Meditating with an anonymous bookbinder (16th century)

The doges in Venice are an old and long story. Nearly a thousand years of practice, nonetheless, for these chief magistrates and political leaders of the Serenissima. At the end of the 16th century, it was the turn of Pasquale Cicogna (1509-1595) to be elected to this eminent position, after… 53 rounds of voting, in a particularly complex designation process. During the ten years of his mandate, the businessman notably demonstrated great respect for the freedom of citizens and guests passing through the Venetian republic. Wishing to beautify the city, he launched the construction of the very romantic Bridge of Sighs or the impressive Rialto Bridge, on the Grand Canal. But the doge is also the administrator of a powerful republic which extends along the eastern coasts of the Adriatic. Treviso, a small city 40 km north of Venice, also came under its supervision in the 14th century.

The work presented here bears witness to this. Addressed by the doge to the city’s chief magistrate, this imposing manuscript alone demonstrates Venetian power. Made of leather, gilded with leaf, its cover vibrates with oriental interlacing of leaves and branches which stand out against an ocher background. In a succession of frames and reserves, a red mandorla stands out in the center against a golden sky. Within it appears the figure of the winged lion, symbol of the evangelist Mark, whose relics were brought back (fraudulently) to Venice.

Crouching, the royal feline contemplates us head-on, his paw on the evangelical manuscript. With its two wings spread out in a fan, this lion posture is called moleca, named after the small crabs of the lagoon which hold out their two open claws. A crab that thinks it’s a lion: almost a historical fable. But light years away from an evangelical parable.