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To our beloved son Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo of Milan.

POPE GREGORY XIII

Beloved son, health and Apostolic Blessing. You have recently explained to us that through your long nights of study and labor, and for the common benefit of many, you have composed a work entitled On Painting, which contains the theory and practice of painting. Having already had this work examined and approved by our beloved sons, Brother Giulio Ferrari of Cremona—then the Inquisitor at Milan—and also by the Vicar of our beloved son Cardinal Carlo Borromeo Carlo Borromeo (1538–1584) was the Archbishop of Milan and a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation; he was later canonized as a saint, titular priest of Saint Praxedes and Governor of the Church of Milan in spiritual matters by Apostolic dispensation, you now intend to commit it to the press. However, you fear that after it has been published, it might be printed and sold by many others without your knowledge or permission, which would result in no small loss and detriment to you. You have therefore humbly petitioned us to deign to assist you with a timely remedy out of our Apostolic kindness. We, therefore, wishing to provide for your protection in these matters, to compensate you for a portion of your labors, and to favor you with special grace, are moved by your petitions in this regard. By the tenor of these presents and by Apostolic authority, we grant and allow that within ten years from the date of this document, the aforementioned work may not be printed, sold, held for sale, or offered in any way by anyone without your consent, except by those to whom you have granted such permission in writing. We therefore forbid all and singular printers and booksellers, both within and outside of Italy, located in lands mediately or immediately subject to the Apostolic See This refers to the Papal States and any territories where the Pope held direct or indirect political jurisdiction, under penalty of the sentence of automatic excommunication and a fine of two hundred gold ducats|The gold ducat was a standard trade coin of the Renaissance, known for its high purity and consistency of the chamber—half of which shall be applied to the Apostolic Chamber and the other half to you—to be incurred by the very act of contravention without any further judicial declaration or decree as often as the offense occurs, and to be exacted without remission, along with the loss of such books: that within this ten-year period they shall not print the aforementioned work or any part of it without your express permission, nor give it to others to print except to you or to those whom you have assigned the printing of the work...