The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Capovilla, Giuseppe.

Title:               Trade catalogue manuscript

Dates:             1848-1852.

Call No.:         Doc. 72

Acc. No.:        82x269

Quantity:        1 volume (56 leaves)

Location:        31 A

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Nothing is known about Giuseppe Capovilla, who apparently worked in or near Venice, Italy, in the middle of the 19th century.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Brightly-colored ink and watercolor designs for Italian Roman Catholic ecclesiastical furnishings.  Includes baldachins, monstrances, sanctuary lamps, candelabra, canopies, garlands, vases, finials, trophies, catafalques, censers, processional crosses, altar fittings, reliquaries, chandeliers, holy water containers, aspergilla, processional arches, organ cases, festoons, processional lanterns, crowns, frames for holding text and cards, and tabernacles.  Each leaf and each pictured item is numbered, leading to the conjecture that this item is either a collection of original drawings for a projected, printed trade catalog, or a collection of designs for a craftsman.

 

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The captions are in Italian.  The document was transcribed and translated in March 2017 by Giovanna Urist.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

 

Purchased from Charles B. Wood.

           

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

            Catholic Church - Liturgical objects.

            Church furniture.

            Liturgical objects - Italy.

Religious supplies industry.

Paintings.

Catalogs.

Trade catalogs.

Clergy.

Metalworkers.

 

 

 

TRANSCRIPTION AND TRANSLATION

 

Note: volume is bound in marbled paper boards (binding has been mended). Drawings are on paper watermarked "FINSOU & BLOSSAU, EDENBURG" and "J832

 

Design drawings are numbered, although some inserts at the front and back are not numbered.

 

 

Back endpaper: “Disegni esequitti da Giuseppe Capovilla del fu Angelo, li anni 1848-1849-1850-1852.”

Below, in the same hand is a second inscription: “Le quali disegni potranto servira di norma per formare li campioni regolari.”

[A pencil and pen sketch of a sconce appears below the inscriptions.]

 

The two sentences translate as: “Designs executed by Giuseppe Capovilla [son] of the late Angelo [Capovilla] [in] the years 1848-1849-1850-1852[,] which designs may serve as models to make samples according to the rules.”

 

Attached to front endpaper: two larger watercolor drawings, which are folded and glued to the front endpaper; both are of a decorative element surmounted by a cross, attached to a staff. The versos of both of these latter drawings bear black and white designs of two candelabra and a tabernacle.  A rough sketch of a tabernacle is glued inside the front cover.

 

 

Page                Item Number             Description

 

1 – 5                1 – 20                          Candelabri (candelabras)

 

6                      21 – 45                        Vasi (vases)

 

7                      46 – 48                        Piramidi (pyramids, i.e. candle holders to be placed into a slot, not free-standing)

 

8                      49 – 53                        Cartelle (a combination between candelabra, festoons, and

“crowns” to hang over altars)

 

9                      54 – 55                        Fornimenti per esposizioni del SS. G[?] (altar frontals and

altar fittings for displays of Saints [G?] )

[The names of the specific saints to be celebrated are unclear. This could also be a reference to specific church.]

 

10 – 11            56 – 59                        Tabernacoli (tabernacles)

 

12                    60 – 61                        Finte corte (short chandeliers to adorn doorways or arches)

 

13                    62 – 67                        Tabelle (frames to hold texts and cards used in saying

Mass)

 

14 – 15            68 – 73                        Lampade (lanterns/chandeliers)

 

16                    74 – 75                        Corone (wreaths/crowns to hang over altars)

 

17                    78                                La custodia era di tutto un pezzo di marmo carara compresa

la figura a ivi lievi era di lapis lasole, la port- alla di Ottori [?] dorato a fuoco. Fornimento per l’altar di Ss.i [Santi] Giovanni e Paolo. (The case/container [possibly referring to a tabernacle] was all one piece of Carrara marble, consisting of the figure in which light place was lapis lazuli [installed], the door was gilded by fire. Designs/decorations for the altar of Saints John and Paul.)

 

18                    79 – 83                        Ellalle [?] per Baldachino (supports for the baldachino)

 

19                    84 – 91                        Reliquaria ostensori (reliquary for the ostensoria)

 

20                    93 – 96                        Fanali (lanterns [possibly sanctuary lamps])

 

21                    97 – 100                      Candelabri (candelabras)

 

22                    101 – 104                    Candelabri per ceri (candelabras for large votive candles)

 

23                    105 – 107                    Aste (staffs/poles)

23                    108 – 113                    Vasi (vases)

 

24                    114 – 115                    Parapetti (parapets/decorative short walls to separate

sections of the church)

 

25                    116 – 118                    Segnali (processional monstrances, processional crosses)

 

26                    119, 121, 123, 125      Solari (ostensoria/monstrances)

26                    120, 124                      Segnali (processional monstrances and crosses)

26                    122, 126                      Lampade (lanterns)

 

27                    127 – 131                    Candelabri (candelabras)

 

28 – 29            133 – 136                    Palchi mortuari (catafalques)

 

30                    140 – 147                    Festoni (garlands/festoons)

 

31                    148 – 151                    Pianete (chasubles)

 

32                    152 – 154                    Palchi mortuari (catafalques)

 

33                    155 – 156                    Palchi per Musiche (organ cases)

 

34                    157 – 159                    Archi per strade in giorni di Solenitΰ (arches for streets

during days of Solemnity, i.e. processional arches)

 

35                    160 – 171                    Pezzi per Consadori [?] (pieces for [?], i.e. altar frontals)

 

36                    172 – 173                    Palchi mortuari (catafalques)

 

37                    174 – 175                    Forniture mortuaria (designs for mortuary purposes, i.e.

mounts for posthumous memorials)

38                    176 – 178                    Lampadario (pendant lanterns/chandeliers/general light

fixtures)

39                    179 – 184                    Cartelle (altar adornments and various sconces)

 

40                    185                              Candelabro (candelabra)

40                    186                              Vaso (vase)

40                    187 – 188                    Cartelle (sconces/candelabras)

 

41                    189 – 191                    Seshielli [?] per acqua benedetta (buckets for holy water

and aspergilla)

41                    192 – 197                    Bracioli per Lampade (arms for lamps)

 

42                    199 – 208                    Urne per reliquia (urns for relics)

 

43                    209 – 210                    Piramidi o Lumiere (pyramids/brackets or lanterns)

 

44                    211                              Fornimento per esposizioni (designs for expositions on

altars)

 

45                    212 – 215                    Croce mortuaria (mortuary crosses)

45                    216 – 217                    Croci per solenitΰ (solemnity crosses)

 

46                    222 – 223                    Turiboli (thuribles/censers)[1]

46                    218 – 226                    Fornimenti (decorative designs, including heraldic mounts

and decorative sashes)

 

47                    227 – 230                    Piramidi (pyramids, candelabras)

47                    231 – 232                    Palchi mortuari (catafalques)

 

48 – 49            233 – 234                    Trofei (trophies)[2]

 

50 – 51            235 – 257                    Fornimenti (decorative sashes/canopies, various decorative

elements)

 

52                    63 – 68                        Candelabri (candelabras and vases)

 

53                    54 – 61                        Vasi (vases)

 

54                    38 – 53                        Vari pezzi per esere [sic, i.e. essere] uniti (various pieces to

be united [in design?])

 

55-56               1 – 20                          Vari atrezzi per esere [sic, i.e. essere] uniti (various

attractive items to be united [in design?])

 

 

 


[1] Design number 220 is the iconic winged lion of Saint Mark floating on a grey cloud. The image of the lion of Saint Mark was not used anywhere in Italy outside of Venice as it symbolized the city and had political, social, and economic connotations. The image of the lion of Saint Mark, in addition to the one on page 48 and possibly on page 54, is the only heraldic reference in the volume. In addition, some of the processional lanterns are designed in a distinctly Venetian manner. These points suggest a possible Venetian origin for the book.

[2] The lion of Saint Mark is depicted in the center of the processional “trophy.”