Kept for years at Palazzo Bianco, the painting portrays Andrea Doria as a middle-aged man; all in all a “youthful” portrait when compared to other coeval, which instead emphasize the venerable age in which he died: 94 years. As well as being extraordinarily long for a man of his time, Andrea Doria’s life was very adventurous. Orphaned at a young age, he chose the military and was captain of fortune to the pay of nobles and kings of half Europe.
His political “masterpiece” was the alliance with Spain of Charles V, thanks to which he expelled the French from Genoa; with the fame of “father of the country”, he firmly held the power – real if not institutional – until his death in 1560.
Andrea also went down in history as a “paladin of Christianity”: the fight against Barbary pirates – conducted with his galleys of which he was captain and owner – was the key to his life, even if interspersed with compromises and ambiguities.