Granted by Leonardo Lauredano, Doge of Venice, 1501-21, to Marcantonio Contarini, captain of a fleet proceeding to Flanders Harrsen noted that: "James Wardrop of Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1957, attributes manuscript to Tagliente, about whom Mr. Wardrop has written"; this scribe is assumed to be the Venetian calligrapher Giovanni Antonio Tagliente By an Order of the Council of 2 May 1504, the latest date quoted in this manuscript, backers were found to enable the Venetian galleys to sail for Flanders; it must have been shortly after this that the commission was written out appointing Contarini captain of the fleet (from Wolf, 1937, p. 158) Binding: Original brown morocco, sides with gilt arabesque foliate borders and arabesque center ornaments, in the Aldine style, gilt edges, rebacked, in cloth case Layout: One column of twenty-seven lines; ruled in light brown ink; written area: 158 x 91 mm Script: Humanistic Script: Scribe: Giovanni Antonio Tagliente? Decoration: The first page (fol. 1r) within a full all'antica border of Renaissance foliate designs in gold on a red and blue ground, the Contarini arms in the outer border supported by a putto, and a miniature at the foot of the page; the first few words in gold on a blue panel at the head of the page and Contarini's name in gold on a smaller red panel in the text; capitals alternately in red... Related resource: De Ricci, Seymour, with the assistance of W. J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, vol. 2 (New York,: H. W. Wilson, 1935-40), p. 2060, no. 188. Related resource: Free Library of Philadelphia, A Descriptive Catalogue of the John Frederick Lewis Collection of European Manuscripts in the Free Library of Philadelphia, compiled by Edwin Wolf, 2nd, with an introduction by Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach (Philadelphia: The Free Library, 1937), pp. 157-58, no. 143. Provenance: Bought by George Dunn, May, 1903; his sale, Sotheby's, London, Feb. 11, 1913, I, no. 553; to Young (wrongly stated to be described in Tregaskis, Cat. 440, 1899, no. 7, facs); John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia; given by his widow, Anne Baker Lewis, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1936
Do you have more information to share with the Holding Institution about this manuscript or would you like to suggest a correction? Contact information is available for member institutions via our member directory.