«L’edizione è magnifica, in bel carattere incisa». Un esemplare festival book a stampa del tardo Cinquecento per l’ingresso trionfale del vescovo Morosini a Brescia
Chapter
Publication Date:
2015
Abstract:
The paper deals with the festival book entitled "Il sontuoso apparato fatto dalla magnifica città di Brescia nel felice ritorno
dell’Illu.[stre] et Reverendiss.[imo] Vescovo suo il Cardinale Morosini...", published in Brescia in 1591 to celebrate the
triumphal entry of the bishop cardinal Giovan Francesco Morosini (1590, June 10th). The book, printed in-folio by
Vincenzo Sabbio and endowed by fourteen valuable engravings (the frontispiece and thirteen images of the ephemeral arches,
respectively executed by Giacomo Franco and Leone Pallavicino), gives an accurate and richly illustrated record of the public feast
organized as a roman triumph and, though internationally wellknown, it was never systematically studied. Through the critical
analysis of its contents and its engravings, the research shades a first light on the characters of this book and its publishing plan
as well on the ceremony, deepening the project and the development of the event and the six ephemeral, greatly
decorated arches that were built, precisely described and illustrated, and thus untangling quite unexpected relations with
the north-European imperial festival culture. The paper analyses the local cultural context that promoted the
celebration and the book, connecting them to the lively, updated academic activity that throve in Brescia in the late sixteenth
century and to the leading role played by the authors, two of the most erudite Brescian scholars, the noble Alfonso Capriolo
and the priest Publio Fontana. Through the accurate images and descriptions contained in the book it is examined and
reconstructed the design of the ephemeral architectural devices as well as the triumphal itinerary, clarifying the task assumed by
the public Brescian architect Giulio Todeschini and his equipe – formed by the renowned Brescian artists Tommaso Bona, Pietro
Marone and Pietro Maria Bagnadore – and investigating the language they adopted in relation to the wider late-Renaissance
architectural culture.
dell’Illu.[stre] et Reverendiss.[imo] Vescovo suo il Cardinale Morosini...", published in Brescia in 1591 to celebrate the
triumphal entry of the bishop cardinal Giovan Francesco Morosini (1590, June 10th). The book, printed in-folio by
Vincenzo Sabbio and endowed by fourteen valuable engravings (the frontispiece and thirteen images of the ephemeral arches,
respectively executed by Giacomo Franco and Leone Pallavicino), gives an accurate and richly illustrated record of the public feast
organized as a roman triumph and, though internationally wellknown, it was never systematically studied. Through the critical
analysis of its contents and its engravings, the research shades a first light on the characters of this book and its publishing plan
as well on the ceremony, deepening the project and the development of the event and the six ephemeral, greatly
decorated arches that were built, precisely described and illustrated, and thus untangling quite unexpected relations with
the north-European imperial festival culture. The paper analyses the local cultural context that promoted the
celebration and the book, connecting them to the lively, updated academic activity that throve in Brescia in the late sixteenth
century and to the leading role played by the authors, two of the most erudite Brescian scholars, the noble Alfonso Capriolo
and the priest Publio Fontana. Through the accurate images and descriptions contained in the book it is examined and
reconstructed the design of the ephemeral architectural devices as well as the triumphal itinerary, clarifying the task assumed by
the public Brescian architect Giulio Todeschini and his equipe – formed by the renowned Brescian artists Tommaso Bona, Pietro
Marone and Pietro Maria Bagnadore – and investigating the language they adopted in relation to the wider late-Renaissance
architectural culture.
CRIS type:
2.1 Contributo in volume (Capitolo o Saggio)
Keywords:
Ingressi trionfali XVI sec.; Archi trionfali seconda metà XVI sec.; Ingressi trionfali vescovi cardinali XVI sec.; Fonti a stampa per l'architettura seconda metà XVI sec.; Architettura Brescia seconda metà XVI sec.; Giulio Todeschini; Tommaso Bona; Pietro Maria Bagnadore; Giacomo Franco; Leone Pallavicino; Giovan Francesco Morosini; Alfonso Capriolo; Publio Fontana.
List of contributors:
Giustina, Irene Italia
Book title:
Libri d’architettura a Brescia. Editoria, circolazione e impiego di fonti e modelli a stampa per il progetto tra XV e XIX secolo