Venetian marines from the doge's galley board an Imperial ship close to the Istrian coastline. Had it taken place, the Battle of Punta Salvore might have looked like this.
© William WebbPUNTA SALVORE AND THE MYTH OF VENICE
The blue sky over the Istrian coast is pierced by a forest of masts. On their very top flutter either the Venetian winged lion of Saint Mark or the Imperial double-headed eagle, vying for dominion of the skies. Far below them, the real fighting is done. Men crowd the decks of interlocked galleys, jump from one ship to another, and try to wrestle it from the control of their enemies. This struggle seems to take place not in the waters of the Adriatic, but in a sea of drowning sailors.
This is how Domenico Tintoretto imagined the battle of Punta Salvore roughly 400 years after the date on which he thought it had happened. The famous Venetian painter located the key scene of the event in the lower left centre of his canvas. A spotlight distinguishes two figures from the dark silhouettes of the surrounding marines. One of them is Doge Sebastiano Ziani, recognizable by his unique hat, the corno ducale, which translates to ducal horn. Bowing before him and thereby surrendering is Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa's son Otto.
Until this very day, Tintoretto's enormous painting is found in the former political heart of Venice, the Hall of the Great Council inside the Doge's Palace. There, all male Venetian patricians who surpassed the age of 25 came together to hold thebut by a whole cycle of monumental paintings.