Leonardo Agostini (19 September 1593 – August 1676) was an Italian

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

of the 17th century, born in Boccheggiano, near

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

Life

Agostino was employed for some time as ''antiquario'' to

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Francesco Barberini to collect works of art for the recently constructed

Palazzo Barberini The Palazzo Barberini () is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome. History Around 1549 Cardinal ...

. His letters to the

Barberini The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban pal ...

family during their period of disgrace and exile (1646–50) have provided

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

s with information on the archaeological activity of the time. Appointed superintendent of antiquities in the Papal States by

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII (; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death, in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, and he held various d ...

, he directed excavations in Rome at the

Forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

and at the

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

near the church of

San Lorenzo in Panisperna The church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna is a Roman Catholic church on Via Panisperna, Rome, central Italy. It was previously known as "San Lorenzo in Formoso". It was erected on the site of its dedicatee's martyrdom. It is one of several church ...

, where he discovered the " Barberini Hera". In 1649 he issued a new edition of Filippo Paruta's ''Sicilian Medals'', with engravings of 400 additional specimens. In conjunction with

Gian Pietro Bellori Giovanni Pietro Bellori (15 January 1613 – 19 February 1696), also known as Giovan Pietro Bellori or Gian Pietro Bellori, was an Italian art theorist, painter and antiquarian, who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Artists'', considered t ...

(1615–1696) he published ''Gemme antiche figurate'', a work on antique

engraved gems An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...

, in two volumes (Rome, 1657 and 1669); the first was devoted entirely to Cardinal Francesco's collection, which Agostini had assembled for the papal nephew, and the second to cameos and other discoveries from the ''auguste ruine della gran Roma'' (the "august ruins of great Rome"). The work, which grouped the gems according to the themes represented, was translated into Latin by

Jakob Gronovius Jacobus Gronovius a.k.a. Jacob Gronow (10 October 1645 – 21 October 1716) was a Dutch classical scholar. He was born in Deventer, the son of the German classical scholar Johann Friedrich Gronovius and Aleyda ten Nuyl, and father of the b ...

in Amsterdam, 1685. Agostini was acquainted with all the Roman

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

s of his day, including Bellori,

Cassiano dal Pozzo Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588 – 22 October 1657) was an Italian scholar and patron of arts. The secretary of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, he was an antiquary in the classicizing circle of Rome, and a long-term friend and patron of Nicolas Poussin ...

and

Andrea Sacchi Andrea Sacchi (30 November 159921 June 1661) was an Italian painter of High Baroque Classicism, active in Rome. A generation of artists who shared his style of art include the painters Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Passeri, the sculptor ...

; he preserved a volume of

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...

's ephemeral caricature sketches.Anne Summerscale, ed. (conte Carlo Cesare Malvasia), ''Malvasia's Life of the Carracci: Commentary and Translation'', 2000:270

Opere

* ''Notizia generale delle medaglie più rare battute nella Grecia dette medaglie greche, da Pompeio Magno sino a Claudio II detto Gothico'', seguita da una ''Serie degli Imperatori, Imperatrici e persone illustri antiche delle quali sono state battute le medaglie da Giulio Cesare sino ad Eraclio'' (

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

, Vat. Lat. 8243, cc. 1-249); * ''Il sacro Gieroglifico del nome di Christo col celeste titolo della vittoria di Costantino contro Massentio - Medaglia di Leonardo Agostini'' (Biblioteca Angelica, Roma, ms. 1628, cc. 182-186). * * * * *

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agostini, Leonardo 1593 births 1669 deaths People from Siena Italian antiquarians