Filippo Picinelli is best known for his emblem book Il Mondo simbolico, printed in Milan in 1653, which enjoyed great success in Italy and throughout Europe.
10 Facts About Filippo Picinelli
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The main source of information on this author is the short biography that Picinelli himself includes in his Ateneo dei Letterati Milanesi, a bio-bibliographical dictionary of Milanese authors.
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Filippo Picinelli studied philosophy in Cremona and theology in Piacenza, where he probably graduated.
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Filippo Picinelli's preaching skills won him favour with several bishops, including Paolo Arese, bishop of Tortona, who encouraged Picinelli to publish his works.
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Later in his life, Filippo Picinelli was appointed abbot of Santa Maria della Passione in Milan.
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Filippo Picinelli published several works, in Latin and Italian, among which the following stand out: Applausi festivi o siano Panegirici varii, Foeminarum sacrae scripturae elogia, Lumi, e riflessi, Ateneo dei litterati milanesi, an important biographical source book for Milanese writers and artists, and Fatiche apostoliche.
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Filippo Picinelli believed that the world of God's creation could be read as a symbolic book.
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Filippo Picinelli's work was exceedingly popular among the intellectual elite of the Baroque era and went through several editions.
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Filippo Picinelli's work is the culmination of a life-time's erudition, drawing on many Renaissance emblem books and medieval encyclopedias and bestiaries.
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The comprehensiveness of Filippo Picinelli's work made it a model for subsequent scholars, including Claude-Francois Menestrier, Johannes Michael von der Ketten, Arthur Henkel and Albrecht Schone.