Raffaele Garrucci (22 January 1812 – 5 May 1885) was a historian of Christian art. He was born in Naples to a wealthy family, entered the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

at the age of fifteen, and was

professed A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

on 19 March 1853. He devoted himself to the study of the

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

, also to

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

and Christian antiquities; both he and the celebrated

Giovanni Battista de Rossi Giovanni Battista (Carlo) de Rossi (23 February 1822 – 20 September 1894) was an Italian archaeologist, famous even outside his field for rediscovering early Christian catacombs. Life and works Born in Rome, he was the son of Commendatore Cam ...

became the principal disciples of Father Marchi. On his many journeys through Italy, France, Germany, and Spain, he collected much material for his archaeological publications. In 1854 he wrote for Father Charles Cahier's ''Mélanges d'Archéologie'', a study on

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in t ...

. Soon after he edited the notes of Jean L' Heureux on the

catacombs of Rome The Catacombs of Rome ( it, Catacombe di Roma) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either i ...

(in manuscript since 1605); later an essay on the gilded glasses of the catacombs (1858), and another on the Jewish cemetery at the

Vigna Randanini The Vigna Randanini are Jewish Catacombs between the second and third miles of the Appian Way close to the Christian catacombs of Saint Sebastian, with which they were originally confused. The catacombs date between the 2nd and 5th-centuries CE, a ...

. In 1872 he began the publication of a monumental history of early Christian antiquities, entitled ''Storia dell'arte cristiana''. It was destined to include all works of sculpture, painting, and the minor and industrial arts, during the first eight centuries of the Christian Era. It is a general history of early Christian art, and contains five hundred finely engraved plates and explanatory text. Five of the six volumes contain, respectively, the catacomb-frescoes—and paintings from other quarters—

gold glass Gold glass or gold sandwich glass is a luxury form of glass where a decorative design in gold leaf is fused between two layers of glass. First found in Hellenistic Greece, it is especially characteristic of the Roman glass of the Late Empire ...

es, mosaics, sarcophagi, and non-sepulchral sculptures. The first volume is devoted to the theoretical part of the work, i.e. to a history of Christian art properly so called. In this vast collection Garrucci re-edited to some extent materials taken from earlier works. For hitherto unedited materials he used photographs or reproductions of some other kind. His engravings are not always very accurate, and in point of finish are inferior to those obtained by more modern processes. The list of his publications covers 118 numbers on Sommervogel, ''Bibliothèque de la compagnie de Jésus'' (Brussels 1902), III. Among them are the aforementioned ''Storia dell'arte cristiana nei primi otto secoli della chiesa'' (6 vols. Prato 1872—81); ''Dissertazioni archeologiche di vario argomento'' (2 vols., Rome 1864-65); ''Le monete dell'Italia antica, Raccolta generale'' (Rome, 1885). Garrucci died in Rome in 1885.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrucci, Raffaele 1812 births 1885 deaths Italian art historians 19th-century Italian Jesuits Italian numismatists