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# Retirement of Venetian Doge Francesco Foscari, subject of Delacroix's 1855 painting
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/ded-zasidelsia/
- Published: 2019-07-14T13:28:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:06:06.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Monarchies, People, Humour

The Old Man Overstayed His Welcome.

Eugène Delacroix, 1855\. The painting shows the fifteenth-century Venetian Doge Francesco Foscari, who ruled longer than any other doge: 34 years. Foscari had a most interesting biography, but the choicest episode is this: by then he had become so thoroughly sick to death of everyone that, after several attempts to pack the old fellow off into retirement, members of the so-called Council of Ten came to him and offered a choice: step down amicably and draw a pension of 1,500 ducats a year, or go by way of a coup, with confiscation of his property. And, you know, he accepted the pension, and was promptly uncrowned. A week later he died of a heart attack. But he kept his property