Ercole Bottrigari

Ercole Bottrigari (24 August 153130 September 1612 ) was an Italian scholar, mathematician, poet, music theorist, architect, and composer. Life The illegitimate son of Giovanni Battista Bottrigari, a wealthy Bolognese aristocrat, and Cornelia (alias Caterina) de’ Chiari of Brescia, he was legitimized on 16 August 1538 and then raised in his father’s house at Sant’Alberto, near Bologna. On 7 March 1542 Bottrigari was selected by the Bolognese senate as one of a group of 12 young aristocrats deputed to welcome the new Cardinal Legate, Gasparo Contarini, to the city. Evidently Bottrigari distinguished himself in the recitation of poetry and orations on this occasion; he was duly rewarded by Contarini who invested him with the titles of Knight of the Holy See and Lateran during a Pontifical High Mass in Bologna Cathedral on 9 April 1542. As a young man he studied classical languages with Francesco Lucchino of Trento, perspective and architecture with Giacomo Ranuzzi and mathematical sciences with Nicolò Simo, professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna. Bottrigari also studied music with Bartolomeo Spontone with whom he remained in close contact for many years; their friendship