Alessandro Galilei
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alessandro Maria Gaetano Galilei (25 August 1691 – 21 December 1737) was an Italian mathematician,
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and theorist, a member of the same
patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
family of Galileo.


Biography

Born in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, he received architectural and engineering training from
Antonio Maria Ferri Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
, an outstanding figure of the Accademia dei Nobili, who lectured and wrote a treatise on perspective, fortifications and artillery. With him young Galilei worked on the study of building techniques, stereometry, hydraulics. Visiting English ''
milord ''Milord'' () is a term for an Englishman, especially a noble, traveling in Continental Europe. The term was used in both French and English from the 16th century. It apparently derives ultimately from the English phrase "my lord", which was bo ...
''s were impressed with the classicism of his early designs, and he was invited by a party of English to
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1714. There he participated in a variety of architectural projects, most notably collaborating with the civic engineer Nicholas Dubois. The only other notable Italian architect in London at the time was
Giacomo Leoni Giacomo Leoni (1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an Italian architect, born in Venice. He was a devotee of the work of Florentine Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti, who had also been an inspiration for Andrea Pallad ...
. The two architects shared a classicising bent that appealed to the English but was at odds with current
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
architectural practice in Italy. Nevertheless, aside from a funerary monument, no major commissions were forthcoming. In 1718, Robert, Viscount Molesworth employed Galilei in Ireland. There, when
William Conolly William Conolly (9 April 1662 – 30 October 1729), also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner. Career William Conolly was born the son of an inn-keeper, Patrick Conolly, in Ballysh ...
, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and the richest man in Ireland was just beginning to build
Castletown House Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. Sold to developers in 1965, the estate ...
, near
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in County Kildare, he met Galilei. Galilei designed the façade of the main block of Castletown, the grandest Palladian house in Ireland, but returned to Italy in 1719 and was not associated with the actual construction of the house, which was begun in 1722 and carried through by the young Anglo-Irish architect
Edward Lovett Pearce Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 – 7 December 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of Palladianism in Ireland. He is thought to have initially studied as an architect under his father's first cousin, Sir John Vanbrugh. He is be ...
, who met Galilei in Florence while he was making drawings of Palladio's villas on his tour of Italy. and would introduce
Neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective ...
architecture in Ireland. A portrait of Galilei by Giuseppe Berti, signed and dated 1735, has recently been purchased for Castletown House. Once more in Florence after 1719, Galilei was appointed ''Ingegnere delle fortezze e fabbriche di corte'' ("Engineer of court buildings and fortresses") of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany,
Cosimo III Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinan ...
and Gian Gastone de' Medici, last of the Medici grand dukes, neither of whom, however, could provide him with architectural projects suited to his talents. Galilei's projects during this period included a renovation of the choir of
Cortona Cathedral Cortona Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Cortona, ''Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cortona, Tuscany, central Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It was the seat of the Bishops of Cortona f ...
that featured a severely classical triumphal arch motif, additions to the Villa Venuti, at Catrosse, near Cortona, for Domenico Girolamo Venuti, and a design (1724) for the oratory of the Church of the Madonna del Vivaio (since rebuilt) in
Scarperia Scarperia is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Scarperia e San Piero, located in the Metropolitan City of Florence, in Tuscany, Italy, about north of Florence. It was an independent comune until 1 January 2014. Main sights * Ch ...
, Tuscany. In 1730 the Florentine patrician Lorenzo Corsini was elected as Pope Clement XII and called Galilei to Rome in 1731 to build his family's chapel, the ''Cappella Corsini'' in the
Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...
(completed 1732). During the next six years, Galilei created all of his most notable works, which were executed in a Classical, anti-
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style. The most notable of these was the façade of San Giovanni in Laterano, a commission awarded after a competition (1733–1736). The monumental severity and
palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
character of the façade caused a scandal in Roman artistic circles but was admired later in the century by French and British neoclassicists. Galilei also built the more conventionally Baroque façade for
San Giovanni dei Fiorentini The Basilica of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini ("Saint John of the Florentines") is a minor basilica and a titular church in the Ponte ''rione'' of Rome, Italy. Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the protector of Florence, the new church for the ...
(1734), where the cornice between lower and upper stages breaks forward at center and ends, and niches between engaged
Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...
and sculptural detail all provide the Baroque light-and-shade. He died in Rome.


Notable works


Ireland

*
Drumcondra House Drumcondra House is a Georgian house and gardens in Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland which as of 2022 forms part of the DCU All Hallows Campus and formerly part of All Hallows College. It was designed by the architects Sir Edward Lovett Pearce an ...
, Dublin (1727) - south facade and temple *
Castletown House Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. Sold to developers in 1965, the estate ...
, County Kildare (1718)


Italy

*
San Giovanni dei Fiorentini The Basilica of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini ("Saint John of the Florentines") is a minor basilica and a titular church in the Ponte ''rione'' of Rome, Italy. Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the protector of Florence, the new church for the ...
(1734) - baroque facade * St. John Lateran, Rome (1735)


References


External links


''Catholic Encyclopedia'':
"Alessandro Galilei"

(photograph) Death date in inscription.

(photographs) {{DEFAULTSORT:Galilei, Alessandro 1691 births 1737 deaths Architects from Florence 18th-century Italian mathematicians Scientists from Florence
Alessandro Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baricco ...