Alessandro Galilei
Alessandro Galilei | |
---|---|
Born | Florence, Italy | 25 August 1691
Died | 21 December 1737 Rome, Italy | (aged 46)
Nationality | Italian |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Architecture, mathematics |
Alessandro Maria Gaetano Galilei (25 August 1691 – 21 December 1737) was an Italian mathematician, architect and theorist, and a distant relative of Galileo Galilei.
Biography
Born in
Visit to England
Visiting English milords were impressed with the classicism of his early designs, and he was invited by a party of English to London 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. The two architects shared a classicising bent that appealed to the English but was at odds with current Baroque architectural practice in Italy. Nevertheless, aside from a funerary monument, no major commissions were forthcoming.
Visit to Ireland
In May 1717,
Return to Florence
Once more in Florence after 1719, Galilei was appointed Ingegnere delle fortezze e fabbriche di corte ("Engineer of court buildings and fortresses") of the
In 1730 the Florentine patrician Lorenzo Corsini was elected as
Galilei also built the more conventionally Baroque façade for San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (1734), where the cornice between lower and upper stages breaks forward at center and ends, and niches between engaged Corinthian columns and sculptural detail all provide the Baroque light-and-shade.
He died in Rome.
Notable works
Ireland
- Drumcondra House, Dublin (1727) - likely had some input into the design of the south facade and temple folly
- Castletown House, County Kildare (1718) - drawings which were later partially executed by Edward Lovett Pearce.
- St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin (1715) - designed a church for the site without a tower, elements of this design were later incorporated into the finished building
- St. Ann's Church, Dawson Street (1719) - completed drawings of a proposed entrance elevation for the church which were later completed by Isaac Wills of Thomas Burgh's office
Italy
- San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (1734) - baroque facade
- St. John Lateran, Rome(1735)
References
- ^ Tre artisti per riscoprire Firenze Archived 2006-05-06 at the Wayback Machine
- . Retrieved 24 August 2023.
- ^ Florence and Central Italy, 1600–1800 A.D.
- ^ Kieven, Elisabeth. Die römische Architekturzeichnung im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert, Entwicklung und Ästhetik.
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: "Alessandro Galilei"
- Castletown House: introduction
- Wall monument to Alessandro Galilei, Santa Croce, Florence (photograph) Death date in inscription.
- Rome ArtLover: the façade of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (photographs)