BIANCHINI, FRANCESCO. - Born on 13 Dec. 1662 in Verona, died on 2 March 1729 in Rome, where he went after his studies in Bologna and Padua. Although he had only the minor orders, he held a canonical benefice at S. Maria ad Martyres, then at S. Lorenzo in Damaso and finally at S. Maria Maggiore, where he was buried. He illustrated the Camera and the sepulchral inscriptions of the house of Augustus discovered on the Appian Way (1727) and then Il Palazzo de' Cesari in a large volume which, however, appeared posthumously in Verona in 1738.
A man of vast and profound culture, in addition to studies on sacred and profane archaeology, he published various works concerning history, chronology, mathematics and astronomy. With regard to the latter, he traced that meridian line (gnomone clementino) still visible today in S. Maria degli Angeli and published in 1703-1704 De kalendario et cyclo Caesaris ac de paschali canone s. Hippolyti martyris dissertationes duae.
Historical works: 5 vols. of the Istoria universale provata con monumenti e figurata con simboli degli antichi, which had various editions, and the 6 tables of the Demonstratio historiae ecclesiasticae quadripartitae comprobatae monumentis pertinentibus ad fidem temporum gestorum, completed and published in 1752 by his nephew Giuseppe. The latter also completed and published the IV vol. (1735) of the Liber Pontificalis which B., following Panvinio, erroneously attributed to Anastasius the Librarian. The first 3 vols., published in Rome in 1718, 1723 and 1728, therefore bear the title Anastasii Bibliothecarii de gestis Romanorum Pontificum cum praefatione, prolegomenis, variantibus et notis historicis atque chronologicis... The text of the Lib. Pont. given by B. was reproduced by Migne (PL. 127-28) up to the life of Stephen VI inclusive.
In 1727 there appeared a work of an iconographic character relating to the mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore, De sacris imaginibus musivi operis a s. Xisto Papa III post oecumenam Synodum Ephesinam in Basilica Liberiana constructis et de dominicae nativitatis praesepi ac venerabilibus cuiis infantiae Christi Domini ibique custoditis dissertationes duae.
Bibliography5 works
Giuseppe Bovini