Jump to content

Abramo Colorni

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abramo Colorni
Born1544 Edit this on Wikidata
Mantua Edit this on Wikidata
Died1599 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 54–55)
OccupationEngineer, architect, inventor Edit this on Wikidata
1593, Scotographia, Prague

Abramo Colorni (Abraham Colorno or Abraham Calorno, 1544–1599) was a mulitalented Italian-Jewish polymath and Renaissance man. An engineer, mathematician, chiromancer, cryptographer, alchemist, inventor, magus (magician) and merchant, Colorni spent nine years as a Court Jew for Rudolf II.[1][2] He is the author of the 1593 treatise on cryptography, Scotographia.[3] As court alchemist, he was a major player in cultural transfer from Italy to Baden-Wurttemberg and Prague.[4] Sometimes thought of as a charlatan, a genius "Jewish Leonardo" or "Jewish Baron von Munchhausen", or a professore de’ secreti, "professor of secrets," he was also known as a clockmaker, for his magic tricks and escapology, and invented a new kind of revolver.[5][6][7][8][9]

Biography

[edit]
Šelomoh b. Avraham b. Šemuʼel, of Urbino, Ohel Mo‘ed, Venice 1548; title page. [Kaufmann B 33] Hebrew cursive purchase note, Abramo Colorni, in Prague in 1590, top.

A devout Jew whose ancestors migrated from Germanic lands to Italy, Colorni was described as a Jewish Daedalus by his Christian and Jewish contemporaries and admired as one of the most famous and prominent Italians by Tomaso Garzoni.[10] He was also praised by the poet Alessandro Tassoni.[3] He was the son-in-law of Yechiel Nissim da Pisa and attended the University of Ferrara where he studied under Antonio Maria Parolini, and was proficient in Latin. Known as a remarkable fencer, he was fascinated with weapons, and was hired in 1572 to design arms for the noble Italian Gonzaga family, and in 1579 by the Este court.[10] He accepted employment as a master engineer for the dukes of Ferrara.[11] Contemporary Christians considered Colorni's education "well-rounded" and he likely had Christian as well as Jewish teachers.[12]

He resided in Mantua until 1590 when he moved to Prague, invited by Rudolf, a known patron of engineers, scientists and artists.[13] After going to Prague he was engaged in "practical alchemy" and the production of saltpeter.[10][14] He later returned to the court of Alfonso II d'Este, who sent him to the duchy of Wurttemberg in 1597.[7]

In Wurttemberg, he encountered anti-Jewish sentiment. Jews had not been allowed to settle there since the 1490s, a leading Protestant territory known as "Lutheran Spain." He was referred to by the court preacher and the university professors as an "evil-minded magician," although his main activities were in sourcing weapons and luxury goods, such as musical instruments; for example, he sent instruments to the court in Mantua for use by Claudio Monteverdi.[10]

Colorni worked with Maggino Gabrielli, a Venetian Jewish entrepreneur who had worked in Florence and Rome, to establish an "Oriental Trade Company" in Wurttemberg. Gabrielli had experience in the textile and spice trade, moneylending, and the glass industry, as well as alchemy, and planned to create a trade network with the Levant, seeking an entrepôt in the Holy Roman Empire. He began working with Colorni in the 1580s, who invited him to the court, but their plans failed, largely due to anti-Jewish polemics. A coalition between the Church, the Estates, and the city magistrates, fearing a rise in Jewish settlement, invoked a blood libel and withdrew the Oriental Trade Company's branch rights in Stuttgart, the capital and where Colorni was residing. Colorni's position at Wurttemberg eroded and he found himself under surveillance by the Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg's armed guards to prevent him leaving. After he fled, the duke sent envoys throughout the Holy Roman Empire and Italy to locate him, but was unable to capture him. If caught, he likely would have faced a death sentence.[10] His departure, in 1599, with 4000 gulden was met with extradition attempts by Stuttgart, and for his son after his death, that failed due to the protection of Mantua.[15]

Similar to his peer Giambattista della Porta, his work attacked superstition while advocating a systematic natural science, invoking King Solomon, popularly thought of as a holder of secret knowledge.[5] Colorni is also compared to Leonardo Fioravanti or Johann Joachim Becher.[10] Daniel Jütte believes the reference to scotographia in James Joyce's Ulysses might indicate a familiarity with Colorni's works, based on Joyce's time in Italy and his use of Jewish renaissance mysticism as inspiration for his work.[16] He also devised a "small volvelle for enigmatic writing" or a type of cipher wheel.[8]

He died of a fever in Mantua in 1599. His son Simone took up several aspects of his father's work.[10]

Publications

[edit]
  • Colorni, Abramo (1593). Scotographia.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Walker, Katherine (2017). "Review of The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, 1400-1800, Daniel Jütte". The Sixteenth Century Journal. 48 (1): 294–296. doi:10.1086/SCJ4801179. ISSN 0361-0160. JSTOR 44816044.
  2. ^ Roth, Cecil (1953). Personalities and Events in Jewish History. Jewish Publication Society of America.
  3. ^ a b Berns, Andrew (2016). "Review of The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, Daniel Jütte". AJS Review. 40 (1): 178–180. doi:10.1017/S0364009416000222. ISSN 0364-0094. JSTOR 26375053.
  4. ^ Veltri, Giuseppe; Miletto, Gianfranco, eds. (2012). Rabbi Judah Moscato and the Jewish intellectual world of Mantua in 16th - 17th century. Studies in Jewish history and culture. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-22225-0.
  5. ^ a b Bregoli, Francesca; Jütte, Daniel (2016). "Review of The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, 1400–1800, JütteDaniel". Renaissance Quarterly. 69 (4): 1465–1467. doi:10.1086/690352. ISSN 0034-4338. JSTOR 26560098.
  6. ^ Karp, Jonathan; Trivellato, Francesca, eds. (2023). Classic essays on Jews in early modern Europe. Classic essays in Jewish history. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4094-3155-8.
  7. ^ a b "COLORNI (COLORNO), ABRAHAM - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  8. ^ a b Zanetti, Cristiano (2023-01-12), "6 The Diverse Agencies of Renaissance Engineers in the Shadow of War", Shadow Agents of Renaissance War, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 173–200, doi:10.1515/9789048553327-009, hdl:10278/5018841, ISBN 978-90-485-5332-7, retrieved 2024-09-06
  9. ^ Eamon, William (2017-03-30). "Daniel Jütte. The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, 1400–1800". The American Historical Review. 122 (2): 595–596. doi:10.1093/ahr/122.2.595. ISSN 0002-8762.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Jütte, Daniel (2012). "Trading in Secrets: Jews and the Early Modern Quest for Clandestine Knowledge". Isis. 103 (4): 668–686. doi:10.1086/668962. ISSN 0021-1753. JSTOR 10.1086/668962. PMID 23488236.
  11. ^ Paulus, Simon (2021). Brämer, Andreas; Keßler, Katrin; Knufinke, Ulrich; Przystawik, Mirko (eds.). Maneschin the Master Builder. Jews as "Architects" in the Middle Age and Early Modern Period? in Jewish architects - Jewish architecture?. Schriftenreihe der Bet Tfila-Forschungsstelle für jüdische Architektur in Europa. Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag. pp. S. 21–32. ISBN 978-3-7319-1161-6.
  12. ^ Shulvass, Moses Avigdor (1973). The Jews in the World of the Renaissance. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-03646-8.
  13. ^ Levenson, Alan T. (2012-03-12). The Wiley-Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-23293-4.
  14. ^ Jütte, Daniel (2022-07-13). "jüdische Alchemist Kaiser Rudolfs II". Schwäbische Heimat. 60 (1): 57–62. doi:10.53458/sh.v60i1.3338. ISSN 2750-4662.
  15. ^ "Abramo Colorni and the Economy of Secrets". Primo Levi Center. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  16. ^ Jütte (Jutte), Daniel (2015-05-26). The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, 1400–1800. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-21342-3.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Abramo_Colorni&oldid=1245969191"