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Document Details :

Title: 'Ed era io stesso presente'
Subtitle: Giovanni Mariti fra Cipro e l'Italia: una scoperta a Larnaca ed una donazione all'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona (1767-1776)
Author(s): BOMBARDIERI, Luca
Journal: BABESCH
Volume: 94    Date: 2019   
Pages: 235-246
DOI: 10.2143/BAB.94.0.3286788

Abstract :
Giovanni Mariti provides an account of the same archaeological discovery both in his Viaggi and in the later Dissertazione istorico-critica. The episode, occurred in Larnaca in 1767, might be interpreted as evidence of the interest for the emerging traces of ancient Kition (and, more generally, for the early history of Cyprus) increasingly perceived in that period. In this wider context, Mariti firstly acted as a ‘participant observer’ and then as an antiquity dealer. Indeed, he collected some of the objects he found at Larnaca and transfered them to Italy in order to partially donate them to the Accademia Etrusca in Cortona. Arguably, this particular aspect also denotes a peculiar change of role in Mariti’s attitude from connoisseur to collector.

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