What does "Fra Pandolf by design" mean in "My Last Duchess"?

The Duke is showing off his art collection to his visitor. Like many art collectors, the Duke is more proud of the value of his collection than of the artistic merit. A large part of the value of any work of art is the identity of the artist who created it. Fra Pandolf is not a real artist but a fictitous creation of Browning, as was "Claus of Innsbruck," named in the last line of the poem. However, from the way the Duke mentions the name of Fra Pandolf it is obvious that the artist is supposed to be famous and his works highly valued. The Duke actually speaks the name Fra Pandolf three times in the monologue. This is a sign of his vulgarity and bad taste. It is almost as bad as telling the visitor how much money he paid to have the work done. (The visitor is there to negotiate the marriage of some Count's daughter to the Duke. It is in extremely bad taste for the Duke to be showing him the portrait of his "last Duchess" and then making it plain that he had had her murdered.)

Browning continuously draws a sharp contrast between the Duke's wealth and exalted position, on the one hand, and his character deficiencies, on the other. He poses as an art connoisseur but shows his bad taste in many ways. His nine-hundred-years-name does not make him any more refined or intelligent or sensitive than one of his servants. Browning probably thought it was a shame that so many great works of art should end up in the possession of money-grubbing vulgarians who were only interested in the investment value of the works.

The Duke is apparently very concerned about the dowry his new bride will bring with her. There is a strong probability that he brought his visitor up to this room to impress him with the value of his art collection so that the visitor will report back to his master that the dowry should be commensurate with her future husband's great wealth and expensive tastes. At the end of the interview the Duke says:

I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed . . .

The problem here is just that it's part of an incredibly long sentence. Fra Pandolf is the painter who actually painted the painting of the Duchess:  

Frà Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

The Duke then goes on to explain that he mentioned the name "Fra Pandolf" deliberately ("by design"), because everyone he shows the painting to asks him who painted it.

The complication is in the grammar and syntax: make sure you understand that the sentence below paraphrases "I said "Fra Pandolf" deliberately, for strangers like you never looked ("read") at the picture (and the depth and passion of its glance) without turning to me (because I'm the only one who draws the curtain) and seemed like they would ask me, if they dared, how it was painted.

...I said
"Frà Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myselfthey turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)                      
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus.

How does the Duke describe Fra Pandolf's activities in "My Last Duchess" and its importance?

Fra Pandolf painted the deceased Duchess's portrait. He and the Duchess apparently got along well, as he was able to bring the color—a "blush"—to her cheeks. To most people, the ability of a painter to bring out the best in his subject through friendly banter would be welcome rather than threatening, but the Duke finds his wife's friendly response unacceptable.

This tells us much more about the Duke than about Fra Pandolf or the Duchess. The Duke appears to be quite jealous and controlling about his late wife. He didn't want his wife to respond with the least pleasure to any other man. In fact, he seemed to want her to become little more than a possession in his collection of art objects. As he shows his guest around, he doesn't seem to mourn her death but seems to remain angry at her.

The Duke appears to understand marriage as a form of ownership in which his property rights are violated should his wife even speak or look happily at another man. This is especially ominous as the Duke is in the process of "negotiating" for a new wife, who may be expected to be equally unable to live within the Duke's rigorous restraints.

Fra Pandolf is the name of the painter who painted the famous portrait of the Duke's last Duchess that is being surveyed by the Duke and his guest during the poem. We are told how "busily" Fra Pandolf's hands worked to create this masterpiece. However, it is also important to note that Fra Pandolf, who is a character that we never meet in person during the course of the poem, is also used to signify the obsessive jealousy of the Duke. Note where else Fra Pandolf occurs in this poem:

Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, "Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much," or, "Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half flush that dies along her throat." Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed...

The Duke imagines that even in response to Brother Pandolf's innocent compliments his last Duchess had her interest in other men kindled. The fact that Fra Pandolf was probably part of a religious order and therefore celibate emphasises the jealous nature of the Duke. He imagines his last Duchess to have "looks" that "went everywhere," especially, it is implied, to other men apart from himself. Thus we can argue that this character is used to emphasise the character of the Duke himself and his obsessive jealousy.

Why does the Duke admire Fra Pandolf in "My Last Duchess"?

In "My Last Duchess," the first-person narrator, the Duke of Ferrara, is presented as a connoisseur of art. He keeps objects of great beauty and value in his private gallery and is showing one of them, a portrait of his dead wife, to an ambassador during the course of the poem.

The names of the artists in the poem were invented by Browning, but Fra Pandolf's name shows that he is not Italian. He is probably German, but the familiar way in which the duke mentions his name suggests that he has a European reputation. The duke admires Fra Pandolf's skill at depicting the duchess in such a lifelike fashion, capturing not only her appearance, but a characteristic expression of hers.

There is something circular in the duke's admiration of Fra Pandolf, since it is also admiration for his own wealth and good taste. The duke prides himself on the beauty and rarity of the objects he has collected. The fact that he was so anxious to add a painting by Fra Pandolf to his gallery is a compliment to Fra Pandolf's skill as an artist but also a demonstration of the duke's own discernment as a patron and his wealth, which allows him to employ such a master.

What is the role of Fra Pandolf in "My Last Duchess"?

Browning associates "My Last Duchess" strongly with the fifth duke, Alfonso II d'Este, of the Renaissance duchy of Ferrara by adding the single word "Ferrara" as the poem's epigraph, yet he never specifically states Ferrara is the speaker. This suggestive yet evasive association allows us to think of unstated details from a specific time and incident, such as the Duchess's age, while universalizing the themes that Browning illustrates in the narrative of this dramatic monologue, for example, Arrogance and Insolence; Young Brides; Ironic Conflict.

The Duke, in his monologue, implies that the envoy, agent for an unseen Count, who is accompanying the Duke is looking puzzled and wondering about the expression on the Duchess's face: the "earnest glance" of her eyes and the "spot of joy" in the blush of her cheeks (there is no thought here of her smile, just her eyes and cheeks).

The Duke is entertaining the Count's envoy (a person of high station--not a servant--who negotiates contracts or otherwise represents another's interests) by showing him around the palace. This also has a practical function in that the more the envoy knows about the Count's daughter's future home, the better his advice to the Count can be. At the end of the poem, the Duke reiterates his confidence in the Count; his opinions on the daughter's dowry (which will become the Duke's property); his objective in requesting the marriage.

During the Renaissance, friars and monks, if they had the talent, would engage in the art of painting following the example of the renowned Renaissance painter Fra Angelico. That Browning added an allusion to Fra Angelico through the fictional character of Fra Pandolf develops his theme of Arrogance and Insolence by contributing irony and conflict: the Duke is religious and contributes to a religious monastery (money paid to Pandolf will be collected in the monastery's coffers) yet can give "commands" for his wives removal. Browning clarified for Hiram Corson (see Themes Insight) that by "commands" he meant commands for her murder.

"I said / 'Fra Pandolf' by design": Browning also includes Fra Pandolf to help develop the Duchess's character as well as the Duke's character. The story of the marriage of Alfonso II of Ferrara is that at twenty-five, he married a fourteen-year-old girl. In Browning's poem, Fra Pandolf was painting the Duchess's traditional wedding portrait. Knowledge of who the painter was proves that the girl was an innocent and misjudged by the Duke, which is confirmed by the items the Duke accuses her with, like "cherries" and sunset. Knowledge of the painter also shows that the Duke is guilty of uncomprehending arrogance and misjudged his bride to a grievous extent.

While it is tempting to think that the Duke occupied himself with watching the day-long painting process, he does not give quotations of what Fra Pandolf said to the Duchess, rather he makes suppositions of what he perchance said: Something as inconsequential as "your cloak is on your wrist." While denouncing his bride for being "Too easily impressed," he denounces himself for unseeing arrogance and folly. Browning's monologue allows the Duke to expose himself as arrogant and insolent through irony and ironic conflict while exonerating the Duchess as a sweet, simple girl who is not jaded and who still enjoys the simple pleasures of life through a still innocent spirit.