Francesco Foscari

Foscaris coat of arms

Francesco Foscari (born June 19 (?) 1373 in Venice ; † November 1, 1457 there) was Doge of Venice from 1423 to 1457 . According to the state-controlled historiography, he was the 65th Doge of the Republic of Venice . Foscari ruled for over 34 years, longer than any doge before or after him.

Under his government, the territorial expansion of Venice to the northern Italian mainland, but also to Dalmatia , and thus its position as a land power was promoted. The warlike undertakings necessary for this, especially against Milan, but also against the Roman-German Empire , demanded the city's resources to an extent that was previously unknown. At the same time, however, Venice's economy flourished , especially long-distance trade, and the city's structural development was encouraged.

Origin and family

Portrait of Francesco Foscari towards the end of his life, mostly painting by Lazzaro Bastiani (1429–1512) dated around 1460 , now in the Museo Correr

Francesco Foscari was born around 1373 (according to Giuseppe Gullino - without reference to the source - he was born on June 19, 1373) as the son of Niccolò di Giovanni Foscari and his wife Cateruzia Michiel. The family was never very numerous, but was of considerable wealth and, according to tradition, went back to the 10th century. The Foscari were among the 150 or so families who had a hereditary seat on the Grand Council and were thus recognized as belonging to the city's nobility. Associated with this was access to numerous state tasks that were assigned by voting in the Grand Council. This also included the Doge's office. The Foscari, however, belonged to the case nove , not to the case vecchie , i.e. to the families that rose a little later. The real rise of the family only began with Francesco's great-grandfather Nicolò. He was the owner of extensive estates on the Terraferma , the northern Italian mainland, but also in Venice on the Rialto. The mainland goods were concentrated around Zelarino in Treviso and Noventa in Paduan; these came into the possession of the Foscari possibly through his second marriage with Balzanella da Peraga. At the same time, these extensive estates brought the Foscari into the sphere of influence of the most powerful families in the northeast, the Carrara and Scaligeri. Nicolò had obtained the title of count in 1331 from the King of Bohemia and Poland , and Cangrande I della Scala knighted him in 1328. In January 1341 Nicolò dictated his last will to the notary Felice de Merlis. His sons Giovanni and Jacobello became universal heirs.

The older of the two, grandfather of the future Doge, went through a political career commensurate with his class. Giovanni Podestà became of Padua and Treviso and took part in numerous diplomatic missions. In 1356 and 1372, however, he came into conflict with the Venetian government, once because he had surrendered Asolo to the enemy troops of Hungary, then in connection with the graduation of the succession of his son Paolo as Bishop of Castello (he later became Archbishop of Patras ).

Francesco's father Nicolò, one of the at least five sons of Giovanni, managed to consolidate the family fortune in the trade, but his eldest son was never involved in trade. Nicolò and his brother Franzi were the first of the Foscari family to do business with the countries of the eastern Mediterranean, while until then their economic activity had revolved around the estates. Most of the other patrician families had developed in exactly the opposite direction. Around 1372 Nicolò married Cateruzia Michiel, who brought the enormous sum of 3,000 ducats as a dowry into the marriage. It was probably this sum that gave the Foscari the opportunity to engage in long-distance trade. For example, Nicolò traded in Bari and Trani . But from 1379 he was mainly concerned with his political career, which earned him numerous high posts in the Republic of Venice until 1412, the year of his death. In 1400 he was one of the 41 Doge voters when Michele Steno was elected.

Nicolò had three daughters and three sons, of whom Francesco was the eldest. Marco, the younger brother, became Procurator of San Marco; he married Margherita, the daughter of the patrician Francesco Marcello. The middle brother Donato died in 1421. Franceschina married the nobleman Santo Venier, while Elena entered the monastery of San Zaccaria , which was only open to the patriciate, where she became abbess. Nothing further is known about Francesco Foscari's third sister, Briseida. In addition to his sons and his wife, Nicolò also appointed his brother Franzi and Santo Venier as executor, as well as Marco Loredan. Cateruzia divided the inheritance, Nicolò was buried in San Simeone Apostolo . The three slaves were also included in the will. Marta was supposed to go to Marco and be released after another 10 years of service, Caterina was released immediately, Anastasia followed Elena to her monastery.

Franzi, Francesco's uncle, was much younger than his brother Nicolò. He was promised early on to the daughter of the despot by Lepanto Giovanni Bua Spatas, even if the marriage did not take place until 1395. She brought a dowry equivalent to around 3,300 ducats into the marriage, plus the Dragamesto castle, which had been conquered by Carlo I Tocco . The couple had six sons and at least two daughters. Franzi began his political career in 1394 as Capo des Sestiere Santa Croce . He moved his family home in the direction of Sant'Aponal and San Canzian , but this did not detract from the family collaboration.

According to the chronicler Marino Sanudo , Francesco Foscari was born in a palazzo on the Grand Canal , probably in the parish of San Simeon Apostolo near today's train station . Other sources report that he grew up with his two brothers Donato and Marco in Egypt, where his father was banished in 1374 after falling from grace as the brother of the Bishop of Castello.

In 1395 Francesco Foscari married Maria Priuli di Andrea di Lorenzo, an heiress from a wealthy family; their branch of the family was called "dal banco". With her he had two sons and two daughters, namely Girolamo, Lorenzo, Bianca and Camilla.

After her death around 1414, he took the equally wealthy Venetian Marina Nani as his second wife in 1415. With her he had nine children, five daughters and four sons, all of whom - with the exception of the second-born Jacopo - died of the plague in 1425 and 1427 .

Life

Francesco Foscari was born into a family with extensive land holdings and close contacts to other patrician families who were also active in long-distance trade, albeit difficult to understand. Little is known about his youth or his education. There is a legend that is typical of the time, according to which the fathers of Francesco and the later Pope Pius II met a hermit or a prophet while traveling as traders in Egypt. He had predicted the respective secular and spiritual career of the sons. Antonio Morosini, author of a chronicle , wrote in 1430 that Foscari, as doge, addressed the ambassadors from Genoa in “bon latin”, so he had learned Latin; The author also praises his eloquence - "dolcezza" - towards ambassadors from Florence (Romano, p. 34). Francesco's father had ensured a good education in languages ​​and rhetoric , which was even more evident with his second son Jacopo, who knew how to correspond with humanists such as Francesco Barbaro , Poggio Bracciolini or Leonardo Bruni .

Political career

The outer facade of Ca 'Foscari , begun in 1453, overlooks the Grand Canal. The Doge did not live to see its completion under the supervision of the master builder Bartolomeo Bon .

Francesco aspired to a political career from an early age. According to contemporaries, he was a brilliant speaker with an excellent memory and great persuasiveness. Ambitious as he was, he climbed the career ladder constantly. As early as 1400 he was on the Council of Forty, although formally he was still too young for this position. At the age of only 27, he was elected one of the heads of this quarantia in 1401 . In December 1401 he was elected Giudice del Proprio . In 1404 he became Avvogadore di Comun .

The year 1402 was a turning point in foreign policy history, because Timur smashed the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Ankara and Venice's fiercest opponent in Italy, Gian Galeazzo Visconti , fell victim to the plague. Within a few years, Venice managed to derive considerable territorial gains from the changed situation. 1403 was Foscari Savio agli Ordini , a role in which he pushed for war against Francesco Novello da Carrara, who in turn was trying to win Milan territories. In doing so, Francesco and his father and uncle proceeded so strategically that the corresponding entries in the registers of the Senate and the College give the impression that they were trying to control the city's foreign policy. Later, the three Foscari did not succeed in working together in this way, which was possibly due to the fact that father and uncle held positions which, as was customary for a long time, were barred from other family members. This only changed with the death of the father in 1412.

In 1405 Francesco Foscari was head of the Council of Ten for the first time , again in 1413. In 1412 he was a member of the College of Savi alla Guerra , a group of elected patricians who were temporarily given numerous powers in connection with warfare. He represented the Republic as envoy to the Duke of Milan in 1408 in order to negotiate an agreement between him and Ottone Terzi, the Signor of Parma and Reggio. In 1413 he stayed at the court of the Roman-German King Sigismund , and in 1415 with the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I. In 1416 he became Procurator of San Marco , the most prestigious position in Venice after the Doge. Probably out of concern that the French Marshal Jean Le Maingre could advance from his power base in Genoa into the northern Italian power vacuum, the decision was made in Venice to occupy strategically important places such as Casalmaggiore or Colorno . This contradicted the main focus of the expansion attempts towards Dalmatia. Francesco Foscari also managed to pull the Estonians of Ferrara to the Venetian side, while Le Maingre, known as Boucicaut, lost its power base as a result of a rebellion in Genoa. In order not to stand in the way of his uncle of the same name, who was supposed to act as advisor to the Doge, the later Doge renounced the office of Savio agli Ordini in 1410 and contented himself with the position of Provveditore di Comun . In this function he promoted domestic cloth production in exchange for English imports in 1411.

The hindrance of further ascent by father and uncle - the Venetian constitution only allowed a strictly limited number of members of the same family in the same body - ended in 1412 with the death of the father and the assumption of a post by the uncle "Franzi", who held this for years away from Venice. He became Duca di Candia , with which he led the most important Venetian colony of Crete from 1411 to 1413. Francesco Foscari could now be elected to every body. So he got now in a special committee that dealt with the upcoming war, the Savi alla Guerra , the later Savi di Terraferma .

In 1412 Foscari came into conflict with one of the most successful military of the time, Pietro Loredan (not to be confused with the doge of the same name). This succeeded against Foscari's will to resolve the conflict with Hungary militarily. Together with Carlo Malatesta, the Loredan managed to win at Motta, in a battle in which the Venetians saw themselves almost put to flight. The next year there was a five-year truce with Sigismund. With the peace negotiations with Sigismund (whom Foscari met in Feltre on June 9, 1413), which failed, and the negotiations with Frederick IV of Tyrol, which had been successfully concluded three days earlier , Foscari - now with a seat on the Doge Council as Savio del Consiglio - was primarily responsible for Venice's foreign policy until his election as Doge.

On December 4, 1413 he was appointed envoy to the court of Pope John XXIII in the Great Council . elected, who was in Lodi to discuss the convening of the Council of Constance with Sigismund . Foscari traveled with his colleague Antonio Contarini and the procurator Tommaso Mocenigo . The latter was already elected Doge on January 7, 1414. While the new Doge immediately left the embassy to go to Venice, Foscari and Contarini accompanied the Pope to Mantua . Foscari, having returned to Venice, dealt very intensively with all the questions pending at the college as part of his position as Savio del Consiglio . On October 26, 1414, he even refused a further legation trip to Sigismund. On June 6, 1415 he was selected for a new embassy, ​​this time to Florence. As so often, he traveled with Marino Caravello. This time Venice tried to win the Florentines against Sigismund, but there was little more than expressions of friendship.

Between the end of 1415 and the beginning of 1416 there were two important twists and turns for Foscari. On the one hand, he married Marina Nani, who had six children, namely Domenico, Benedetta, Giacomo, Donato, Paola and Maria. On the other hand, he was given the title of Procuratore de citra on February 26, 1416 . Mainly from the administration of wills, this position resulted in the handling of often enormous fortunes, and yet it was a task with little work, almost a sinecure . Foscari took the opportunity to divert perhaps 30,000 ducats to impoverished nobles who wanted to provide their daughters with adequate dowries . With this, Foscari developed a personal clientele. In addition, the expansionist foreign policy to which Foscari had long been committed promised new positions in the mainland cities, which in turn benefited his clientele. The realignment of politics thus became a promising means of gaining majorities that ultimately enabled the election of the Doge.

Until then, Foscari avoided lengthy diplomatic tasks as best he could. So he concentrated on more symbolic tasks, such as the testimony for the alliance with Naples against Sigismund, which was concluded on July 27, 1416 in the Doge's Palace. In March 1417 he represented the Doge again on the occasion of a similar alliance with the Duke of Austria. The only important thing was the office of ambassador, which was entrusted to him together with Antonio Contarini, Marino Caravello and Fantino Michiel. You were commissioned to travel to Constance to congratulate the new Pope Martin V and to seek his mediation. This was a matter of urgency as the five-year truce between Venice and the king was about to expire. The legation trip was successful, which was also thanks to the work of Cardinal Francesco Lando: The armistice was extended for another five years, so that the four procurators were able to return to Venice at the beginning of July. Furthermore, Foscari tried to avoid stays abroad in order to remain present in the core of power. On October 30, 1418, he was appointed envoy in Salzburg to negotiate again with Sigismund, but Foscari preferred to pay the fine if such an election was refused.

Even the presence of his uncle "Franzi" among the Savi alla Guerra in 1418 and 1420 or among the Doge Councils in 1419 was no longer an obstacle, just as it was not among the Savi di Terraferma in 1421 and 1422. And that too The Doge's obvious hostility, who condescendingly referred to Foscari as “el nostro procurator zovene”, could not stop him. Mocenigo stood for the oldest and wealthy families who saw their economic base in the east. Logically, they concentrated on an isolationist policy in Italy with tendencies to promote the Visconti of Milan. Foscari, however, was meanwhile unreservedly for the Venetian expansionism at the expense of the Visconti.

This gave rise to two declared, mutually hostile parties. The decision was obtained from outside, because now in the second half of 1422 Florence turned to Venice for help against Milan. Foscari took the Florentine side and argued with the "freedom" of Italy, which also earned him the applause of humanists such as Francesco Barbaro . Mocenigo, however, stuck to the alliance with Milan of 1414. His will, which primarily served political interests, should be classified in this context. Mocenigo died on April 4, 1423.

Foscari not only wanted to become a doge, he also wanted to change office. On April 7, he was elected to the office of Correttore della Promissione ducale . This had the task of redefining the oath, the promissione ducale of the future doge , which was originally intended as a limitation and definition of power . In fact, the Correttori replaced the old formula of the "Comune" with the "Serenissima Signoria" and the "Dominio". This meant that the people's assembly, which had elected the Doge until 1172 and had at least confirmed him since then, was no longer asked to vote in Doge elections. The Signoria , to which the Doge and a few men of the innermost circle of power belonged, thus achieved a strong appreciation as the actual decision-making center.

Although many members of the Grand Council had grave concerns about him and Tommaso Mocenigo had predicted the impending war, Foscari was elected to succeed him on April 15, 1423. In a final ballot he was able to prevail against his competitor, the fleet leader Pietro Loredan , with 26 out of 41 votes. Loredan, an opponent of Foscari for years, now became his most determined opponent in the long run. The election process started on April 10th. The more the proceedings came to a head with fewer remaining candidates, the sharper the hostility became, initially through Pietro Orio. The first favorite was Pietro Loredan, the 'hero of Gallipoli', who had defeated the Ottomans in the Dardanelles in 1416 . Initially, the Foscari only had nine votes, but the candidate's political successes, as well as those of his father and uncle, were significant. Uncle Franzi's marriage to the Albanian princess Sterina Bua Spatas brought Venice Dragomesto not far from Lepanto , which may have given supporters of Eastern interests the impression that the Foscari were not blind to the East. As Bernardo Giustinian's funeral oration shows, the candidate's physical virtues, such as “la forma ben fatta ed eminent del corpo, la grazia del volto, la maestà e la salute prospera”, also played a certain role, as did rhetorical skills. The victory took the leading families by surprise, while the population celebrated the authoritarian regiment.

Doge of Venice

Ducat under Foscari, on the obverse: "FRAC FOSCARI DVX SM VENETI", the kneeling Doge and St. Mark carry the Venetian banner; Reverse: "SIT T XPE DAT Q TV REGIS ISTE DVCAT" (Sit tibi, Christe, datus, quem tu regis iste ducatus), Christ standing, right hand raised to bless, in the left the Bible, surrounded by a Mandorla with seven stars

Foscari by no means immediately continued the policy of territorial expansion that had already begun under his predecessor, who allegedly warned against it on his deathbed. Venice did not intervene against Filippo Maria Visconti until 1426, who had conquered Faenza and Imola and inflicted three defeats on the Florentines since mid-1425. Foscari emphasized the role of Venice as defender of the "libertas Italiae" in the succession of the Arno city .

Head of the Doge by Bartolomeo Bon , around 1442, Doge's Palace, Sala Erizzo

The four wars against Milan, which dragged on for decades and in which the borders of the republic were extended to Lombardy , Friuli and Ravenna , show the consistency with which the new course, once taken, was pursued. Together with the condottiere Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola , the Milanese were at war with Venetian troops and in 1427 forced him to renounce Bergamo , Cremona and Brescia .

But this was not the only theater of war. In the east, Venetians had been defending Thessaloniki against the Ottomans since 1423 , but had to give up the city for good in 1430. The assassination attempt on the Doges by Andrea Contarini in November 1430 shows how strong the tensions were in Venice.

In 1431 the war with Milan broke out again and brought defeat to Venice. Nevertheless, through clever negotiations, Foscari obtained the Adda as a border for Venice. In 1433 the war broke out again. First, Niccolò Piccinino, as the troop leader of the Duke of Milan , advanced victoriously against Venice, which had allied itself with Cosimo de 'Medici , Eugene IV , Genoa and the Estonians , but was then defeated by the condottiere of the Venetians, Francesco Sforza in the Tenno pass in 1439. In the subsequent Treaty of Cavriano , Venice received Lonato , Valeggio and Peschiera in 1441 . Ravenna was also confiscated from the Da Polenta family. On June 26, 1433, after the conclusion of a precarious peace with Milan, Francesco Foscari wanted to resign, but his advisors thwarted this. Further attempts of this kind failed in 1442 and 1446. In 1434 the Signoria finally succeeded in obtaining investiture in his territories on the Terraferma from Emperor Sigismund. In 1438 John VIII , the Emperor of Byzantium, visited the city, which brought the city and the Doge fame. In January 1441, Jacopo, the Doge's son, married Lucrezia Contarini di Leonardo at tremendous expense as part of a kind of state celebration.

Italy around 1454

In 1443 Foscari united all of Northern Italy in a league against the increasing power of Alfonso I of Naples , who was supported by the Pope. As early as 1445 Filippo Maria Visconti went over to the side of Naples and the Pope. His general and son-in-law Francesco Sforza fought Venice with success and usurped the rule in Milan after the Visconti died out in 1450. Nevertheless, Foscari succeeded again in 1448 to conclude a favorable peace. After another war, Venice achieved another expansion of its territory on the mainland in the Peace of Lodi in 1454. This had only been possible with every effort. Almost all government revenues were only made available to finance the war, and all salary payments were suspended for one year. All tenants brought in half an annual rent, all landlords brought in a third of their income for houses and shops. The Jewish community was asked to make a special contribution of 16,000 ducats. Finally, the tariffs were raised, the mooring fees for the ships and their cargo. The direct taxation not only of the residents of Terra ferma, but also of the Venetians themselves, was never given up again. In the same year, Venice reached a peace treaty with the Ottomans on April 18, 1454. This planned to keep the ports open for Venice traders. The colony in Constantinople thus continued to exist, whose goods were subject to a moderate tariff of 2%.

Domestically, because of Francesco's policies and the enormous tax burden associated with it, there was hidden and open opposition for the citizens. In 1430 he barely survived the said attack. In addition, there was the permanent hostility with Pietro Loredan, which hindered Foscari in his political work. After the comment slipped out during a heated Senate debate that he could not rule properly as long as "this devil lived on a Loredan", when the Admiral died in 1438 the rumor was spread that the Doge had let him be poisoned - just like his Brother Marco Loredan.

Francesco Foscari's grave

Jacopo was the Doge's only living son. Except for Maria, all of the daughters were married. Camilla married Pietro Bernardo, after whose death Andrea Donà. Bianca married Marco Ruzzini, Benedetta Andrea Trevisan and Paola Girolamo Michiel. The sons, on the other hand, all died of the plague, the last being Domenico in 1437.

The events surrounding Francesco's only surviving son Jacopo also damaged the Doge's reputation. His wife had given him two daughters and a son named Nicolò, who was to continue the Foscari branch. But Jacopo lived lavishly and was eventually charged with accepting money from the Duke of Milan. The charges were brought by the heads of the Quarantia, which included Francesco Loredan, a nephew of Pietro Loredan, the doge's enemy. Suspected of corruption, Jacopo fled - perhaps with the help of his father - to Trieste on imperial territory in February 1445 . The doge was kept out of all further measures. Jacopo was sentenced in absentia to exile to Nauplia in Greece, but the latter delayed his departure. He even managed to reach the area of Treviso as a place of exile, where the Foscari property was not far away, namely in Zelarino. His father applied for a pardon, which was granted on September 13, 1447 in consideration of the Doge's office. However, in 1451, the intrigues of Foscari's political opponents led to further proceedings against Jacopo being initiated. According to dubious testimonies, he is said to have instigated the murder of one of his former judges, Ermolao Donà, in revenge. Jacopo was arrested and tortured on January 2, 1451. He was exiled to Crete . A third trial against him brought him there in June 1456 even imprisonment, during which he died in January 1457. Among the initiators was another Loredan, this time Giacomo Loredan, who was also one of the heads of the Quarantia . Marino Sanudo did not believe that Jacopo was behind the murder of Donà, but Nicolò Erizzo di Stefano. But the hatred between the main exponents of the families offered room for suspicion, so that the question of guilt could never be clarified. Francesco Foscari asked his son to go into exile according to the law.

The aged Francesco did not cope with the loss of his son and, in the opinion of the Capi of the Council of Ten, was increasingly overwhelmed with the official business. Under a pretext, the Council of Ten - in excess of their powers, because the Great Council should have agreed - unauthorizedly deposed the Doge on October 21, 1457. Giacomo Loredan was again among the decision-makers. This time Foscari did not accept the dismissal that he himself had previously requested. According to the law, he could not abdicate unless the Doge Councils proposed it with the consent of the Grand Council. Formally, the objection was correct, if at all, then one must be surprised at the earlier declarations of Foscari that he wanted to leave office. These were therefore possibly skillful maneuvers to let the actions of his opponents run nowhere. It cannot be ruled out that the refusal was based on the desire to deny the Loredan the satisfaction of an easy victory.

A few days later, on October 22nd, the council even repeated its action. Francesco Foscari had to leave, he was promised a compensation of 1500 ducats per year. The next day, after the Doge's ring had broken and the insignia of his office had been stripped from him, Foscari left the Doge's Palace using the stairs he had built. Surrounded by his family, he relied on his brother Marco.

The doge died a little later on the morning of November 1, 1457, not in the still unfinished Ca 'Foscari , but in one of his houses in the municipality of Santa Margherita.

The republic wanted him to have a state funeral as if he had died in the Doge's office, but Francesco's bitter widow Marina, whose son had been tortured and died in exile, whose husband was publicly humiliated, initially refused to surrender the body, pointing out that a such burial was hypocritical. Eventually, however, she gave in. Foscari was buried on November 3, 1457 with all honors due to a Doge and with an extraordinarily high level of public sympathy in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari . His coffin was escorted by the new Doge Pasquale Malipiero , who was dressed in a senatorial robe.

From 1460 his well-preserved tomb was built in the Frari Church on the south wall of the choir chapel . According to the Venetian tradition, it is a wall tomb crowned with a canopy . The doge rests on the sarcophagus in full official costume . He is surrounded by the four cardinal virtues of temperance, strength, wisdom, and justice. The curtain of the canopy is held by young warriors dressed in antiquity. The tomb and sculptures are the work of the brothers Paolo and Antonio Bregno . An inscription emphasizes its role in the conquest of Terraferma.

Construction activities

During his long tenure, Foscari initiated numerous building projects in Venice. For example, a fortress was built on his initiative to protect the Lido on the island of Vignole .

Sculpture at the Porta della Carta , the doge kneeling in front of the lion of St. Mark

He also commissioned several redesigns and extensions of the Doge's Palace. So he had the old western front removed in order to have the facade of the piazzetta rebuilt in its place from 1424 to 1438 . Its centerpiece was named Loggia di Foscari after the client . Immediately after that Francesco had to designs by the architect Bartolomeo Bon with the structural gap between the Doge's Palace and St. Mark Porta della carta mentioned Torbau close. Foscari was immortalized in a sculpture above the archway. It shows the doge kneeling in front of the lion , as a symbol for the evangelist Mark , who in turn is the symbol of the Republic of Venice. The sculpture says in clear visual language that the doge is not master of the republic, but that it only gives him power and that he remains subordinate to the republic. The example that can be seen today dates from 1885 and is a replica of the original by Antonio Bregno that was destroyed in 1797 on the orders of the Revolutionary Council set up by France. In the courtyard of the palace, the Arco Foscari still reminds us today that this doge initiated the third and final construction phase of the building.

In addition to the projects financed by state funds, Foscari was also privately active as a client. In 1452 he acquired an old palace and had the Ca 'Foscari built in its place, a magnificent palazzo in the late Gothic style . The four-storey building has elaborately designed tracery and marble columns and is now home to the University of Venice , usually simply called "Ca 'Foscari".

reception

History painting originated around 1838: The Doge Francesco Foscari sends his son Giacomo into exile by Michelangelo Grigoletti (1801–1870), oil on canvas, 336 by 475 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum , Belvedere Vienna

Francesco Hayez around 1852/54: The two Foscari (The Farewell of Doge Foscari from his family) , oil on canvas, 121 by 167 cm, Galleria d'arte moderna , Florence

Engraving by the illustrator, history and landscape painter Frederick Richard Pickersgill (1820–1900): The Death of Foscari, Doge of Venice , 1854; it is considered one of his most important works.

The story of Francesco Foscari and his son Jacopo has been treated poetically several times, including by Lord Byron in his book The two Foscari, first published in 1821 . Byron's work served as the template for the libretto, written by Francesco Maria Piave , of Giuseppe Verdi's opera I due Foscari (The Two Foscari), which premiered on November 3, 1844 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.

The Italian painter Francesco Hayez created between 1840 and 1854, based on the literary model, an oil painting entitled The Two Foscari , which shows the Doge and his son saying goodbye. It is now in the Galleria d'arte Moderna in the Florentine Palazzo Pitti .

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Archival material

• Venice State Archives , Miscellanea codici, serie 1 , Storia veneta 19: Marco Barbaro - Antonio Maria Tasca, Arbori dei patritii veneti ricoppiati con aggiunte di Antonio Maria Fosca , vol. III, c. 505, 507, 510 (it is the continuation of the Famiglie nobile venete of Marco Barbaro by Antonio Maria Tasca, a work that comprises a total of 7 volumes).
  • Archivio Gradenigo di rio Marin , busta 333: P. Gradenigo: Lavoro storico cronologico biografico sulla veneta famiglia Foscari , pp. 35–48 ( Gradenigo di Rio Marin, sec. XIV - sec. XIX , website of the State Archives).
  • Segretario all Voci. Misti , Gov. 13, c. 21v, 36r, 171v (until the Doge election). ( Segretario alle voci, 1349 - 1797 , website of the State Archives)
  • Maggior Consiglio Deliberazioni , reg. 21 (Resolutions of the Grand Council, Leona (1384–1416) and Ursa (1415–1455)) ( Leona , digital access ), c. 194r; 22, c. 18r, 33r, 44r, 55v, 58v. ( Ursa , ditto )
  • Corporazioni religious. Scuola di S. Maria del Rosario , b. 29: Commissaria Girardi (on the family property).
  • Senato. Misti , Gov. 48, c. 92v, 101v, 106r, 140v, 157r, 166r; 49, c. 54r, 106v and passim .
  • Senato. Deliberazioni. Secreta , reg. 3, c. 89r; 4, c. 21v-23r, 24v, 26v-27r, 29v-30r, 31r, 32v, 36v, 38v-39v, 41r, 42r-v, 54v-55r; 5, c. 9v, 10v, 15v, 19v, 24v, 30v, 39r, 49v, 54r, 136r-137v, 139v, 140v-142v, 155r, 167v-171v, 174r, 175v, 178r, 186v; 6, c. 2r, 18v, 33v, 52r, 54v-55v, 59r, 60r, 61v, 65r, 83v, 86r, 88r, 113v and passim; 7, c. 2r-6v, 12v, 15v-19r, 32r, 39v, 57v, 70v, 90r, 104r, 119r, 128v, 138r, 175r, 177v, 209r; 8, c. 4r, 31r, 38r, 41r, 49r, 66r, 75v, 87r, 98v and passim.
  • Sezione notarile. Testamenti , b. 1149/2 (Testament of October 29, 1457; that of the father, ibid., B. 1255, c. 191v – 192r).
  • Collegio notatorio , reg. 4, c. 129r; 5, c. 72r, 139r, 164r.
• Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana , Mss. It., Cl. VII, 16 (= 8305): Girolamo Alessandro Cappellari Vivaro : Campidoglio veneto , II, c. 87v – 88r ( digitized version ).
  • Cod. Cicogna 3418: Famiglie venete , sub voce (for deposition).
• Library of the Civico Museo Correr , Cod.Cicogna 3782: Girolamo Priuli: Pretiosi frutti del Maggior Consiglio per opera del detto Ottaviano Contarini , II, c. 16v – 19v. (created 1626–1671).
  • Cod. Cicogna 2009/23 (on the tomb).
  • Cod. Cicogna 3526: Giovanni Paolo Gasperi (1712-1775): Catalogo della Biblioteca veneta, ossia degli Scrittori Veneziani , 4 vols., II, p. 113 f.

Editions

• Angela Caracciolo Aricò (Ed.): Marino Sanudo : Le vite dei dogi 1423-1474. Volume 1, La Malcontenta, Venice 1999 ( digitized version ).
• Riccardo Predelli (Ed.): I libri commemoriali della Repubblica di Venezia. Regesti , Venice 1883-1901, III, pp. 296, 370, 378, 382; IV, pp. 12, 15 f., 20, 32, 42, 49-308; V, pp. 2-132, 134 f., 230.
• Remigio Sabbadini: Centotrenta lettere inedite di Francesco Barbaro, precedute dall'ordinamento critico cronologico dell'intero suo epistolario seguite da appendici di Remigio Sabbadini , Salerno 1884, p. 17.
• Riccardo Predelli (ed.): Diplomatarium Veneto Levantinum sive acta et diplomata res Venetas Graecas , II, (1351-1454), Venice 1899, ad indicem.
• Franco Gaeta (Ed.): Nunziature di Venezia , VI, Rome 1967, p. 315.
• Marcantonio Sabellico , Historiae rerum Venetarum libri XXXIII , Venice 1487, Vol. I, Venice 1718, pp. 465, 468, 483-486, 522, 714.
• Giovanni Degli Agostini : Notie istorico-critiche intorno la vita e le opere degli scrittori viniziani , I, Venice 1752, pp. 51, 158 f., 222, 224; II, Venice 1754, pp. 16 f., 54, 89, 194, 411 f. ( Digitized version, Vol. II )
• Flaminio Corner: Opuscula quatuor quibus illustrantur gesta b. Francisci Quirini patriarchae Gradensis, Joannis de Benedictis episcopi Tarvisini, Francisci Foscari ducis Venetiarum… , Venice 1758.
• Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna : Delle Inscrizioni Veneziane , Vol. 1-6, Venice 1824-1853, II, pp. 54, 132, 137, 142; III, pp. 383ff, 389; IV, pp. 159, 257, 259, 448, 484; V, pp. 70, 89, 92, 123, 229, 483, 666; VI, pp. 25, 41, 49, 63, 100, 106, 129, 556, 574 f., 584, 632, 733, 735 f.

literature

• Dennis Romano: La rappresentazione di Venezia. Francesco Foscari: vita di un doge nel Rinascimento , Viella, Rome 2012 (originally The Likeness of Venice. A Life of Doge Francesco Foscari, 1373–1456 , Yale University Press, New Haven / London 2007).
• Girgensohn: Church, Politics and Noble Government , Vol. II, pp. 756–783 (about the time before the Dogat).
• Giuseppe Gullino:  Foscari. Francesco. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 49:  Forino – Francesco da Serino. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1997.
• Andrea Da Mosto : I Dogi di Venezia , Martello-Giunti, Milan 1977, pp. 54-57.
• Debra Pincus: The Arco Foscari: The Building of a Triumphal Gateway in Fifteenth Century Venice , Garland Publications, New York / London 1976 (reprint of the thesis at New York University). ( Table of contents )
• Paolo Preto: Foscari, Francesco , in: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Vol. 4, dtv, Munich 2002, Col. 670 f. ISBN 3-423-59057-2
• Dennis Romano: Molto ben sepe guidar la optima constelation sua: Francesco Foscari as Procurator of San Marco , in: Archivio Veneto ns XXXVI (1999) 37-55.
• Francesco Berlan: I due Foscari. Memorie storico-critiche con documenti inediti tratti dagli archivi secreti del consiglio dei dieci, dei pregadi e del maggior consiglio , Turin 1852. ( digitized version )
• Samuele Romanin : Storia documentata di Venezia , IV, Venice 1855, pp. 265–301 (for a long time the most detailed representation).
• Heinrich Kretschmayr : History of Venice , II, Gotha 1920, pp. 331–336, 363–366.
• Maria Zannoni: Il dramma dei Foscari nella cronaca di Giorgio Dolfin , in: Nuova Rivista Storica XXVI (1942) 201–215.
• Hugh Trevor-Roper : Il doge Francesco Foscari , in: Ders. (Eds.): Il Rinascimento , Laterza, Bari 1987, pp. 3-17.

Web links

Commons : Francesco Foscari  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Photo of Foscari's tomb

Remarks

1. ^ Dennis Romano: La rappresentazione di Venezia. Francesco Foscari: vita di un doge nel Rinascimento , Viella, Rome 2012, p. 28.
2. ↑ On the property there cf. Giorgio Zoccoletto: La Contea dei Foscari a Zelarino , Centro Studi Storici di Mestre, 1999.
3. ↑ Claudio Rendina ( . Il dogi Storia e segreti , Rome 2007, p 233) writes: "era nato verso il 1374 in Egitto, dove il padre Niccolò era stato esiliato, probabilmente come Fratello del vascovo di Castello, caduto in disgrazia dalla repubblica ".
4. ^ British painters. With eighty examples of their work engraved on wood , New York 1881, p. 111.

predecessor	Office	successor
Tommaso Mocenigo	Doge of Venice 1423-1457	Pasquale Malipiero