Count Cagliostro, Italian Occultist

Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743-1795) was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (aka Joseph Balsamo), an Italian adventurer. The history of Cagliostro is shrouded in rumor, propaganda and mysticism. Some effort was expended to ascertain his true identity when he was arrested because of his possible participation in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. When he was acquitted he returned to Rome, where he met two people who proved to be spies of the Inquisition. He was arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to death on the charge of being a Freemason. The Pope changed his sentence, however, to life imprisonment and he died not long after

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13346315

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47784084

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3220px x 3615px (7.0MB)

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New York Public Library