Liberty and Nobility in Palazzo Ducale: Visual Propaganda in the Room of the Four Doors

Rosand Library & Study Center at Save Venice Virtual Lecture
Presented by Dr. Giorgio Tagliaferro, Associate Professor of History of Art, University of Warwick.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the Republic of Venice undertook a series of decorative campaigns that turned their administrative and executive headquarters, the Palazzo Ducale, into a powerful vehicle of political propaganda. Functioning as a junction between four of the most important state halls in the palace, the Room of the Four Doors regulated foot traffic and was walked through by a flux of people. This presentation will show how its decoration, formed of frescoes by the celebrated painter Jacopo Tintoretto as well as of stuccoes, represents one of the most significant and ambitious programmes of the Palazzo. With its emphasis on the liberty and nobility of the Venetian state and ruling class, it aimed to demonstrate how the once triumphant Republic was still on a level with the greatest European monarchies of the time.
Recorded on April 9, 2024.
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