Francesco Maria Zanotti
Francesco Maria Zanotti Cavazzoni (Bologna, 6 January 1692 – Bologna, 25 December 1777) was an Italian philosopher and writer.[1] Besides being a writer, he was also a commentator on works of art. He was considered an authoritative source on many topics.
Francesco Maria Zanotti  | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 6 January 1692  Bologna, Papal States  | 
| Died | 25 December 1777  Bologna, Papal States  | 
| Occupation | Writer, philosopher  | 

Life
    
He was the son of Giampietro Zanotti, and a pupil of Eustachio Manfredi. In 1718 he became professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna, and in 1723 he was appointed as secretary of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli. Initially a Cartesian, he became a follower of Newton.[1] In 1728 Francesco Algarotti experimented with light in his lab, replicating the prism and spectrum experiments of Isaac Newton.[2][3] In 1741 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.[4]
Zanotti's 1741 essay on the 'attractive force of ideas' defended a view of the association of ideas influenced by Newtonian physics. In 1754 Zanotti criticised Pierre-Louis Maupertuis for his views on Stoicism and Christianity, and was drawn into controversy about Stoicism with the Dominican professor Casto Innocenzio Ansaldi.[1]
In 1766 he became president of Institute of Science in Bologna.[5] In 1775 Benjamin Wilson (painter) began a correspondence with Zanotti on phosphor.[6]
Other members of the family
    
His brother, Giampietro Cavazzoni Zanotti was a Writer, painter, and art historian; Eustachio Zanotti was a famous astronomer and hydraulic engineer.[7][8]
Works
    

- La forza attrattiva delle idee (1747)
 - La filosofia morale secondo i peripatetici (1754)
 - Dell'arte poetica (1758)
 - Lettere famigliari in difesa della Felsina Pittrice
 - Delle lodi delle belle arti
 - Dialogo in difesa di G. Reni
 - De viribus centralibus (in Latin). Bologna: Lelio Dalla Volpe. 1762.
 

References
    
- Garin, Eugenio (2008). History of Italian Philosophy. Rodopi. pp. 719–21. ISBN 978-90-420-2321-5. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
 - "THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE OF BOLOGNA AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY" by Maria Cavazza. Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. 56 (1), p. 10 (2002)
 - Museo Palazzo Poggi
 - "THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE OF BOLOGNA AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY" by Maria Cavazza. Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. 56 (1), p. 16 (2002)
 - His portrait can be seen here
 - "THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE OF BOLOGNA AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY" by Maria Cavazza. Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. 56 (1), p.16 (2002)
 - "THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE OF BOLOGNA AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY" by Maria Cavazza. Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. 56 (1), p. 11, 14 (2002)
 - Zanotti, Giampietro Cavazzoni (1745). Vita di Eustachio Manfredi. Lelio dalla Volpe, Bologna.
 
External links
    
- Polizzi, Gaspare (2020). "ZANOTTI CAVAZZONI, Francesco Maria". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 100: Vittorio Emanuele I–Zurlo (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
 
