Etruscan Dreams: Athanasius Kircher, Medici Patronage, and Tuscan Friendships, 1633–1680

Abstract

IN JUNE 1658 the German Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher (1602–80), famed throughout Europe for his dazzling array of publications that claimed to unlock all the most urgent scholarly mysteries of his age, sent his most recent works—Ecstatic Journey II (1656) and Examination of Plague (1658)—to Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici (r. 1621–70), explicitly seeking his patronage. Recalling the long-standing legacy of the Medici family’s support of scholarship for over two centuries, Kircher assured the grand duke that “after the death of Emperor Ferdinand, patron of glorious memory, in no other princely court do they go to lodge more willingly than in that of Your Most Serene Highness.” He was referring to Ferdinand III (r. 1637–57), who bankrolled so many of Kircher’s publications and provided the Jesuit scholar with a handsome stipend until his death in 1657. For decades, Kircher had cultivated Habsburg patronage and developed sustained rela-