Portrait of Ottavio Grimani

The bust shows Ottavio Grimani (1516–1576), Procurator of San Marco from 1571. The nine procurators were the highest-ranking civil servants in the Republic of Venice, and it was from their ranks that the Doge was elected. Alessandro Vittoria’s numerous portrait busts play a special role in his work. He was a highly regarded sculptor, and members of the Venetian aristocracy as well as civil servants were especially keen to be portrayed by him. For his portrait work, Vittoria developed a standard form, reminiscent of the classical Roman portrait busts, which he varied to a greater or lesser degree for each sitter. Invariably the busts showed dignified, serious personages. Most of Vittoria’s works were destined for public spaces, mostly on tombs. The representative example in Berlin was probably conceived for some such location, perhaps even as a counterpart to the bust of Ottavio’s father, also by Vittoria, in the Grimani Chapel in San Sebastiano, where in due course Ottavio too was laid to rest.