The ''Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune'' (Italian: ''Ritratto di Andrea Doria in veste di Nettuno'') is an
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
on canvas completed by
Bronzino for a private collection in either the 1530s or 1540s. It is now in the
Pinacoteca di Brera
The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Italy. An
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
on canvas, it measures by . In a conscious revival of the convention in classical sculpture of showing important political figures in
heroic nudity
Heroic nudity or ideal nudity is a concept in classical scholarship to describe the un-realist use of nudity in classical sculpture to show figures who may be heroes, deities, or semi-divine beings. This convention began in Archaic and Cla ...
, it depicts the Genoan admiral,
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; lij, Drîa Döia ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was a Genoese statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime.
As the ruler of Genoa, Doria reformed the Re ...
, posing as the classical god of the sea,
Neptune.
Description
The subject of the painting is
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; lij, Drîa Döia ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was a Genoese statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime.
As the ruler of Genoa, Doria reformed the Re ...
, a Renaissance
''condottiero'' and
admiral from
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, who was also the effective ruler of the city-state. He was around sixty when the portrait was painted (the date is somewhat disputed); either way his physique hardly reflects his age at the time.
He chose to be depicted nude as the "God of the Sea". Although Doria is depicted naked, he is not fragile or frail. He is depicted as a powerful virile man, showing masculine spirit, strength, vigor, and power.
He is stern and resolute, looking calmly over all that he surveys, yet also refined and mannered.
The picture was meant to symbolize Doria's power, success, and fame as a celebrated admiral of his time. His beard is lengthy, flowing like the waves on the sea,
and tufts of hair on his head recall the Roman emperors.
Although his body is aged, his skin is still supple.
He originally held a squared
oar
An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Rowers grasp the oar at the other end.
The difference between oars and paddles is that oars are used exclusively for rowing. In rowing the oar is connecte ...
, a symbol of his command over his own fleet, but a
trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mari ...
head – described by art critic
Camille Paglia
Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern cultu ...
as "cartoonish" – was painted over it by an unknown artist. The outline of the original oar is still faintly visible. The same individual probably added Doria's name.
Doria is holding a piece of sailcloth which barely covers his genitals and exposes some of his
pubic hair.
Paglia asserts that his taut, yet somewhat portly, stomach appears to direct its strength into Doria's covered penis. She finds the innuendo of an erection in the stiff wood of the trident and mast.
Jonathan Jones of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' describes the painting as "consciously equat
ngnaval and sexual prowess".
Doria stands on the deck of his ship, as
Neptune would upon his chariot. Behind him is a black, "oppressive" sky, but he is highlighted as if by a full moon or the lightning of an approaching storm.
He stands in a strained manner, his head facing to the right but his thighs and buttocks remaining in profile.
Through the allegory to Neptune, Doria – "a conqueror of the forces of Nature" through his work – is connected to the mythological powers. He becomes Neptune, ruler of the oceans.
Doria
Andrea Doria was born into an aristocratic family who had been wealthy political leaders of the
Genoan republic since 1134, together with another influential family, the
Spinola Spinola is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Agostino Spinola (d. 1537), Italian cardinal
* Alberto Spinola (born 1943), Italian water polo player
* Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases (1569–1630), Genoese banker an ...
. He was orphaned at an early age.
Aged about sixty when this portrait was completed,
Doria was famous as a naval commander. For several years, he scoured the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
in command of the Genoese fleet, waging war on the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
and the Barbary
pirates. Although he was wealthy himself, Doria entered the service of King
Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...
, who made him captain-general. On the expiration of his contract with Francis in 1528, Doria entered the service of Emperor
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
. As imperial admiral, he commanded several expeditions against the Turks.
He was generally successful and perpetually active in military assignments from a very early age until he was over eighty, and he was especially successful at sea. Through his military successes he gained power, wealth, weapons, equipment and land, taking war booty from his enemies; this was the general method by which the Genoese nobles gained power and influence. In 1528, Doria's fleet won a victory over the French and drove them from Genoa; Doria became the new ruler. Even at the age of 84, he was leading military operations against the pirates in the waters of Genoa.
Creation and provenance
Bronzino's so-called "allegorical portraits", such as this Genoese admiral, are not representative of his art, or of contemporary portrait painting in general, but are possibly more captivating due to the eccentricity of depicting a publicly recognized personality as a nude mythical figure. In painting Doria, he may have been inspired by
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
's 1503
sketch of Poseidon and his horses.
The painting was commissioned for
Paolo Giovio
Paolo Giovio (also spelled ''Paulo Jovio''; Latin: ''Paulus Jovius''; 19 April 1483 – 11 December 1552) was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate.
Early life
Little is known about Giovio's youth. He was a native of Com ...
, bishop and retired papal physician, who lived near
Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...
, and was perhaps completed around 1530. Giovo developed a "Museum of Famous Men" of commissioned portraits. Contemporary prints of the work provide documentary evidence for how it originally looked.
There is a second version in the
Villa Doria
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became sm ...
in Genoa, where Doria holds an oar rather than a trident; this seems to have been the original intention in the Milan painting.
[Gáldy, 64]
See also
*
Statue of Neptune, Valletta
References
* Gáldy, Andrea M, ''Agnolo Bronzino: Medici Court Artist in Context'', 2014, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, , 9781443866354
{{Portal bar, Italy, Visual arts
Doria, Andrea as Neptune
Doria, Andrea as Neptune
1530 paintings
Doria, Andrea as Neptune
Doria, Andrea as Neptune
Doria, Andrea as Neptune
Paintings in the collection of the Pinacoteca di Brera
Neptune (mythology)