Girolamo Priuli, Doge of Venice, Three-Quarter Length

On 1 September 1559 Venice elected Girolamo Priuli doge, when he was already about 73. The man he succeeded was his own younger brother, Lorenzo Priuli, who had died in office that August, so the Republic's highest post passed from one brother to the other within a few weeks. A new doge needed an official likeness, and Tintoretto painted him soon after the election, knee-length and in the dress of his office. Priuli held the post for eight fairly quiet years, a time of peace for Venice, and died of a stroke in November 1567. The portrait comes from the old imperial collection of the Habsburgs and hangs at Ambras Castle.