Giovanni Bembo (Venice, 1543 - 1618)
Commission of Doge Giovanni Bembo to Francesco Contarini as Procurator de Citra, 1615
Paint, gold paint, and ink on vellum, 29 x 21 x 5 cm (11 7/16 x 8 1/4 x 1 15/16 in.)
Long Gallery
Commentary
St. Francis of Assisi presenting a Venetian senator to the Virgin and Child, in a frame with leone andante, the Contarini family arms and a cherub head.
Presented in an ornamental frame on a faux exposed-brick wall, this miniature shows the book's owner, Francesco Contarini, and his patron saint, adoring the enthroned Virgin and Child. The diagonal composition of the figures exchanging gazes, which creates a psychological connection between them, was borrowed from sixteenth-century Venetian altarpieces. The mountainous landscape beyond evokes the Italian mainland governed by Venice. This commissione records Contarini's solemn oath (giuramento) and the statutes (capitolare) of his post as Procurator of the three districts north of the Grand Canal in Venice. He wears the dress of the Venetian nobility, a robe of crimson velvet with fur-trim and wide sleeves. Draped over his left arm is the golden stole of the knighthood of the "Stola d'Oro", which was granted at the end of one of his numerous ambassadorial missions. Contarini became doge in 1623 but died the following year.
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.
Presented in an ornamental frame on a faux exposed-brick wall, this miniature shows the book's owner, Francesco Contarini, and his patron saint, adoring the enthroned Virgin and Child. The diagonal composition of the figures exchanging gazes, which creates a psychological connection between them, was borrowed from sixteenth-century Venetian altarpieces. The mountainous landscape beyond evokes the Italian mainland governed by Venice. This commissione records Contarini's solemn oath (giuramento) and the statutes (capitolare) of his post as Procurator of the three districts north of the Grand Canal in Venice. He wears the dress of the Venetian nobility, a robe of crimson velvet with fur-trim and wide sleeves. Draped over his left arm is the golden stole of the knighthood of the "Stola d'Oro", which was granted at the end of one of his numerous ambassadorial missions. Contarini became doge in 1623 but died the following year.
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.