Objet o de estudio

Lorenzo Dolfin was the primary heir of his uncle Biagio, who had left him his entire real es-tate property.¹¹² In addition, his mother Cataruccia had left him 1000 ducats in state bonds.

No testament survives of his wife Giovanetta, who died in 1444. Like his uncle Biagio, Lo-renzo Dolfin had no obvious heirs. In his notarised testament, dated 18 July 1474, he

appoint-110 Dolfin, Lorenzo qd. Antonio: Quaderno, 16 November 1467. 16.11.1467, ASVe, Procuratori di San Marco (PSM 282), Citra, b. 282, fasc. 1, int. 4, f. [14]: “Quaderno de mi Lorenzo Dolfin fo de miser Antonio in lo qual io scryvero le raxion de i fiti de le mie chaxe da stazio e da sizenti con le spexe per chonzar le dite chaxe con altre spexe per le dite con le qual quaderno si chomenza a di 16 Novembryo 1467.”

111 Ibid.: „+ 1467 a di 16 Novembryo in Veniexe Raxion de resti per el saldar de un libro de fiti de chaxe signado numero 3 per resti terati di el dito libro e portare su que fito die dar a di 16 Novembro 1467 per ser Zorzi Dolfin fo de ser Francescho xe per resto de un raxion de el dito el qual resto contrato de el dito libro signado

numero 3 chomo in el dito libro apar a lin 5 horo…….in 2 L………..

Et a di dito per raxion de fiti de le mie chaxe da stazio condasi zente de mia raxion xe per resto de una raxion de la dita el qual resto contrado de el dito libro signado

numero 3 chomo in el dito libro apar a lin 41 horo…..in 6 L………..xx”

112 Bonfantin, Vittore de to Dolfin, Lorenzo qd. Antonio: Testament, Biagio Dolfin qd. Lorenzo, 27 April 1420.

27.04.1420, ASVe, Procuratori di San Marco, Commissarie miste, b. 180, pergamene, p. 59 [MMDD]: “Item dimitto suprascripto ser Laurentio Delphino nepoti meo meum domum magnam sitam in contracta San Iustine in qua ad praesentem habitat vir nobilis ser Hector Bembo cum omibus suis hntiis- et pertinentiis ve aporte viri nobilis ser Roberti Maurozeno et mei usque ad domum meam in qua habitat ser Petrus Dolze quaternerius hac condictione que dicta domus ire debeat in descendentibus maschulis ipsius ser Laurentii nepotis mei et de sua prole per lineam maschulinam usque in infinitum. Et volo quod dicta domus numquam possit vendi dari donari alienari transactari seu pro anima iudicari aut pignorari. Salvo quod volo quod possit accipi dotes super praedictam domus. Item dimitto superscripto ser Laurentio Delphino nepoti meo illam meam domum quam michi dimixit mater mea que fuit de cha Telnige post mortem - suprascripta dominae sororis Cataruzie Momalis monasterii Sancti Iohannis de Torzello liberam et expeditam. Et omnis alias meas domos a seguentibus dimitto eidem ser Laurentio Delphino nepoti meo liberas et expeditas” (transcription by G. Christ).

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ed his nephew Zaccharia Morosini as principal executor. Zaccharia, the son of his brother-in-law Giovanni Morosini qd. Marino, was to act in collaboration with the Procurators of San Marco.¹¹³ The appointment of the procurator di citra suggests that Lorenzo resided in Venice in his home parish of Santa Giustina when compiling his will.

The testament is unusually long and thus, as it is the only source providing a detailed account of Lorenzo’s possessions, of critical importance for assessing Lorenzo’s overall wealth at the time of his death. By contrast, since the document does not mention any relatives apart from the executor Zaccharia Morosini, his deceased parents Antonio and Cataruccia Dolfin and his deceased uncle Biagio Dolfin, for whom Lorenzo requested memorial services, his strategy of inheritance does not provide clues to his late intra-family relations, nor to his cross-generational links.¹¹⁴

A notable particularity is the priority given to charitable donations, which are mentioned in second place right after the extensive list of religious arrangements. Lorenzo asked for requi-ems to be held in Rome as well as in Venice.¹¹⁵ Lorenzo also endowed several parishes for the construction of altars, among them the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua. He had distin-guished himself as a major sponsor of ecclesiastical art in his later years and had financed the S. Lorenzo triptych of the Bellini school in Santa Maria della Carità,¹¹⁶ where he asked to be buried alongside his wife Giovanetta and his mother Cataruccia.¹¹⁷

113 Dolfin, Lorenzo qd. Antonio: Testament, 18 July 1474. 18.07.1474, ASVe, Archivio Notarile Testamenti, b.

1240: “MCCCCLXXIIII a dì XVIII luio in Venexia mi Lorenzo Dolphin fo de miser Antonio de la contrada de San Iustina a Venexia son de la mente e del corpo voio e si ordeno questo sia mio ultimo testamento. Et prima recomando l’amia mia al nostro signor dio. Item lasso mie conmessii i signor procurator de miser San Marco zoe di citra et mio nievo ser Zacharia Morexini fo de miser Zuane.”

114 Ibid.: “Item lasso per amor de dio per l’anima de miser Antonio Dolphin mio pate e per l’anima de miser Blasio Dolphin mio barba et per l’anima de madonna Chararuza Dolphin mia ma<d>re ducati 200 d’oro […]. E tuti soraditti frari e munege sia tegnudi et obligadi in le soe oratiòn e messe e officii pregar dio per l’anime de tuti tre soraditti.”

115 Ibid.: “Et simel a Roma in la giexia dove xè la perdonanza de dir una messa sagramental per l’anima mia.”

116 Ibid.: “Item lasso di i fitti de la soraditta proprietade semper et perpetuo ogni anno ducati x d’oro al mio altar de San Lorenzo xè in la giexia de Santa Maria dela caritade xè in Venexia.” For a history of the Bellini triptychs of Santa Maria della Carità and Lorenzo Dolfin’s financial involvement, see Huse, N., Wolters, W.: The Art of Renaissance Venice - Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, 1460-1590, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990, p. 182.

117 Dolfin, Lorenzo qd. Antonio: Testament, 18 July 1474. 18.07.1474, ASVe, Archivio Notarile Testamenti, b.

1240: “Item voio et ordeno el mio corpo sia seppelido e metudi(?) in la mia archa che xe a lo luogo de Santa Maria di la caritade xe in Venexia laqual archa xe in el dinofero(?) del ditto luogo a coverto in suxo el mirro de

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Lorenzo’s wealth at the time of his death was considerable and the testament contains mone-tary grants (held in bullion and state bonds) of more than 7000 ducats as well as a significant real estate property whose yearly yields were allocated to monasteries for charitable purpos-es. His family property in the parish of Santa Giustina, which were divided into six com-pounds since 1354, was to be given to the Santa Giustina monastery (“el luogo de San Iusti-na”).¹¹⁸ The testament further mentions six small houses (“caxete”) in Santa Giustina which the executors were asked to administer and to rent out for two gold ducats per year to people in need.¹¹⁹ Since there is no mention of the monastery of Santa Giustina in this part of the document, the caxete presumably did not belong to the family compound. Two additional houses in the parish of Santa Giustina were to be rented out for the highest possible yields,¹²⁰ to be given to the monastery of Santa Maria della Carità.

Apart from Lorenzo’s executors and his deceased relatives, the only individual mentioned in the testament is his servant (“schiava”) Maria who was to be freed and granted 20 gold ducats in addition to a yearly pension of eight gold ducats.¹²¹ The rest of Lorenzo’s wealth, which was mostly held in state bonds (“imprestiti della camera degli imprestiti”), was given to ec-clesiastical institutions. Bonds worth 3000 ducats were allocated to the church and the

mon-la giexia messa a nerto suxo modioni.”/ “Anchora el ditto luogo de Santa Maria demon-la Caritade sia tegnudi et obligado semper e perpetuo de non meter ni far meter ne lassar meter ni ch’el sia metudo algun corpo in la ditta mia archa per algun muodo over integno dapoi sara metudo el mio in la ditta archa e in la ditta al prexente xè quello de mia ma<d>re e de mia moier e semper et perpetuo voio che sia fatto e observado chomo di sora ho ditto et ordenadi.”

118 Ibid.: “Item voio e ordeno la mia proprietade messa in la contrada de Santa Iustina de Venexia laqual proprietade xè a pruovo la giexia e lo luogo de Santa Iustina laqual proprietade fo de miser Piero Dolphin e la ditta proprietade fo partida in 6 parte chomo apar per una divusiòn fatta in 1354.”

119 Ibid.: „Item voio e ordeno semper et perpetuo per amor di dio per l’anima mia le soraditte 6 caxete sia affitade per ducati 2 d’oro l’una a l’anno. E per el ditto prexio de ducati 2 d’oro l’una a l’anno sia dade e darsi se debia a persone che sia bone over de bona fama et che tegna honesta vità zoè a quelle persone che paresse e fosse mazor besogna e marze.”

120 Ibid.: „Item voio et ordeno la mia proprietadi messe in la contradi de Santa Iustina da Venexia laqual proprietadi xè do caxe da statio zoè una ha riva e pozo e altana e l’altra ha ortto et pozo. […]. Item voio semper et perpetuo la soraditta proprietade per i mie conmessery e non per altri sia affitadi per lo plui et mazor prexio se pora e far el meio sia possibele chomo ne ssi mie conmessery apparera. E semper et perpetuo i mie conmessery si debia scuoder et scuoda tuti i fitti de tuti la soraditta proprietade e tuti i dener di ditti fitti sia salvadi e salvar si se debia.”

121 Ibid.: „Item lasso a Maria sorascritta ducati 8 d’oro ogni anno fin che la vuiera. Item lasso a la sorascritta Maria ducati 20 d’oro.”

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astery (“giexa e luogo”) of Santa Maria della Carità, which, in return, was asked to honour Lorenzo’s memory with a daily mass while displaying the Dolfin coat of arms on Lorenzo’s altar and inside the chapel of S. Lorenzo (“a perpetua memorie”).¹²² Another 500 ducats of imprestiti were allocated to the hospital of Santa Maria della Pietà (“hospedal de la pietade”), 1000 ducats in bonds to the scuola of Santa Maria dell’Anima. Yet another 2000 ducats of state bonds were put aside partly for the maintenance of the aforementioned two houses in Santa Giustina,¹²³ and partly for distribution, in amounts ranging from ten to thirty ducats, among several Venetian churches and monasteries, including San Francesco della Vigna and San Salvador.

Given the dominance of consanguineous and affinal kin in Lorenzo’s commerce, and the con-siderable degree to which he himself had been integrated into a comprehensive family envi-ronment despite the early loss of his father, the absence of consanguineous heirs in Lorenzo Dolfin’s testament is certainly surprising. The explanation herefore, it can be supposed, pri-marily lies in the rather long time-span of 30 years between the end of his recorded commer-cial activities in the 1440s and his death in 1475, as the family-based commercommer-cial coalition in which Lorenzo conducted his long-distance trade did not remain pertinent during his retire-ment. Furthermore, his own childlessness was of significance: the lesser relevance of the sub-sequent generation of the Dolfin-Gabriel-Morosini clan already during his years of commer-cial activity suggests that his bonds to his second cousins and the subsequent generation of his affinal Morosini family may have been weaker. Yet the appointment of Zaccharia Mo-rosini as an executor confirms the overall importance of his affinal family.