Doge Marcantonio Memmo

Description

When Marcantonio Memmo rose to the office of doge in 1612, Venice required an image of him worthy of that office, and the workshop of the Bassano family, well established in the portrait trade of the Veneto by then, was among those called upon to supply it. Leandro Bassano, having moved from the rural and religious scenes that made his family name in Bassano del Grappa into the more exacting business of Venetian state portraiture, brought a mature and settled hand to the task.

About Doge Marcantonio Memmo

The composition keeps its attention where it belongs, on the face and bearing of the doge, framed by the ceremonial robes and the corno ducale that marked his rank. Bassano handles the fabric with a naturalistic weight, the fur trim and heavy brocade rendered with enough tonal variation to suggest their actual texture without overwhelming the sitter beneath them. Light falls across the face in a way that softens the formality of the pose, catching the lines of age and the steadiness of expression that a doge was expected to project. The background is kept restrained, almost bare, so that nothing competes with the figure.

This tonal discipline, the moderation between grandeur and human presence, is characteristic of the late Venetian Renaissance portrait tradition in which Bassano worked, and it is the quality most worth preserving in any reproduction. The ByMuseum version is not a printed replica but a hand-painted oil painting reproduction, built up layer by layer on canvas by a trained painter working from the original palette, so the depth in the robes and the modelling of the face retain the surface variation that a flat print cannot hold. Collectors who examine paintings closely, looking for the ridge of a brushstroke or the way pigment sits differently across shadow and highlight, will find that quality carried into this version rather than flattened out of it.

The hand-painted reproduction

What holds attention in this portrait after four centuries is not the office it records but the restraint with which Bassano recorded the man who held it. Owning a hand-painted replica of that restraint, painted rather than printed, keeps something of that discipline on the wall of a home or office long after the republic it served has gone.

• Hand-painted oil on canvas, not a printed reproduction
• Available in multiple sizes to fit your space
• Gallery-ready presentation on arrival
• Certificate of authenticity included
• 90 day returns with a full refund or a free replacement, no restocking fee