CAMPAGNOLA, GIULIO - St John the Baptist, copper engraving.
In several respects self-taught, he studied at the University of Catania. He was associated with Berkeley, who called him «vir doctissimus», from whom he drew «clarissimos ingenii fructus» (Letter from Messina 1718, and from London 1723: published in the Life prefixed to the Adamo), and was a friend of L. Muratori, who described him as «the Christian and Italian Lucretius» (Letter to Ceva and Prescimone, ibid.) and invited him to occupy a chair at the University of Padua.
He wrote on scientific subjects, criticizing several of Newton’s doctrines (Considerations on the Physics of I. Newton, Milan 1710). In philosophy he followed Descartes, while modifying some of his doctrines, such as that concerning the relations between body and soul. In general, he sought to reconcile Descartes with Scholasticism (cf. the philosophical poem: Adamo ovvero il mondo creato, Syracuse 1783).