux, Pierre; Tricaud, Anthelme; Gaudin, Alexis (1738). "Zeuxis". The dictionary historical and critical of Mr. Peter Bayle. Vol. 5. London: printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; D. Midwinter; J. Brotherton; A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch. p. 626.
- ^ On the Milton/Dati correspondence, see Estelle Haan, From Academia to Amicitia: Milton's Latin Writings and the Italian Academies (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1998), 53–80.
- ^ Malatesti, Antonio (2014). Messina, Davide (ed.). La Tina. Equivoci Rusticali. Modern Humanities Research Association. p. 7. ISBN 9781781880524.
External links
- Museo Galileo. "Carlo Roberto Dati". Catalogue of the Museo Galileo's Instruments on Display. catalogue.museogalileo.it
- Vigilante, Magda (1987). "DATI, Carlo Roberto". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 33: D'Asaro–De Foresta (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Articles with short description
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- 1619 births
- 1676 deaths
- Italian scientific instrument makers
- 17th-century Italian writers
- Italian philologists
- 17th-century Italian scientists
- Scientists from Florence
- Italian Roman Catholics
- People from Florence
- University of Florence faculty