Curated by Valeria Cafà and Daniele D’Anza
Scientific coordination Chiara Squarcina

From 14 July 2023, the Doge’s Apartment is once again part of the exhibition route, open to all visitors to Palazzo Ducale – the Doge’s Palace – with a new set-up created to tell the more than thousand-year-old story of what was one of the most powerful and long-lasting institutional figures in Venice. The Serenissima elected 120 doges, from the first, Paoluccio Anafesto in 697, up to the abdication of Ludovico Manin – the last doge – in 1797. 

The Doge’s Apartment was the most reserved heart of the Doge’s Palace. It enclosed representative spaces closed to the majority, reserved for meetings and restricted hearings, and was strategically located in the wing of the Palazzo between Rio della Canonica, the Scala d’oro and the Basilica di San Marco. The new set-up wants to present the figure of the doge to today’s public, documenting this fascinating story through a hundred paintings, sculptures, artefacts, maps and manuscripts and printed texts, ducal pledges and commissions, medals and coins. 

The works – from the city heritage held by Fondazione Muve and not usually exhibited – tell the most important moments in the history of the doge institution. With precise didactic purposes, emphasis was placed on the great events but also on minor anecdotes and situations, on the rigid ceremonial etiquette, on insights (even lexical} and curiosities, starting right from the exhibited items.

The exhibition describes private and public stories, traditions, feasts and ceremonies which, as a whole, present the doge in a composite and at times unusual perspective, although always historically accredited, capable of giving an account of an all-round figure, inextricably linked to Venice and its long history.

THE DOGE
Once Head of State of Byzantine origin whose military features were already present in the title – doge derives from the Latin dux, military commander –, the doge became in Venice the official representative of the Serenissima in the eyes of the world. “Monsignor the Doge”, as he was called in public documents, was the symbol and incarnation of Venetian power, the protagonist of solemn public ceremonies, receptions and feasts.
His real power, however, was limited and controlled by the Venetian merchant aristocracy, while his person was under the constant supervision of the ducal councillors because, despite being the ‘Most Serene Prince’, he was and remained the first servant of the Republic, to all intents and purposes. Resorting to a perfect and straightforward synthesis, the doge was called Princeps in solemnitatibus, in curia senator, in urbe captivus, extra urbe reus [Prince in solemnities, senator in the senate, prisoner within the city, guilty outside the city].

THE ITINERARY
The starting point of the itinerary is the election of the doge (rooms 1-2): here the tools, the method, the symbols of the doge election are presented, accompanied by some anecdotes, such as the longest conclave, and traditional coronation ceremonies.
Next the theme of diplomacy and international relations, essential for the preservation and prosperity of Venice, is addressed in Sala Grimani (room 3).
The next room describes some of the most important battles fought by the Venetians, still preferring the life of the doge as an observation point: Sebastiano Venier for the battle of Lepanto (1571) and, for the beginning of the war of Candia (Crete), Francesco Erizzo, to whom the room of the apartment (room 4 – Sala Erizzo) is dedicated.
In the Sala degli Stucchi (room 5) the protagonist of the tale is the famous conspiracy of Baiamonte Tiepolo, the cause of the establishment of the extremely powerful Council of Ten, a body born out of the need to prevent rebellions and attacks against the state.
The following room (room 6) presents the figure of the doge as patron and supporter of the arts.
In the following rooms, instead, the more mundane and princely aspects of the doge’s life are explored: the relationship with the dogaressa (room 7), as well as the feasts and ceremonies that marked the calendar of the Serenissima (room 8).
The next room addresses the theme of the clothes worn by doge and dogaressa over the centuries. Garments are fundamental to give an account of the Byzantine origin of the doge institution and of the transformation of the doge into the “Serene Prince” (room 9). Even the death of the doge, to whom the next room is dedicated (room 10), is subject to a strict etiquette, always aware that “Se l’è mort el Doxe, no l’è morta la Signoria” [If the Doge is dead, the Signoria is not dead].
The itinerary ends into a room illustrating the events of the last doges and a focus on the last doge Ludovico Manin, whose abdication in 1797 corresponds to the fall of the Republic and the end of the history of the Serenissima (room 11).
Room 12 is dedicated to educational and in-depth study activities organized by the Educational Activities Office.

From 3 May 2023

The Ospiti a Palazzo (Guests at the Palace) series of exhibitions, inaugurated with the masterpiece Maria Maddalena in estasi by Artemisia Gentileschi, will continue in 2023 with a public display of paintings that exalt the role of Venice and its major figures in European history and culture.

From 3 May, on display in the Sala della Quarantia Civil Vecchia di Palazzo Ducale The Last Senate of the Republic of Venice, made by Vittorio Emanuele Bressanin (Musile di Piave, 1860 – Venezia, 1941).

On May 12, 1797, with Napoleon’s troops lined up for an attack on the shores of the lagoon, the Great Council of Venice met for the last time and abdicated in favour of a revolutionary government controlled by the French military command.
On May 15, 1797, the last doge Ludovico Manin left the Palazzo Ducale forever. That was how the thousand-year old history of the Republic of Venice ended.

Ninety years later, in 1887, Vittorio Bressanin wished to convey the powerful meaning of those events with this painting.
An elderly senator descends the Giants’ Staircase in the Palazzo Ducale. His heavy steps and lowered gaze show dignity and resignation. The old-fashioned wig and the famous red gown, which distinguished the magistrates of the Pregadi (the members of the Venetian senate) from all the other patricians of Venice, now belonged to a bygone era, the agony of which can be felt in the contrast between the external pomp and the historical reality.
In the interpretation of the nineteenth-century painter, we do not read decadence, but a reflection on the intimate drama stoically experienced by the magistrate, who here becomes a symbol of the entire city.

Vittorio Bressanin is a painter originally from the Venetian mainland. He moved to Venice to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a student of Pompeo Marino Molmenti. He specialised in history painting and distinguished himself as an heir to the 18th-century Venetian tradition of frescoed decoration, which he interpreted with “sumptuous ease” (L. Bénédite).
He first gained notoriety at the 1887 National Art Exhibition in Venice with the painting on display here, which was purchased by the famous Venetian scholar Pompeo Gherardo Molmenti, Marino’s nephew – Bressanin’s teacher, who was a supporter of young artists and also made an important bequest to the Museo Correr.
Bressanin also exhibited at the 1894 Milan Triennale, where he won the Prince Umberto prize, at five editions of the Venice Biennale (1897, 1899, 1901, 1907, 1922); and at the Esposizione Nazionale in Rome in 1911. The Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro houses nine of his paintings.

In cooperation with the Venice International Foundation

The ancient rooms of the Picture Gallery (Quadreria) in Palazzo Ducale are undergoing a major remodelling to house not only the masterpieces of the palace itself, but in addition a group of valuable canvases and panel paintings on long-term loan from a private collection.

The rearrangement of the rooms, whose current layout is from the 1970s, enriches the visitor route by showing part of the history of the Serenissima’s art collection in one of the palace’s most evocative apartments of rooms.
Before the fall of the Republic in 1797, the Palazzo Ducale housed an important group of paintings on canvas and wood collected by the doges, either made on commission or acquired through purchases or donations. Sources refer to works by Giovanni Bellini, Tiziano Vecellio (Titian), Jacopo Tintoretto and Hieronymus Bosch, many of which are now unfortunately lost or have passed to state institutions.
However, a number of fundamental paintings remain, bearing witness to the life of the Serenissima Republic, its symbols and its great artistic tradition, which inspired the arts throughout its thousand-year history, even beyond its borders. Paintings such as Carpaccio’s Leone marciano andante, Giambattista Tiepolo’s Venezia riceve da Nettuno i doni del mare, and Giovanni Bellini’s Pietà are absolute masterpieces by the greatest Venetian painters. Works by Flemish artists, such as Quentin Metsys’ magnificent Cristo deriso, or Inferno by Herri met de Bles (aka Il Civetta’), are rare examples of the Serenissima’s cultural relations with the rest of Europe.

These masterpieces acquire new life as a result of their staging, designed by world-renowned master architect and stage designer Pier Luigi Pizzi. The project provides an opportunity for in-depth scientific research in tracing the history of the doges’ collections and reconstructing the circumstances of the various commissions or purchases, with the aim of creating an archive for scholars and the public.

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From 25 October 2019, the fifteenth-century statues made by Antonio Rizzo are exceptionally exhibited in Doge’s Palace, in the Sala dello Scrutinio. The sculptures have been restored with avant-garde techniques and with the supervision of a specific scientific committee and the support of Venetian Heritage.

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Antonio Rizzo was one of the leading figures in early Renaissance Venice. Originally from Verona, where no trace remains of his earliest work, he established himself in Venice after several stays in Padua, where he was able to admire Donatello’s sculptures in the basilica of the Santo and Mantegna’s frescoes in the church of the Eremitani. He certainly visited Florence, where he admired the works of Luca della Robbia and Desiderio da Settignano. In 1465 the doge Cristoforo Moro commissioned Antonio Rizzo to built three altars in St Mark’s basilica. In 1469 he took over from Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino as head sculptor on the Arco Foscari, on the side facing the Doge’s Palace courtyard.

Among the restored statues, the one portraying Warrior (Mars) was one of the first sculptures carved by Rizzo to complete the Arco Foscari, and still shows the style of Donatello and Mantegna.
The influence of Antonio Pollaiuolo, clearly visible in the Adam and Eve sculpted by Rizzo seems to confirm the hypothesis that the sculptor went to Florence a second time around 1470, where he also saw the classical sculpture of the Venus Pudicas, which inspired his creation of Eve.

The statues of Adam and Eve originally occupied the niches in the eastern facade of the Arco Foscari, facing the Scala dei Giganti, also by Antonio Rizzo, in the Doge’s Palace courtyard. Although their dating is not definite, they can be placed between 1470 and 1490. The sculptures are in white Carrara marble, a Tuscan stone that was highly prized at the time and used for the construction of very important works.

The special restoration project, which started in 2016 and ended in 2019, employed a laser cleaning technique which returned the Carrara marble surface of the statues to its original condition.

At the start of the twentieth century the marble surface of the sculptures was in a poor state of conservation due to erosion caused by atmospheric agents. Eve was moved inside the Doge’s Palace and a bronze copy put in its place. Mars and Adam were instead replaced after the Second World War, between 1953 and 1955. You can still see the linear scratches made by the iron blades used in preparing the plaster moulds required to make casts of the statues.
The extensive blackening of their surfaces can be seen in some photos taken at the start of the twentieth century when they were still in their original position, caused by atmospheric pollution, alternating with white areas caused by the wash of rainwater. Such washes were artificially glazed with a dark, fatty pigment, which was applied to all the statues, probably with the intention of giving chromatic uniformity to the surfaces. Numerous linear scratches can also be seen on them, caused by the iron blades used to produce the plaster forms made to create the casts of the statues.
The special restoration project, which started in 2016 and ended in 2019, employed a laser cleaning technique which returned the Carrara marble surface of the statues to its original condition.

The restoration work was carried out by Jonathan Hoyte, a professional restorer, under the technical guidance of a scientific team, consisting of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per il Comune di Venezia e Laguna, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure of Florence, of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and IUAV University of Venice. The restoration was financed by Venetian Heritage thanks to the support of the American architect Peter Marino.

Itineraries and activities for famiglie and adults  >

Saturdays and Sundays in Italian at 10 am, in English at 11:30 am
€ 5,00 per person (+ entry ticket), € 3,00 reduced for children (+ entry ticket)

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