Francesco Algarotti was born in Venice in 1712 and died in Pisa on May 4th, 1764.

After studying at the University of Bologna, he gained European fame with his first work Newtonianesimo per le dame, ovvero Dialoghi sopra la luce e i colori (1737), in which he exposed Newton's theories on light and colours A member of the Royal Society, he was a cosmopolitan and eclectic writer, popular in many European courts. Among his works a series of treatises on language (Sopra la necessità di scrivere nella propria lingua, 1750), opera (Saggio sopra l'opera in musica, 1755), architecture (Sopra l'architettura, 1756), Horace, (Sopra Orazio, 1760), painting (Sopra la pi

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First published 13 September 2004

Citation: Carraro, Laura Favero. "Francesco Algarotti". The Literary Encyclopedia. 13 September 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5830, accessed 21 November 2009.]