This is a rather splendid portrait of Doge Francesco Erizzo, painted by Bernardo Strozzi in around 1640, and now residing quite contentedly at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Strozzi, who had been active in both Genoa and Venice, had a knack for his rendering of velvet and fur with some precision, although it’s all a bit decadent for me. I can imagine my friend Richard rushing to have his painting done whilst wearing this sort of outfit though. Erizzo himself, looking every inch the dignified head of the Venetian Republic, is clad in his state robes and a corno ducale which is a ceremonial hat. The gallery notes that they acquired this artwork from the Palazzo Ducale in 1824, but that’s when Venice was under Austrian control (as it was between 1815 and 1866) and so I don’t imagine that the palace authorities had much choice.
Francesco Erizzo was elected Doge in 1631 and held the post until his death in 1646, a period during which Venice managed to maintain its precarious independence while trying not to get completely outmanoeuvred by the likes of the Ottomans, the Habsburgs and other assorted ambitious neighbours. Erizzo was known for being relatively pious and uncontroversial, which in Venetian political terms means he mostly avoided being poisoned, stabbed or dramatically exiled. He did though in 1645, a year before his death, start a war with the Ottomans, although that was something which was something of a running issue over the centuries.