Previously owned by the late Ian Woodner, the present work plays a central role within the existing corpus of studies for Federico's painting in the Sala del Gran Consiglio in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice (fig.1). In 1577 a major fire had swept the room, destroying the Guariento Paradiso as well as 14th- and 15th-century works devoted to important moments in Venetian history. In 1582 the Senate decided to restore the decoration of the room and Federico was awarded the commission to paint this subject, previously painted by Titian. Although he seems to have begun work immediately, he did not complete the painting until a return visit to Venice in 1603. The painted composition is an upright one, with the Pope standing under a baldacchino outside the narthex of S. Marco, his foot on the neck of the kneeling Emperor, with the Piazzetta and S. Giorgio Maggiore beyond.
The drawing which has been considered Federico's first idea for the painting is now in the Morgan Library, a vertical composition, with soldiers and a Swiss Guard and a dog in the foreground, but looking towards the Torre dell'Orologio as in the present composition.1 The reason for the subsequent change of orientation in the painting is not clear, but James Mundy suggests that it may have been in order to balance the nearby composition by Palma Giovane.2
The three other known composition studies for the painting are all close to the finished version. John Gere published a sketchy study in an English private collects ion, which has a very similar arrangement of figures and includes the baldacchino but slightly differently placed.3 Another study was sold in these rooms in 2010, though this example was somewhat unusual in the group in that it is a large horizontal composition in an elaborate architectural setting, not at all suitable for the space ultimately allotted to the painting.4 The third is in the Getty Museum, again without the baldacchino and with some differences in the figures, but highly finished and perhaps a presentation drawing.5 George Goldner mentions another compositional study, close to the present version, in a French private collects ion, but does not illustrate it.6 There are also several individual figure studies which have been connected with the painting.
1. See J. Mundy, Renaissance into Baroque..., exhib. cat., Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum and New York, National Academy of Design, 1989-90, p. 256, cat. no. 86
2. Ibid., pp. 258-59
3. J.A. Gere, 'The Lawrence-Phillipps-Rosenbach "Zuccaro Album"', in Master Drawings, vol. VIII, no. 2, 1970, p. 132, under cat. no. 21, reproduced fig. 1
4. Sale, New York, Replica Shoes 's, 27 January 2010, lot 17 ($194,500)
5. Mundy, op. cit., p. 260, cat. no. 87
6. Goldner, op. cit., p. 132, under cat. no. 55