Andrea Doria as Neptune

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Andrea Doria as Neptune (Agnolo Bronzino)
Andrea Doria as Neptune
Agnolo Bronzino , approx. 1540–50
Oil on canvas
115 × 53 cm
Pinacoteca di Brera

Andrea Doria as Neptune ( Ritratto di Andrea Doria come Nettuno ) is an allegorical painting by the Mannerist painter Bronzino , which depicts the Genoese condottiere , admiral and statesman Andrea Doria in the form of Neptune, god of the seas. It hangs in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.

In this picture, the allegorical meaning of which is easy to decipher, the Genoese admiral and successful naval hero Andrea Doria presents himself in the figure of the ruler of the seas, Poseidon , who was equated early on with the Roman Neptune . If one looks at the life and deeds of Andrea Dorias, it is a convincing comparison.

Neptune

Neptune (Greek = Poseidon ) was the undisputed lord of the seas in ancient mythology , who was able to sink or even create new islands in the sea, to whom the seafarers were at the mercy, and whom they with the sacrifice of horses, which Neptune liked tried to soothe. His weapon was the trident with which he could churn the sea and make the earth shake.

Andrea Doria

The most famous naval hero of his time was Andrea Doria, courted by kings and rulers who wanted to secure his services.
Andrea Doria, who at the beginning of his military career had ample experience in commanding land troops, began his career at sea when he had already reached the forties. First, he monitored the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas with his fleet, where he succeeded in destroying the pirate nests and defeating their fleet under the leadership of the notorious pirate Codoli. In the conflict between Charles V and Francis I , he was able to recapture the French Mediterranean coast for the French. After France's defeat at the Battle of Pavia , he entered the service of Clement VII as the commander of the papal fleet. During the clashes between Pope and Emperor, which ended with the fateful Sacco di Roma , the papal fleet won all sea battles, but could not make up for the defeat on land. Andrea Doria terminated the contract and returned to French service. After the French withdrew from Genoa, he returned to his hometown for a long time. He was instrumental in reforming the republic and its constitution. The city gave him the title “Liberator et Pater patriae ” (“Liberator and Father of the Fatherland”).

Khizir Khayr ad Dîn , called Barbarossa

In the course of the clashes with the Turks , he threw himself into the sea war again. He took over a fleet command and won - as usual - most of the battles. With his skilful tactics he was able to keep his equal Turkish opponent Khizir Khayr ad Dîn , known as Barbarossa, in check.

Andrea Doria did not retire until old age: in 1555, when he was well past the eighties, he handed over the command to his nephew Giovanni Andrea Doria .

Image description

The picture is a three-quarter portrait. Bronzino shows Andrea Doria in his picture as a powerful, athletic man who has surely passed the forties and whose hair and beard are already gray.

The half-naked condottiere stands in front of a mighty ship's mast around which a strong rope with four narrow loops is wrapped. Andrea Doria has a gray canvas that is falling from the top right looped around his waist and left thigh so carelessly that his gender is barely covered: Demonstration of male potency as a sign of the strength and strength of the successful warrior.

Bronzino's portrayal has little resemblance to portraits compared to portraits that are accepted as authentic. Rather, it follows the traditional Neptune iconography . His hair cut short, the wavy temple and beard hair and the long curly mustache are reminiscent of the gray waves of a gently moving sea. The whole body is suntanned and shimmers golden in the light falling from the right side, which also effectively illuminates the face turned to the right with the strict dark eyes and the full lips, which is still hardly marked by the traces of age. With his right hand he grabs a long trident , in Greek mythology the weapon and the attribute of Poseidon. The three points are directed towards the gold inscription A.DORIA, which is carved into the mast in Roman Antiqua, a font that was used in the Renaissance for monuments of kings and rulers, which therefore has an imperial look.

Art historical notes

Andrea Doria was already praised by contemporaries as a new Neptune. This idea was shaped by the idea of ​​Neptune, cultivated since antiquity and Virgil , as a ruler whose power is based both on his strength and power as well as on his speech. According to a passage in the Aeneid (I, 148-156), he only calmed the stormy waves, that is, the angry masses, with his speech. These qualities made Neptune an ideal embodiment of the virtuous, strong and convincing ruler.

The sculptor Baccio Bandinelli had received an order from Genoa for a larger-than-life sculpture of Andrea Doria, but this was never made and only one drawing has survived. It would have been the first larger-than-life nude figure of a living person, whereas previously only mythological and biblical people had been depicted naked. According to contemporary art theory, the representation of a naked real person would not be a violation of the decorum if it is not an individual portrait, but the representation of a person as the ideal embodiment of the ruler's virtue.

Bronzino once again painted a ruler in mythological form, his main patron, the Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo I de 'Medici as Orpheus and also as a nude figure.

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