Valeriano Albini in Venice: copyist and librarian at the monastery of Sant’Antonio di Castello

Abstract

This paper firstly explores biographical events in the life of the copyist Valeriano Albini: it begins with a survey of his manuscript production, especially during the period he spent in Venice between 1539 and 1543 as librarian at the monastery of Sant’Antonio di Castello, and follows this with a review of the epistolary evidence of his erudite friend and main patron Guillaume Pellicier, ambassador of the King of France. It then undertakes an analysis of Valeriano's autograph colophons and presents data about the copying times calculated for this professional copyist in the period under consideration in order to understand the rhythms of his work as he faced commissions from various patrons of the time (above all Guillaume Pellicier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza). These data are put in relation to the epistolary witnesses that provide some evidence of Valeriano's commitments.