With a Merchant's Eye: The Mecenatismo of Paolo Cassotti

Abstract

This thesis examines the patronage strategies of Paolo Cassotti, a wealthy wool merchant living in Venetian-dominated Bergamo in the early Cinquecento. Cassotti challenged the rigid class structure of Bergamasque society, first through his conspicuous artistic and architectural patronage within the city walls, and then by constructing a suburban villa: the Villa Zogna, a graceful example of early Renaissance architecture that was unique in Bergamo. In 1512 he hired a local artist, Andrea Previtali, who had trained with Giovanni Bellini in Venice, to adorn the villa with a fresco cycle depicting the mechanical or practical arts. This thesis explores the ways in which Paolo Cassotti used Villa Zogna and its fresco cycle to shape a positive representation of himself and his fellow merchants as part of the foundation of an ordered, stable society, thereby accomplishing visually what he could not do socially.