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Early life and works
The traditional date of Titian's birth was long given as 1477,but
today most critics favour the later date of 1488/90. Titian was the
son of a modest official, Gregorio di Conte dei Vecelli, and his
wife, Lucia. He was born in the small village of Pieve di Cadore,
located high amid mountain peaks of the Alps, straight north of
Venice and not far from the Austrian Tyrol. At the age of nine he
set out for Venice with his brother, Francesco, to live there with
an uncle and to become an apprentice to Sebastiano Zuccato, a master
of mosaics. The boy soon passed to the workshop of the Bellini,
where his true teacher became Giovanni Bellini, the greatest
Venetian painter of the day. Titian's early works are richly evident
of his schooling and also of his association as a young man with
another follower of the elderly Giovanni Bellini, namely, Giorgione
of Castelfranco (1477–1510). Their collaboration in 1508 on the
frescoes of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (the German Exchange) is the
point of departure for Titian's career, and it explains why it is
difficult to distinguish between the two artists in the early years
of the 16th century. Only ruined outlines of the frescoes survive,
the “Allegory of Justice” being the chief scene assigned to Titian.
The etchings (1760) of the frescoes by Antonio Maria Zanetti, already
in a much faded condition, give a better notion of the idealism and
the sense of physical beauty that characterize both artists' work.
The problem of distinguishing between the paintings of Giorgione and
the young Titian is virtually insuperable, for there is little solid
evidence and even less agreement among critics about the attribution
of several works. The present tendency among Italian writers is to
assign far too much to Titian in his youth.
It is certain that Titian's first independent commission was for the
frescoes of three miracles of St. Anthony of Padua. The finest in
composition is the “Miracle of the Speaking Infant”; another, the
“Miracle of the Irascible Son,” has a very beautiful landscape
background that demonstrates how similar in topography and mood were
Titian's and Giorgione's works at this time. In fact, after
Giorgione's deathin 1510, Titian assumed the task of adding the
landscape background to Giorgione's unfinished “Sleeping Venus” (Gemaldegalerie,
Dresden), a fact recorded by a contemporary writer, Marcantonio
Michiel. Still Giorgionesque is the somewhat more lush setting of
Titian's “Baptism of Christ” (c. 1515, Capitoline Museum, Rome), in
which the donor, Giovanni Ram, appears at the lower right.
The authorship of individual portraits is the most difficult of all
to establish, but the “Gentleman in Blue” (so-called “Ariosto”) is
certainly Titian's because it is signed with the initials T.V. (Tiziano
Vecellio). The volume and the interest in texture in the quilted
sleeve seem to identify Titian's own style. On the other hand, “The
Concert” has been one of the most debated portraits, because since
the 17th century it was thought to be most typical of Giorgione. The
pronouncedpsychological content as well as the notable clarity of
modelling in the central figure has led 20th-century critics to
favour Titian. Technique and the clear intelligence of the young
Venetian aristocrat in the “Young Man with Cap and Gloves” has led
modern critics to attribute this and similar portraits to Titian.
The earliest compositions on mythological or allegorical themes show
the young artist still under the spell of Giorgione in his creation
of a poetic Arcadian world where nothing commonplace or sordid
exists. The inspiration lies in the idyllic world of the love lyrics
of the 16th-century Italian poets Jacopo Sannazzaro and Pietro Bembo.
“The Three Ages of Man,” where the erotic relationship of the young
couple is discreetly muted and a mood of tenderness and sadness
prevails, is one of the most exquisite of these. The contemporary
“Sacred and Profane Love” is likewise set in a landscape of
extraordinary beauty, but here the allegory is less easily
understood. The most generally accepted interpretation holds that
the two women are the twin Venuses, according to Neoplatonic theory
and symbolism. The terrestrial Venus, on the left, stands for the
generative forces of nature, both physical and intellectual, while
the nude Venus, on the right, represents eternal and divine love.
Essentially an ideally beautiful young woman rather than a cruel
biblical antiheroine is the lovely “Salome.”
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Mature life and works
Sometime in the early 1520s Titian brought to his house in Venice a
young woman from Cadore whose name was Cecilia. Two sons were born
in 1524 and 1525, first Pomponio, who became a priest, and second
Orazio, later a painter and Titian's chief assistant. During
Cecilia's grave illness in 1525, Titian married her. She recovered
and later gave birth to two daughters, Lavinia (born 1529/30) and
another who died in infancy. On Cecilia's death in 1530, the artist
was disconsolate and he never remarried.
Mythological paintings
Titian's fame had spread abroad, and Alfonso I d'Este sough thim as
one of the chief masters in a cycle of mythological compositions for
his newly rebuilt rooms called the Alabaster Chambers in the castle
at Ferrara. Two of the canvases are now in the Prado at Madrid: the
“Worship of Venus” and “The Andrians”; one of the most spectacular,
the “Bacchus and Ariadne,” is in the London National Gallery. The
gaiety of mood, the spirit of pagan abandon, and the exquisite sense
of humour in this interpretation of an idyllic world of antiquity
make it one of the miracles of Renaissance art. Warmth and richness
of colour help to balance the intentionally asymmetrical grouping of
the figures, placed in richly verdant landscape that is also an
integral part of the design. At this time Titian partially repainted
the background of Giovanni Bellini's “Feast of the Gods” (National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), so that the picture would better
fit the series in the same room at Ferrara.
The standard for the reclining nude female obliquely placed in the
picture space was established by Giorgione in the “Sleeping Venus.”
In Titian's “Venus of Urbino” the ideal rendering of the body and
the position remain virtually unchanged, except that the goddess is
awake and reclines upon a couch within the spacious room of a
palace. For sheer beauty of form these two works were never
surpassed. Despite the inherent eroticism of the subject, Titian
managed it with restraint and good taste. Variations on the theme
recur throughout his career.
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Bacchus and Ariadne
1523-24
Oil on canvas, 175 x 190 cm
National Gallery, London
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Religious paintings
Among the religious paintings Titian produced between 1516 and 1538
is one of his most revolutionary masterpieces, the “Assumption”
(1516–18; see photograph ). This large and at the same time
monumental composition occupies the high altar of Sta. Maria dei
Frari in Venice, a position that fully justifies the spectacular
nature of the Virgin's triumph as she ascends heavenward,
accompaniedby a large semicircular array of angels, while the
startled Apostles gesticulate in astonishment at the miracle. When
the painting was unveiled it was quickly recognized as the work of a
very great genius.
The posture of the Madonna in the “Assumption” and the composition
of Titian's “Madonna and Child with SS. Francis and Alvise and
Alvise Gozzi as Donor” reveal the influence of Titian's contemporary
Raphael; and the pose of St. Sebastian in the “Resurrection
Altarpiece,” the influence of Michelangelo. These influences,
however, are of secondary importance since the landscapes, the
physical types, and the colour are totally Titian's own.
In the “Pesaro Madonna” (1519–26) Titian created a new type of
composition, in which the Madonna and Saints with the male members
of the Pesaro family are placed within a monumental columnar portico
of a church. The picture is flooded with sunlight and shadows. This
work established a formula that was widely followed by later
Venetian Renaissance painters and served as an inspiration for some
Baroque masters, including Rubens and Van Dyck.
Such a quantity of masterpieces by Titian followed that only a few
can be mentioned. The poetic charm of the artist's pictures with
landscape continues in the “Madonna and Child with St. Catherine and
a Rabbit” and the “Madonna and Child with SS. John the Baptist and
Catherine of Alexandria” (c. 1530). The “Entombment” is his first
tragic masterpiece, where in a twilight setting the irrevocable
finality of death and the despair of Christ's followers are
memorably evoked. The stately “Presentation of the Virgin in the
Temple,” a very large canvas, reflects the splendour of Venetian
Renaissance society in the great architectural setting, partlyin the
latest style of the contemporary architects Serlio and Jacopo
Sansovino. The pageantry of the scene also belongs to
well-established tradition in Venetian art, but the organization,
with its emphasis on verticals and horizontals, constitutes Titian's
interpretation of the High Renaissance style.
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Portraits
One of Titian's great triumphs came when he answered the call to
Bologna in 1530 at the time of Charles V's coronation as Holy Roman
emperor. In 1531, in keeping with his social state, he moved to a
Venetian palace known as the Casa Grande, which survives as a
20th-century slum. Titian returned to Bologna to portray Charles V
again on the occasion of the second meeting of Charles V and Pope
Clement VII in the winter of 1532–33. The portrait of “Charles V in
Armour” (1530) and another painted in January 1533 are lost, while
only a less important work, “Charles V with Hound” (1532–33; Prado,
Madrid), a copy of a portrait by Jakob Seisenegger, survives.
Charles was so pleased with Titian's work that in May 1533 he
bestowed upon the artist the most extraordinary honour of
knighthood. Thereafter, the Austrian-Spanish Habsburgs remained
Titian's most important patrons. Charles attempted to induce Titian
to go to Spain in 1534 to prepare a portrait of the Empress, but the
artist wisely refrained from undertaking the arduous journey.
Titian's other portraits in the 1520s and 1530s provide a gallery of
the leading aristocrats of Italy. A splendid exampleis “Alfonso
d'Avalos, Marques del Vasto” (1533), brilliantly rendered in
gleaming armour ornamented with gold. He is accompanied by a small
page whose head reaches his waist. The introduction of a secondary
figure to give scale is a device frequently adopted by Titian.
Another refulgent portrait in armour, but without the secondary
figure, is that of “Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino”
(1536–38). Emphasis here is given to the Duke's military career, not
only by the armour but also by the baton in hand and the three
others in the background. These works are essentially idealized
state portraits, although the heads are very convincingly rendered.
“Doge Andrea Gritti” is to a greater extent a symbol of the
office—that is, that of ruler of Venice. The gigantic body in a
canvas of large size is sweeping in design and commanding in
presence. In later works, too, Titian very effectively managed the
scaling of a figure to appear massive by filling the space of the
canvas—in his portraits of Pietro Aretino, for example, where he
gives his subject a leonine bulkiness. Allowing more space around
the figure in “The Young Englishman,” he projected a personality of
cultivated elegance and human warmth.
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Travels and commissions
Portraits
The large number of masterpieces in portraiture that Titian
continued to create throughout the rest of his life is astounding.
Pope Paul III and his grandson, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, began
to compete with Emperor CharlesV for Titian's services. At the
request of the Pope, the painter travelled to Bologna in May 1543
and there prepared the celebrated official portrait of “Pope Paul
III Without Cap. ”Although a state symbol of the Pontiff, the
characterization of the crafty statesman, bent with age, comes
through.
Titian's next major association with the Farnese came in 1545–46,
when he made his only visit to Rome, lodged in the Belvedere Palace
of the Vatican. For the first time Titian was able to see the
archaeological remains of ancient Rome and also the Renaissance
masterpieces of Michelangelo, Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, and
others. The effect upon the master's own style was relatively slight,
understandably enough, since he was already a mature and famous
artist.
Of portraits of the Farnese family carried out at this time,
fewremain. The most celebrated of all is “Paul III and His Grandsons
Ottavio and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese” (1546; Museo e Gallerie
Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples). A painting of a family group, it
is most searching in psychological revelation. The feeble Pope, then
aged 78, appears to turn suddenly in his chair toward Ottavio
Farnese,his 22-year-old grandson. Ottavio's overly obsequious bow
and his shrewd Machiavellian profile demonstrate Titian's sheer
genius in understanding and recording character. As a foil, the
great churchman Cardinal Alessandro Farnese stands quietly by. It is
no wonder that the portrait is not completely finished, for Paul III
must have found it too revealing of the feud within the Farnese
family.
If one were forced to name Titian's two greatest portraits, the
choice might fall upon the Farnese group and upon another, “The
Vendramin Family.” Here the situation is quite different, for the two
heads of the clan kneel in adoration of are liquary of the Holy
Cross, accompanied by seven sons ranging in age from about eight to
20. This portrait group is a tour de force in technical brilliance,
richly beautiful in colour, running the emotional gamut from gravity
to the innocence of childhood.
On his departure from Rome, in June 1546, Titian's association with
the Farnese ended. He received no payment for his pictures, and his
hopes for recompense in the form of a benefice for his son Pomponio
were never realized. Titian decided to throw in his lot with the
Habsburgs. Consenting to undertake the arduous journey to Augsburg,
he set out in thedepths of winter in January 1548 to cross the Alps
to reach the Emperor's court. There he carried out one of his most
memorable works, the equestrian “Emperor Charles V at Muhlberg,”
designed to commemorate the Emperor's victory over the Protestants
the year before. It is the great state portrait par excellence,
intended to show the Emperor as a Christian knight, as he wished
posterity to remember him. Titian minimized the disfiguring lantern
jaw and gave great dignity of bearing to his subject. In sheer
mastery of the painter's art, the picture is unsurpassed. The
handsome armour, with its gleaming highlights and reflected colour,
therose sash across the chest (a symbol of the Catholic party and
the Holy Roman Empire), and the superb sunset landscape all
contribute to make it one of the masterpieces of all time.
In December 1548 Charles instructed Titian to proceed to Milan to
prepare likenesses of Prince Philip on his first trip outside of
Spain. Once again, in the fall of 1550, Charles obliged Titian to
travel to Augsburg to remain until May 1551, when he executed one of
his greatest state portraits, the “Philip II” in full length. In
this portrait of Philip, when stilla prince aged 23, Titian achieved
another tour de force in sheer beauty of painting, and he treated
gently the surly face of the arrogant young man.
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Religious paintings
Like some of Titian's earlier religious paintings, “Christ Before
Pilate” is a work in which Titian managed a large crowd in a
processional manner leading to the focal point, the figure of Christ
at the left. Here the people are in a state of turmoil as they
demand Christ's crucifixion. The composition, however, marks a new
phase in Titian's development, far removed from the Renaissance
serenity of the “Presentation,” which is not explainable by the
subject alone. The compact massing of figures, the oblique position
of the steps and the wall at the left, and the general effect of
excitement are indicative of the mid-16th-century style known as
Mannerism. Titian assimilated and recreated, however, to produce a
masterpiece far surpassing anything of which the Mannerist artists
were capable.
Titian's religious compositions after his visit to Rome in 1545–46
reveal to some degree his contact with ancient art and the works of
Michelangelo. In “Christ Crowned with Thorns” the burly muscular
figures are thus explained, as perhaps is the violence of the whole
interpretation.
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Last years in Venice
On his return to Venice in 1551, Titian remained there for the rest
of his life except for summer visits to his native city of Pieve di
Cadore. In his last 25 years his productivity was undiminished in
quantity and in creative ideas.
Late life and works
Portraits
Among his portraits is the full-length, dashingly rendered figure of
the Duke of Atri, who is dressed in red velvet. One ofthe latest and
most dramatic was “Jacopo Strada,” in which this brilliant
antiquarian, writer, and art collector is shown presenting to the
spectator a small statue, a Roman copy of an Aphrodite of Praxiteles.
Here again, the scope and varietyof Titian's invention is
astonishing in this new composition, so notable for lively action,
psychological perception, and pictorial beauty. One must not forget
Titian's “Self Portrait,” in which he presents himself with great
dignity, wearing the golden chain of knighthood. The intelligent,
tired face is fully rendered, while the costume is sketched in
lightly with a free brush. One of the most remarkable late works is
the “Triple Portrait Mask” or “Allegory of Prudence,” in which
Titian, gray-bearded and wearing a rose-coloured cap, represents old
age, his son Orazio, maturity, and presumably Marco Vecellio stands
for youth.
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Religious paintings
The “Trinity” (or “La Gloria”), painted for Charles V's personal
devotion, reflects central Italian art to a lesser degree than the
earlier “Christ Crowned with Thorns.” The glowing richness of colour
predominates in this adoration of the Trinity in which Charles V and
his family appear among the elect. The “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence”
marks a further step in new compositional directions that culminate
in Baroque form in the following century. St. Lawrence upon his
gridiron is placed obliquely in space, and the steps reverse the
direction to the right. Although dramatic power invests the main
action in the foreground, the night scene with the tall flares and
mysterious light suggests the supernatural. In his late religious
pictures Titian veils the human forms in shadowy light and so
increases the dominant mood of spirituality. One sees this effect in
the late “Entombment,” in which muted colour prevails, and in the
awesome tragedy of the “Crucifixion.” The “Christ Crowned with
Thorns,” employing essentially the same composition as in the
earlier version, is now seen through a veil of darkness, and the
colour is broken into tiny spots and areas. All is miraculous in the
“Annunciation,” in which Gabriel rushes in and an assembly of angels
in glory hovers about the Virgin. Titian's final word and last
testament is the “Pieta,” intended for his own burial chapel but
left unfinished and completed by Palma il Giovane. The master and
his son, Orazio, appear as tiny donors on the small plaque to the
right. The monumentality of the composition is established by the
great architectural niche flanked by Moses and the Hellespontic
sibyl, while the figures are grouped in a long diagonal. The subdued
colour befits the all-prevailing sorro wand the immutability of death
in this, one of the artist's most profound achievements.
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Venus with Organist and Cupid
1548
Oil on canvas, 148 x 217 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
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Mythological paintings
The “Venus and Cupid with an Organist” and the “Venus and the Lute
Player” are variations on the theme of the earlier “Venus of Urbino.”
Aside from the emphasis on the idealized beauty of the nude goddess,
it is generally believed that symbolism is involved in these
pictures, although the precise meanings have been variously
interpreted. Beauty of sound (music) and beauty of vision are common
to both. In the first example, a Renaissance garden with fountain and
trees in perspective completes the background, which is separated
from the figures by a dark red velvet curtain. More symbolism of an
erotic nature is present in the embracing couple, a stag, and the
satyr on the fountain. In the second picture, the background
consists of a broad river valley and the distant Alpine peaks so
dear to Titian's heart. This late landscape, painted in the artist's
free illusionistic style, is extraordinarily beautiful.
The “Venus with a Mirror” (National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.), the one original among several versions, is a natural theme
for the goddess of love and beauty. Yet Titian is the first artist
to show her with a mirror held by Cupid. Her form is somewhat more
heroic than hitherto, and her head to a limited degree is inspired
by ancient sculpture.The superb quality of the flesh tones is
enhanced by the cloak of dark red velvet, trimmed with fur.
A group of several important pictures of mythological themes was
created by the master in 1554–62 for Charles's successor, Philip II
of Spain, who never bothered to remunerate Titian for any of them.
From the letters of the artist to the King, it is clear that he
planned the paintings in pairs, but otherwise they do not constitute
a comprehensive iconographic program. The first pair (still in
Madrid) consists of the “Danae with Nursemaid” and the “Venus and
Adonis.” The magnificent nude Danae lies upon her couch, knees
raised, as Jupiter descends to her in the form of golden rain, and
her nursemaid rather amusingly attempts to catch the coins in her
apron. This work (of which there exist numerous replicas and copies)
is undoubtedly the most voluptuous in Titian's entire repertory. In
colour and technique, as well, the “Danae” is one of Titian's
greatest achievements; one is tempted to say that no other artist
ever equalled him in imagination and in the depiction of sheer
beauty of this work. In the “Venus and Adonis,” the goddess,
depicted from the back, attempts to restrain her muscular young
lover as he is about to depart for the hunt, his dogs straining at
the leash. The rose of his costume and the red velvet cushion
beneath Venus are foils in the colour composition to the flesh tones
and the sunlit landscape.
The “Perseus and Andromeda” was intended to be a companion to “Medea
and Jason,” according to Titian's letter, but for some reason the
second picture was never carried out. Andromeda, bound to the rock
at the left, awaits deliverance as Perseus descends from the sky to
slay the monster. Her powerful physique reflects Titian's
familiarity with the work of Michelangelo, yet Andromeda's body is
more feminine and graceful than any of the Florentine's
masculine-looking women. Titian's sensitivity to female beauty is
unfailing.
“The Rape of Europa” is surely one of the gayest of Titian's
“poesies,” as he called them. Taken by surprise, Europa is carried
off, arms and legs flying, on the back of Jupiter in the form of a
garlanded white bull. A putto (chubby, naked little boy) on the back
of a dolphin appears to be mimicking her, and cupids in the sky
follow the merry scene. Titian's fondness for oblique compositions
is most successfully applied here, for it contributes to the sense
of movement, and it allows for the extensive seascape and the
mountainous shore. The sheer wizardry of Titian's technique is
nowhere more fully demonstrated than in the misty distances shot
through with blues and sunset rose and in the expanse of sea with
its iridescent lights.
In “The Rape of Europa” Titian reached the climax of his powers, and
by good fortune the picture has survived in almost perfect
condition. On the contrary, two other great “poesies” done for
Philip II are sadly abused by time and restorers, particularly the
“Diana and Callisto,” and less so the “Diana and Actaeon.” The
assembly of female nudes in avariety of poses, befitting the action,
illustrates two episodes of the Diana legend as told by Ovid in his
Metamorphoses, books II and III. “Diana and Actaeon” depicts Actaeon,
the youthful hunter of heroic body, just as he unwittingly happens
upon Diana and her nymphs as they are bathing (and before Diana
punishes him by transforming him into a stag). Behind him is a great
rose-coloured curtain. A landscape of extraordinary beauty and a
vaulted passage form the setting within which the maidens are
gathered. The organization of the rather complex design once more
presages Baroque compositional methods. In the companionpicture, the
goddess discovers that Callisto, one of her maidens who had taken
the vow of chastity, is pregnant. Though she was deceived by
Jupiter's trickery, she is, nevertheless, banished and later,
according to the legend, transformed into a bear. A standing and
rather fulsome nude rips the drapery from the reclining Callisto.
The golden canopy in the trees above Diana is the cloth of honour
referring to her divinity. The glorious deep blue sky with golden
clouds and the green branches of the tree supply the backdrop for
the nude bodies. Diana, tall and imperious, is magnificent, despite
the surface damage that has destroyed much of the paint. Subtleties
abound in every movement andevery gesture.
The latest of these compositions carried out for Philip II was the
“Tarquin and Lucretia,” a dramatic work of great vigour that proves
that the aged master had lost none of his creative powers. Rather
than Lucretia's suicide because of her rape by Tarquin, which is the
more common subject, Titian chose to represent Tarquin's violent
attack upon her. Again the rich colour is equally as important as
the action. Against the green curtain and white sheets the rose
velvet breeches of Tarquin and his green and gold doublet stand
out in rich brilliancy.
The great master died of old age in 1576, while a plague was raging
in Venice. He was interred in the church of Sta. Maria dei Frari,
where two of his most famous works may still be seen.
Through his long life Titian was highly successful in all branches
of the painter's art. In his interpretation of Christianiconography
he was infused in his youth with the poetic styles of the elderly
Giovanni Bellini and his contemporary Giorgione. Titian created new
compositions such as the “Assumption” and the “Pesaro Madonna” and
later in his life the “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,” and he carried
out a never-ending succession of new conceptions as his career
matured. He gained international fame as a portraitist, beginning as
a Giorgionesque painter and developing into a major creator of the
state portrait for the glorification of rulers. The revival of the
culture of the ancient world lies at the root of Renaissance culture
in the arts and in literature; inspired by the ancient poets such as
Ovid, Catullus, and Theocritus, Titian recreated pictorially the
legends of Greece and Rome in a series of incomparable masterpieces.
Harold E. Wethey
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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See collection:
Titian
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From the canopy of Heaven to a four-poster bed
Titian: Venus of Urbino,
c. 1538
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The Venus of Urbino
1538
Oil on canvas, 119 x 165 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence |
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On 9th March 1538 Guidobaldo delk Rovcre, son of the Duke of
Urbino, wrote a letter to his father's ambassador in Venice. He was
sending a courier, he wrote, or rather dictated, to "bring me two
paintings currently in the hands of Titian". The courier was, under
no circumstances, to return without the paintings, even if it meant
waiting for two months.
The situation was complicated, for Guidobaldo ciid not have enough
money to pay for the works. The ambassador, so he requested, was to
use his good offices to elicit an advance, or a guarantee for the
required sum, from his mother, the Duchess. In a later letter
Guidobaldo wrote that "if the worst comes to the worst" he should
have to "pledge that which is mine". He was determined to have the
two Titians. One was his own portrait, the other was "la donna nuda",
the "naked woman". Known today as the Venus of Urbino, this 119 x
165 cm Renaissance painting can now be seen in the Uffizi, Florence.
In the spring of 1538 Guidobaldo reached the age of 25 years. Titian
(probably born between 1488 and 1490) was twice Guidobaldo's age. By
that time he was, in all likelihood, the most highly-regarded artist
in southern Europe. He had worked for churches and monasteries, for
rich merchants and the Republic of Venice, for Italian princes and
the Emperor, Charles V. Titian enjoyed the highest social and
artistic esteem. Charles V had elevated him to the rank of Count
Palatine and Knight of the Golden Spur - an extraordinary honour for
a painter.
Guidobaldo may have become acquainted with Titian through his
father, Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino since 1508.
Francesco was known for his violent temper and prowess as a military
strategist. He had killed a cardinal with his bare hands, fought for
the papacy and led a Venetian army into battle: in short, he was a
typical condottiere. He owned a palace in Venice and died in October
1538, presumably poisoned by his rivals.
This condottiere loved paintings and sophisticated company. He was
married to the much-admired Eleonora Gonzaga: "If ever knowledge,
grace, beauty, intellect, wit, humanity and every other virtue were
joined in one body, then in this", enthused the writer Baldassare
Castiglione. Francesco had commissioned paintings by Titian since
1532: a Nativity, a Hannibal, and a Christ for the Duchess. Later he
commissioned a Resurrection and purchased a Woman in a Blue Dress.
Portraits of the Duke and Duchess followed.
Guidobaldo continued the family tradition, commissioning new
paintings more or less regularly until his death in 1574. Like his
father, he served as a general in the Venetian army, frequently
staying at Venice. His financial problems of spring 1538 were solved
by the death of his father in the autumn of that year. He was now
Duke of Urbino. And his mother had paid for her son's portrait,
though not for the "naked woman".
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The Venus of Urbino (detail)
1538
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Who was the "donna nuda"?
It was later claimed that the future Duke of Urbino wished to
possess the painting because it portrayed his mistress.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that Titian painted his own
mistress, for the woman appears in his paintings no fewer than three
times. A rumour during the nineteenth century maintained that the
painting showed Guidobaldo's mother, Eleonora Gonzaga, for it was
difficult to ignore a certain resemblance between her portrait from
Titian's hand and the "naked woman". Moreover, both paintings
contained the same curled-up lapdog.
There is no evidence to support any of these theories. An Italian
"lady of quality" was unlikely to have herself portrayed in the
nude, for this would have been irreconcilable with her role in
society: she was expected to bear children, hold house, put her
husband's honour above all else and stand by his side on public
occasions. Though the human body was increasingly exalted during the
Renaissance, the exhibition of a woman's body unclothed to eyes
other than those of her husband would have provoked ugly scenes
indeed, had the terrible facts been revealed in public by a
painting.
The ideal of uxorial respectability did not include the expression
of sexual and sensual pleasure, so evident in the present painting.
The church, with its repudiation of the body and disdain for women,
did whatever it could to ensure that the respectable ideal became
respectable practice. Men were permitted to indulge their sexuality,
women were not. It is probable that the opportunities for such
gratification within marriage were limited, for marriage — both to
the aristocracy and to the bourgeoisie - had less to do with
personal inclination than with politics, or finance.
Families were expected to afford their members protection; safety
was more highly valued than love.
The constraints imposed by men on their wives and daughters drove
the former to seek their consolation in mistresses and prostitutes.
According to the diary entry of a man called Pnuli, there were some
11,000 prostitutes in Venice c. 1500, and, according to another
source, there were 6800 in Rome c. 1490. If one relates these
figures to the total population of the towns at the time - Rome had
40,000 inhabitants, Venice 120,000 - one arrives at the figure of
almost 20 percent of the female population in one case, and over 30
percent in the other. Even if these figures seem too high to sustain
credibility, they nonethless suggest that prostitution was anything
but a marginal social phenomenon. Countless anecdotes confirm this.
Payment for sexual favours was socially acceptable. Priests damned
it, of course, but Cardinal de' Medici, during his stay in Venice in
1532, made no secret of living with a girl called Zeffetta.
Alfonso d'Este, who married Guidobaldo's sister Julia, was even
praised for it on one occasion: instead of simply seducing young
girls, he at least asked their parents' permission before taking the
girls to live with him. Later, he married them off with an excellent
dowry. For the poorer strata of the population, giving away one's
daughter as the mistress of a wealthy man was practically considered
a normal means of securing her existence.
The prerequisite was, of course, that the girl was as appealing as
Titian's model. Titian himself lived for many years with a barber's
daughter, who bore him two children. Titian then did something quite
unusual: he married her.
Titian painted a bouquet of roses in the reclining nude's hand.
Roses were an attribute of Venus. Whether mythical figure or "donna
nuda", her body reflects the ideals of beauty and erotic
predilections of the High Renaissance.
Her high forehead, however, was untypical of the period. Throughout
the Middle Ages, women whose circumstances had granted them leisure
to indulge in fashion had plucked their hair above the forehead in
order to lengthen their faces.
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The Venus of Urbino (detail)
1538
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Bodies change with fashions
The curve of the head between forehead and cranium was considered
attractive, and was emphasized for that reason. High foreheads,
however, were now a thing of the past. Even married women no longer
concealed their hair under bonnets, and the locks of unmarried women
fell loose about their faces, softening their features.
Although the hair of most Italian women was black by nature, the
most fashionable colour at the time was blonde. Almost all mythical
figures painted during the Renaissance have fair hair. It was said
of the women of Venice in 1581 that they used "spirits and other
remedies to turn their hair, not only golden, but snow-white".
In Gothic art, women generally appear slender and elongate, an
effect emphasized by their trains, tapering bonnets and sloping
shoulders. The ideal female figure of the Renaissance was more
solidly built. Broad shoulders, enlarged and embellished by the
ploys of dressmakers, were an important characteristic of this type.
Titian gives special emphasis to the reclining nude's right
shoulder, while a servant in the background wears fashionably puffed
sleeves. Breasts were considered beautiful only if small, round and
firm, lacking the fullness of maturity. This was the view expressed
in an Italian text of 1554, a view evidently shared by Titian. A
narrow waist, the distinguishing feature of 19th-century fashion,
was considered undesirable. The latest Spanish fashion was a high
corset that flattened the breasts, denied the waist and enclosed the
trunk of the body like a tube. However, this puritanical garment,
turning the female body into a kind of geometrical figure, gained
little acceptance in Italy.
Titian painted his nude with a gently rounded belly. In Gothic art,
the stomach tended to protrude further than the breasts. Renaissance
painters, on the other hand, hoping to capture a more natural
attitude, did away with exaggerated curves. Nonetheless, the belly,
the symbol of fertility and procreation, remained the focal point of
the female body.
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The Venus of Urbino (detail)
1538
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A chest was part of every dowry
Titian's "donna nuda" reflected the Renaissance ideal in a number of
details, and it was perhaps for this reason — as much as for its
quality as a work of art - that Guidobaldo was so desperate to
possess it. The artist emphasizes the nuditv of the reclining woman
bv showing two fully-clothed servants in the background. The
kneeling woman is seen from behind, an unusual posture. Indeed,
Titian may be the only artist of his day to have painted a woman in
this attitude.
The interior and furnishings are typical of the period. The kneeling
woman is rummaging in a clothes-chest, referred to in Italian as a
cassone. Clothes-hangers and wardrobes had not yet come into use,
and clothes were kept in chests. They formed an integral part of
every dowry and, depending on whether their owners were wealthy
enough, would often be inlaid with marquetry, or painted. Titian,
too, had painted cassoni'm his youth. They tended to be low, since
they doubled as seats. Some were even fitted with backrests.
The bed was probably a four-poster, supporting a canopy and with
crossboards for hanging curtains; neither posts nor crossboards are
visible in the present painting, however. With its curtains drawn, a
bed was transformed to a room within a room, a realm of privacy.
Maids and servants often slept in the master bedroom, or in front of
the door, since the majority of houses did not have servants'
quarters. Titian painted his beauty half-sitting; the pose reflects
contemporary sleeping habits.
Titian's interior contains little but a bed and chests; in fact,
these were the most important, and sometimes the only pieces of
furniture to be found in a house. There were few proper tables;
meals were generally eaten at boards which were laid across trestles
and later stowed away. It is difficult to see whether the hangings
in the background are tapestry or leather.
Venice, with lively trading relations to the Near East, was one of
the main transshipping ports for oriental carpets, and the best, or
most famous, gold-printed leather was imported from the Spanish town
of Cordoba. Marble floors were found in all the wealthier homes.
Artists treasured their regular square patterns, which provided a
means of lending mathematical precision to perspective; this had
been an important feature in painting since the development, in
Florence a century earlier, of artificial perspective.
The windows of domestic interiors were relatively small, and were
closed with wooden shutters. The open space shown in Titian's
painting may be part of a room used only in summer, perhaps at a
country villa. A view of pleasant, surrounding countryside was an
essential feature in every Renaissance villa.
While Titian's work contains many details epitomizing life at the
time, it was not his intention to paint a realistic picture. This is
made abundantly clear by the dark plane dividing the painting into
two halves, whose right edge ends just above the reclining nude's
hand. Though evidently intended to suggest the curtain of the bed,
it is entirely lacking in definition. The plane helps balance the
two halves of the picture, as well as providing a background against
which the upper half of her body stands out more clearly. The
vertical border also emphasizes her mons veneris, which the nude
covlv conceals.
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The Venus of Urbino (detail)
1538
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The goddess becomes a woman
In c. 1485, Sandro Botticelli painted his Birth of Venus, one of the
loveliest Venus nudes to emerge from the Florentine Renaissance. She
is shown standing upright, almost floating. It was the Venetian
Giorgione who devised the first reclining Venus. Against a natural
setting, we see her asleep with her head resting on one arm.
Giorgione died in 1510, before he could finish the work. Titian, his
collaborator, completed it. He returned to the theme more than a
quarter of a century later, this time replacing the outdoor setting
with a domestic interior.
The three paintings show a progression. Botticelli's Venus is a
supernatural apparition in human form, untouchable, not of this
world. Giorgione's Venus has a realer presence. She is shown
reclining in an attitude of abandon - to sleep, rather than a man's
gaze. She, too, retains something of the aura of a Nature goddess.
Titian has removed her from natural surroundings, placing her in a
man-made setting instead: a four-poster bed. The goddess is
transformed: a young woman meets the spectator's gaze, conscious of
her appeal, revealing her body and expecting, if not caresses, then
admiration. It was Titian who liberated the nude from the
constraints of the mythical stereotype, seeing a real woman in the
female figure. To his contemporaries, this must have been an
exciting development. It can hardly be put down to accident that
Guidobaldo, who wanted the painting so badly, spoke only of the "donna
nuda", the naked woman.
It was not until later, through the intervention in 1567 of the art
historian Vasan, that the nude became known as Venus. Her identity
was confirmed in a later inventary. Though the chief attribute of
antique Venus, her son Cupid with his bow and arrows, seems to have
deserted her in the present picture, Titian nonetheless paints her
with her characteristic flowers: he shows her holding roses, the
symbol of pleasure and fidelity in love, and places a pot of myrtle
on the window ledge to indicate constancy in marriage. The lapdog is
an unusual figure here. It symbolized carnal desire, but also
devotion; on the gravestones of many married couples a dog was shown
lying at the woman's feet. Perhaps it found its way into the
painting quite by accident. Perhaps it belonged to the artist's
workshop, and Titian simply enjoyed painting it.
Some scholars have suggested that Guidobaldo commissioned the work
to mark the occasion of his wedding in 1534, which would explain his
eagerness to possess the work. There is no evidence for this. At the
same time, however, it is impossible to overlook the symbolic
reference through roses and myrtle to conjugal fidelity. Titian may
have wished to show more than Venus' conventional attributes.
Perhaps he wanted to show an alternative to the widespread division
of the female population into repectable housewives and paid
paramours, demonstrating that sensual pleasure could be found in
marriage too. Guidobaldo, as his letters testify, was very happily
married.
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See collection:
Titian
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