Carlo Roberto Dati

Carlo Roberto Dati (2 October 1619 – 1676) was a Florentine nobleman, philologist and scientist, a disciple of Galileo (1564-1642) and, in his youth, an acquaintance of Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647).

Carlo Roberto Dati
Born12 October 1619 Edit this on Wikidata
Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died1 January 1676 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 56)
Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Resting placeSanto Spirito Edit this on Wikidata
NationalityItalian
Other namesTimauro Antiate
OccupationPhilologist, scientist Edit this on Wikidata
MovementScientific Revolution
FamilyLeonardo Dati Edit this on Wikidata

Biography

Dati was born in Florence. He was first educated under Romolo Bertini,[1] but then learned classical languages from Giovanni Battista Doni.[2]

He befriended Lorenzo Magalotti (1637-1712) and Francesco Redi (1626-1697). In 1668, Redi dedicated his Experiments on the generation of insects to Dati.[3] A founder of the Accademia del Cimento, Dati participated assiduously in its meetings. In 1640, as a 21 year old young man, Dati was admitted as a member to the exclusive Accademia della Crusca. Seven years later, he became secretary for that society, and initiated the work that led to the third edition of the Vocabolario (1691) and wrote the Discorso dell'obbligo di ben parlare la propria lingua (1657), in which he staunchly defended the supremacy of Florentine Italian. In 1645 he became a member of the Accademia degli Apatisti with the anagrammatic pseudonym of “Currado Bartoletti.” On October 1649, he earned the honor of being elected as a permanent member or apatista reggente with the pseudonym of Ardaclito. In 1648, Upon Doni's death, Dati replaced him as professor of classical literature at the Florentine Studio.

He authored many scientific works, including the Lettera ai Filaleti della vera storia della cicloide e della famosissima esperienza dell'argento vivo (translates to Letter to the Filaleti regarding the true story of the cycloid and the well-known experience with quicksilver (mercury), printed Florence, 1663), written under the pseudonym of Timauro Antiate. In it, he claimed the Tuscan - and thus Medicean - priority in the correct interpretation of Torricelli's 1644 experiment, which had sparked a lively discussion all over Europe. He also published many historical, political, and literary works, including the fascinating Vite de' pittori antichi (Lives of Ancient Painters, 1667), dedicated to Louis XIV (1638-1715), and considered the first attempt at a documentary history of painting in classical antiquity.[4] This work earned him a European reputation and was lavishly praised by Pierre Bayle.[4][5]

Dati became a friend of John Milton and Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder during their travels through Florence, and continued a correspondence with them. Dati was only eighteen years old when Milton met him, yet his eloquence and scientific and historical knowledge were already widely acknowledged.[4] In a letter written in Latin, Dati praised the English poet while he was still in Florence; Milton saved this letter and printed it in the testimonia that preface the Latin section of his 1645 Poems. Dati is commemorated in the “emblematic lines” of Milton's Latin poem Epitaphium Damonis when describing in allegorical terms his experiences in Italian academies (Epitaphium Damonis line 137); one of Milton's letters in Latin to Dati survives (dated 21 April 1647), as do two of Dati's letters in Italian to Milton (dated 22 October/1 November 1647 and 24 November/4 December 1648 respectively).[6] Milton listed Dati among his Italian friends in Pro populo anglicano defensio secunda.

In fiction

Carlo Roberto Dati appears in Lorenzo Lippi's Malmantile Racquistato under the anagrammatic name of Alticardo.[7]

Works
  • Lettera a Filaleti di Timauro Antiate della vera storia della cicloide e della famosissima esperienza dell'argento vivo. Florence. 1663.
  • Vite de pittori antichi scritte e illustrate da Carlo Dati nell'Accademia della Crusca lo Smarrito. Florence: Stamperia della Stella. 1667.
  • Esortazione allo studio della geometria. Veglia prima. Florence: Stamperia di Borgo Ognissanti. 1814.

References
  1. Fontani cites Pietro Vettorio the Younger as his teacher of Greek, but he died in 1585. Marco Lastri in Eloji di Uomini Illustri Toscano, Page 459 cites Romolo Bertini.
  2. Fontani, Francesco (1794). Elogio di Carlo Roberto Dati recitato nella Reale Accademia fiorentina nell'adunanza del di 30 di Settembre, 1790. Florence: Gaetano Cambiagi. p. 37.
  3. Tommaso Redi, Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti, Florence, 1668,
  4. Campbell, Gordon; Corns, Thomas N. (2010). John Milton: Life, Work, and Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780199591039.
  5. Bayle, Pierre; Desmaizeaux, Pierre; Tricaud, Anthelme; Gaudin, Alexis (1738). "Zeuxis". The dictionary historical and critical of Mr. Peter Bayle. Vol. 5. London: printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; D. Midwinter; J. Brotherton; A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch. p. 626.
  6. On the Milton/Dati correspondence, see Estelle Haan, From Academia to Amicitia: Milton's Latin Writings and the Italian Academies (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1998), 53–80.
  7. Malatesti, Antonio (2014). Messina, Davide (ed.). La Tina. Equivoci Rusticali. Modern Humanities Research Association. p. 7. ISBN 9781781880524.
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