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1780
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According to both
Maylender (1926-1930), v.5, p.128 and
Nicolini (1974), p.27, the founding of this
society was authorized by a sovereign resolution of 1778, June 22.
But it was not actually established and inaugurated by King Ferdinando IV
di Borbone until 1780, July 5
(Maylender (1926-1930), v.5, p.128 and
Nicolini (1974), p.29).
According to
Maylender (1926-1930), v.5, p.130 the
meetings ceased in 1787. But see comments below of Nicolini giving a
cessation
date of 1788.
Nicolini (1974), pp.27-38 describes a
polemical battle between the Academy and the abbot Ferdinando Galiani [the
nephew of Celestino Galiani, the founder in 1732 of an earlier Neapolitan
academy, the Accademia delle Scienze that had ceased by 1744].
Nicolini (1974), p.38 concludes by noting that,
after all that conflict, with a newly elected and ambitious secretary
general, the Academy finally decided in 1788 to publish its first (and
only)
volume of Atti. Then, exhausted by the enormous exertion
required, the Academy fell into a slumber so deep that historians declared
it dead and buried the same year as the death of its opponent,
Galiani
(1787).
The Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Napoli
website
( )
does not refer to the
Reale Accademia di Scienze e Belle Lettere as
a direct antecedent of the Società, but rather an indirect
antecedent.
It is interesting to note, however, that
the major publication of the latter was continued by a publication of the
former society (under its second name), according to a record in the
Bib. Naz. Napoli cat..
More specifically, the record indicates that
Atti della Reale Accademia delle Scienze e Belle-Lettere di Napoli :
dalla Fondazione sino all'Anno MDCCLXXXVII (1780 - 1787) was
continued by
Atti della Reale Accademia delle Scienze, Sezione della Societa
Reale Borbonica,
a publication of the
Società Reale Borbonica di Napoli,
which was in fact the second name of the
Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Napoli.
There was clearly a close connection between the two bodies, if not a
direct ancestral one.
It is interesting that
Di Battista (2000), p.263
indicates that another society, the
Reale Istituto d'Incoraggiamento di Napoli
was founded in 1806, in part, to take up the inheritance of the then
extinct eighteenth century
Reale Accademia delle Scienze e Belle-Lettere di Napoli.
There were a few other scholarly societies founded in Naples prior to the
founding of the
Reale Accademia delle Scienze e Belle-Lettere di Napoli:
- Accademia Palatina (f.1698)
[According to Nicolini (1974), p.13, this
Academy was founded on 1698, May 20. He indicates (pp.7-8) that it was
variously designated Reale, Palatina, di Palazzo
Reale and del duca di Medinaceli.
Maylender (1926-1930), v.4, p.386 refers to
it as the Accademia del Real Palazzo - Napoli and the
Accademia del Medina Celi, indicating that it was founded in 1698
by Don Luigi Zerda, duca di Medina Celi; on p.398 he notes that there is
no mention of its existence past 1705.]
- Accademia delle Scienze (f.1732)
[According to Nicolini (1974), pp.17-20, this
was a private academy founded in 1732 by Celestino Galiani; it was
particularly active from 1732-1737; with the departure of Galiani for
Rome in 1737, it languished and gradually ceased to meet; with his return
in 1741 it came back to life for a few years, but by 1744, during the
war of the Austrian succession, it appears to have ceased completely.]
-
Reale Accademia Ercolanense (f.1755)
But none of them appear to be a direct ancestor to the
Reale Accademia delle Scienze e Belle-Lettere di Napoli;
indeed the Reale Accademia Ercolanense was in existence throughout
the entire life of the Reale Accademia delle Scienze e Belle-Lettere di
Napoli.
More historical information on the
Reale Accademia delle Scienze e Belle-Lettere di Napoli is found in
Maylender (1926-1930), v.5, pp.128-130 and
Nicolini (1974), pp.27-38.
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