Cosimo Lotti (1571–1643) was an Italian engineer, scenographer, and landscape designer. He worked around Florence until in his mid-fifties he moved to Madrid where he produced theatrical spectacles for the royal court.
Lotti was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
in 1571 and first became a pupil of
Bernardino Poccetti. He then worked with
Bernardo Buontalenti on the lay out of the
Boboli Gardens and went on to install water features in other gardens. His paintings included a ''Birth of Mary'' for the church of San Giorgio a Castelnuovo in
Prato
Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...
.
In 1626 he left Florence for Spain, at the request of the
Count Duke of Olivares, to join the court of
Philip IV as an engineer. As well as redesigning royal gardens in the Italianate style, particularly involving spectacular fountains, he impressed the King with his cleverly engineered theatrical special effects. This included an extravagant staging of a musical piece in the Italian style with poetry by
Lope de Vega
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
.
Lotti became the organiser of the theatre at the
Palacio del Buen Retiro.
[Lotti's roles in the creation of Buen Retiro are narrated in Jonathan Brown and J.H. Elliott, A Palace for a King: the Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV, 2003.] He was recognised by being given a royal pension and remained in Madrid until his death in 1643.
Sources
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotti, Cosimo
1571 births
1643 deaths
Immigrants to Spain
Engineers from Florence
Italian scenic designers