of a letter, dated 14 March 1480, is from the Venetian Senate to Sultan Mehmed II acknowledging the despatch of artists to Istanbul, following secret deliberations by the Senate. In Raby’s view, the ‘copper founder’ is the Paduan sculptor Bartolomeo Bellano, and ‘the painter’ is Gentile Bellini. The letter is taken from Raby op cit, Appendix 2, Document 2, where it is reprinted in full. It was translated for the present volume by Giuliana Paganucci and Richard Dixon and edited by Paul Wood.
14 March 1480
Castanbegi [Hasan Bey], Ambassador of the Turkish lord, should not be further detained. But he must be placed in a condition to return to the aforesaid Lord with a message of reply, as dignified and cordial as possible, to all the requests that he has made. […] [A]fter the opening words of greeting, with regard to the founder and master builder whom he seeks, reply in these terms. That we have seen and spoken most willingly to the ambassador, as we have done also with all other ambassadors, as messengers who came to us on behalf of the Great Lord, and thus we are willing to see all the men and their servants of every condition, as his most Illustrious Lord has done and does with all of us: And this is an excellent sign of perfect benevolent and amicable peace between us which, for our part, we wish may last forever: And always, in all those convenient and reasonable things … we shall do them most willingly and cheerfully, as we did for that first founder of Copper, whom we sent to him in that craft most famous in our part; and also the painter: who if they have served and serve the aforesaid most Excellent Lord with contentment and satisfaction they do a thing as pleasing for us as they can do. And if we have in all our country another founder, we will send him immediately. […] And the same we say about a good master builder, and we will involve the castaldo in this task so that if we find someone sufficient for that desire our Lord will reassure them and also persuade them to come.
IA5(v) Luca Landucci (c.1436–1516) from his Florentine diary
Landucci was an apothecary who kept an account of daily events in Florence between 1450 and his death in 1516. In the present extract he details diplomatic gifts from the Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay in Cairo to Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence in 1487. The account is taken from Diario fiorentino dal 1450 al 1516, continuato da un anonimo fino al 1542, I. Del Badia (ed.), Florence: Sansoni, 1883, translated by Kathleen Christian, pp. 52–3. (See also IC1).
[…] And on the 11th of November, certain animals arrived here which it was said were sent by the Sultan […]. The animals were these: a very large giraffe which was very beautiful and gentle; one can get a sense of its appearance from paintings found in many different places in Florence. And it lived here many years. And a large lion, and goats and horses which were very strange [antelopes or buffaloes?].
And on the 18th of November 1487, the abovementioned ambassador of the Sultan presented to the Signoria [Florentine government] the abovementioned giraffe, lion, and other animals, and they went to sit in the Signoria, on the ringhiera of the Signori [the platform in front of the Palazzo della Signoria], speaking and thanking each other by means of an interpreter. A large crowd had gathered that morning in the piazza to witness such an event taking place. The platform was decorated with banners and carpets, and all the principal citizens were seated there….
And on the 25th of November 1487 the said ambassador presented Lorenzo de’ Medici with certain aromatics in beautiful vases in Moorish style, and jars filled with balsam, and a beautiful and large striped tent in the Moorish manner that opens up, which I saw.
IA5(vi) Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) from a letter to Sultan Bayezid II
The letter from Leonardo da Vinci is undated but from before 1512. It is addressed to the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II about his possible contribution to a range of proposed engineering works in Istanbul. The letter is taken from C. Pedretti, The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, vol. 1, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977, pp. 212–14.
I, your servant, having thought for some time about the matter of the mill, with the help of God, have found a solution, so that, with an artifice, I will build a mill which works without water, but only by the wind in a way that it will take less than a mill at sea; and not only would it be more convenient to the people, but it would also be suitable to any place.
Furthermore, God (may he be exalted!) has granted me to find a way of extracting the water from ships without ropes or cables, but with a self‐operating hydraulic machine.
I, your servant, have heard about your intention to build a bridge from Istanbul to Galatea, and that you have not done it because no man can be found who would be able to plan it. I, your servant, know how. I would raise it to the height of a building, so that, on account of its height, no one will be allowed to go through it. But I have thought of making an obstruction so as to make it possible to drive piles after having removed the water. I would make it possible that a ship may pass underneath it even with its sails up. I would have a drawbridge so that, when one wishes, one can pass on to the Anatolia coast. However, since water moves through continuously, the banks may be consumed. Thus I may find a system of guiding the flow of the water, and keep it at the bottom so as not to affect the banks. The sultans, your successors, will be able to do it at little expense. May God make you believe these words and may you consider this servant of yours always at your service.
IA5(vii) Tommaso di Tolfo from a letter to Michelangelo
This letter of 1 April 1519 from Tommaso di Tolfo is sent from Edirne in Ottoman Turkey to Michelangelo (1475–1564) in Florence. Tolfo, a Florentine merchant in the service of the Ottoman sultan, reports that unlike Bayezid II, who had been hostile to European art, the new sultan, Selim I, who reigned from 1512 to 1520 was – like his forebear Mehmed II – open to the new style of European figurative art. He recommends that Michelangelo take advantage of the opportunity, which would afford him considerable profit. The letter is taken from P. Barocchi and R. Ristori (eds), Il Carteggio di Michelangelo, vol. 2, Florence: Sansoni, 1967, pp. 176–7, translated by Kathleen Christian.
My dear, esteemed Michelangelo, in the past I hadn't written to you because there was nothing to report, and the reason for this letter is that about 15 years ago now I sometimes spent time in conversation with you at the house of Gianozzo Salviati, and if I remember correctly, your wish was to come and see this place, but you were dissuaded from the idea since in those times there was a ruler [Bayezid] who did not like figurative representations of any sort; indeed, he held them in loathing. At the moment, however, our illustrious Lord [Selim] is very much the opposite. And in recent days he acquired a statue, a female nude reclining and holding her head up with her arm, and from what I hear he is very satisfied with it. Baldinacio degli Allesandri had this figure here in his house, and I don’t know where he found it, yet this figure in my opinion is something rather ordinary.
My point is this: that if you are still of the same mind that you were then, I would recommend that you come here immediately, and you would be regarded well here and it would not bring you any loss; rather it would bring you much profit. And you can believe me in this; if I thought otherwise I wouldn’t write it. And if you are thinking of coming you should not hesitate, and when you receive this letter you should set out as soon as you can, through Ragusa, which is the easiest way. And I would pledge to send, before you arrive in Ragusa, a letter of introduction from this Lord, so that his representative in Chocia [Foča] can arrange for a good escort to accompany you to here.
IA6 Giovanni da Empoli (1483–1518) On India, Ceylon and the Spice Islands
In 1498 the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the first European to do so. Thereafter, with the help of Arabian pilots encountered on the east coast of Africa, he sailed on to India. Subsequent exploration led to the establishment of fortified trading posts along the coasts, and
