The Dream of St. Ursula, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1495. Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Photo Didier Descouens. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Venice's wealth is proverbial, and the inventory featured in this essay is a perfect illustration of that point. It was drawn up at the request of Lunardo, the brother of Polo Morosini quondam Ursati, a member of the Morosini family, one of the most important patrician families in Venice, probably after his death. It consists of twelve pages and displays a luxurious home. The contents of five rooms are described: a study, two “painted” bedrooms, the portego (a central room in Venetian patrician housing, used to serve the living quarters), and another small bedroom. The list of objects is long: paintings, mirrors, gold and silver crockery, gilded furniture, ceremonial swords, jewels, implements for producing commercial document such as seals (“sigillo”) and, above all, fabrics. Indeed, articles of clothing are by far the most common items listed in this inventory, including innumerable shirts, petticoats, sheets and rugs. Many different materials are listed, ranging from common cloth to precious clothing of Reims cloth (“rens”). Other were made of silk. Sometimes, the style is even specified. For example, “ala dameschine” means that the fabric is of oriental inspiration, with floral, animal or simply abstract motifs.
The Dream of St. Ursula (Vittore Carpaccio, 1495). Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Public domain.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of information missing from this inventory. First, it is not clear why it was compiled. Indeed, no mention is ever made of Paolo Morosini's death. However, according to Marco Barbaro's genealogical records, a certain Polo Morosini della Sbarra, a member of one of the most prestigious branches of the family, died in 1507 at the age of 27, and his father's name was Orsatto. It is therefore highly probable that this inventory was drawn up on the death of this young patrician. Second, we know nothing about the house whose contents are described: neither its location, nor its size, nor its status within the holdings of the Morosini family: was it the main house or a secondary one? Thirdly, this inventory is made up of two distinct parts. The first part consists of a general description of valuables made on November 3, 1507, whereas the second and much shorter part is a list of jewels, mainly chains and rings made of precious materials and topped with precious stones or pearls, and their prices, dated December 1 of the same year.
It should also be added that this inventory is the first true inventory in a series emanating from the holdings of the Cancelleria inferiore, a branch of the Ducal Chancellery whose creation date is imprecise, but can be dated to the 13th century. From the outset, the Cancelleria inferiore served as a notarial archive. Notaries had to archive the notarial minutes of other notaries who were dead, ill, absent or who had simply ceased their activity.
Although the series of post-mortem inventories begins in 1507 with this example, documentary production increased significantly during the years 1520-1530, and eleven buste (boxes containing archival documents) are preserved for the 16th century. The contents of many dowries are also preserved, and the documents often take a form similar to that of the post-mortem inventory. In fact, the dowry is made up of a large list of more or less precious objects, and here too, fabric is predominant.
Further reading:
Benzoni, Gino, and Antonio Menniti Ippolito. Storia di Venezia: dalle origini alla caduta della Serenissima. Vol. 5, Il rinascimento società ed economia. Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1996.
Casa, Isabella Palumbo-Fossati. Dentro le case: abitare a Venezia nel Cinquecento. Venice: Gambier and Keller, 2013.
Molmenti, Pompeo. La storia di Venezia nella vita privata dalle origini alla caduta della repubblica. Torino: Roux e Favale, 1880.