BEMBO, Marco (1446-1484). Autograph document signed in two places ('Marcho bembo'), Candia, 16 September 1481, authorising two payments; [ together with ] letters to Bembo from: Francesco GIUSTINIAN (Bembo's factor in Candia), three letters, Candia, 15 January - 15 September 1482; and Giuseppe(?) FOSCARINI, Candia, 7 April 1480; and letters to Michele FOSCARI from Angelo BARBARIGO, Candia, 11 April 1486, and from his son Alessandro FOSCARI, Candia, 12 December 1492; with another letter in Latin to a member of the Foscari family from Candia, 18 November 1479, eight in total, together 4 pages, oblong 4to, and 4 pages, folio , address panels, most endorsed by recipient. Giustinian's letters report on shipments of wine and cloth of various qualities and on the activities of other members of the Bembo company and of rival merchants in Crete, also giving statements of accounts and requesting the forwarding of funds. A letter from Giuseppe(?) Foscarini, addressed to Bembo during his stay in Constantinople, discusses the situation in Crete and makes reference to the activities of Giustinian. Alessandro Foscari, writing to his father, reports chiefly on a considerable financial negotiation involving Andrea and Angelo Barbarigo. Marco Bembo was born in Venice of noble parents (his mother was a Barbarigo), and elected to the Maggior Consiglio at the age of 25, as was customary for a scion of an aristocratic family. His earliest trading ventures were with his brother Lorenzo (d.1481); in 1476 he visited Southampton, and in 1479-1481 he spent several months in Candia en route to Constantinople, and again on his return journey. He quickly established an unusually widespread trading company, with depots in the Levant as far as Syrian Tripoli and Damascus and in the West in London, Southampton and Bruges. The company was based in Venice, where Bembo owned five warehouses, and specialised in textiles and the wines of Retimo and Candia. When Bembo died in 1484 he left his financial affairs in a poor state, chiefly as a result of a Venetian market depressed by three years of war against Ferrara; the liquidation of his estate was to last eight years. 223 letters from Bembo are known to survive (12 from Candia, 29 from Constantinople, the remainder from Venice, 1479-1484), as well as 197 relating to the liquidation of his affairs: documents which 'oltre a documentare la vasta attivitá commerciale del Bembo, apportano un notevole contributo alla conoscenza della tecnica commerciale e del commerzio veneziano nel secolo XV' ( Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani ). Crete was the cornerstone of the Venetian trading empire in the Eastern Mediterranean (its wine trade has been estimated at 272,400 litres in 1482), and its eventual possession by the Turks was the key to the loss of Venetian influence over Mediterranean politics. (8)
BEMBO, Marco (1446-1484). Autograph document signed in two places ('Marcho bembo'), Candia, 16 September 1481, authorising two payments; [ together with ] letters to Bembo from: Francesco GIUSTINIAN (Bembo's factor in Candia), three letters, Candia, 15 January - 15 September 1482; and Giuseppe(?) FOSCARINI, Candia, 7 April 1480; and letters to Michele FOSCARI from Angelo BARBARIGO, Candia, 11 April 1486, and from his son Alessandro FOSCARI, Candia, 12 December 1492; with another letter in Latin to a member of the Foscari family from Candia, 18 November 1479, eight in total, together 4 pages, oblong 4to, and 4 pages, folio , address panels, most endorsed by recipient. Giustinian's letters report on shipments of wine and cloth of various qualities and on the activities of other members of the Bembo company and of rival merchants in Crete, also giving statements of accounts and requesting the forwarding of funds. A letter from Giuseppe(?) Foscarini, addressed to Bembo during his stay in Constantinople, discusses the situation in Crete and makes reference to the activities of Giustinian. Alessandro Foscari, writing to his father, reports chiefly on a considerable financial negotiation involving Andrea and Angelo Barbarigo. Marco Bembo was born in Venice of noble parents (his mother was a Barbarigo), and elected to the Maggior Consiglio at the age of 25, as was customary for a scion of an aristocratic family. His earliest trading ventures were with his brother Lorenzo (d.1481); in 1476 he visited Southampton, and in 1479-1481 he spent several months in Candia en route to Constantinople, and again on his return journey. He quickly established an unusually widespread trading company, with depots in the Levant as far as Syrian Tripoli and Damascus and in the West in London, Southampton and Bruges. The company was based in Venice, where Bembo owned five warehouses, and specialised in textiles and the wines of Retimo and Candia. When Bembo died in 1484 he left his financial affairs in a poor state, chiefly as a result of a Venetian market depressed by three years of war against Ferrara; the liquidation of his estate was to last eight years. 223 letters from Bembo are known to survive (12 from Candia, 29 from Constantinople, the remainder from Venice, 1479-1484), as well as 197 relating to the liquidation of his affairs: documents which 'oltre a documentare la vasta attivitá commerciale del Bembo, apportano un notevole contributo alla conoscenza della tecnica commerciale e del commerzio veneziano nel secolo XV' ( Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani ). Crete was the cornerstone of the Venetian trading empire in the Eastern Mediterranean (its wine trade has been estimated at 272,400 litres in 1482), and its eventual possession by the Turks was the key to the loss of Venetian influence over Mediterranean politics. (8)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
