The Colombina: A Dynastic Device from the Visconti to the Sforza – Eugenio Larosa
Among the most renowned devices associated with the Visconti dynasty, and later adopted by the Sforza, is the Colombina, also referred to in the sources as the Turtledove.
Visconti and Sforza rule shaped the Duchy of Milan between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, profoundly influencing its political, dynastic, and cultural identity.
Spanning both phases of ducal government, the Colombina passed from the Visconti court to that of the Sforza, becoming a powerful emblem of continuity and dynastic legitimation.
At the center of the device is a dove set within a radiant sun, the so-called radia magna, known in the vernacular as the raza.
In its beak, the bird holds a scroll inscribed with the motto A BON DROIT.
Petrarch and the Origin of the Device
According to tradition, the emblem was devised by Francesco Petrarch for the young Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who was then seventeen years old.
During his stay at the Visconti court and his association with the University of Pavia, Petrarch had occasion to meet the future duke. Impressed by the young prince’s gentle disposition, the poet is said to have conceived for him a device endowed with auspicious significance, as though anticipating a future rule governed by justice and peace.
A particularly important testimony is preserved in a letter by Pier Candido Decembrio, personal secretary to Filippo Maria Visconti, now held in the University Library of Bologna (Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria, ms. 2387, fol. 103):
Franciscus Petrarcha vir scientia et eloquentia et, quod his longe precipuum est, moribus ac virtute prefulgens, nonne in aula tue celsitudinis inductus magnanimi principis avi tui Galeaz preconiis et consilio notior factus est omnibus? … Franciscus… cum senior effectus esset, preclarissimo iam tum adolescenti genitori tuo insignia illa siderea, quibus et ipse ac tu iampridem felicissime in preliis usi estis, diligenti studio et solertia commentus est…turturem cum brevi notula “A bon droit” radiantis solis in medio composuit.
The Italian translation of the passage reads:
Francesco Petrarch, already advanced in years, with diligent study and skill devised and created for your most illustrious father, who was then a young man, those celestial insignia of which both he and you yourself have long been accustomed to make successful use in battle: he placed there the turtledove with the short motto “A bon droit” in the midst of the radiant sun.
Decembrio’s testimony therefore establishes a direct association between Petrarch and the creation of the Turtledove device set within the radiant sun.
Francesco Vannozzo and the Count of Vertus
The device also appears in the poetry of Francesco Vannozzo.
In the Canzone morale fatta per la divisa del Conte di Virtù, dedicated to Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the poet explicitly describes the Colombina emblem and the motto A BON DROYT:
Canzon maestra, il tuo breve camino
del mio signor prego che prenda
a veruno dicendo sue se’ stata:
dì’ pur ch’ io t’ ò mandata
Secretamente si ch’uom non t’intenda;
ma lui comprenda il sole e l’azur fino
che tengon in sua brancha
quella icelletta biancha
Qual A BON DROYT en dolce becco tene;
Che la sentenza mia tutta contene.
The poem confirms the close association between Gian Galeazzo, the radiant sun, the white dove, and the motto, demonstrating that these elements were already closely bound to the prince’s public and dynastic image.
Iacopo Allegretti and the Turtledove Device
A further reference is found in a heraldic and encomiastic composition dedicated to Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
Its author, Iacopo Allegretti, was a fourteenth-century poet from Forlì and a noted Visconti panegyrist.
The text, entitled Carmina divise illustrissimi Virtutum comitis incliti Galeaz, solicet de Turture, once again associates the Count of Vertus with the Turtledove device.
Taken together, these literary testimonies indicate that the emblem had already become firmly embedded in the public and dynastic representation of Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
The Colombina in Milan Cathedral
Originally intended to occupy a prominent position in the great central window of the apse of Milan Cathedral, the device formed part of a broader program of dynastic representation.
More broadly, the construction of the Cathedral served as a means of articulating Visconti power, providing a monumental setting in which political authority and religious symbolism could be integrated within an elaborate iconographic program.
Gian Galeazzo’s indecision, together with the protracted duration of the works, prevented the original project from being realized in its intended form.
The great rose window was completed only after the duke’s death. The Cathedral Works ultimately chose to represent the Radia alone, omitting both the Colombina and the other devices originally planned for the composition.
An important discussion of this episode is provided by Francesca Tasso in Documenti sul Duomo e Gian Galeazzo Visconti tra ingegneri della cattedrale e artisti di corte.
The Colombina in the Visconti Tarot
The device and its motto also appear in the celebrated tarot deck created by Bonifacio Bembo for Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and later associated with the court of Francesco Sforza.
Today, the surviving cards are divided among the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the Morgan Library in New York, and a private collection.
On the horse trappings of the Knight of Cups, represented as a female figure on horseback, the Colombina appears prominently.
On several cards belonging to the suits of Wands and Swords, by contrast, a scroll inscribed with the motto A BON DROYT is depicted.
The appearance of the device within such a refined product of courtly visual culture confirms its continued significance within the Visconti dynastic imagination.
From the Last Visconti to the Sforza
On 13 August 1447, Filippo Maria Visconti died without legitimate heirs.
His death brought the ducal line of the Visconti to an end and ushered in a period of profound political instability in Milan. Following the experience of the Ambrosian Republic, Francesco Sforza entered Milan in 1450 as the new duke.
Francesco Sforza had married Bianca Maria Visconti, Filippo Maria’s daughter. Continuity with the previous dynasty therefore became a crucial element in the construction of the legitimacy of the new Sforza regime.
For this reason, Francesco adopted not only the principal heraldic insignia of the Visconti but also numerous secondary dynastic devices.
Among these was the Colombina.
The device appears in several decorative schemes at the Sforza Castle in Milan and at the Certosa di Pavia, demonstrating the extent to which its meaning had been absorbed into the visual culture of the new dynasty.
Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Bona of Savoy
Particularly favored by Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza and his wife, Bona of Savoy, the Colombina became a prominent feature of Sforza courtly imagery.
At the Sforza Castle, the celebrated Sala delle Colombine, or Hall of the Doves, takes its name from the decoration of its vault.
Across the painted surface, the Colombina repeatedly appears within the radiant sun, accompanied by the motto A BON DROIT and set against a red ground.
Numismatic evidence further confirms the importance Galeazzo Maria attached to the device.
Among the coins issued under his rule was a five-soldo silver grosso bearing the Colombina emblem, which itself came to be known as the colombina.
The Jewelry and Clothing of Galeazzo Maria
The device was employed not only in architecture, painting, and coinage, but also in the duke’s personal system of representation through jewelry and clothing.
On the occasion of his visit to Lorenzo de’ Medici in 1471, Galeazzo Maria incurred considerable expenditure for the production of precious objects and jewels embellished with heraldic symbols and dynastic devices.
A Mantuan ambassador at the Sforza court reported having met Mastro Donato, the court jeweler, and having been able to inspect some of the “collars which His Excellency the lord is having made.” (colari che fa fare l’excellentia del signore)
Among them, the following is recorded: “The fourth made with rays and doves.” (Il quarto fato a raggi e colombine)
It is not known whether this was the same necklace decorated with Colombine and set with a pendant sapphire that was later presented to the King of Dacia—that is, the King of Denmark—during his visit to Milan in March 1474 (ASMi, Sforzesco, 1612).
The use of the Colombina is likewise documented in ducal clothing.
Galeazzo Maria commissioned a new garment whose sleeves were to be adorned with thousands of pearls and embroidered with the devices of the rays and the Colombine. Small rubies were also to be applied to the birds’ eyes (ASMi, Sforzesco, 1483).
These testimonies reveal the extent to which the device formed an integral part of the representational culture of the Sforza court, appearing on textiles, jewelry, and other objects of exceptional prestige.
Ludovico il Moro
Ludovico Sforza, known as il Moro, likewise continued to employ numerous emblems inherited from the Visconti tradition.
In his case, the revival of these devices could also perform a specifically political function.
Ludovico assumed the ducal title after the death, under suspicious circumstances, of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the legitimate heir to the duchy, for whom Ludovico had previously acted as guardian.
The invocation of Visconti tradition therefore enabled il Moro to present himself not merely as a member of the Sforza dynasty, but as the heir and continuator of Milan’s older ducal tradition.
A significant example is provided by the famous portrait attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, in which Ludovico is shown wearing a richly decorated garment displaying various Sforza devices.
Among the identifiable motifs are the little broom, the bit, the radia magna, and the Colombina.
The portrait is preserved in the collection of Prince Trivulzio in Milan.
The Colombina in the Textiles of Il Moro
Use of the device is also documented in textile commissions.
>In an order of 1490 attributed to Ludovico il Moro, thirteen braccia of the following fabric are requested: “cloth of gold, raised in relief, with the rays and the doves.”(panno d’oro soprarizo con le raze et le colombe)
The passage is particularly significant because it once again confirms the association between the raza, or radiant sun, and the doves.
The device therefore continued to be reproduced on precious materials destined for courtly use even at the end of the fifteenth century.
The End of the Sforza and
Italian Wars and the intervention of the French monarchy in the peninsula precipitated a severe crisis in Sforza power.
The removal of Ludovico il Moro from Milan marked the end of the first phase of Sforza rule and also brought about the gradual disappearance of many traditional Visconti devices from the official imagery of power.
The Colombina nevertheless made one final significant reappearance during the attempted Sforza restoration.
Massimiliano Sforza, son of Ludovico il Moro, revived the image of the Colombina accompanied by the scroll and once again had the emblem represented on a coin.
The precedent is clear: his uncle Galeazzo Maria had likewise employed the Colombina in his coinage.
The revival of the ancient emblem therefore fulfilled more than a purely decorative function.
By reintroducing one of the oldest devices of the Visconti-Sforza tradition, Massimiliano sought to evoke dynastic continuity and reinforce the legitimacy of his authority over the Duchy of Milan.
From the court of Gian Galeazzo Visconti to the final attempts at Sforza restoration, the Colombina thus remained a recognizable presence for more than a century of Milanese history.
Initially conceived as a personal device associated with the Count of Vertus, it gradually developed into a dynastic symbol capable of surviving the transition from Visconti to Sforza rule.
Its presence in literary works, architecture, manuscript illumination, coinage, jewelry, and textiles demonstrates the central role played by such devices in the political and visual culture of the Italian courts of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The image of the dove placed within the radiant sun, holding in its beak the scroll A BON DROIT, was therefore far more than a decorative motif. It functioned as an instrument of identity, memory, dynastic continuity, and political legitimation.
