Monument to Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg (* 1661, † 1747) on Corfu

The monument to the Field Marshal in Venetian service Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg on Corfu, executed by the sculptor Antonio Corradini, erected in 1718 on the orders of the Senate of the Republic of Venice, seen slightly obliquely from the right; in the background, on the left, urban architecture and a landscape view, on the right, a rugged rock reminiscent of the one in front of the harbour in the old town of Corfu; spectators observing, pointing and explaining as staffage, in the centre, facing the viewer, a man in "Turkish" dress of the time.

Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg (* 1661, † 1747) was appointed commander-in-chief at the end of 1715 during Venice's escalating, final war against the Veduta Painting. Ottoman Empire, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Republic's land forces. His fame was based on the successful repulse of the siege of Corfu in the summer of 1716 by the numerically far superior landing forces of the Turks, for which the Republic of Venice had honoured him by erecting the monument. After his greatest military success, he remained in Venetian service for over thirty years as a respected politician and commander and built up an art collection of European stature, parts of which came into the possession of the Wolfsburg branch of the von der Schulenburg family.

The image of the monument was disseminated promptly through an etching by the engraver Andrea Zucchi, which was also the open model for this painting.

The painting corresponds to a painting of the "Tomb for Francesco Algarotti" in Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, which can be attributed to the Venetian architectural and veduta painter Antonio Visentini, in terms of the way in which an engraving was used and the use of staffage, as well as the style of their clothing.