Object details
Accession number
2.b.2.5
Primary Creator
Leonardo Bellini
(Venice, about 1443 - 1490)
Full title
Commission of Doge Cristoforo Moro to Domenico Diedo as Procurator of San Marco [Capitolare di Domenico Diedo]
Creation Date
1464
Object Case
Dante Case
Binding Description
Red velvet
Description
1 vol., (26 + 3 leaves; 23 lines) : vellum ; ill. ; 28.5 cm.
Provenance
Collection of the scholar and critic Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908), Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Charles Eliot Norton on 3 July 1903 for $2,500. (with 18 other Venetian manuscripts)
Dimensions
28.5 x 20.5 x 2 cm (11 1/4 x 8 1/16 x 13/16 in.)
Display Media
Illumination: paint, gold paint, and gold leaf on vellum; text: ink on vellum
Web Commentary
Putti holding a garland with the Diedo family arms, floral border, and foliate initials 'N' and 'I'.
Leonardo Bellini revitalized the illumination of Venetian books in the mid-fifteenth century, by introducing decorative elements from contemporary manuscripts from Ferrara, such as rich borders of blue and pink flowers, gold-leaf circles, filigree, putti and animals in medallions. Here, the delicately colored border marks the start of the main text, and the two enlarged initials highlight the different sections within it. Leonardo painted for the workshop of his family, the influential Bellini artists, who introduced the Renaissance style to Venetian painting in the second half of the 1400s. This commissione was made for Domenico Diedo. It records his solemn oath (giuramento) and the statutes (capitolare) of his post as Procurator of St. Mark's Basilica. The office was lifelong, and therefore the most important after the Dogeship.
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.
Permanent Gallery Location
Long Gallery
Bibliography
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court. (Boston, 1922), p. 33.
Seymour de Ricci and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. (New York, 1935-40), p. 933.
Helena Szépe. "Isabella Stewart Gardner's Venetian manuscripts" in Elizabeth Anne McCauley et al. Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Venice: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, 2004), p. 233, fig. 173.
Helena Katalin Szépe. Venice Illuminated: Power and Painting in Renaissance Manuscripts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), pp. 129-130, fig. 4.7.
Rights and reproductions
The use of images, text, and all other media found on this website is limited. Please review Rights and Reproductions for details.
