Portrait of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini by Jacopo Tintoretto

Portrait of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini 1570 - 1580

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painting, oil-paint, oil-on-canvas

portrait

venetian-painting

painting

oil-paint

mannerism

history-painting

oil-on-canvas

Dimensions: 72 1/2 x 61 x 3 1/4 in. (184.15 x 154.94 x 8.26 cm) (outer frame)

Jacopo Tintoretto painted this oil on canvas portrait of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini, sometime in the late 16th century. Morosina Morosini Grimani was the wife of Marino Grimani, Doge of Venice. He was elected in 1595, and she died in 1604, which would give us a rough estimate of when the painting was made. In this imposing portrait, she's wearing her ducal finery. It would have been commissioned to celebrate her position as one of the most powerful women in Venice. The dogaressa was a figure of spectacle, but one with very little political power. Venice was a republic in name, but its institutions were dominated by powerful families like the Grimaldi. As historians, understanding the artwork, its commissioner, and its creator, is critical to interpreting the social world that produced it, piecing together the archives to tell the stories of Venice.

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minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago

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The subject of this portrait is the Dogaressa Morosina Morosini (1545–1614). Dogaressa is the title given to the wife of the Doge of Venice, the elected ruler of the republic. The accompanying portrait of her husband, Doge Marino Grimani, is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. From a prominent and wealthy patrician family, Morosini was a patron of the city’s lace industry. She is depicted in a stylish burgundy velvet dress with ruffled lace sleeves and translucent tulle over the shoulders. Notice how the landscape in the window behind the Dogaressa is continued in the background window of the Doge’s portrait. The swaths of silk also link the portraits, acting as bookends that enclose the couple. Whereas Grimani’s portrait was painted by Tintoretto himself, Morosini’s was executed by Tintoretto’s assistants. The pair of paintings date from before Grimani’s election as doge in 1595.