Leonardo Loredan

Leonardo Loredan
Doge of Venice
Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan (1501) by Giovanni Bellini, National Gallery, London
Doge of Venice
Reign	13 October 1501 – 22 June 1521
Coronation	13 October 1501
Predecessor	Agostino Barbarigo
Successor	Antonio Grimani
Born	(1436-11-16)16 November 1436 Venice,  Republic of Venice
Died	22 June 1521(1521-06-22) (aged 84) Venice,  Republic of Venice
Burial	23 June 1521 Tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan
Spouse	Giustina Giustiniani di S. Moisè ​ ​ (m. 1461; died 1500)​
Issue	Lorenzo, Girolamo, Alvise, Vincenzo, Bernardo, Donata, Maria, Paola, Elisabetta
Dynasty	House of Loredan
Father	Gerolamo Loredan di S. Vitale
Mother	Donata Donà di Natale
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Leonardo Loredan (16 November 1436 – 22 June 1521) was the 75th doge of the Republic of Venice from 1501 until his death in 1521. A wartime ruler, his dogeship was one of the most important in the history of Venice.

Loredan's reign began during the disastrous second Ottoman–Venetian War, which he settled with a peace treaty in 1503 at the cost of considerable loss of territory. Later that year a dispute arose between Loredan and Pope Julius II, after Venice occupied territory in the northern Papal States. This escalated into the 1509 War of the League of Cambrai in which Venice was fighting an alliance of the Pope and France. Venice was defeated, but in 1513 Loredan formed a new alliance with the French King Louis XII against Pope Julius. This resulted in a decisive victory.

Loredan was portrayed in numerous portraits and paintings, the most famous of which being the Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, painted by Giovanni Bellini in 1501 and now on display in the National Gallery in London.

Early life and marriage[]

Coat of arms of Leonardo Loredan

Leonardo Loredan was born in Venice on 16 November 1436 as the eldest son of Gerolamo Loredan di S. Vitale, known as dal Barbaro, and of Donata Donà di Natale, nephew of the archbishop of Candia Pietro. From childhood Leonardo demonstrated "exceptional maturity, combined with goodness and with the most noble talent of genius", as the historian Andrea Navagero testified. After a good classical education, he devoted himself with some success to trade in northern Africa and the Levant, to increase the family's finances. Legend has it that in Africa a fortune-teller predicted for him the future of a prince in his homeland.^[1]

He had a brother, Pietro (1466–1510), of poor health and unstable character, dedicated to studying alchemy in Padua, where he had moved, and disinterested in political life. In the will drawn up in February 1474 in Padua where he was podestà, the father designated Leonardo as the executor of the will and the sole heir of the estate and granted Pietro an annual annuity of 250 ducats.^[1] He also had a sister, Caterina Loredan, who later became Dogaressa of Venice by marriage to Doge Antonio Grimani: “The Loredanian tradition for patriotism and nobility was handed on in the gracious personage of Dogaressa Caterina Loredan, sister of Doge Leonardo Loredan – the Consort of his successor Doge Antonio Grimani.”^[2]

In 1461 Leonardo married Giustina Giustiniani di Pancrazio di Marco, of the wealthy branch of San Moisè, who died in 1500, one year before Leonardo became Doge, and with whom he had nine children: the procurator Lorenzo (1462–1534), Girolamo (1468–1532), the only one to continue the branch, Alvise (1472–1521), Vincenzo (died in Tripoli in 1499), Bernardo (1481–1519), Donata, wife of Giacomo Gussoni da S. Vitale, Maria, wife of Giovanni Venier, of the branch that gave birth to Doge Francesco Venier (1554–56), Paola, wife of Giovanni Alvise Venier, descendant of Doge Antonio Venier (1382–1400), and Elisabetta, wife of Zaccaria Priuli.^[1]

Some historians claim that his election as Doge in October 1501 was not entirely due to his talent as a politician but also because his wife came from the very influential Giustiniani family.^[3][4]

Political career[]

Statue of Leonardo Loredan in the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

Loredan began his political ascent on 13 December 1455, at the age of nineteen, when he became a lawyer in the "Giudici di Petizion", a magistracy concerned mainly with financial scandals and bankruptcies, for which he had Filippo Loredan as guarantor. A few years later, Leonardo sat on the "Collegio dei Savi" where he was responsible for assessing and evaluating foreign policy matters prior to their examination in the Senate. On 13 November 1468 he became consul of the Merchants and on 15 November 1473 he was elected chamberlain of the Común. In 1480, along with Marco and Agostino Soranzo, Andrea Erizzo, Paolo Contarini and Nicolò Donà, he was chosen to administer approximately 30,000 ducats, collected through free donations from devotees of the miraculous image of the Virgin, to be used for the construction of the church dedicated to S. Maria dei Miracoli, in the district of S. Leone (Cannaregio district), designed by Pietro Lombardo and his sons. In 1481 he was elected wise man of the Venetian mainland and in November 1483 he was among the electors of Doge Marco Barbarigo.^[1]

Doge Leonardo Loredan with Four Sons, by Giovanni Bellini, 1507, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

Between 1485 and 1486 he was still appointed wise man of the Council, and on 29 April 1487 he was elected mayor of Padua, taking over from Antonio Venier, and he held this position until 1489, when he was elected to the prestigious position of dogal councilor. In 1490 he was called again as a wise man of the Council. On 1 August 1491 he was re-elected dogal councilor for the Cannaregio district and in 1492 he returned as a wise man of the Council. In July 1492, Loredan secured the election to one of the most distinguished offices of the Republic, that of the Procurator of Saint Mark, which allowed him to rise to the political top of the state. On 3 May 1493 he was among the governors at the Entrate and from 1495 to 1501 he was continuously re-elected wise man of the Council.^[1] In his capacity as procurator and also as wise man of the Council, he was among the three designated by Doge Agostino Barbarigo, on 31 March 1495, to negotiate the alliance between Venice, Pope Alexander VI, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg, the Spanish rulers Ferdinand V and Isabella I and the Duke of Milan Ludovico Maria Sforza (Henry VII of England also joined), with the aim of countering the military operations of the King of France Charles VIII who had, almost without encountering resistance, entered Naples in February. The army of the League, led by the Marquis of Mantua Francesco II Gonzaga, in the Battle of Fornovo on 6 July forced the French army to withdraw from Italian territory. In October of the same year, Loredan signed the agreement for the conduct of Nicolò Orsini, count of Pitigliano, to the services of the Republic of Venice as governor general of the land militias for a period of three to four years. In January 1497, Loredan, with the wise man of the Terraferma Lodovico Venier, ratified the surrender of Taranto on behalf of the doge.^[1]

On 11 July 1501, Loredan was appointed podestà in Cremona by the Senate, but he refused.^{[citation needed]}

On the death of Doge Agostino Barbarigo (20 September 1501), Loredan was one of the designated candidates in the election of the new doge, which began on 27 September, and finished on 2 October with Loredan coming out first (with 27 votes in the sixth hand of the first ballot).^[5] The election was successful thanks to his and his wife's influential relations and the sudden death of the most popular opponent, the wealthy procurator Filippo Tron, son of Doge Nicolò Tron.^[3] The announcement was made by the procurator Nicolò Mocenigo and celebrated by the scholars, with numerous praises then given to the press.^[1]

Dogeship[]

War with the Ottomans[]

At the time of his accession to the dogeship, Venice was engaged in the second Ottoman–Venetian War, which started in 1499.^[6] Loredan had lost his cousin Andrea Loredan, a naval officer in the disastrous Battle of Zonchio,^[7] and the war had proceeded badly on land too, with the Venetians losing considerable territory.^[8] This included the strategic city of Modon,^[8] which was the site of a bloody battle involving hand-to-hand combat, followed by the beheading of hundreds of Venetians following the Turkish victory.^[8] The war took a heavy toll on the Venetian economy and in 1502–1503 Loredan agreed a peace treaty with the Turks.^[9] He was helped in the negotiations by Andrea Gritti, a Venetian who had been conducting trade in Constantinople and would later become doge of Venice himself.^[10] Venice paid a high price for this treaty including loss of land and a requirement to pay an annual tribute to the Turks.^[9]

War of the League of Cambrai[]

Allegory of the Victory over the League of Cambrai, by Palma il Giovane, featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan.

Upon the death of Pope Alexander VI in 1503, Venice occupied several territories in the northern Papal States.^[4] When Julius II was elected as Alexander's eventual successor, the Venetians expected their seizure of papal territory to be tacitly accepted, as Julius had been nicknamed Il Veneziano for his pro-Venetian sympathies.^[11] But instead the new Pope excommunicated the Republic and demanded the land be returned.^[4] The Republic of Venice, although willing to acknowledge Papal sovereignty over these port cities along the Adriatic coast and willing to pay Julius II an annual tribute, refused to surrender the cities themselves.^[12] In 1508, Julius formed an alliance called the League of Cambrai, uniting the Papal States with France, the Holy Roman Empire and several other Christian states.^[4]

The Doge's problems did not end in Europe. In 1509, the Battle of Diu took place, in India, where the Portuguese fleet defeated an Ottoman and Mameluk fleet, which had been transferred from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea with Venetian help. The defeat marked the end of the profitable Spice trade, which was bought by Venetians from the Mameluks in Egypt and in turn monopolised its sale in Europe, reaping great revenues from it.^{[citation needed]}

The Triumph of Venice (1737), by Pompeo Batoni, featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.

After losing to the league's forces at the Battle of Agnadello, Venice found its holdings in Italy shrinking drastically.^[13] Soon Padua, Venice's most strategically vital Terraferma holding, had fallen, and Venice itself was threatened. Loredan united the population, calling for sacrifice and total mobilisation. Padua was retaken, though Venice was still forced to accept a reluctant peace, following which it joined the Pope as only a junior ally in his new war against the French.^[14] The alliance was on the verge of victory, but a dispute arose over territory. Emperor Maximilian refused to surrender any Imperial territory, which in his eyes included most of the Veneto, to the Republic; to this end, he signed an agreement with the Pope to exclude Venice entirely from the final partition. When the Republic objected, Julius threatened to reform the League of Cambrai. In response, Venice turned to Louis; on 23 March 1513, a treaty pledging to divide all of northern Italy between France and the Republic was signed at Blois.^[15] Under this alliance with the French King Louis XII, the Venetians achieved a decisive victory over the Papal States,^[16] and were able to secure back all the territories they had lost. In addition, the Papacy was forced to repay many outstanding debts to the Loredan family totaling approximately 500,000 ducats, an enormous sum of money.^{[citation needed]}

Death[]

Tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan, Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Doge Loredan's health was never excellent, but his character and intellectual energy supported him well in his government posts. In 1514, due to an accidental fall, he was injured in the leg but never stopped presiding over the meetings of the sovereign councils. From 14 June 1521 he was no longer able to attend government meetings, due to a feverish state and his conditions worsened quickly.^[17]

He died in Venice on 22 June 1521.^[1] The death, which occurred between eight and nine, was kept secret until sixteen at the behest of the children who, during their father's agony, had no regard for transporting furniture and objects from the doge's apartment to their residence. As is customary, the body was subjected to embalming practices. On the morning of 23 June, after the body was moved to the Piovego room of the Doge's Palace, the coffin was closed. At the solemn funeral the eulogy was read by the scholar Andrea Navagero, and Pietro Bembo, then abbot and secretary of Pope Leo X, was also present.^{[citation needed]}

Loredan died "with great fame as a prince".^[1] He was interred in the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, in a simple tomb with a celestial marble headstone without inscription, placed above the steps of the main altar and now no longer existing. In about 1572, and after some disputes between the heirs and the friars of the church, a funeral monument was erected for him, divided into three parts and adorned with Corinthian columns in Carrara marble, placed to the left of the main altar, with architecture by Girolamo Grappiglia , and adorned with an extremely lifelike statue, an early work by the sculptor Girolamo Campagna, which depicts him in the act of "getting up and boldly throwing himself in defence of Venice against Europe conspired in Cambrai". On its right was the statue of Venice with sword in hand and on the left that of the League of Cambrai, with the shield adorned with the heraldic coats of arms of the opposing powers (these, and the others in the monument were done by Danese Cattaneo, a pupil of Sansovino).^[1][18]

Ancestry[]

hideHouse of Loredan-Santo Stefano (Genealogy)

Nicolò Loredan Gerolamo Loredan (d. 1474) Donata Donà Antonio Grimani (1434–1523) Caterina Loredan Leonardo Loredan (1436–1521) Giustina Giustiniani (d. 1500) Pietro Loredan (1466–1510) Domenico Grimani (1461–1523) Lorenzo Loredan (1462–1534) Girolamo Loredan (1468–1532) Alvise Loredan (1472–1521) Bernardo Loredan (1481–1519) Vincenzo Loredan (d. 1499) Donata Loredan Maria Loredan Giovanni Venier Paola Loredan Elisabetta Loredan Carlo Contarini (1580–1656) Paolina Loredan Francesco Venier (1489–1556) Francesco Loredan Francesca Barbarigo Leonardo Loredan (d. 1675) Alba Soranzo Francesco Loredan (1656–1715) Giovanni Loredan (1662–1725) Andrea Loredan (1664–1704) Caterina Grimani Francesca Loredan Elisabetta Loredan Maria Loredan Maddalena Loredan Paolina Loredan Francesco Loredan (1685–1762) Girolamo Loredan Caterina Cornaro Giovanni Loredan (d. 1767) Anna Maria Vendramin Francesco Loredan Antonio Loredan Antonio Loredan Leonardo Loredan Leonardo Loredan Girolamo Loredan Contarina Loredan Giovanni Tommaso Mocenigo Alba Loredan Andrea Loredan (d. 1750) Caterina Loredan

Note: The branch of Santo Stefano is also known as the branch of San Vidal (San Vitale).^[e]

Note: There are some generations missing between Girolamo Loredan (1468–1532) and Francesco Loredan (17th century).

Note: Giustina Giustiniani (d. 1500), the wife of Doge Leonardo Loredan (1436–1521), is also known as Morosina Giustiniani.

Note: Caterina Loredan, Dogaressa of Venice, is featured in the family tree as the daughter of Gerolamo Loredan (d. 1474) and Donata Donà because, in some sources, she is mentioned as the sister of Doge Leonardo Loredan (1436–1521), although she may have been a daughter of Domenico Loredan.

Interestingly, near the Palazzo Contarini-Sceriman and the nearby bridge, Leonardo Loredan (d. 1675) was found dead in a boat. The unexplained death was the source of many rumors, claiming accidental death, murder by relatives, or murder by the Inquisitors of the Republic.

Andrea Loredan (d. 1750) died young, thus ending the male (agnatic) line of the branch of Santo Stefano.

Doge Leonardo Loredan in art[]

Giovanni Bellini's portrait of Loredan is notable for being one of the first frontal portraits of a reigning doge; throughout the Middle Ages, mortal men had been portrayed in profile, while the frontal view had been reserved for more sacred subjects. Bellini's portrait was painted in 1501–02, and hangs in the National Gallery, London.^[19]

Over two centuries later, when Pompeo Batoni was given a detailed programme for his large Triumph of Venice (1737) by the Odescalchi cardinal who commissioned it, Loredan was chosen to represent the office of Doge, standing amid a group of allegorical personifications.^[20]

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  Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Giovanni Bellini, 1501, National Gallery, London

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  Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1501, Museo Correr, Venice

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  Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Gentile Bellini, 1501, Dorotheum, Vienna

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  Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Francesco Maggiotto, 18th century

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  Allegory of the Victory over the League of Cambrai, by Palma il Giovane, 1590, featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, Doge's Palace, Venice

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  The Virgin with Child and Saints adored by Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vincenzo Catena, 1506, Doge's Palace, Venice

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  Doge Leonardo Loredan Giving Copies of the Laws of Venice to the Ambassadors from Nuremberg, by Carlo and Gabriele Caliari, 1588, Doge's Palace, Venice

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  Doge Leonardo Loredan Handing a Parchment to Zauli Naldi, 1504, Manfrediana Library, Faenza

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  Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 16th century

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  Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 16th century

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  Print of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 18th century, British Museum, London

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  Doge Leonardo Loredan with Four Sons, by Giovanni Bellini, 1507, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

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  The Triumph of Venice, by Pompeo Batoni, 1737, featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

In sculpture[]

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  Statue of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Girolamo Campagna, 1572, Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice

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  Bust of Doge Leonardo Loredan, Palazzo Loredan in Campo S. Stefano, Venice

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  Bust of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Danese Cattaneo, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham

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  Doge Leonardo Loredan at the Feet of the Virgin with Saints, by Pietro Lombardo, Doge's Palace, Venice

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  Tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Girolamo Grapiglia, 1572, Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice

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  Medal featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vettor Gambello, 1508, British Museum, London

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leonardo Loredan.

Bibliography[]

• Barzman, Karen-edis (2017). The Limits of Identity: Early Modern Venice, Dalmatia, and the Representation of Difference. BRILL. ISBN 9789004331518.
• Norwich, John Julius (2003). A History of Venice. Penguin UK. p. 594. ISBN 978-0-14-101383-1.
• Setton, Kenneth Mayer (1976). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571: The fifteenth century. American Philosophical Society. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-87169-127-9.

External links[]

• Lehigh Codex 21 Dogale at OPenn