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Raffaele Soprani

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Raffaele Soprani
Portrait of Raffaele Soprani
Born(1612-01-08)January 8, 1612
Died2 January 1672(1672-01-02) (aged 59)
Resting placeChurch of San Francesco di Castelletto
NationalityItalian
Occupation(s)Politician, writer, and painter
Known forVite de' Pittori, scultori ed Architetti Genovesi (1674)
Parent(s)Antonio Maria Soprani and Geronima Oliva

Raffaele Soprani (8 January 1612 – 2 January 1672) was an Italian nobleman and scholar, mainly known for his volume of biographies of Genoese artists and foreign artists working in Genoa, published posthumously in 1674.

Biography

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Soprani belonged to a prominent aristocratic family and served twice as a senator of the Republic of Genoa. He received a broad humanist education and also dabbled in painting, studying under Giulio Benso and Pellegro Piola. Influenced by Sinibaldo Scorza and Gottfried Wals, he became a good landscape painter. In 1640 he married the daughter of the Doge Leonardo Della Torre.[1] His friendship with Benso, and the popularity of Vasari's biographies, led Soprani to collect informations about Ligurian painters, sculptors, and architects. His first synthesis was complete by about 1657, but he continued to revise the manuscript.[2] Soprani's work was published in 1674, two years after the author’s death, enlarged and revised by Giovanni Nicolò Cavanna and illustrated with engravings by Domenico Piola.[3] A second volume was added by Carlo Giuseppe Ratti.

Soprani also published books on the writers of Liguria and select biographies.

Works

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  • Delle vite de' Pittori, scultori ed Architetti Genovesi. Vol. 1. Genoa: nella stamperia Casamara. 1768.
  • Li Scrittori della Liguria, e particolarmente della maritima. Genoa: P. G. Calenzani. 1667.
  • Vita della Venerabile Suor Tomasa Fiesca. Genoa: Benedetto Celle. 1667.
  • Trattato delle Antiche medaglie
  • Vita della Venerabile Donna Anna Soprani

Notes

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  1. ^ Sanguineti 2019.
  2. ^ Ostrowski 1992, p. 177.
  3. ^ Theodoli 2003.

Bibliography

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