author
Luigi Lanzi
1732–1810
A Jesuit scholar turned museum keeper, he helped shape the way people study Italian painting and Etruscan art. His books brought order and storytelling to art history at a time when the field was still taking form.
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. 4 (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
About the author
Born in the Marche in 1732, Luigi Antonio Lanzi became a Jesuit priest and classical scholar before making his name as a historian of art and archaeology. After the suppression of the Jesuit order, he was appointed to work with the galleries in Florence, where close contact with major collections helped guide his lifelong research.
Lanzi is best remembered for Storia pittorica della Italia, a wide-ranging history of Italian painting that organized artists by regional schools and gave readers a clearer way to understand how styles developed across the peninsula. He also studied Etruscan antiquities and language, and his writing on ancient vases and inscriptions made him an important figure in early archaeology as well as art history.
Readers often see Lanzi as a bridge between older antiquarian learning and more modern art-historical method. He died in Florence in 1810, leaving behind work that remained influential for generations.