From the poem's opening line, Browning shows the duke of Ferrara’s obsession with possessing and objectifying women. The duke is describing a painting of his former wife rather than the woman herself, but he still describes the painting itself as “my last Duchess,” thereby eroding the differences between the art and the woman who inspired it. Both are essentially the same in the duke's mind, or at least he'd prefer it if this were so.
The duke personifies the painting throughout this passage, both by saying “there she stands,” as though the duchess herself and not her image in the painting is standing against the wall, and “will’t please you sit and look at her,” instead of asking the messenger to look at “it” or “the painting.” This again suggests that he views the woman and the work of art as one and the same.
The duke also makes it clear that he cares for the status the painting can give him and not for the nostalgia or memories about his former wife. He remarks on the artistry of the painting in seeming so lifelike (“looking as if she were alive”), rather than on missing her, since the woman herself as we will soon find out, has died. Likewise, he describes the artwork as “a piece” and “a wonder,” and brags about how “busily” the famous Fra Pandolf worked to paint it, in a move calculated to impress the emissary with the quality of his art collection and therefore his wealth. It’s also worth noting that, although the duke focuses on Fra Pandolf’s hands, there’s no mention of his former wife’s hands—or, in fact, of any part of her body in this section, an absence that suggests the duke’s interest in the painting’s monetary rather than sentimental worth.
These lines also reveal the duke’s subtle control of conversations and physical spaces. The duke is clearly guiding the emissary through his estate and art collection like a tour guide, telling him what to admire, what to think about it, and even when to sit. By having the emissary sitting while he stands, the duke literally elevates himself above his guest and shows him the power hierarchy that he tries to preserve in all his interactions with others.
The poem’s opening also shows that Browning is controlling the meter and rhyme scheme of the poem as carefully as the duke controls the conversation and the space: when read aloud, the poem sounds almost conversational in tone, and people are often surprised to realize it consists of iambic pentameter rhyming couplets. The many enjambed lines (such as lines 2 and 3: “I call / That piece a wonder, now”) make sentences extend well beyond the confines of the lines and the frequent caesuras introduce natural pauses into the middle of lines (as with “Looking as if she were alive.” in line 2). By having so many caesuras and so few end-stopped lines, Browning deemphasizes the lines themselves, with their five feet and their rhyming couplets. He instead creates a style that sounds more akin to prose.