Titian
Nathan
Bales
History
of Renaissance Art
Monty Helm
April 5, 2004
Self Portrait
Tiziano Vecellio, known today as Titian, was
born in Pieve de Cadore, north of Venice in the Alps around 1488.
The actual date of his birth is not known. The evidence presented
for his birth date is contradictory and is still the subject of
intense controversy. (3, p. 11) One woman, Cecilia, began a relationship
with Titian in the early 1520s, with which he had two children
before they married, and two more after they consummated their
marriage in 1525. Their relationship together would only last
for a short period, for in 1530, just five years after they married,
she died.There can be no dispute about his
genius, a great career that spanned for many decades during the
High Renaissance Period. Producing works of religious imagery,
portraits, and mythological compositions. (5)
Around the age of eleven, Titian was sent to live
with an uncle in Venice with the idea of being trained as a painter.
With the help of a minor painter named, Sabastiano Zuccato, Titian
was apprenticed to Gentile Bellini, but soon moved to the studio
of Giovanni Bellini.
After 1506, Titian became impressed by the work of Giorgione,
another pupil of Bellini's. (3, p. 11) Titian then assisted Giorgione
in painting frescoes on the exterior of the German commercial
headquarters, Fondaco dei Tedeschi, in Venice. (2, p.635) The
relationship of collaboration lasted until 1510, when Giorgione
died from the plague. (2, p. 631) Titian took up the task of completing
many of his unfinished paintings. The authorship of certain works
is still disputed to this day. (5)
Sacred and Profane Love
There can be no dispute that Titian was one of
the greatest artists of his time, and more so of the actual work
he completed. Titian was considered a sublime artist during his
lifetime because he fully embodied the ideals to which great men
of his time aspired. (4, p. 6) The one painting that most art
historians would agree is his masterwork, and probably his most
famous, would be the oil on canvas, Sacred and Profane Love, 1514.
Something of a fusion between Titian's worldliness and Giorgione's
poetry is seen in the mysterious allegory. (5) This is one of
Titian's earliest paintings still executed in the Giorgionesque
manner. (1, p. 34) Also seen by many to be truly the most enigmatic
of all his works (4, p. 81), but still it gives little indication
of its meaning or function.
The painting is of two women, so similar in form
and color that they look like sisters, sitting on a fountain in
the late afternoon. One is clothed in white, girdled with a locked
belt, while the other is nude, except for a white scarf and a
rose-colored cloak. The white of the garments could be symbolism
for purity, one of the expectations men had for their brides during
this time. The locked belt around the female figure on the left
could also represent her chastity. To the far left of the painting
we see two rabbits. These two rabbits are a direct representation
of love, hence added more meaning behind the name of this painting.
The women rest upon the fountain that is in the
shape of a sarcophagus, and its lid is set aside so that Cupid
may stir its waters. On the fountain are carved the coat of arms
of Niccolo Aurelio, vice-chancellor of the Venetian Republic.
(2, p. 640) With that information given, one could assume that
it was commissioned by Niccolo Aurelio himself in celebration
of his wedding to Laura Bagarotto in 1514. (2, p. 640)
All kinds of romantic and fanciful explanations
of the subject have been attempted, but none of them has been
universally accepted. (1, p. 34) So while the meaning of some
details remain obscure, it seems evident that this is a picture
about love and marriage. The woman dressed in white could be a
portrait of the bride, while the nude figure, who is in the company
of winged Cupid, is surely Venus. Thus the traditional title should
be discarded, but the iconography is quite unique that it is difficult
to know what to put in its place. (2, p. 641)
One aspect of this painting, as well as many other
paintings, was that Titian was utilizing the implications that
he composed this vision in terms of his characteristic triangles.
(2, p. 641& 643) Two other significant works executed in religious
imagery that contain Titian's triangular design are the oil on
panel, Assumption of the Virgin, 1518 and the oil on canvas Madonna
of the Pesaro Family, 1526.
Assumption of the Virgin
Assumption of the Virgin was not
only the largest altarpiece yet painted in Venice, but also profoundly
different in appearance. Instead of static figures, Titian's are
larger than life and all in movement, focused on the Virgin flying
up to heaven against a great gold burst of celestial light. (3,
p. 15) All of the figures movements converge to form a triangle.
(2, p. 639) Where as the traditional type of representation of
the assumption had usually shown the scene in a relatively calm
atmosphere. (1, p. 34) The painting was commissioned by Germano
da Caiole, the Abbot of the Monastery. (2, p. 639) This large-scale
painting is placed within the vast Gothic interior of the Church
of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
Madonna of the Pesaro Family
Madonna of the Pesaro Family, commissioned by
Jacopo Pesaro, Bishop of Paphos, and his brothers for a side-aisle
alter in the same church, is laid out in full sunlight. As with
the Assumption, what mattered was not so much the rational arrangement
of figures and objects in three-dimensional space, as the pattern
of colors and areas of light and dark on the picture plane. (3,
p. 16) Titian deployed his diagonals and triangles in depth and
height. Smaller scale triangles reappear throughout in figures
and drapery patterns. (2, p. 644) In these two paintings Titian
introduced a new approach to painting, while at the same time
creating a new ideal type, both sympathetic and impressive, for
his figures. (3, p.16)
Man with a Glove
Much like Titian's religious compositions, his
portraits in the 1520s enter a similar phase of dignity and reserve.
(2, p. 645) One such exquisite painting is the Man with a Glove,
1520, one of his most famous and fascinating portraits of Titian's
early period. It is believed that the portrait represented Giambattista
Malatesta, an agent of the Mantuan court in Venice. The suggestive
power of the portrait is due to the fact that he concentrated
mainly on the eyes, nose and mouth, while confining himself to
barely suggested, soft outlines elsewhere, thus producing an effect
of liveliness and a reflection of the person's character. (4,
p. 82)
No expression crosses the face of the man, and once again Titian
uses the triangular relationship in the hands and face. Titian
clearly sees the limited color palette as a challenge, and the
effect of living, warm flesh against the black and white of the
costume and the beige of the torn glove, which gives the painting
its modern name, is impressive. (2, p. 645) The painting passed
to Charles I of England in 1627, and later to the collection of
the French banker Jabach, and later to Louis XIV. (4, p. 82)
Venus of Urbino
Returning to the painting of mythological compositions,
Titian's 1538 oil on canvas painting, Venus of Urbino, has influenced
artists for centuries. Commissioned by Guidobaldo II della Rovere,
Duke of Camerino, and later the Duke of Urbino. (4, p. 106) Titian
clearly derives his painting from Giorgione's Venus some thirty
years earlier, making his Venus more naked and less nude. But
such overtly salacious paintings, without even the pretext of
a mythological subject matter, were extremely rare at this time,
and probably would only have been considered acceptable by members
of the high aristocracy who could afford to disregard conventional
notions of propriety. (3, p. 20)
The treatment of the body is generalized both
in its outlines and its modeling and in this way maintains a certain
classical feeling for all it realistic trappings. (1, p. 36) This
painting is one of Titian's best-known works and one of the masterpieces
from the 16th century, which reflects most fully its ideal of
feminine beauty. (4, p. 106) In a recent conservation of the picture
demonstrated that the painting was damaged when it was adhered
to a new lining by ironing; as a result, Titian's rich, raised
impasto brushwork was flattened. (2, p. 646)
Crowning with Thorns
Near the end of Titian's life, his thoughts turned
with intensity toward religious subjects once again. Crowning
with Thorns, his 1570 oil on canvas painting, was painted in a
vigorous, physical style. In the painting the violence is communicated
by color and brushwork, not muscular activity. The drama of shadows
and lights acquires it ferocity through the vibrancy of the brushwork,
and what might be called, the slow burn of the coloring. (2, p.
652)
The technique has become more summary, but is far from feeble.
The flares heighten the drama of the scene while the colors are
darker and the mood more poignant. (1, p. 40) Impasti rain upon
the canvas, while the compositional triangles clash and interlock,
increasing the storm of pain that surrounds the suffering Christ.
(2, p. 652)
During his career Titian made one of the most
crucial discoveries in the history of Western painting. He was
the first painter in modern times to free the brush from the task
of exactly describing tactile surfaces, volumes, and details,
and to convert it into a vehicle for the direct perception of
light through color and, equally important, for the expression
of feelings. This technique of raised brushstrokes of thick paint
that he used is called impasto. (2, p. 635)
Throughout his career Titian had many patrons, as noted in the
text. Among others were Charles V, Giovanni Bellini, and the Spanish
Hamsburgs. Titian's fame, wealth, and social position resulted
from these patrons and admirers. The House of Ferrara and Urbino
made him the first of the princely painters of the Renaissance,
while Charles V made Titian a count and had him brought to Augsburg
two times as a court painter. (5)
Although Titian's actual birth date is not known,
it is known that he died in 1576 from the plague, making him very
old when he died. (2, p. 652) Titian's work is significant for
the effect of inspiring and stirring emotion in even the tamest
of hearts. He is credited for being capable of expressing beauty,
which springs from the deepest happiness of life. His art remains
important in that it influenced artists after him. He is considered
to be a magnificent creator of beauty, which is a well-suited
consideration. (5)
Bibliography
1. Gould, Cecil. Titian. Middlesex: The Hamlyn Publishing Group
Ltd., 1969.
2. Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins, David G. History of Italian
Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. New York:
Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 2003.
3. Hope, Charles. Titian. London: National Gallery Company, 2003.
4. Morassi, Antonio. Titian. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society,
1964.
5. Pioch, Nicolas. Titian. WebMuseum, Paris. 14 October, 2002.
<http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/titian/>.