The Festivities for Ernst August

From Lorologio del piacere, a festival book depicting the visit, in the summer of 1685, of Ernst August, Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg, to the villa of Marco Contarini in Piazzola, outside Venice. Entertainments included aquatic pageants, Barbary horses, songs and banqueting. Beinecke call number: Italian Festivals 112.

This is one example from the Beinecke’s Italian Festival Books collection, several dozen works printed by individuals or localities in early modern Italy to commemorate the pageantry created for formal occasions such as visitations, funerals, coronations, or weddings.

Above, the Barbary horses; below, the banquet.

Below, snippets from the music for the occasion.


The Italian Festival Books collection has been scanned and can be found in the Beinecke’s Digital Images and Collections, with the keyword Italian Festivals. The Italian Festival Books collection is in the public domain and no permissions are required for the use of these images, although the Beinecke does request that it be acknowledged as the source.