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Antonio Cappello (1494-1565) was a Venetian noble, a member of the San Polo branch of the . A Procurator of St Mark's, he acted as ambassador to the court of
Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...
at Gand, but is mainly remembered for his role as one of the main promoters of public art and architectural projects in sixteenth-century
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
. He resided in the palazzo on San Polo now known as Ca Cappello Layard and oversaw its redevelopment.


Political beginnings

He was born approximately in 1494, the son of Giambattista of Marino Cappello, a merchant and a nobleman, and Paola Garzoni, daughter of Marino Garzoni, who had been prominent in politics as '' procuratore de Citra'', ''
podestà (), also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of central and northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a c ...
'' of
Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...
, ''podestà'' of
Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
and finally duke of Candia. Antonio Cappello began his political career at a young age. In 1511 he was vice-''podestà'' of Cologna Veneta, in 1515 an official at the ''Dogana da Mar'' - the maritime customs office- and in 1516, with a donation to the Republic of 200 ducats, he secured the office of ''
provveditore The Italian title ''prov ditore'' (plural ''provveditori''; also known in ; ), "he who sees to things" ( overseer), was the style of various (but not all) local district governors in the extensive, mainly maritime empire of the Republic of Venice. ...
'' and captain in
Legnago Legnago (; Venetian: ''Lenjago'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Verona, Veneto, northern Italy, with population (2012) of 25,439. It is located on the Adige river, about from Verona. Its fertile land produces crops of rice, other c ...
, in the Verona countryside. There he amassed considerable rural wealth, as tax returns for 1537 show him in agrarian possessions measuring up to 1,200 Venetian campi in area. In 1519 he joined the '' savi alle decime'', then, through a 400 ducat donation he secured access to the ''pregadi'' before purchasing for 8,000 ducats the office of '' procuratore de Supra'', one of the two chief procurators of Saint Mark's, tasked with the conservation and expansion of the Basilica. He would maintain the prestigious role for 42 years.


Construction of the fortress of Legnago with Michele Sanmicheli

An important evolution in the career of Antonio Cappello was his nomination to provveditor sopra le fabbriche di Legnago- superintended over the fortification works of Legnago- in 1528, following the removal of the incompetent Pietro Tagliapietra. His task was to aid in the construction of the "fortezza nova" at Legnago, strongly desired by doge
Andrea Gritti Andrea Gritti (17 April 1455 – 28 December 1538) was the Doge of the Venetian Republic from 1523 to 1538, following a distinguished diplomatic and military career. He started out as a successful merchant in Constantinople and transitioned into ...
, a project under the direction of the commander-in-chief of the Venetian land forces
Francesco Maria I della Rovere Francesco Maria I House of della Rovere, della Rovere (25 March 1490 – 20 October 1538) was an Italian condottiero, who was Duke of Urbino from 1508 to 1516 and, after retaking the throne from Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, Lorenzo I ...
. The building of the fort however turned out to be a slow and contested process. On 15 December 1530 the chief architect working on the project, the Ferrarese Sigismondo de Fantis was fired for incompetency, to be replaced by his aide, the Veronese
Michele Sanmicheli Michele Sanmicheli, sometimes also transcribed as Sammicheli, Sanmichele or Sammichele (Verona, 1484There is no certainty about the date of his birth. Vasari reports 1484, while architectural historian Giulio Sancassani, through a study of his fat ...
, whose Porta di San Martino had gained considerable acclaim as a tasteful yet function example of military engineering. Problems did not cease and in April 1532 the Republic's authorities, learning that the works were still far behind schedule removed Antonio Cappello from his role as superintendent. Both Michele Sanmichele and Francesco Maria della Rovere however defended his role and actions.


Embassy at Charles V’s court at Gand

The removal from office at Legnago did not halt his career. In 1533 he was nominated '' savio alle acque'', then procurator in the '' zonta dei nove''- an additional group of councillors that sat with the
Council of Ten The Council of Ten (; ), or simply the Ten, was from 1310 to 1797 one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice. Elections took place annually and the Council of Ten had the power to impose punishments upon Venetian nobility, patric ...
- then in 1539, together with the duke of
Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...
, inspector of the fortresses of the Venetian mainland, and then, on 27 December 1539, with Vincenzo Grimani, special ambassador to the courts of Francis I in France and emperor Charles V in Flanders, with the objective of convincing the two rival monarchs to set aside their differences and join Venice in an anti-Ottoman coalition. The embassy did not however obtain significant political results: Francis I valued his Ottoman allies, and so the Venetians made for Charles V's court, where they were well received and Antonio Cappello received the title of count imperial, but failed to secure meaningful military support. In the following years, Antonio Cappello was appointed to more prestigious public offices: he sat in the ''consiglio alle acque'', then in the committee that superintended the fortifications of
Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...
, then he was ''provveditor'' over the Republic's fortifications, In 1543 finally he was dispatched to negotiate the purchase of the fortress of
Marano Lagunare Marano Lagunare () is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about south of Udine. Marano Lagunare borders the following munici ...
in eastern
Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...
, seized the previous year by a band of rogue Venetian subjects loyal to Florentine renegade adventurer Piero Strozzi from the Austrians, and which threatened to draw the Republic into the Italian War of 1542-46 then raging between Habsburgs and Valois. The affair was concluded with the hefty disbursement in favour of Piero Strozzi of 35,000 ducats, in exchange of which the Venetians gained the small but strategic town.


Sponsorship of public art

The offices where he left the greatest mark were certainly those of artistic and architectural patronage. As procurator of Saint Mark's he was responsible of substantial restoration interventions in the Basilica of Saint Mark's, and also of the commencement of works on the
Biblioteca Marciana The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark (, but in historical documents commonly referred to as the ) is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy and ...
. His experience in overseeing construction work saw him nominated as superintended over the bridge and works at Rialto together with Tommaso Contarini and Vettor Grimani for the period between January 1551 and November 1554, where he oversaw proposals for the redesigning of
Rialto Bridge The Rialto Bridge (; ) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the ' (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its first construction as a pontoon bridge in 1 ...
and the beginning of the works. He was renominated to the post with Gianbattista Grimani between October 1555 and October 1556 and continued to oversee the construction of the bridge. In the same year he was nominated superintended over works at the Ducal Palace, where he oversaw important works of reconstruction and redecoration, such as the repainting by Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Paolo Veronese of the ceiling of the room of the Council of Ten. He also led the council of fifteen patricians that oversaw the building of the Golden Staircase in the Ducal Palace. This frontal role in the management of artistic and cultural policy in Venice put Antonio Cappello at the centre of an important artistic network. Significant in this sense was the friendship that tied him to architect Michele Sanmicheli from their shared days in Legnago, and this brought him to commission to Michele Sanmicheli important works. Not only that, but two of Sanmicheli's artistic protégés,
Giovanni Battista Zelotti Giovanni Battista Zelotti (; 1526 – 28 August 1578) was an Italians, Italian Painting, painter of the late Renaissance, active in Venice and her mainland territories. He appears to have been born in Verona, then part of the Venetian mainla ...
and
Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , ; ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana (Veronese), The Wedding ...
, received from him important commissions.


Commissioning of the fresco cycle of Zelotti and Veronese at Ca’ Cappello

It is not surprising that a man who promoted the Republic's political advancement through a cultivated cultural policy thought to advance his own personal political career through artistic patronage. As such Antonio Cappello organized a substantial reorganization of the Gothic palazzo he inherited on the Grand Canal, Ca’ Cappello, that culminated with Giovanni Battista Zelotti and Veronese creating a large fresco-cycle with mythological scenes. The frescoes were damaged by fire and had worn out by the nineteenth century, but in his 1648 Carlo Ridolfi could still see them "above the Grand Canal in the house of the Cappelli eronesecoloured some figures of Cerere, Pomona, Pallas and other deities, while those above were coloured by his friend Zelotti".Ridolfi, C. ''Le meraviglie dell'arte ovvero le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti'', Venezia: presso Gio. Battista Sgava, 1648, p.308 Anton Maria Zanetti thought them very notable in the 1760 and had engravings made of the surviving figures.


Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cappello, Antonio 1494 births 1565 deaths Republic of Venice politicians Procurators of Saint Mark Dukes of Crete 16th-century Venetian people Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to France Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice
Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...