Career
He worked for Aldus Manutius, designing that printer"s more important typefaces, including the first italic type. 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. This is his last appearance in the historical record.
He is presumed to have been executed.
Griffo"s typefaces have been very influential. Typefaces based on his work include Monotype Poliphilus roman, Bembo Book roman, Bembo Titling, Morris Fuller Benton"s Cloister Old Style italic, Jack Yan"s JY Aetna roman, Bitstream Aldine 401 roman, and Franko Luin"s Griffo Classico roman and italic.
More distant descendants include the romans of Claude Garamond, Giovanni Mardersteig"s Dante, Robert Slimbach"s Minion and Matthew Carter"s Yale Typeface.