Leonardo Loredan (; ; 16 November 1436 – 22 June 1521) was a Venetian nobleman and statesman who reigned as the 75th Doge of Venice from 1501 until his death in 1521. As a wartime ruler, he was one of the most important doges in the history of Venice. In the dramatic events of the early 16th century, Loredan's Machiavellian plots and cunning political manoeuvres against the League of Cambrai, the Ottomans, the Mamluks, the Pope, the Republic of Genoa, the Holy Roman Empire, the French, the Egyptians and the Portuguese saved Venice from downfall.
Born into the noble Loredan family in 1436, Leonardo dedicated his youth to classical education, after which he focused on trade in Africa and the Levant, in line with family tradition. Legend has it that in Africa a fortune-teller predicted for him the future of a prince in his homeland. In 1461 he married Morosina Giustiniani, whose influential family, according to some historians, played a significant role in his election as Doge later on.
He began his political ascent as a lawyer in a legal magistracy concerned mainly with financial scandals and bankruptcies, which he followed with an illustrious career that included positions such as Sage of the College, Sage of the Terraferma, Camerlengo di Comùn, of Padua, ducal councillor for Cannaregio, and finally Procurator of Saint Mark, one of the highest and most distinguished offices in the Venetian Republic, which allowed him to rise to the political top of the state. In October 1501, he was elected the 75th Doge 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.
It was under his rule, in 1516, that a decree was enacted to formally isolate the Jews of Venice. Thus was created the first “Ghetto” in the world, from which all others derive their name.
Despite his last years being laden with financial and political scandals, some artfully mounted by rival families, Loredan died with great fame in June 1521 and was interred in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, in a simple grave which no longer exists. In 1572, a monumental tomb was erected for him in the Basilica, adorned with Corinthian columns made of Carrara marble, which included work by architects and sculptors Girolamo Grappiglia, Girolamo Campagna and Danese Cattaneo.
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. In 1507, Bellini painted Loredan with his four sons in the Portrait of the Loredan family, now on display at the in Berlin. Loredan was also notably portrayed by Vittore Carpaccio, and posthumously by Pompeo Batoni in a work known as The Triumph of Venice (1737), where he is depicted in front of the Doge's Palace surrounded by mythological figures symbolising his victory over the League of Cambrai. In 1503, the Panegyricus Leonardo Lauredano was created in his honour.
Early life and marriage
thumb|Coat of arms of Leonardo Loredan|230x230px|leftLeonardo 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, niece 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 North Africa and the Levant, to increase the family's finances. Legend has it that while in Africa a fortune-teller predicted for him the future of a prince in his homeland.
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 annuity of 250 ducats. 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. When Julius II was elected as Alexander's 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. Those expectations turned out to be unrealistic, since the new pope aspired to restore all of lost possessions. Although willing to reach a compromise, based on paying an annual tribute to the pope, the Republic refused to surrender the disputed regions, thus alienating itself from the pope.
In December 1508, the anti-Venetian League of Cambrai was formed by the emperor Maximilian I and the French king Louis XII, who were joined by king Ferdinand II of Aragon and pope Julius II. Already in January 1509, the doge Loredan received the farewell visit from the residing French ambassador Janus Lascaris, who was leaving Venice, and by April a special envoy of the French king arrived, informing Loredan that the state of war was formally declared to the Republic. On 27 April, pope Julius II issued the interdict against the Venetians, provoking a series of protests from the doge, who responded by questioning the validity of pope's use of such religious instruments in settling purely political and territorial disputes.
After losing to the league's forces at the Battle of Agnadello, Venice found its holdings in Italy shrinking drastically. 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 with the pope. It was concluded on 15 February 1510, and already on 24 February pope Julius II officially revoked the interdict, that was imposed on the Venetians in 1509.
In the summer of 1510, doge Loredan and pope Julius concluded an aliance against the French. 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. Under this alliance with the French King Louis XII, the Venetians achieved a decisive victory over the Papal States, 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.
In December 1516, by the Treaty of Brussels, the emperor Maximilian I agreed to end hostilities by concluding the truce with Venice, and already by January 1517 main provisions of the treaty were put in effect, by ceasing all military operations and surrendering Verona to the Venetians. The end of war was marked by various celebrations in Venice, that took place from January to March 1517, thus marking the high point of doge Loredan's rule.
Post-war years
The end of the war and the behavior of the doge, who perhaps thought he should enjoy the last years of his life rather than dedicate them to the administration of the state, led to a certain frivolity in Venetian society. Financial scandals were the order of the day and many public offices were bought at disproportionate prices rather than obtained on merit. In this period the doge bought titles and offices for children and relatives, making the most of his influence.
Despite Loredan's wishes, he could not lead this pleasant life for long as he began to suffer from health problems. Around the first days of June 1521 his health began to deteriorate and soon gangrene developed in his leg. Any intervention was useless and the gangrene spread, killing him in the night between 20 and 21 June. It is said that, to warn the councilors and regents of the state, the news of his death was silenced by the doge's own son and was communicated only in the late morning.
Interestingly, the commercialism and non-exemplary behaviour of his final years did not escape the watchful eye of the Inquisitors of the Dead, a magistracy created after the death of Francesco Foscari, charged with investigating the final "account" of the doge. Perhaps the trial was artfully mounted for political purposes but certainly there were incriminating motives, because the heirs of the doge, despite being defended by the lawyer Carlo Contarini, one of the best of the time, were sentenced to a hefty fine of 9,500 ducats.
Death
thumb|[[Tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan, Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo|262x262px]]
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.
He died in Venice on 22 June 1521.
Loredan died "with great fame as a prince".
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. <gallery mode="nolines">
File:Giovanni Bellini, portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan.jpg|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Giovanni Bellini, 1501, National Gallery, London
File:Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vittore Carpaccio.jpg|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1501, Museo Correr, Venice
File:Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Gentile Bellini.jpg|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Gentile Bellini, 1501, Dorotheum, Vienna
File:Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan (Gentile Bellini).jpg|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Gentile Bellini, c. 1501, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
File:Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice (portrait).jpg|Portrait at the Doge's Palace
File:Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 16th century.jpg|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan
File:Portrait of Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice (1501 - 1521).png|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan
File:Leonardo Loredan, by Francesco Maggiotto.jpg|Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Francesco Maggiotto, 18th century
File:(Venice) Allegoria della vittoria sulla Lega di Cambrai - Palma il Giovane - Doge Leonardo Loredan.jpg|Allegory of the Victory over the League of Cambrai, by Palma il Giovane, 1590, featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, Doge's Palace, Venice
File:Vincenzo Catena 018.jpg|The Virgin with Child and Saints adored by Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vincenzo Catena, 1506, Doge's Palace, Venice
File:Doge Leonardo Loredan Giving Copies of the Laws of Venice to the Ambassadors from Nuremberg.jpg|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
File:Doge Leonardo Loredan Handing a Parchment to Zauli Naldi.jpg|Doge Leonardo Loredan Handing a Parchment to Zauli Naldi, 1504, Manfrediana Library, Faenza
File:Print of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 18th century.jpg|Print of Doge Leonardo Loredan, 18th century, British Museum, London
File:Doge Leonardo Loredan with Four Noblemen, by Giovanni Bellini.jpg|Doge Leonardo Loredan with Four Sons, by Giovanni Bellini, 1507, , Berlin
File:The Triumph of Venice - Pompeo Girolamo Batoni — Google Arts & Culture.jpg|The Triumph of Venice, by Pompeo Batoni, 1737, featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
</gallery>
In sculpture
<gallery mode="nolines">
File:Choir of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) - Statue of doge Leonardo Loredan.jpg|Statue of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Girolamo Campagna, 1572, Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
File:Bust of Leonardo Loredan. Panteon Veneto; Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.jpg|Bust of Doge Leonardo Loredan, Palazzo Loredan in Campo S. Stefano, Venice
File:DogeLeonardoLoredan-BMA.jpg|Bust of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Danese Cattaneo, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham
File:Pietro lombardo e aiuti,il doge leonardo loredan ai piedi della vergine con santi.JPG|Doge Leonardo Loredan at the Feet of the Virgin with Saints, by Pietro Lombardo, Doge's Palace, Venice
File:Choir of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) - Monument of doge Leonardo Loredan.jpg|Tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Girolamo Grapiglia, 1572, Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
File:Medal featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan.jpg|Medal featuring Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Vettor Gambello, 1508, British Museum, London
File:Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice- Medal in Bronze.jpg|Medal in bronze, 16th century
</gallery>
See also
- History of the Doge's Palace in Venice
- Venetian Dalmatia
- Venetian Albania
References
Bibliography
External links
- Lehigh Codex 21 Dogale at OPenn