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 ( ; 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 ...

in 1571 and first became a pupil of

Bernardino Poccetti Bernardino Poccetti (26 August 1548 – 10 October 1612), also known as Barbatelli, was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker of etchings. Biography Born in Florence, he was initially trained as a decorator of facades and ceilings, enroll ...

. He then worked with Bernardo Buontalenti on the lay out of the

Boboli Gardens The Boboli Gardens ( it, Giardino di Boboli) is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, ...

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 ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 ...

. 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. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literatur ...

. Lotti became the organiser of the theatre at the

Palacio del Buen Retiro Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect Alonso Carbonell (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recre ...

.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.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotti, Cosimo 1571 births 1643 deaths Engineers from Florence Italian scenic designers