Cosimo Lotti

He worked around Florence until in his mid-fifties he moved to Madrid where he produced theatrical spectacles for the royal court.

His paintings included a Birth of Mary for the church of San Giorgio a Castelnuovo in Prato.

In 1626 he left Florence for Spain, at the request of the Count Duke of Olivares, to join the court of Philip IV as an engineer.

As well as redesigning royal gardens in the Italianate style, particularly involving spectacular fountains, he impressed the King with his cleverly engineered theatrical special effects.

This included an extravagant staging of a musical piece in the Italian style with poetry by Lope de Vega.