Paolo Alessandro Maffei

Paolo Alessandro Maffei (* January 11, 1653 in Volterra, Tuscany, † July 26, 1716 in Rome ) was an Italian writer and antiquarian.

He was the son of Paolo and Giovanna di Raffaele Maffei, a noble family from Volterra. One of his ancestors was the humanist Raffaele Maffei, called il Volterrano, 1506 a treatise on architecture ( Commentariorum urbanorum Raphaelis Volterranni, octo et Triginta libri. Rome 1506) brought out, in which he showed that the study of Vitruvius and the ancient architecture of the palace style of the Renaissance influenced, the ancient architects called and some of its buildings enumerates.

About his education is not known. His family sent him to Rome. There he became an honorary member of the Pontifical Guard; previously he had been knighted in the Order of St. Stephen's, the highest Tuscan Order. He occupied himself with antiquarian studies and corresponded with many scholars throughout Europe, including the mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. At the age of 51, he published his first work, the comment to the catalog of antique and modern statues Raccolta di Statue di e modern. Already in 1700 had published notes and comments on Lodovico Sergardis satires by him under the name " Paolo Antoniano " the engraver Domenico de Rossi ( 1659-1730 ). Maffei used the pseudonym to remember his famous ancestor, the humanist Raffaele Maffei (1455-1522), who also called himself " Paolo Antoniano ". Maffei died on 26 July 1716 in Rome.

Its significance for the research antiquarian and archaeological lies in the fact that his work for the statuesque plastic Raccolta di Statue di e modern for a long time was the only monograph on this subject. Maffeis Gemmenwerk enjoyed at that time among scholars and interested laymen also highly recognized as the multiple citations in the work of the most famous Gemmensammlers and researcher, Baron Philipp von Stosch (1691-1757) Gemme Antiquae caelatae, scalptorum nominibus insignitae etc. (Amsterdam 1724) demonstrate. Awareness of the statue work did not reach it, however, because the Gemmenforschung had not yet gained the recognition that it reached in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Works

• Satyrae Numero auctae, Mendis et purgatae singulae locupletiores, Rome in 1700.
• Raccolta di Statue di e modern data in luce ... since Domenico de Rossi, illustrata colle sposizioni a ciascheduna immagine di Paolo Alessandro Maffei, Rome 1704.
• Gemme Antiche figurate date in luce da Domenico de Rossi di Paolo Alessandro Maffei sposizioni colle ..., 4 vols, Rome from 1707 to 1709.