Giustiniani

The Giustiniani were a family of patricians very famous during the times of a Republic that gave so many splendid names to history, and the race was preserved to the honor and service of Saint Mark by one of the most romantic facts of his annals.

Venetian Life William Dean Howells 1878

In Italy, Mario Monti, the country's unelected new prime minister and a former international adviser to Goldman Sachs, stands in the Giustiniani Palace as head of a cabinet of similarly unelected technocrats.

It's not just our leaders who are in a crisis. Democracy itself is failing | Peter Beaumont 2011

Note 27: This manuscript originally displayed the text and score of O Bella Rosa (Urb.Lat. 1411, fols. 7r – 9v), a popular song written in the style of Leonardo Giustiniani, that was interpreted by Johannes Ciconia and John Dunstable.

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

Representing the Serenissima, Giustiniani (unsuccessfully) petitioned Pope Pius II to pardon the condottiere, whose lands Venice considered the belly of its republic.

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

A popular quattrocento exercise of rhetorical amplification translated paradigma, the Greek term for king, as "speculum," emphasizing that the prince should be an exemplary mirror for his people (Labalme, Bernardo Giustiniani, 46).

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

Note 1: A member of one of Venice's Longhi (long-established families), Giustiniani (1388 – 1446) held several positions of considerable political influence: among them, he led the powerful and secretive Council of Ten and was procurator at San Marco.

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

For Bernardo, Giustiniani composed a small memory treatise with rules for crafting an inward space for thought.

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

Leonardo Giustiniani characterizes its role in preparing speeches: "In envisioning an oration, or embassy, or proofs, or opinions, it is necessary that we comprehend briefly not words but the total idea and that we give to it its own image."

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

Note 65: Labalme, Bernardo Giustiniani, 58 – 59. back

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

Reflecting on his experience as capo (head) of the Council of Ten, Giustiniani emphasized: "There is no kind of case, no type, no topic, finally no precept of the entire art [of rhetoric] in which I must not be proficient, unless I wish to fail myself."

Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008