Beschreibung:

Charter of Prince-Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy, granting the privileges and benefices of San Angelo in Rome to Octavianus Raggius an apostolic cleric, Franciscus Astius, Nicolaus Gavottus, Io. Baptista Bonettus and Lucianus de Lucianis, in Latin, opulently illuminated manuscript document on parchment [Italy (Rome), dated 23 November 1630]vast single-sheet document, with 93 long lines in a fine late humanist hand, opening with the grantor’s name in a line of large gold capitals, above three lines in gold ink and an opening initial in gold with gilt floral penwork, names throughout in gold capitals, and the whole enclosed within a gold frame surrounded by scrolling coloured foliate swirls around flowerheads, this border decoration enclosing the arms of Pope Urban VIII, Cardinal Maurizio himself and two other sets of arms, as well as a miniature of an angel guiding a child’s view to heaven at its head, scrawled signatories at foot of document opening with Octavianus Raggius (perhaps suggesting this is his copy), reverse blank bar nineteenth-century endorsement, some old water damage to edges with some scuffs, stains and losses (now repaired) there, overall fair and presentable condition, 885 by 620mm.Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy (1593-1657; here “Mauritius Sanctae Mariae in Via Lata Diaconus Cardinalis de Sabaudia”), became the Cardinal and Bishop of Vercelli at only fourteen, and subsequently the abbot of Abondance. In 1642, he abandoned the Church to become the prince of Oneglia and marquis of Berzezio. In an age of opulence, he managed to stand out as a flamboyant patron of the arts, who used his family’s wealth to demonstrate his personal influence. He maintained a stylish court of more than 200 people in Rome, in addition to that in Turin, and founded the literary and artistic Accademia dei Desiosi.