Commissione issued to Paolo di Giorgio Nani by Leonardo Loredan Venice, 1517; illuminator: Benedetto Bordone University of Pennsylvania, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection, LJS 59 This manuscript is an elaborately decorated commissione issued during the dogeship of Leonardo Loredan (1501-17). The document was issued to Paolo di Giorgio Nani and designates him as podestà and capitaneus of the important inland town of Treviso. The elaborate frame of all’antica ornamentation composed of silver-gray vases and shell gold volutes is set against a deep blue background, and the central image shows Saint Paul presenting a kneeling Nani to the enthroned Virgin and Child. The image is a simplified version of large-scale compositions by contemporary Venetian painters, notably Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1430–1516) and Vincenzo Catena (ca. 1480–1531).
