During the last years of the reign of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany – from 1670 until his death in 1713 – the Florentine court faced the inevitable decline of the Medici dynasty. Cosimo’s zeal...Show moreDuring the last years of the reign of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany – from 1670 until his death in 1713 – the Florentine court faced the inevitable decline of the Medici dynasty. Cosimo’s zeal to stimulate industrial and technological innovations and to revitalize commerce resulted in an enormous expansion of correspondence and interchange between the Tuscan court and Europe in the 1660s. Once he came to power, Cosimo developed an interest in merchants who operated in the largest cities of Europe. Given the fact that the Grand Duke had a great fascination for the Dutch Republic, following his double stay there in 1667/1668 and 1669, the importance of Tuscan merchants in Amsterdam outweighed that of Medici traders in other European capitals. Among the scarce surviving correspondence of seventeenth-century Florentine merchants in the Low Countries, the most interesting may be that of Giovacchino Guasconi. During his tenure in Amsterdam as official agent for the Grand Duke, he wrote on average once a week to the Grand Ducal secretary, Apollonio Bassetti (1631-1699). This thesis explores the important role of Giovacchino Guasconi as intermediary between the cultural centres of Florence and Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, in particular his role as book agent between the well-known Dutch philologist Nicolaas Heinsius and Cosimo III.Show less
This thesis attempts to trace the history of a century of book art: from Futurism to the digital era. It brings to attention relevant examples of art works and their creators, proving that the...Show moreThis thesis attempts to trace the history of a century of book art: from Futurism to the digital era. It brings to attention relevant examples of art works and their creators, proving that the evolution of the book-object has now reached another revolutionary point, similar to the one that allowed the Futurist movement to flourish. The thesis finds its inherent relevance in the sense of emergency that today surrounds both book studies and the paper book. Furthermore, it covers a less explored niche, as it refers only in passing to artists’ books. This paper wishes to shed light on the alternative life of the printed books – forgotten, discarded, abandoned – and, ultimately, to prove that contemporary book art is mostly a product of the insecurities of the digital medium. In focusing on the visual and intellectual reinterpretation of the book, it will ultimately reflects upon the future of the book this age of digital uncertainty.Show less
