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| Titolo | Scienza ed arte: Giovan Battista Amici e i Ceraioli. |
|---|---|
| Autore | Maugini, E. |
| Autori | () |
| Informazione Bibliografica / Fonte | Atti della Società Toscana di Scienze Naturali, Memorie. Serie B, 94 (1987), p. 1-24 |
| Lingua / Fonte | ITA |
| Editore | [Pisa : Grafiche Pacini Editore] |
| Tipo Documento | journal-article |
| Anno di Pubblicazione | 1987 |
| Abstract in Lingua Inglese | This paper is a part of the bicentenary celebrations of the birth of one of the most versatile of scientists - Giovan Battista Amici (1786-1863) - a master physicist, engineer, astronomer and biologist. The principale stages of his life are briefly recapitulated on the basis of qhat has been reported by the diverse scholars who have honoured him by writing his biography and thank to a private unedited diary. The former sources include the work of such diverse scholars as: Mohl (1863); Targioni Tozzatti (1863); Donati (1864; Palermo (1870); Storchi (1878); Briosi (1908); Pagnini (1918); De Toni (1923); Brunetti (1924); Schiff (1928); Abetti (1929, 1960); Di Pietro (1961); Savelli (1963) and Ronchi (1963, 1981). The later source reveals the unknown figure of Amici as presented in the united diary of Filippo Parlatore. Said diary is also unpublished, with the exception pf the passages pertaining to Amici (Bonelli, 1961). The Amici described by Parlatore is rather different to the one presented in writings to date. Thus, thanks to his diary we have been able to discover particular aspects of Amici, the man, which enable us to make diverse considerations which will be discussed in this paper. Since the art of ceroplastics was of great importance during that period, the figures of two master wax-chandlers are illustrated: Luigi Calamai and his pupil, Egisto Tortori. Both men were expert and extremely skillful wax-modelling artists and were fortunate enough to work under the guidance of Amici at the I. & R. Museums of Physics and Natural History in Florence. Indeed, it was Calami who first extended the application of ceroplastics to the vegetable kingdom; till then it had been used almost exclusively fot human anatomy. This collaboration between scientist and artists gave rise to a new way of visualizing the microscopically observed object: coloured 3-dimensional scale-sized wax-models. Given the era, this was an exceptional event which can, indeed, de considered the forerunner of what is obtained nowadays using stereoscopic and electronic scanning microscopes. In this paper, some examples of the many wax-models created by the skillful hands of the master chandlers, under the scientific guidance of Amici, are illustrated. The best known of these represents the fertilization of the gourd. It was presented at the First Reunion of Italian Scientist held in Pisa in 1831. Following the lecture, given by Amici, on the subject, the model was acquired, together with the some other works, by Leopold II – the Gradn Duke of Tuscany – for the Pisan Museum because of its enormous educational value. Various replicas of the above-mentioned wax-models (Savelli, 1963) are to be found, not only in the Florentine Botanic Museum, but also, according to Buffa, in the Natural History Museum and the Botanic Institute of the University of Pavia. However, it must be noted that some gaps with regard to the Florentine and Pisan Museums, in Buffa's last work need to be corrected. In his opinion, the wax.model of the fertilization of orchids, found in the Florentine Museum, is of uncertain attribution. Such uncertainity in understandable since Martini (1895) does not list it among the preparations made by Tortori, and Buffa states this work may have been executed by either Calami or Tortori. One can, however, make the supposition that said wax-models, dated post 1846, was the fruit of the collaboration of these two master-chandlers. In 1997. Buffa conducted a comparative study of two famous wax-models: one, yhe fertilization of the gourd by Calami and the other, the anatomy of the muscular fibres of the fly, the work of Tortori. When compared with modern preparations of the same subjects examined under optic, electronic scanning and trasmission microscopes, the preparations made by calami and Tortori must be considered true masterpieces of Art which were created thanks to the chance encounter between the keen, diligent microscopist and sublime optics specialist, G. B. Amici, and two skillful, patient and intelligent master wax-chandlers, Luigi Calamai and his pupil, Egisto Tortori. |
| Abstract in Lingua Italiana | Nel bicentenario della nascita di G. B. Amici, dopo aver ricapitolato brevemente la sua vita, insistendo in modo particolare su quanto Parlatore ha lasciato scritto di lui nel suo diario inedito che per la sola figura dell'Amici stato pubblicato dalla Bonelli, si descrive l'attività dei ceraioli, L. Calamai ed E. Tortori che sotto la guida di Amici hanno modellato veri capolavori d'arte. Si accenna alle loro principali opere e rifacensodi ai lavori del Buffa si conclude che queste cere sono nate dall'incontro fortunato di uno scienziato dalla personalità poliedrica quale è l'amici, con abili ed intelligenti ceraioli, quali L. Calamai ed E. Tortori. |
| Dafne Access Number | dafne:1223633984 |
| Collocazione | BOB667 21a |
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