Lawrence Torrentinus, also known as Lorenzo Torrentino, Laurentius Torrentinus, Laurens van den Bleeck (1499–1563) was a Dutch-Italian

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

and famous

typographer Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

and

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

for Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence

Biography

Laurentius Torrentinus was born as Laurens van den Bleeck in

Gemert Gemert is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Gemert-Bakel. Gemert was a separate municipality until 1997, when it merged with Bakel. The spoken language is Peellands (an East Brabantian dialec ...

, (Northern Brabant, the Netherlands) as a member of a prosperous family. He probably studied at the municipal Latin School in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

, where

Macropedius Georgius Macropedius (born Joris van Lanckvelt; 23 April 1487 – 23 July 1558) was a Dutch people, Dutch Humanism, humanist, schoolmaster and "the greatest Latin playwright of the 16th century." Biography Macropedius was born as Joris van Lanck ...

was teaching. After that, Torrentinus must have worked for printers and booksellers in Antwerp, Basel, Lyon and

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Since 1532-1533 he lived in Bologna. Here he was a bookseller together with his fellow countryman, the great Greek scholar

Arnoldus Arlenius Arnoldus Arlenius Peraxylus, ( – 1582), born Arndt or Arnout van Eyndhouts or van Eynthouts, also known as Arnoud de Lens, was a Dutch humanist philosopher and poet. He was born in Aarle, near Helmond, (although some accounts say 's-Hertogenbo ...

, operating under the business name "Libreria del Thodesco". Their business was near the San Andrea della Scuole chapel in the centre of Bologna. They imported Latin and Greek books from France and Germany and sold books all over Italy and beyond. Moreover, they were brokers in manuscripts: they made contacts between manuscript owners and authors on the one hand and printers and publishers on the other hand. Torrentinus, who was called Lorenzo Torrentino in Italy, married Nicolosia de Amicis from Bologna on July 14, 1543. He was invited to Florence by the Duke Cosimo de' Medici in 1546. In 1547 he opened his press in Garbo close to the Church of S. Romolo. Being the Duke's printer, Torrentino produced as many as 275 different books. Among them were works of authors such as Alberti, Giovio, Guicciardini, Camillo and Vasari. Torrentino's company flourished and it offered works of high quality. One of his most famous publications was the ''Digesta'', the codification of Roman Law, in 1553. Between 1554 and 1555 he worked in

Pescia Pescia () is an Italian city in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, on the banks of the river of the same name. History Archaeological excavations have suggest ...

. His first wife died between 1552 and 1557. On September 19, 1558, Torrentino married Lucretia Albertinelli, a widow from Florence. In 1562 he was summoned in Mondovì to manage and direct the typography foundry there by will of the Duke Emannuel Filiberto. Lorenzo Torrentino died in Florence on February 2, 1563. The press was later on managed by his sons Leonardo, Romolo and Bonaventura. Lorenzo Torrentino contributed to the interchanging of ideas north and south of the Alps. Moreover, he contributed to the development of the Tuscan and

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

References

* Gustavo Bertoli, 'Contributo alla Biografia di Lorenzo Torrentino Stampatore Ducale a Firenze', in: L. Borgia e.a., eds., ''Studi in onore di Arnaldo d'Addario 2'', Lecce 1995, 657-664 * Domenico Moreni, ''Annali della Tipografia Fiorentina di Lorenzo Torrentino Impressore Ducale'. Edizione seconda, corretta, e aumentata'', Firenze 1819 (first edition: Firenze 1811; reprint Firenze 1989) * Frans Slits, ''Laurentius Torrentinus. Drukker van Cosimo, hertog van Florence'', Gemert 1995; .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torrentinus, Lawrence 1499 births 1563 deaths People from Gemert-Bakel Italian printers Dutch Renaissance humanists Italian Renaissance humanists Dutch typographers and type designers Italian typographers and type designers