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banishment of Grimani for his evasion of a naval battle with the Otto-
mans near Zonchio in 1499, this devotional picture also becomes one of
rehabilitation. Similar motives also appear to be behind the commission
for a façade monument for Vincenzo Pisani (1542) on the western face of
S. Maria Formosa.
tintoretto made the doges central to his devotional images. their kneel-
ing with outstretched arms could be simultaneously interpreted as the
prayer gesture of kings and as a pose of humility. in the devotional image
of niccolò da Ponte (1578–85) in the collegio, the painter alluded to the
doge’s name by means of a bridge (ponte) high above the city, an allusion
previously made by a speaker following the doge’s election. However, this
is not the only instance in which panegyric texts aid in an understand-
ing of the paintings. in his paintings, tintoretto gave secondary impor-
tance to devotion and thus also to the tradition of the votive painting
in favor of the expectations for a state portrait, of the primus inter pares
with its demand for quasi royal dignity (dignità). in his double portrait
of the doges Pietro Lando (1539–45) and Marcantonio trevisan (1553–54)
above the bench (the tribunale) of the Serenissima Signoria in the Sala del
Senato, the kneeling doges, turned completely toward the viewer, do not
even notice the stirring appearance of the dead christ. Here too, in this
only seemingly stereotypical and certainly non-homogeneous genre, the
manifold messages are in need of deciphering.
Sacred SpacesWhen studying the interior decorations of churches and cloisters, the
outfitting of functional spaces such as the sacristy, chapter houses, and
refectories, or the design of bells, organ wings, or stained-glass windows
is too seldom noticed. Of all the chapels with specific functions, only the
chapels of the Blessed Sacrament have been researched.
Altars were a central task for painters, sculptors, woodcarvers, and
architects (often described as tagliapietra). the circumstances and special
qualities of every commission leave traces in the work. tasks were divided
according to the responsibilities of the respective guilds (arti). Divergent
conceptions of the painter, sculptor, carver, and architect, even as to a
suitable style, could lead to tension-filled works. the evident wish of the
painter since the middle of the Quattrocento to create a unified image
space in which saints are collected around a Madonna (sacra conversazi-
one) was complicated in the second half of the Quattrocento by the more