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ANTONIO MAGLIABECCHI, LIBRARIAN AT FLORENCE
GENNARO, Maria Antonio de: Italy, 1710, Bronze, 45 mm
Obv: Bust of Magliabecchi ANTONIVS MAGLIABECHIVS FLORENTINVS
Rev: Magliabecchi, seated beneath a tree in garden reading, with books on
the ground and Philosopher (or beggar) in the background
SCIRE NOSTRVM
REMINISCI (Remember Our Knowledge)
Signed: ANT. DE IANVARIO F
Ref: Molinari 53/186; Forrer II, p.240 (ill); Europese Penningen #
1462; Gaetani, Museum Mazzucchellianum II, 233;
Rizzini I, 163, 1095; Thieme-Becker 13, p. 394; Weiss BW139
Antonio Magliabecchi (also Magliabechi) (1633-1714), the son of Marco
Magliabecchi, burgher, and Ginevra Baldorietta, was a scholar and Granducal
Librarian to Cosimo III de'Medici. Although Magliabecchi was apprenticed to
a goldsmith, and worked in this capacity until his fortieth year, Michele
Ermini, librarian to Cardinal de' Medici, recognized his academic ability
and taught him Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Magliabecchi had an astonishing
memory and acquired an unusual amount of knowledge. In 1673 he became
librarian to Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany, thus attaining the ambition
of his life.
Magliabecchi became the central figure of literary life in Florence, and
scholars of every nation sought his acquaintance and corresponded with
him. He not only knew all the volumes in the library, as well as every
other possible work, but could also tell the page and paragraph in which
any passage occurred. In private life Magliabecchi was an eccentric old
bachelor, negligent, dirty, slovenly, always reeking with tobacco, engaged
in study at his meals, a Diogenes in his requirements. Every room in his
house, and even the corridors and stairs, were crowded with books. He died
at the monastery of Sta. Maria Novella. He left his books (30,000 volumes)
to the Grand Duke to be used as a public library; his fortune went to the
poor. The Magliabecchiana was combined with the grand-ducal private library
(Palatina) by King Victor Emmanuel in 1861, the two forming the Biblioteca
Nazionale. (taken, in part, from the Catholic Encyclopedia)
The figure in the background on the reverse of
this medal may be that of Diogenes, who is often depicted as a poor,
balding man leaning hunched over on a staff, although the lamp often
associated with Diogenes is not present.
LINK to
Diogenes
(from The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
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