Domenico Jacovacci (1604-1661) was the son of the Roman nobleman Marco Antonio Jacovacci de Faceschi by his third wife, Giulia di Fabrizio Muti. Domenico received family inheritances while a child, and from the age of 13 began to acquire civic offices: caporione for rione Colonna (1613), life-time appointments as a customs officer, as Custode of the Fontana di Trevi, of the Campo Vaccino, and of Colonna Antonina (all in 1626). In 1627, he was appointed by Urban VIII Scrittore delle Lettere apostoliche and Segretario apostolico partecipante. After the election of Alessandro VII, Domenico became a papal confidant, and in 1657 he was appointed supervisor of urban infrastructure (Maestro delle strade, 1657-1661). In a recent study by Maria Barbara Guerrieri Borsoi, he emerges as a patron of the arts, instrumental in securing Bernini’s access to Alessandro VII, and as a refined collector of sculpture and of paintings, by Jan Miel and Gaspard Dughet among others.1
Six books from Domenico’s library are presently known. Each displays on the covers his family’s heraldic insignia (sei crescenti d’argento, disposti 2-1-2-1), supported by an erect lion, on the cross of the military order of Calatrava (a title conferred on Domenico in September 1625).2 Domenico had designed this achievement and versions of it illustrate a family memoir he wrote ca 1635-1638 (fig. 1) and a multi-volume genealogical compendium he completed in 1642 (figs. 2-3).3
Domenico Jacovacci, Historia familiae suae (Bibl. Angelica, Ms. 1604)
BAV, Ms Ott. lat. 2548-2554 (“Arme da me usate”; Ms 2553, pt. 1, f. 5r) [link]
BAV, Ms Ott. lat. 2553. pt.1, f. 6r: “Hieroglifico fatta l’Anno 1640” (the Ouroborus is a symbol of eternity)
Three volumes, sixteenth-century editions of works by Boccaccio, Castiglione, and Guicciardini (nos. 2, 3, 6 in List below) display the Jacovacci family arms centred on both covers within two frames of double saw-edge gold fillets. The other three (nos. 1, 4, 5) feature the same arms combined on covers and spines with the gilt monogram MM, adossée letters CC, and symbol of an “S” pierced by an arrow. Judging from reproductions, two sets of tools were employed. It is nonetheless conceivable that all six bindings were produced in a single shop, managed by one Giovanni Antonio Bordone. A series of payments by Domenico to Bordone for unspecified “legature di libri”, the earliest dated 24 March 1640, the latest 28 July 1660, are recorded in Domenico’s accounts with the Monte di Pietà.4
The families (or persons) represented by the initials “MM” and “CC” are matters for speculation. They might designate the Massimo and Cesarini families, specifically Domenico’s friends Mario Massimo (1609-1672) and Giuliano Cesarini (1618-1665); the device of a letter S and arrow (S barré, or fermesse, fermeté), placed in the angles, can signify devotion, particularly in matters of love or friendship. In 1636, Domenico extended some of his Capitoline offices to Mario Massimo, and in 1638-1639, while Domenico was banished temporarily from Rome, he travelled across Europe in the company of Mario and Giuliano. Mario Massimo became in 1661 the unmarried and childless Domenico’s heir, with an obligation to assume his name and arms. Among property included in Mario’s inheritance was Domenico’s library of some 400 volumes.5
Domenico’s friendship with Giuliano meanwhile was of such nature that Giuliano’s mother, Cornelia Caetani, felt obliged in March 1640 to enter a convent, “per disgusto che il Duca Cesarini suo fig(lio)lo continui a praticare con Dom(eni)co Jacovacci, il qual Duca Cesarini va incognito dicendosi che voglia ritirarsi dalle molte spese per pagare li debiti fatti da esso, et da suo Padre”.6 When in 1657-1658 Giuliano Cesarini decided to publish collections of the Latin and Italian verses of his late uncle, Virginio Cesarini (1595-1624), he asked Domenico to commission a suite of engraved illustrations.7 A manuscript of Virginio’s “Poesie liriche toscane” - containing verses not appearing in the printed edition - survives in a binding with Jaccovacci insignia and the MM and CC monograms. The third binding decorated with the Jacovacci arms, monograms MM and CC, and device of a closed letter S, covers a copy Guarini’s Il Pastor fido (1605).
No. 1 - Berni
No. 3 - Castiglione (also appears on nos. 2, 4)
1. See Maria Barbara Guerrieri Borsoi, Domenico Jacovacci: collezionista e maestro delle strade nella Roma berniniana (Rome 2017), passim.
2. Guerrieri Borsoi, op. cit., p.11, citing an Aviso (5 September 1625) indicating that “la Croce, et l’habito di Calatrava” were obtained for Domenico by intercession of Francesco Orsini (1600-1667), younger brother of Paolo Giordano II. See also Claudio De Dominicis, La famiglia di Domenico Jacovacci (2014) [link) (link].
3. “Historiae familiae suae” (Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, Ms. 1604); “Repertorii di famiglie” (Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ott. lat. 2548-2554). Maria Barbara Guerrieri Borsoi, “La decorazione dei manoscritti di Domenico Jacovacci nel fondo Ottoboniano Latino della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana” in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae 22 (2016), pp.373-431.
4. Rome, Archivio di Stato, Monte di Pietà, Depositi vincolati, Mastri (entries transcribed by Guerrieri Borsoi, op. cit. 2017, pp.105, 107, 113-119).
5. Domenico’s post-mortem inventory (2 August 1661) records “Un credenzone grande d’albuccio con cornice simili, con dentro quattrocento libri stampati con la loro rubricella” (Rome, Archivio di Stato, Trenta Notai Capitolini, Ufficio 5, t. 235, Francesco Lucarelli, cc. 189-193, 206-210; transcription by Guerrieri Borsoi, op. cit. 2017, pp.120-122 no. [59]).
6. Avvisi of 3 March and 16 March 1640, cited by Guerrieri Borsoi, op. cit. 2017, pp.14-15; she writes (p.7) “Restano un po’ misteriosi, forse anche anomali, i suoi rapporti con Giuliano Cesarini, compagno di un lungo viaggio attraverso l’Europa, e con Mario Massimo, scelto come erede senza un palese motivo.” (His relationships with Giuliano Cesarini, companion on a long journey through Europe, and with Mario Massimo, chosen as heir, remain somewhat mysterious, perhaps even anomalous.)
7. Virginii Caesarini Carmina (Rome: Angelo Bernabò, 1658); Poesie liriche toscane di D. Virginio Cesarini (Rome: Angelo Bernabò, 1664).
(1) Francesco Berni, Orlando innamorato nuouamente composto da m. Francesco Berni fiorentino (Venice: Heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, October 1541)