The Ca' D'oro, Venice. Designed by Magister Giovanni Buoni (Zambono) 1430 a.d.
The head-quarters of the lodge were in the little street known as the Piscina di S. Samuele. The Opera was a large building, not much decorated, but there was a fine relief by one of the Lombard Masters over the door. This was removed, and preserved by the Government when the building, no longer needful for its former use, was sold. The altar of the Quattro Coronati, sacred to the guild, was in the church of S. Samuele close by. Here too were the tombs of the brethren of the lodge. Unfortunately none of the funereal inscriptions remain. Cicognara has, however, preserved two inscriptions on the building of the lodge, which are valuable as additional proof of the guild. One beneath the relief on the façade runs—
MCCCLXXXII ADI XXV MARZO.
IN TEPO D(i)MA' ANTONIO DA MODON (Modena)
E SO COMPAGNI MA' ANTONIO NEGRO
E MA BONAZZA E MA' ANDRA (Andrea) D'ACRE.
E SCRIVAN MA' DOLZE (Dolce).
Here we get the names of the four members of the ruling council in 1482, all Magistri, and that of the notary of the guild, Maestro Dolce.[280] Another inscription on the staircase, which was rebuilt in 1686, announces that the stairs were built by the gifts of the brethren under the Gastaldo Maestro Domenico Mazzoni, and then follow the names of his three companions in office, one of whom is Vincenzo Minella, and that of the notary.
If we now trace some works in Venice we shall see how intimately connected this lodge was with that of Milan and other branches of the guild. In 1430 we find Zambono engaged to decorate the Ca d'Oro or Palazzo Contarini on the Grand Canal. In his aim at magnificence good Giovanni Bono of Como not only made the work a masterpiece of Gothic ornamentation, but he gilded his sculpture till it was refulgent. It appears that this Zambono, who could not spell his own name, was not such a master of the pen as he was of the chisel, for his son Bartolommeo signed the contract for him on April 20, 1430. The gilding was done by Giovanni da Francia, whose son Francesco signed for him.