T E S 



245 



T E S 



(Hassel ; Stein ; Cannabich ; Oesterreichische National 

 Encyclop&die.') 



TESI, MAURO ANTONIO, or, as he is sometimes 

 called, after the name given him by his patron and ad- 

 mirer, Algarotti, II Maurino, was born at Montalbano in 

 the territory of Modena, January 15, 1730. Though in 

 poor circumstances, his parents were so desirous of giving 

 him a eood education, that they removed for that pur- 

 pose to Bologna, where he was admitted into the Scuole 

 Pie. Manifesting a great taste for drawing, he was placed 

 under Carlo Morettini, a mere heraldry painter. It is 

 therefore not without reason that Algarotti calls him self- 

 taught, for though he afterwards received some instruction 

 from an engraver named Giovanni Fabbri, it could have 

 contributed but little towards the excellence he displayed 

 in that branch of art which he selected, architectural 

 design and painting. For this he was doubtless most of 

 all indebted, after his own talent, to the instruction and 

 'ance of Algarotti himself, who made him the com- 

 panion of his journeys to various places, and treated him 

 as a son. The attachment was reciprocal ; and it was 

 owing to his attentions to his patron during his last illness 

 at Pisa, that he fell into ill health himself, and died two 

 years afterwards at Bologna, July 18, 1766. 



Algarotti has made frequent mention of Tesi in his 

 letters, where he has described many of his works at con- 

 siderable length, and speaks both of them and him in 

 terms that would seem quite exaggerated, if they were 

 expressed by a less intelligent critic, or were his praises 

 not confirmed by the opinions of others. The encomium 

 paid to his memory in the inscription on his monument in 

 the church of St. Petronio, Bologna, ' Elegantise veteris 

 in pingendo ornatu, et architecture, restitutori,' has not 

 been considered more than is due to one who set an 

 example of more refined and purer taste in architectural 

 design and composition. His productions are highly 

 med, and though his pictures are few, he left a great 

 number of drawings, and also a series of architectural plates 

 engraved by himself. 



(Tiraboschi, Bibl. Modenete ; Lanzi, Storia Ptttorica.) 



TE'SSERA, a small cube or square resembling our dice, 

 which was used by the antients for various purposes, 

 and accordingly it consisted of different materials, as 

 marble, precious stones, ivory, glass, wood, or mother-of- 

 pearl. Such small tesserae of different colours were used 

 to form the mosaic floors, or pavements in houses, which 

 were hence called tesselata pavimenta. (Sueton., Cccsar, 

 46.) The same kinds of cubes, usually made of ivory, 

 bone, or hard wood, and marked on all their six sides, were 

 used by the antients as dice in games of hazard, just as in 

 our times. In the earlier times three dice were used in a 

 game, but afterwards only two. 



The word tiwera was also employed to signify any token 

 which was given to persons by which they might recognise 

 one another. In this case however the tesserae were pro- 

 l.nbly not cubes, but were of an oblong form, or small ta- 

 blets marked with certain signs. Thus we find mention of 

 /"i* j i> tu/ is, which strangers when forming a con- 

 niTtion of hospitality gave to one another, that they or 

 their children might afterwards recognise one another, and 

 it appears that a tessera in this case was marked with the 

 figure of Jupiter hospitalis. (Plautus, Poenul.,v. 1, 25; 

 _'. s7, &c.) Tesserae frumentariae, or nummariae, were 

 occasionally given at Rome to the poor to serve as a token 

 or ticket, on the presentation of which they received a cer- 

 tain amount of corn or money. (Sueton., Aug., 40 ; Nero, 

 11.) The Roman soldiers also, before they commenced 

 a battle, received a tessera containing the watchword by 

 which they recognised their comrades, and were enabled 

 to distinguish them from strangers. (Virgil, jEn., vii. 637, 

 with the note of Servius.) 



(Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiq., ' Tessera.') 



TESSIN. There are three eminent Swedes of this name, 

 father, son, and grandson. The first of them, Nicodemus 

 the elder, or NICODEMUS VALENTINSON TESSIN, was born at 

 Sti:i!sund in 1619, and held the appointment of royal or 

 frown arcnitect, which was conferred upon him by Queen 

 ( 'luistina in 1645, then vacant by the death of Simon de la 

 Valli'e. Very little more has been recorded of him, except 

 tiiat he vi-ited Italy, that a patent of nobility was granted 

 to him in 1074 by Charles XL, and that he filled the office 

 of in H gist rate at Stockholm. Even the time of his death is 

 not precisely stated, but it appears from collateral evidence 



to have been somewhere about 1G88. As an architect one 

 of his chief works is the palace of Drottningsholm, begun 

 by him for the queen-dowager Hedwig Eleonora (widow 

 of Charles Gustavus), but completed by his son. He also 

 erected the royal villa of Strb'msholm, and the mauso- 

 leum of Charles Gustavus. In fame he has been surpassed 

 by his more eminent son, 



COUNT NICODEMUS TESSIN, who was born at Nykoping 

 in 1654, and had for one of his baptismal sponsors the 

 queen Maria Eleonora, widow of Gustavus Adolphus. He 

 was carefully educated by his father, expressly with a view 

 to his future profession. As soon as he had completed his 

 studies, first at Stockholm, afterwards at Upsala, he was 

 sent at the age of eighteen to Italy, whither he accom- 

 panied the Marquis del Monte, a nobleman in the service 

 of Christina of Sweden. He studied at Rome under Ber- 

 nini, and acquired a taste for the fine arts generally. After 

 four years thus spent, he visited Naples, Sicily, and Malta, 

 and again returned to Rome, at which place he received 

 from Sweden his appointment as future hof-architect in 

 1689. On his return he was allowed, by Charles XL, to 

 prosecute his travels conformably with his earnest wish for 

 further improvement, and this time he visited England and 

 France, in which latter country he remained three years. 

 On finally settling in his native country, he received, in 

 addition to his former appointment, that of city-architect 

 to the magistracy of Stockholm. The destruction of the 

 royal palace by fire in 1697 afforded him an opportunity 

 for displaying his ability far more favourable than might 

 else have offered itself ; and of which he so well availed 

 himself as to render the new edifice one of the noblest of 

 its kind in Europe, though not what it would have been had 

 his ideas been fully carried out. He had also numerous op- 

 portunities of exhibiting his taste on a magnificent scale ; 

 but unfortunately they were only of a temporary nature 

 on occasions of splendid court pageants and festivals, in 

 which his talent for architectural decoration was employed. 

 One of them was at the solemnization of the public entry 

 and coronation of Ulrica Eleonora, the wife of Charles XL, 

 who was herself an artist, and displayed considerable pro- 

 ficiency in portrait-painting. By the queen-dowager 

 Hedwig Eleonora he was employed not only to complete 

 Drottningsholm, but to lay out the grounds and gardens 

 both there and at Ulriksdal. Besides the cathedral at 

 Calmar, and Oxenstiern's monument, he executed or de- 

 signed a great number of other buildings, including a pro- 

 ject for rebuilding the palace at Copenhagen, which was 

 partly carried into effect, many years alter his death, when it 

 was curtailed, and by no means improved in other respects. 

 Elevations of the original design were published by his son, 

 under the title of ' Regiae Hafniensis Facies,' &c. In addi- 

 tion to his professional occupations, the count (which title 

 was conferred upon him in 1714) was engaged in many 

 offices that he held at court, and he took a considerable 

 share in public and political affairs. At the time of his 

 death (1728) he was chancellor of the university of Lund. 

 Count Nicodemus was twice married. 



COUNT CHARLES GUSTAVUS TESSIN, the son of Count 

 Nicodemus by his first marriage, was bern at Stockholm in 

 1695. Though not without talent for architecture, which 

 he had considerably improved by travelling, he did not 

 exercise it professionally, except in completing the palace 

 at Stockholm after his father's death. His claim to cele- 

 brity was of a very different kind ; it was as a statesman 

 and diplomatist that he chiefly distinguished himself. He 

 was ambassador at the court of France from 1739 to 1742, 

 and president of the chancery from 1747 to 1752. As tutor to 

 the prince-royal, afterwards Gustavus III., he wrote for his 

 instruction a series of letters on political and moral topics, 

 which were published,-and of which there is a French 

 translation. Count Gustavus was a zealous promoter of 

 every scheme for the advancement of his country ; he did 

 much for the encouragement of arts and manufactures, and 

 first established the Swedish Academy for Painting and 

 Sculpture in 1735. Some years before his death lie with- 

 drew from public business and affairs, and lived in retire- 

 ment on his estate at Akeroe in Sudermania, where he died 

 in 1771 ; and by his death-the family became extinct. 



(Weinwich, Ktmstner-Lexicon ; Nordin, Minna ofver 

 Namnkunniga Svenka Man ; Ehrenstvb'm, B. Arts en 



/ri/i' ; Biogr. Vnivers.*) 



TESTACELLUS, the name of a genus of testaceous 

 pulmoniferous mollusks. For the views of authors as to 



