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Maggior consiglio (the “outcomes of the armed conflicts”). Veronese’s
insertion of the French king Henry iii as the embodiment of honor in his
Pax Veneta gave a current political accent to the painting. in his painting
of the voluntary surrender of cities to the republic of Venice, tintoretto
gave St Mark’s lion and the doge roles almost straight from panegyric
texts. tintoretto dealt with the material similarly in his restauro of the
burned devotional painting of Doge Andrea Gritti (1523–38) by titian for
the Sala del collegio. there, by artistic means and by the modification of
a woodcut version of the painting, he emphasized the personal achieve-
ments of the doge as military leader and the honor that was due to him
and his family. Paintings convey the views of the painter regarding cen-
tral themes of the myth, but also the role of the protagonist, especially
the doge. the history of art does not confuse this “visual myth” with the
literary myth. What the “visual exegesis” in paintings by Jacopo Bassano
has achieved opens up manifold perspectives for viewing political, propa-
gandistic images.
there were also darker moments in the history of the republic. Among
them belongs the Siege of chioggia by the Genoese, which Venetians with-
stood in 1380 under the dogeship of Andrea contarini. the importance
given to this threat is depicted by Veronese’s painting of the homecoming
of the doge to Venice, now opposite the Doge’s throne. the treatment
of the military surrender of Agnadello, which those confederated in the
League of cambrai brought down upon the republic, is especially enlight-
ening. the tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan (1501–21), who was in office in
1509, was begun soon after 1560 by Danese cattaneo and Girolamo cam-
pagna; it was completed in SS. Giovanni e Paolo between 1604 and 1616
and reminds the viewer of the united enemies as well as of the reconquest
of Padua in the same year as the surrender. in Jacopo Palma’s painting in
the Senate, Venetia unleashes the lion of St Mark on her european attack-
ers, a confrontation which the doge accompanies with outstretched arms.
not upon him, but rather upon the lion is bestowed the wreath of triumph
by the goddess Victoria. this last successfully survived battle against a mil-
itarily superior force, and the resurrection of the republic after an appar-
ently definitive surrender, increased the myth of Venice’s invincibility.
in paintings in the Doge’s Palace one is reminded of the outstanding
moments of the republican history, of the deeds of individuals, and finally
of the qualities and claims of the republic. On the ceiling of the Sala del
collegio, Veronese painted Justitia and Pax as custodes libertatis as they
present their attributes to a Venetia enthroned on the globe. Depicted in a
second painting is an Old testament sacrifice (religio numquam derelicta)