The name of the little-known Italian poet Giorgio Maria Rapparini functions surprisingly like a hypertext for the history of European art and culture between the late 17th and early 18th century. Born in Bologna, Rapparini spent most of his life at the Palatine court in Germany as secretary to Prince Johann Wilhelm II. Taking into account three of his literary works (the dramma per musica Il fabbro pittore, the treatiseLe portrait du vrai mérite and the heroi-comic poem L'Arlichino), the article deals with the multiple connections between this figure and the contemporary art scene. Rapparini, indeed, played all the possible roles of a courtier virtuoso. He was not only an enthusiastic supporter of the agreeable and culturally rich climate in Düsseldorf and a sincere and trusted friend of artists like Rosalba Carriera and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, but also worked as a scenographer, illustrator and theatrical performer.