The design of the Renaissance lettering master Giovanni Francesco Cresci is classical and ageless. Amongst a variety of Italian scribes and lettering instructors of the period, he was the very first to combine the beauty and proportions of the Trajan Roman capitals, and interpret a humanistic solution for a lowercase - his ‘‘ Lettera antica tonda', as illustrated in two of his work books, ‘‘ Essemplare di piv sorti lettere' of 1560, and ‘‘ Il perfetto scrittore' of 1570.

Cresci's excellent letterforms were the direct impact for Richard Dawson and Dave Farey in the development of La Gioconda, a type design which extends the typical Roman capitals with a lowercase, properly structured small capitals and an extra set of non aligning numerals in 2 weights, Roman and Bold.The applications for La Gioconda as a text and display Roman are surprisingly comprehensive, and aesthetically satisfying. Designers of book coats, magazines, packaging and point of sale will not have to look for a complementary roman text to accompany these beautiful Roman capitals, as La Gioconda attends to both. The lowercase and little capitals provide an additional perk for the adventurous designer, as they match precisely in height and weight in both designs, so blending and matching can selectively get rid of ascenders and descenders if that is your choice, and the job needs it. La Gioconda is a traditional revival that can extend typographic boundaries.

Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Jacometto Veneziano painted portraits for clients that were not only masterpiece, but robust portable possessions, equivalent to family pictures. These were frequently provided with closing wood covers, where a family slogan or suitable expression would be painted on to the wood, with a crest or visual pun on the household name. If a portrait lacked a cover, then the back of the wooden frame would be used for the same purpose.


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Tags: capitalis, inscribed, italian, renaissance, serif, trajan