Paolo Falconieri tra scienza e arcadia.
Le collezioni di un intellettuale del
tardo barocco romano
Francesca Curti
The volume reconstructs the fgure of one among late-Seicento most appreciated intellectuals, Paolo Falconieri, through the analysis of unpublished documents and a philological examination of historical sources. Paolo belonged to an important Florentine family that moved to Rome at the end of the sixteenth-century. His interests embraced art, science, and literature. He was a member of the Accademia del Cimento, and later of the Arcadia. As a well-known art expert, he became acquainted with such artists as Ciro Ferri and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and he was an agent of cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici and of the Grand Duke Cosimo III. Thanks to his deep knowledge of the art market in Florence and Rome, he enriched his family collection with masterpieces of Venetian Cinquecento painting and with works of Bernini and Salvator Rosa.Interesting novelties are presented in the book regarding the collections of other members of the Falconieri family, namely Paolo Francesco and monsignor Francesco, and on single artworks by Andrea Sacchi, Guercino, Rafaello and Poussin.