Auction Series 257-264 in Zurich Day 3

1479 (Feb. 14): Entire lettersheet from the authorities of Caravaggio to Crema, Lombardy asking to confirm the nomination of Gianfrancesco dalla Torre and Giovan Botta as Recteurs of their comune.  Fine early document. From 1449 to 1509 Caravaggio and Crema had been part of the Venetian inland province and obtained numerous privileges and were safe from the economic decline of the nearby Duchy of Milan under the Spanish rule. The city of Crema kept a substantial autonomy, which allowed a program of new buildings. These included a new line of walls, the rebuilding of the Palazzo Comunale (1525–1533), the Palazzo della Notaria, now Palazzo Vescovile.
Catalogue 257: EUROPE & OVERSEAS