Strategie di autorappresentazione nella repubblica dei pares: la tomba del doge Leonardo Donà in San Giorgio Maggiore

The paper is dedicated to Leonardo Donà's tomb, which remained strangely unstudied. Among Venetian Ducal tombs, it epitomises a special case of self-representation, not for the forms of the monument (realised in fact by his heirs in a different form from his will), but for the conscious use of it as a political tool. The paper investigates the intentions of the Doge and the meaning of his choice in the context of his activity as a politician and in the actual building of the city. He had a central role in the development of the city, contributing since the late 70’s of 16th century in the most remarkable architectural achievements of the early modern Venetian Republic, those which determined the architectural and urban configuration of the “myth of Venice” as the perfect Republic in the perfect city. He was in fact appointed in the commissions responsible for the church of the Redentore, the urbanization of the Fondamenta Nuove, the palace of the Procuratie Nuove, Rialto Bridge, the basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, the new town of Palmanova, beside having built his own palace and having planned his own tomb. In Venice, a Republic, in which the Doge was officially only the first among equals and in which public self-display of individuals was formally not tolerated; in the case of a Doge who continuously affirmed his adherence to this stance, what form can assume his monument?