Two composition sketches for the votive painting of Doge Pasquale Cicogna, Sala del Pregadi, Palazzo Ducale, Venice 1548 - 1628

These are two composition sketches for the votive painting of Doge Pasquale Cicogna, created in pen and brown ink by Jacopo Palma, known as Il Giovane, in Venice. Palma was a central figure in the artistic life of Venice, deeply embedded in its complex social hierarchy and the politics of the Republic. These sketches give us insight into the visual strategies used to negotiate power and identity in the Renaissance. Doge Cicogna ruled during a period marked by both prosperity and anxieties about Venetian power. Votive paintings were commissioned to offer thanks for divine protection and to publicly display the Doge’s piety and authority. Consider the visual language of these sketches: the Doge is depicted in a position subservient to the divine. Palma uses the visual traditions to explore the tensions between earthly power and divine mandate. The sketch invites us to contemplate the emotional weight of leadership, the ever-present awareness of mortality, and the reliance on faith in times of uncertainty.