author
Luigi Lanzi
1732–1810
Remembered as one of the first writers to tell the story of Italian painting as a whole, this Jesuit scholar helped shape how later generations understood art and antiquity. His books blended careful observation, wide learning, and a gift for clear explanation.
6 Audiobooks
The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 3 (of 6) From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
by Luigi Lanzi
The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 5 (of 6) From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
by Luigi Lanzi
The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 4 (of 6) From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
by Luigi Lanzi
About the author
Born in 1732 in the Marche region of Italy, Luigi Antonio Lanzi became a Jesuit priest and scholar with broad interests in language, archaeology, and art. After the suppression of the Jesuit order in 1773, he moved into museum work in Florence, where he served at the Florentine Museum and worked closely with important collections of paintings and antiquities.
Lanzi is best known for his writing on Italian art, especially Storia pittorica della Italia, a pioneering attempt to organize the history of painting by regional schools and artistic development. He also studied Etruscan culture and published major work on ancient painted vases, showing the same patient, cataloging mind that made him valuable as a curator and historian.
He died in Florence in 1810. Though modern scholarship has moved far beyond his era, he remains an important early figure in art history because he helped turn the study of artworks into a more systematic, historical discipline.