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Portrait of the Doge, Andrea Gritti
Vincenzo Catenaprobably 1523-31
The National Gallery, London
London, United Kingdom
The identification of the sitter is confirmed by comparison with portrait medals. Andrea Gritti (1455 - 1538) was elected Doge of Venice in 1523; the painting was probably made soon afterwards. The device on the ring represents the doge kneeling before Saint Mark, patron of Venice. The portrait itself may have hung near a religious image, for the Doge's attitude is one of dignified adoration.
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Details
- Title: Portrait of the Doge, Andrea Gritti
- Creator: Vincenzo Catena
- Date Created: probably 1523-31
- Physical Dimensions: 97.2 x 79.4 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- School: Italian (Venetian)
- More Info: Explore the National Gallery’s paintings online
- Inventory number: NG5751
- Artist Dates: active 1506 - 1531
- Artist Biography: Vincenzo Catena was a Venetian who seems to have started painting in the style of Bellini and his follower Cima. By 1506 he had formed a partnership with Giorgione, whose style continued to influence him, even after Giorgione's death in 1510. Catena's work is less lyrical than Giorgione's but has a solidity and charm of its own. The first notice of Catena is the inscription on the back of Giorgione's portrait of ''Laura'' dated 1506 (in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) describing Catena as his partner. Such partnerships were not uncommon in the 15th and 16th centuries. Catena appears to have had an independent income and to have moved in the circles of Venetian humanists such as Pietro Bembo. This may have been how he met Giorgione. A comparison of the background of Catena's 'Warrior adoring the Infant Christ' with Giorgione's 'Sunset Landscape' shows Catena's debt to him.
- Acquisition Credit: Presented by Mrs Otto Gutekunst in memory of her husband, 1947
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