Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 95. (Budapest, 2001)

SZÉPE, HELENA KATALIN: Civic and artistic identity in illuminated Venetian documents

In theory, patricians were not to strive for governing posts, nor to turn one down when elected. Participation in government was a privilege but also a duty. But in practice, patricians often vied for prestigious positions that could lead one up the political hierarchy, and avoided, even refused, those duties that were inconvenient.

8 The position as

jjodestà of Padua which Jacopo Foscarini held was, in fact, the most important of the territorial commissions, and was a stepping stone to becoming a procurator. Selective extensive illumination records that although assertion of individual status and importance was expressly discouraged by the constitution, patricians increasingly sought to distinguish themselves and their family name in these manuscripts as well as in the other arts. Whereas state commissions in the Ducal Palace provided communal expression of the ideals of the Republic, these manuscripts became a unique forum for negotiating personal civic identity, and record the conflictive goal of distinguishing oneself among purported equals.

9 Production of the manuscripts was fairly standardized. They were usually written out in the state chancery under the supervision of the Grand Chancellor and relevant secretaries, whose insignia occur on the original vellum binders and last text page. Typically, payment for the illumination of the doge's promissione and the capitolari of the procurators came out of the coffers of the respective offices, whereas the decoration of commissioni may have been the responsibility of the recipient. Some dogali are quite elaborate, with extensive personal iconographical significance, indicating that recipients consulted with the illuminators and may have, at times, themselves paid to have more elaborate statements. The earliest surviving examples of illuminated promissioni are found as part of fourteenth-century compilations of such documents, and were probably not meant for presentation. An important early Councillor's giuramento bound with the promissione of Andrea Contarini has recently come to light as being in the San Francisco State Society 11 (1867-1868) 3-95 and by Bradley, J.W., Venetian Ducali, Bibliographica 2 (1896) 257-75. Giordana Mariani Canova first pointed out the importance of these manuscripts for constructing a history of Venetian manuscript illumination in La decorazione dei documenti ufficiali in Venezia dal 1460 al 1530, Atti del Istituto veneto, classe di scienze morali, lettere ed arti 126 (1968) 319-334. Her contributions to the study of Venetian illumination are extensive, so I refer the reader to her most recent survey of the subject: La miniatura a Venezia dal Medioevo al Rinascimento in Storia di Venezia, vol. IV., II rinascimento

. Politica e cultura, Treccani 1995, 769-843. G.M. Zuccolo Padrono continued these investigations into the illumination of documents in SuH'ornamentazione marginale di documenti dogali del XVI secolo, Bollettino dei musei civici veneziani 1-2 (1972) 3-25. She has also done some studies on specific miniaturists, which will be cited throughout the article. See Attilia Dorigato for catalogue entries on specific dogali in the Correr Museum, Venice in Bollettino civici musei veneziani d'arte e di storia 30 n.s. (1986) 144—147. Lilian Armstrong has elucidated the career of the Pico Pliny Master, a prolific late 15th century illuminator of dogali, in II maestro di Pico: un miniatore veneziano del tardo Quattrocento, Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'Arte 17 (1990) 9-39, 215-253. Susy Marcon has written numerous biographical entries on the artists of dogali, which are forthcoming in the Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani, Bollati, M. ed. Milan. x Finlay, R., Politics in Renaissance Venice, New Brunswick. NJ 1980: Queller, D.E., The Venetian Patriciate: Reality versus Myth, Urbana 1986. 9 Sindig-Larsen, S., Christ in the Council Hall, Rome 1974; Wolters, W., Der Bilderschmuck des Dogenpalastes, Wiesbaden 1983.