Vincenzo Morosini

Vincenzo Morosini came from one of the oldest and richest families in Venice, and by the late 1570s he was one of the powerful men of its government. He was also a Knight of the Golden Stole, a Venetian order of knighthood, and that is the stole itself, the heavy band of gold embroidery over his shoulder. Tintoretto painted him around 1575 to 1580, and this canvas was probably a working model. Morosini appears in two other paintings by Tintoretto in Venice, a large ceiling canvas in the Doge's Palace that carries his name and the date 1580, and the altarpiece for his family chapel in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore. The face is built up in many layers of paint, while the red robe and the ermine lining are dashed in fast. The picture is unusually narrow, and it may once have been trimmed along one side.