Francesco Donato - Commission of Doge Francesco Donato to Girolamo Morosini as Captain of Brescia, 17 July 1547

Francesco Donato (active Venice, 1545 - 1553, Venice)

Commission of Doge Francesco Donato to Girolamo Morosini as Captain of Brescia, 17 July 1547

Paint, gold paint and ink on vellum with tooled leather, 24 x 17 x 4.5 cm (9 7/16 x 6 11/16 x 1 3/4 in.)

Commentary

Leather tooled in gold with the name Girolamo Morosini in Latin, double circle fringed with cross-shaped knots, frame of repeated lyre-shaped arabesques, fleurs-de-lys and ivy leaves.

The Mendoza Binder ran the leading Venetian bindery of the first half of the sixteenth century, producing both stock bindings for the book-trade and custom-made work for individuals. The decorative pattern and lettering of the name of the owner, Girolamo Morosini, and the date of his election as Captain of Brescia, on the book's upper and lower covers respectively, are typical of the elegant bindings the Mendoza Binder supplied for commissioni between 1530 and 1555. Named after his principal client, the Spanish bibliophile and ambassador to Venice, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, the anonymous binder has been identified with a certain Andrea di Lorenzo of Verona.

Source: Anne-Marie Eze, Illuminating the Serenissima: Books of the Republic of Venice, special exhibition on view in the museum's Long Gallery, May 3 through June 19, 2011.