International Study Conference//Doges’ Tombs: commemorating the principles of the Venetian

The conference aims to examine the (self-) images of doges as presented by their tombs, from the early days of the Venetian Republic until its fall in 1797. Directly commissioned by the doges themselves, or their relatives, tombs provided the deceased with an important means for exercising infl uence in the commemoration of historical events. The tombs thus not only refl ect personal concerns about the afterlife, but also served as typically political means. They often refer to the Doge’s deeds and at times attempt to justify his actions. Some were even used to try and rehabilitate a doge, as was the case with Francesco Foscari, who had been forced to abdicate in 1457. Descendants might also have a specifi cinterest in patching up the image of an ancestor, especially if they themselves pursued a political career. Funerary monuments, therefore, are particularly well suited to studies of socio-political trends in any age, especially in a context such as that of the Venetian Republic, where the doge was offi cially simply the “fi rst among equals” and in which no form of individual public self-aggrandizement was tolerated. Their tombs thus offered them a rare opportunity for constructing self-images and at a cost which even surpassed those of the papal funerary monuments in Rome. This international conference will address the theme from various multidisciplinary points of view in order to explore the culture of commemorating the doges of the Venetian Republic.

Istituto di Storia dell’Arte
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arte@cini.it