Francesco Griffo (1450–1518), also called Francesco da Bologna, was a fifteenth-century Italian punchcutter. He worked for Aldus Manutius, designing the printer's more important humanist

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...

s, including the first

italic type In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed ...

. He cut Roman, Greek, Hebrew and first italic type. Aldus gives Griffo credit in the introduction of the ''Virgil'' of 1501. However, as Manutius had achieved a monopoly on italic printing and Greek publishing with the permission of the Venetian government, he had a falling-out with Griffo. Griffo then went to work for Gershom Soncino, whose family were Hebrew printers. It was with Soncino that Griffo's second italic type was cut in 1503. In 1516 he returned to Bologna where he began print publishing. In 1518 Griffo was charged with the murder of his son-in-law, who had been beaten to death with an iron bar. This is his last appearance in the historical record. He is presumed to have been executed.

Influence

Griffo's typefaces have been very influential. His Romans show a degree of abstraction from calligraphy not present in the work of the earlier master Nicolas Jenson, while his italic and Greek types are notably cursive. Philip B. Meggs wrote in ''A History of Graphic Design'', "Griffo researched pre-Caroline scripts to produce a roman type that was less artistic but more authentic than Jenson's designs". The italic type was designed to look like handwriting of the humanist scholars. This more personal form of type became widely popular in Europe. Typefaces based on his work include

Monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...

Poliphilus roman,

Bembo Bembo is a serif typeface created by the British branch of the Monotype Corporation in 1928–1929 and most commonly used for body text. It is a member of the " old-style" of serif fonts, with its regular or roman style based on a design cut ar ...

Book roman, Bembo Titling,

Morris Fuller Benton Morris Fuller Benton (November 30, 1872 – June 30, 1948) was an American typeface designer who headed the design department of the American Type Founders (ATF), for which he was the chief type designer from 1900 to 1937. Many of Benton's ...

Cloister Old Style Cloister is a serif typeface that was designed by Morris Fuller Benton and published by American Type Founders from around 1913. It is loosely based on the printing of Nicolas Jenson in Venice in the 1470s, in what is now called the "old style" of ...

italic,

Jack Yan Jack Yan (; born 1972) is a New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman. He is best known as the founder and publisher of '' Lucire''. He ran for mayor of Wellington in 2010, and again in 2013, but was unsuccessful in both elections. Backg ...

's JY Aetna roman, Bitstream Aldine 401 roman, and

Franko Luin Franko Luin (6 April 1941 in Trieste, Italy – 15 September 2005 in Tyresö, Sweden) was a Swedish type designer of Slovene origin. He studied graphic arts at Grafiska Institutet in Stockholm, where he graduated in 1967. A graphic design ...

's Griffo Classico roman and italic; more distant descendants include the romans of

Claude Garamond Claude Garamont (–1561), known commonly as Claude Garamond, was a French type designer, publisher and punch-cutter based in Paris. Garamond worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp matrices, the moulds used to cast metal ty ...

, Giovanni Mardersteig's

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

Robert Slimbach Robert Joseph Slimbach is Principal Type Designer at Adobe, Inc., where he has worked since 1987. He has won many awards for his digital typeface designs, including the rarely awarded Prix Charles Peignot from the Association Typographique Inter ...

Minion Places *Minions, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom People * Frank Minion (born 1929), American jazz and bop singer * Fred Minion, English professional footballer * Joseph Minion (born 1957), American film director and screenwriter *Marcus ...

and

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is a British type designer.Christophe_Plantin.html" ;"title="y Christophe Plantin">y Christophe Plantin' in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) long withPlantin's accoun ...

's Yale Typeface.

Publications

The publications of Francesco Griffo's at Bologna as cited by ''Francesco Griffo da Bologna: Fragments & glimpses: a compendium of information & opinions about his life and work.'' *''Canzoniere et triomphi di messer Francesco Petrarcha'', 20 September 1516. *''Archadia del Sannazaro'', 3 October 1516. *''Gli Asolani di Messer Pietro Bembo'', 30 October 1516. *''Labirinto d amore de Messer Giovanni Bocaccio nomato il Corbaccio'', 9 December 1516. *''M. Tull. Ciceronis Epistolae familiares accuratius recognitae'', 20 December 1516. *''Volerii Maximi dictorum et factorum memorabilium libri nouem'', 24 January 1517.

Influence

Publications

References

Further reading