The 2023 conservation was made possible with Save Venice general funds.

Largely known for his portraits of Suleiman I the Magnificent and the sultan’s favorite wife Roxelana, Matteo Pagan was a wood-block cutter, printer, print dealer, and bookseller active in Venice between 1538 and 1562. Documents show that by 1554 Pagan had his shop at the “segno della Fede” established in the Frezzaria, one of the principal printmakers’ quarters of 16th-century Venice. It was there that this edition of the Ducal Procession in Piazza San Marco was printed, as Pagan’s emblem—an angel on a cloud holding a cross—on the top left of the woodcut shows.

Measuring almost 5 meters in width, Pagan’s print is considered the first of its kind, surely the most famous one. Once the narrative sequence is mounted together, these nine woodcut sheets come to life, meticulously representing the ducal procession and its symbolism of social order, political stability, and institutional continuity. The doge is portrayed in the middle, flanked by the two most prestigious foreign ambassadors living in Venice, the papal nuncio and the imperial orator. Before him, non-noble Venetian citizens rank in ascending order, from the lower offices at the head of the procession to the grand chancellor, the highest post a citizen could reach. Behind the doge, the patrician magistrates appear in descending hierarchical order, from the procurators of Saint Mark to the Senators who close the parade. In the background, the arches of the building of the Procuratie Vecchie give a solemn, dignified rhythm to the unfolding of the procession, while groups of women gaze down from the second-story windows decorated with Turkish carpets.

In addition to state magistrates and chancery servants, Pagan’s procession also parades the so-called trionfi, what Francesco Sansovino described as “seven things […] that the doge received from the first princes of the world, that is, from the popes and emperors” (1581). According to the Venetian Myth, the seven trionfi—eight standards, six long silver trumpets, a white candle, a faldstool, a cushion, an umbrella, and a sword—were presented to doge Sebastiano Ziani by Pope Alexander III in 1177 in honor of the service of Ziani and the Venetians in saving the Holy See from Frederick Barbarossa. The Venetian soon associated the trionfi with the doge’s authority and dignity, and by association, with Venice’s independence and sovereignty.

The seven trionfi are all clearly represented in Pagan’s woodcut. The parade opens with eight standard-bearers walking in couples and carrying silk banners emblazoned with the Lion of Saint Mark, the symbol of Venice and its Holy Patron, the Evangelist Mark. Behind the banners come three couples of musicians playing six long silver trumpets, the doge’s tombe d’argento, whose bells are supported on the shoulders of six boys. These ceremonial trumpets, perhaps more than ten feet long, were ancient visual symbols of the doge’s authority and regal dignity, and their inclusion in the procession contributed to making the doge appear as a prince. Immediately following the trumpets march the doge’s wind band, the so-called pifferi del doge. According to Pagan’s print, the official ensemble of the doge was made up of six musicians playing the trombone and five shawms. Scholars have demonstrated that the ensemble was under the jurisdiction of the doge and would play shawms and trombones only in processions out of doors, including those originating inside the basilica di San Marco or in other churches.

Pagan’s procession proceeds with the six canons of San Marco and the patriarch. Right after them, a young boy parades the white candle in a silver candelabrum, while after him follows a squire carrying a gold platter with the camauro, the bejeweled coronation crown of the doge. Next in the procession are the faldstool and the cushion, symbols, respectively, of the ducal authority and the peaceful life under the Most Serene Republic. At the core of the procession, right behind the doge, a patrician carries the gold-cloth umbrella, the symbol of the doge’s supremacy. Lastly comes the sword, the emblem of justice, carried by a newly appointed podestà whose role was in fact to administer justice in the Venetian territory.

The dating of Pagan’s procession is still a matter of debate. Scholars have pointed out that the ducal standards bear the coats-of-arms of the Priuli family—perhaps a reference to the dogeship of either doge Lorenzo Priuli (reigned 1556-1559) or doge Girolamo Priuli (reigned 1559-1567). The date can, however, be narrowed down to circa 1559-1561. Save Venice late project director, David Rosand, and Michelangelo Muraro have demonstrated that Domenico de’ Franceschi’s modified copy of the print here under discussion, issued in 1561, can provide a solid terminus ante quem for dating the Pagan’s procession. Furthermore, some scholars have suggested to identify the group of Turks looking at the doge from the Procuratie Vecchie with the Ottoman čā’ūsh Hassan, a secret envoy of Suleiman’s favorite wife who visited Venice in 1559 and was officially received by the doge.

Although the Doge’s Procession print is generally in good condition, each of the nine prints necessitated the removal of surface grime and the repair of tears and small pictorial losses. Detrimental non-original materials such as acidic adhesives that were applied to the prints in previous interventions were carefully thinned and removed, ensuring that the prints are preserved for decades to come. Once each of these issues was addressed, the conservation process also included remounting each of the nine individual drawings in a more ideal manner on supportive polystyrene panels, which will allow scholars to examine them without touching the prints. These panels will also more easily facilitate the recomposition of all nine prints for display by providing a support backing.

Matteo Pagan (documented 1515 – 1588)
A Ducal Procession in Piazza San Marco
c. 1559 – 1561
360 x 4146 mm, eight woodcut blocks
Ca’ Rezzonico Museum, Gabinetto dei disegni e delle stampe

Ca’ Rezzonico Museum: Homepage

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Kurtzman, Jeffrey. “Lessons Learned from the Iconography of Venetian Ceremonies: Claudio Monteverdi and trombe squarciate.” Music in Art: Iconography as a Source for Music History, III, 32, 1/2, (Spring–Fall 2007): 113-132

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Kurtzman, Jeffrey and Linda Maria Koldau. “Trombe, Trombe d’argento, Trombe squarciate, Tromboni, and Pifferi in Venetian Processions and Ceremonies of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.” Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, 8, 1 (2022). Link to the article

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