"The Investiture of Marco Corner as Count of Zara in 1344"

c. 1700

THE INVESTITURE OF MARCO CORNER AS COUNT OF ZARA IN 1344 (Italian, c. 1700) by Sebastiano Ricci (Italian, 1659-1734). In this Venetian history painting Marco Corner is represented kneeling in the foreground, swearing an oath as he is formally conferred with the ring and titles of Count of Zara (modern day Zadar, Croatia) against a classical Roman architectural background of a Corinthian capital colonnade. A pair of Roman legionnaires stand to the far right, recalling the Corner family's claim of descent from the Roman Cornelii, whose most celebrated member was Scipio Africanus. A curly haired page holds the Bible to the right, and behind him a bearded male figure looks off into the distance. In the left foreground, a young male page leans forward with a silver tray holding the titles of nobility while a young blond male official, wearing a richly brocaded blouse and holding a rolled document, proffers the ring. Against a parted silk drapery, a lone blond female figure wears pearls in her hair and an amber necklace.

Born in c. 1286, Marco Corner was the first truly distinguished member of the Venetian Corner family and was elected Doge in 1365. He died in 1368. During Corner's brief reign as Doge, it appears that much of the present Doge's Palace was built - particularly the portion facing the Bacino, including the sala del Gran Consiglio. In this painting, Corner is represented as a young man, far from his actual age of 60 when the investiture took place. The painting is in the original early 18th century Italian gilded wood foliate frame.

Italian

Oil on Canvas

74 3/4" x 55"

Purchased by the Preservation Society of Newport County, 2012.

PSNC.12522.1