Antonio Magliabech (1633-1714), Librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany (obverse); Allegorical Scene with a Bookstand with a Book

Antonio Magliabechi served for decades as the librarian to Ferdinando II (1621–1670) and Cosimo III (1670–1723) de’ Medici, Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Magliabechi was a man of staggering erudition, surpassing ugliness, and strange personal habits, who never published a book or essay. Contemporaries noted his eccentric behavior and extreme lack of attention to his surroundings—in particular the filth of his study, with its remnants of meals and mounds of unsorted books. Despite these peculiarities, Magliabechi’s prodigious memory, expansive knowledge, and international network of correspondents made him a man of significant influence. Culture had already become the Grand Duchy’s chief resource, through the sponsorship of great artists, architects, and scientists, and Magliabechi supplied the ruling Medicis with advice on political appointments and promotions as well as scholarly matters. His portrait medallion, with its symbolic bookstand on the reverse, bears witness to a scholar of extraordinary intellectual prominence, whose legacy is preserved in the collection of the National Library in Florence.