Cosimo Lotti (1571–1643) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 engineer, scenographer, and landscape designer. He worked around Florence until in his mid-fifties he moved to Madrid where he produced theatrical spectacles for the royal court.

Lotti was born in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 in 1571 and first became a pupil of Bernardino Poccetti

Bernardino Poccetti

Bernardino Poccetti , also known as Barbatelli, was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker in etching ....

. He then worked with Bernardo Buontalenti

Bernardo Buontalenti

Bernardo Buontalenti, byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist.-Biography:Buontalenti was born in Florence....

 on the lay out of the Boboli Gardens

Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens are a park in Florence, Italy, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities.-History and layout:...

 and went on to install water features in other gardens. His paintings included a Birth of Mary for the church of San Giorgio a Castelnuovo in Prato

Prato

Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...

.

In 1626 he left Florence for Spain, at the request of the Count Duke of Olivares

Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares

Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar, Count-Duke of Olivares and Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor , was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip IV and minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform...

, to join the court of Philip IV

Philip IV of Spain

Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...

 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

Lope de Vega

Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...

.

Lotti became the organiser of the theatre at the Palacio del Buen Retiro. He was recognised by being given a royal pension and remained in Madrid until his death in 1643.