The Last Duchess Of Venice Analysis

1. Introduction
In Italy, the Renaissance took place in larger cities such as Florence, Rome or Venice. By looking for links between the state of economy and the state of the culture, more particularly the material culture, we can see that art was of great importance and that paintings followed the trade routes. Italian countries exported art and artists to Central Europe, for example Leonardo and Rosso went to France and their paintings travelled both directions. Pictures from Florence were shipped to France for the collection of Francis I and the famous Portinari altarpiece was brought to Florence by the manager of the Bruges branch of the Medici Bank. But why took this movement place in this particular society? Was wealth the key factor?

Already the first word implies possession of the duke by the use with the possessive pronoun “my”. Thereby you can also see, that the poem is written in the first-person and that there is a character, namely the duke, and not just a general lyrical I. “Duchess” finally makes it clear, that the poem deals with some kind of nobility. The word “last” in the title poses some questions. Why is it the last Duchess? Had there been Duchesses before? Will there be a different Duchess in the future? So the title already prepares the reader to pay particular attention to how the Duke treats his

The Duchess had “a spot of joy” on her cheek, while Frà Pandolf painted and the Dukes explains this occurrence by an outside influence. He assumes, that the painter said something to make the Duchess blush, maybe even on purpose to make the Duchess to look a certain way. (“… Sir, ‘twas not /Her husband’s presence only, called that spot / Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps/ Frà Pandolf changed to say “Her mantle laps/ Over my lady’s wrist too much””: 13-17) The economically thinking Duke surely envisions that the value increases by painting the model in the preferred style at that time. This would not only be good for the income of the painter, but also a gentrification of the social status of the Duke by possessing a valuable object. Frà Pandolf even predicted the woman’s death by using a metaphor (“Half-flush that dies along her throat”:9). Here he doesn’t only speak about the death of the colour of her cheek, but he foreshadows her own death.
The Dukes reacts agitated by the “spot of joy” on his wife’s cheek by saying (“She had/ A heart- how shall I say? -too soon made glad,/ to easily impressed;”: 21, 22). He also doesn’t accept that (“She liked what’er/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere”: 23, 24). In the next line (“Sir, ‘twas all one!”: 25) we can see why the Duke really was that furious. She made no difference between the people, she was nice to everyone and that didn’t comply with the Dukes