DECREE BY FRANCESCO GONZAGA OF MANTUA SIGNED BY THE CHANCELLOR ANTIMACHUS

MS 567
MS Short Title DECREE BYFRANCESCO GONZAGA OF MANTUA SIGNED BY THE CHANCELLOR ANTIMACHUS
Text DECREE OF FRANCESCO GONZAGA 4TH MARQUIS OF MANTUA TO CRISTOFORO POGGI OF BOLOGNA GRANTING HIM CONCESSIONS AND EXEMPTIONS IN RESPECT OF HIS VILLA, CORTE VILLAGROSSA IN RONCAFERRARO. SIGNED BY THE CHANCELLOR ANTIMACHUS
Description MS in Latin on vellum, Italy, Mantua, 25 October 1490, 1 f., 44x56 cm, (20x43 cm), 24 long lines in an upright humanistic book script, by Sigismondo Golfo(?), the secretary of the Marquis of Mantua, and subscribed by him, first line in very large capitals in burnished gold, large illuminated initial F, 12x6 cm, with white-vine interlace against a ground of blue, pink and green, 2 roundels in colour, one with the Gonzaga device of a muzzle with a scroll across with the inscription "Bider Kraft" (rightous strength).
Binding
Context The chancery copy of the decree is likely to be still in the Mantuan archives, most probably in the "Copialettere in busta 2903, f II 9/133, 134 or 135".
Provenance 1. Christoforo Poggi, Bologna (from 1490); 2. Rizzo, Milano (until 1989); 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary Christoforo Poggi was secretary to Giovanni Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna. Both Poggi and Golfo were humanist writers. Golfo instructed and provided books for Francesco Gonzaga's wife, the great Renaissance patron and collector, Isabella d'Este. Poggi was also a humanist writer, which may account for the unusual richness in the decoration of the decree, probably painted by one of the illuminators who decorated books prepared for Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga.
Published
Exhibited
Mentioned
Boxing
See also
Place of origin Mantua
Dates 1490 AD