Making lutes in Quattrocento Venice: Nicolò Sconvelt and his German colleagues

Music played an important role in the devotional life of Venetian charitable confraternities in the Renaissance, but little documentation has survived from the fifteenth century. Newly discovered sources have made it possible to identify the lutenist in Gentile Bellini’s Procession in Piazza San Marco and in Lazzaro Bastiani’s Donation of the relic of the True Cross as Nicolò Sconvelt, the first instrumentalist known to have been hired by a scuola, in 1482. Maestro Nicolò was no mere lutenist but a master lute maker who also made lute strings. Like many later lute makers, he was of German origin. By the end of the century he had gained fame and wealth in his adopted city. His two wills and real estate transactions reveal precious details about his social life and his business with his associate. In anticipation of his death he bequeathed a substantial property to his parish church, San Salvador, to fund daily masses for his soul and the souls of his family, kinsmen, and benefactors in perpetuity, and various bequests to Venetian churches, some still under construction. A survey of references to lutes and lute makers in the fifteenth century confirms that Venice was the premier destination in northern Italy to purchase lutes.