Focus on this artwork and explain the Description.
The subject of the painting is Andrea Doria, a Renaissance  condottiero and admiral from Genoa, who was also the effective ruler of the city-state.  He was around sixty when the portrait was painted (the date is somewhat disputed); either way his physique hardly reflects his age at the time.He chose to be depicted nude as the "God of the Sea".  Although Doria is depicted naked, he is not fragile or frail. He is depicted as a powerful virile man, showing masculine spirit, strength, vigor, and power. He is stern and resolute, looking calmly over all that he surveys, yet also refined and mannered.The picture was meant to symbolize Doria's power, success, and fame as a celebrated admiral of his time. His beard is lengthy, flowing like the waves on the sea, and tufts of hair on his head recall the Roman emperors. Although his body is aged, his skin is still supple.  He originally held a squared oar, a symbol of his command over his own fleet, but a trident head – described by art critic Camille Paglia as "cartoonish" – was painted over it by an unknown artist. The outline of the original oar is still faintly visible. The same individual probably added Doria's name.Doria is holding a piece of sailcloth which barely covers his genitals and exposes some of his pubic hair. Paglia asserts that his taut, yet somewhat portly, stomach appears to direct its strength into Doria's covered penis. She finds the innuendo of an erection in the stiff wood of the trident and mast. Jonathan Jones of The Guardian describes the painting as "consciously equat[ing] naval and sexual prowess".Doria stands on the deck of his ship, as Neptune would upon his chariot. Behind him is a black, "oppressive" sky, but he is highlighted as if by a full moon or the lightning of an approaching storm. He stands in a strained manner, his head facing to the right but his thighs and buttocks remaining in profile.Through the allegory to Neptune, Doria – "a conqueror of the forces of Nature" through his work – is connected to the mythological powers. He becomes Neptune, ruler of the oceans.
Camille Paglia pubic hair Genoa Neptune trident Jonathan Jones admiral oar Andrea Doria The Guardian