Restored in 1978 with Save Venice general funds.

Traditionally titled Doge Marino Grimani Receiving the Persian Ambassador, this painting was long believed to represent the diplomatic audience of the Safavid envoy Fathi bey at the Ducal Palace in 1603, during Marino Grimani’s dogeship. Rather, new documents uncovered at the Biblioteca del Museo Correr, Venice, demonstrate that the canvas was delivered by October 14, 1592, when Benedetto Caliari—brother of the deceased Paolo Veronese (1588) and new head of the workshop—received final payments. Indeed, records show that on that very day Benedetto was also paid for The Audience of an Ambassador in Collegio, the second canvas painted by the Veronese workshop in the Sala delle Quattro Porte.

The implications of the new dating of the painting are far-reaching. First of all, the traditional attribution to Gabriele Caliari, based on the fact that he was the only Veronese heir still alive in 1603, can no longer be accepted. After Veronse’s death in 1588, members of his workshop—specifically his sons Carletto and Gabriele Caliari and his brother Benedetto—finished a number of paintings for several rooms of the Palazzo Ducale. They referred to themselves as the “haeredes Pauli,” the heirs of Paolo, and often signed their collective works with this name. Although the payment was made to Benedetto, it is likely that Carletto painted at least part of the canvas. This hypothesis is based on a remarkable study of the doge’s face by Carletto now housed at the Musée du Louvre. That being said, it seems reasonable to give the painting to the so-called heirs of Paolo.

Second, the figure of the doge cannot be regarded as the portrait of Marino Grimani, who was elected three years after the completion of the painting (26 April 1595). Nor should be assumed that Fathi bey or his retinue ever sat for the portrait—in fact the members of the Safavid mission sitting next to the doge appear to be inspired by the Nobile Persiano in Cesare Vecellio’s Habiti Antichi et Moderni, whose first edition was printed in 1590. It should also be mentioned that the diplomatic protocol only allowed the ambassador to sit next to the doge. Furthermore, the description of the public audience of Fathi bey states clearly that the Safavid envoys did not sit while addressing the doge.

Finally, and as a consequence of the above, The Reception of the Persian Ambassador in Collegio should be intended as the representation of an ideal diplomatic audience and thus interpreted as a visual celebration of the Republic. Hanging in a room where royal envoys and foreign diplomats would wait for their turn to be summoned to the Collegio, the painting served the purpose to remind visitors of Venice’s international power, prestige, and influence.

The work was restored by conservators Serafino and Ferruccio Volpin, with the guidance of project director Giovanna Nepi Scirè of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Heirs of Paolo Veronese [Attr.]
The Reception of the Persian Ambassador in Collegio
1591 – 1592, oil on canvas
367 x 527 cm
Sala delle Quattro Porte

Palazzo Ducale: Homepage

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