My Kid Could Paint That

Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538

Titian, Man with a Glove, 1520

By EMMA SHAPIRO

Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1523

Poor Ariadne. What’s a girl to do when your lover deserts you on an island? Have no fear, for Bacchus is here.

Alfonso d’Este commissioned Titian to paint Bacchus and Ariadne, which would be placed in his camerino d’alabastro or the Alabaster Room at the Ducal Palace. The painting would be placed amongst works by other masters, such as Giovanni Bellini and and Dosso Dossi. Many consider the Alabaster Room as the most outstanding collection of art in this period. Accompanying Bacchus and Ariadne would be The Worship of Venus and Bacchanal of the Andrians.

Bacchus and Ariadne requires context of Ariadne’s history to be understood. Ariadne’s father, Minos, battled with hero Theseus who sought to protect Athens. Rather than siding with Minos, Ariadne falls in love with Theseus and aids him in killing her father. Theseus and Ariadne sleep together, but Theseus quickly abandons Ariadne on the island of Naxos. Distraught, she wanders the island searching for any sign of her lover. In the process, she crosses paths with Bacchus, otherwise known as Dionysus.

Bacchus and Ariadne captures Bacchus’s first glimpse of Ariadne. Though every figure flows with dynamic movement, the painting is seemingly frozen in the moment -- the moment Bacchus falls in love. He throws himself towards her, turning his head and gazing with a look of eagerness and intensity. In this fleeting second, Bacchus creates a constellation for Ariadne, visible at the upper left of the painting. The weight of the composition is equally split into two halves, one side represented by rich blueness and the other by earthly tones of Bacchus’s company and the terra behind them. Not only does this balance the painting, but it symbolizes the merging of two worlds: the ethereal and the ephemeral.

Giorgione, Pastoral Concert, 1510

Undeniably one of Venetian Renaissance art's most mysterious works, Pastoral Concert embodies the allegory of poetry and the divinity of Arcadia thanks to the works of Giorgione. Although controversy stirs over who the painting is accredited to, with Giorgione's death in 1510 and his close partnership with Titian, the composition with no doubt follows the themes of poetry omnipresent in quite a few of Giorgione's other paintings. Additionally the figures of the women, the depth of the background in the endless valleys and mountain, and the muted storm-like sky pay tribute to Giorgione's respective style.

Nonetheless the scene evokes meaning in the actions of the figures, as the naked women are positioned on each side of the men depicting the Muses of poetry. The standing figure pouring water from a glass jar represents the superior tragic poetry, while the seated one holding a flute reflects the less prestigious pastoral poetry. Between these naked women is a well-dressed, upper class youth playing a lute with a man who looks like a 16th century peasant version of Napoleon Dynamite listening intently to the music.

The scenery is characterized by the concept of duality and harmony between the various classes through different forms of literature and music. What struck me most interesting in this painting however, was the Mannerist allusion to Arcadia, which became popular in its vision of pastoralism and unity with nature during the Renaissance era. Moreover, many subjects of paintings began to incorporate the imagery of women in lush forests in reference to the Greek story of Arcadia: Hera banishes the nymph Callisto to a lush forest, while imprisoning her in the figure of a bear as a punishment for sleeping with Zeus. In the end of the legend, Callisto's son encounters his mother in the Arcadia but does not recognize her, so he slays the bear before acknowledging the animal's true identity.

Tragic, the story really is. However, what's most interesting about this legend is that Giorgione paints these gracefully naked women in his composition to express the divinity of their beauty in harmony with their parallel to literature during this time period. But if you look closely, the men aren't even acknowledging the women's existence. So, the real speculation is if these women are actually present in the concert or if they are supernatural. It's arguable that in fact these women are representations of the nymph Callisto and her story in the utopian aura of Arcadia, as her true beauty is dismissed by the masking face of the bear. Giorgione might be on the verge of some pressing feminist ideals by addressing their divinity in assimilation to the concept of appreciating women in the muses of poetry as artists move towards Mannerism and intellectual sophistication. But who really knows... the painting could in fact just be a group of individuals enjoying a concert in the open air on a mildly cloudy day.

Titian, Diana and Actaeon, 1566-69

Titian's works are some of my favorite we have studied this year. His paintings based off the stories from Ovid are a refreshing change from the usual Resurrections, Annunciations, and Crucifixions. Tiziano Vecellio started his training in the workshop of Sebastiano Zuccato, then briefly joined Gentile Bellini's workshop, then joined his brother Giovani Bellini, the most important painter of the time. Titian later adopted his style from Giorgione. You can see this style in Diana and Actaeon with his rich, dark colors.

This painting was composed for King Phillip II of Spain. Titian painted six large paintings based off Ovid's Metamorphesis. In this painting, Actaeon, son of a herdsmen, accidentally stumbles upon the secret bathing spot of the goddess of the hunt, Diana. You can tell by the animal skull on the pillar, and the animal skins draped around the grotto that there is little hope for poor Actaeon. His arms and stance tell us that he knows his fate.

The lightest part of the painting is the light cast upon the women, which draws attention away from the rest of the painting. The women create a triangle, and the painting is cut diagonally down the middle with the sky stretching from corner to corner on the top half. The red drapery creates a barrier between Actaeon and the bathing women.

Agnolo Bronzino, Guidobaldo il della Rovere, 1531

Titian, never one to let an opportunity for profit pass (and perhaps on the hint of Aretino) decided to do something rather naughty. He had Angela model for a portrait, the one we now call Venus of Urbino. Titian, perhaps letting his bawdiness get the best of him, thought Ippolito would get a kick out of this souvenier of Ippolito’s presumably enjoyable evening.

Only Ippolito never came to pick up the painting. And thus it sat in the studio for more than five years, until Guidobaldo il della Rovere, the young Duke of Camerino, saw it while sitting for a portrait.

On March 9, 1538 he told his agent in Venice to pick up the portrait and a picture of a nude woman. But there was a catch, Guidobaldo was a bit cash poor, and worried that Titian might sell the work. So he asked his mom for some money – seriously- she agreed and Guidobaldo received the painting before he took over the dukeship of Urbino in October of 1538.

Titian, Detail - Venus of Urbino, 1538

Oh, and another thing, Guidobaldo was married (for political and economic reasons, of course) to Guilia Varano in 1534. He was 20. She was 10. So, could it be possible that this unconventional Venus, the one who stares directly at us and seemingly invites us to sit on her daybed, actually be more an instructional gift from Guidobaldo to his young bride? This, my sweet, is how we do things her. This is how we how we pose artistically. Don’t worry, the servants will get your dresses.

We will never know quite for sure what Guidobaldo wanted with the portrait – whether what Mark Twain deemed high-class smut, or as the matrimonial embodiment of the most beautiful goddess. We do know, however, that our Venus of Urbino cuts a rather broad swath through the next 400 years of Western painting.
Editor's Note: This week's posts are an adaptation of a lecture given in January. Enjoy.

Titian, Detail from Venus of Urbino, 1538

Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538

By MARK LUCE

Titian had been painting certain kinds of women since he was an apprentice with Venetian master Giorgione, who also painted certain kinds of women. Only most of Titian’s commissions were for women with names like Mary, Virgin Mary, Madonna, Mary Magdalen, or simply Mary. While Titian was not only a shrewd businessman, but also an incredibly talented painter - one who felt at home painting the Annunciation, the mythic Danae, or even portraits of high-society Venetians, Popes and Kings. While Titian’s brushwork and colors can be incredibly bold, it wasn’t until the early 1530s, that he painted what would become, posthumously, his most brazen work.

In polite company we call her Venus, as it’s okay to look at people without clothes if they are mythic and nude. No less a humorist than Mark Twain had a chuckle at such attitudes when in Tramp Abroad he wrote, "There are pictures of nude women which suggest no impure thought -I am well aware of that. I am not railing at such. What I am trying to emphasize is the fact that Titian's Venus is very far from being one of that sort. Without any question it was painted for a bagnio and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong. In truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery.While Twain has a chuckle at the expense of museums, on some level he’s right. For you see Titian’s Venus of Urbino, well, she’s certainly an unconventional woman.

Art in Metamorphoses 
Centuries of Ovid's Influence
Curated by Natalie Dockhorn

Titian, Venus and Adonis, 1554

"And this miraculous baby of his sister,
Sired by his grandpa, just not born of a brush
Barley a boy, in the blink of an eye is a man."
-Ovid's Metamorphoses

Adonis, the child of Myrrha who bedded her father and then transformed into a tree, was born from this tree with the help of the goddess of childbirth, Lucina. Venus immediately falls for the child and takes Adonis under her protection. Venus puts Adonis under Proserpina's care, but she too falls for the child. As this conflict of interest arises, Jupiter enters the feud and settles the goddesses with an agreement. The agreement stated that Adonis would spend part of the year with Venus and part with Proserpina.

In Metamorphoses, Ovid explains how Venus was pierced with one of cupid's arrows when Adonis was birthed from the tree. Titian's painting of Adonis struggling to leave Venus illustrates the lust Venus feels for the boy. Also, painted in the background by the tree we see Cupid sleeping and his arrows hanging in the tree. Adonis, probably off to his other maiden, Proserpina, looks at Venus without much attraction, but rushing to leave her. Venus, literally lovestruck by Cupid's arrow begs for her love to stay. The phenomenon is strange to me because of the back story. I mean Adonis' mother, who is also his sister, and who's grandpa is also his father, came from a tree to be sort of mothered by Venus, who then also falls in love with him. That sort of incest is hard to come back from, I can only imagine the struggles.

Instadeath
The Good Thief
Curated by Alex McDonald

Titian, The Good Thief, 1563

Titian, Rape of Europa, 1562

I am confused, amazed, and confused. I know the rape of Europa. I know that Jupiter falls in love with her and takes her away from her family and home and brings her to Crete to have his way with her. I know that he does all of this in the form of a white bull, and I know that this sexual act, like most sexual acts form gods, had a purpose. In this case, the rape of Europa was to raise Europe. She would give birth to Minos after this consummation, and he would begin to build Europe. So yes, I know the story. But, what amazes me about this piece is how fearless Titian portrays some dangerous emotions in this saddening scene, or what I thought was supposed to be a saddening scene.

The opposition and contrast of all of these emotions pull me in every direction. From the sky clearing at one end to the dangers of a storm in another, to Europa's fear and sexuality in her body language. I cannot tell whether or not Titian enjoys or hates this, whether he is condoning Jupiter, or damning him for kidnapping Europa. She clearly has some fear, fear for falling into the dark ocean beneath her and of her attacker, but her position and glance towards the cupids suggest her excitement as well. Titian paints her with her clothing barley draped over her body and clinging on to Jupiter because it is what she must do to not fall to another fate. She accepts and appears ready to meet her other fate with Jupiter in Crete.

Titian's colors suggest warmth and darkness. They bring light and happiness with the brightness of the sky, and the background matched with the red in her clothing flows away from her. The darkness that they travel towards matches the deep colors of the ocean. All of this contrast makes this piece so interesting for Titian to paint for Philip II. In Spain, Phillip II had many religious and mythological paintings from Titian. He used Titian's mastery to help illuminate his own masculinity and image. The Rape of Europa perfectly illustrates this with the masculinity of the white bull taking control of the scene and Europa. Though I am a little confused about Titian's feelings towards this event, I do love this piece and all of the levels Titian brings to it by contradicting famous stories and bringing new light to them.

Titian, Concert In The Open Air, 1510

Imagine living in New York City. A Sunday afternoon, you wander aimlessly through the Central Park. You see people playing guitar. You would have walked right by during the weekdays, but this is Sunday, and the weather is nice, you are not in a rush. So you sit down and enjoy. There are people jogging in their colorful shorts and sleeveless tank tops, which you find annoying. So you close your eyes. It's funny that the city is different in your head: the skyscrapers fade and the country opens out and falls into the woods; maybe there is a shepherd, but definitely no people jogging. The only thing left in your head that once belongs to the city is the sound of the guitar and the feeling of a cool, fresh Sunday afternoon. This is Concert In The Open Air, only 500 years later.

The painting very much embodies the manneristic style of sixteenth-century Venice. In its gentle and blurred line, it depicts two young men, friends perhaps, sharing their appreciation about music and poetry, while companied by two nude, yet graceful women. Considering the fact that the men are well dressed in front of their naked female confidants, it is arguable if the women exist but in their imagination. However, unarguably, the woman with the vase represents the muse of tragic poetry, and the woman with the flute that of pastoral poetry. 

The composition in this painting is deliberately designed. The line of the human figures, the hillside slopes, and the branches of the trees form diagonal, parallel and intersecting patterns, which act with the vertical lines formed by the basin, tree trunk and houses in the background. All together they make the painting natural, peaceful and frameless. When looking at the painting, one cannot help longing an Arcadian lifestyle, not of the vulgar life of the shepherds in the middle ground, but of the serene leisure filled with cultivated grace in the foreground. This is Concert In The Open Air.

Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538

For a quick moment, try not to look at the evident sexuality here. Titian clearly created this as a tribute to his friend/master Giorgione, who created a strikingly similar Sleeping Venus in 1510. The piece was commissioned by the Duke of Urbino Guidobaldo II Della Rovere to serve as a teaching model for his young wife. The Duke, concerned that his new wife would be unaware of her "marital obligations," wanted Titian to create a woman exemplary of what he was looking for from his bride.

The piece itself has become rather infamous, probably because of how... out there Venus is. Her gaze aims directly at the viewer, her entire demeanor upsetting the almost voyeuristic feel of the scene portrayed, with the curtain behind the model, possibly a posing courtesan, on a bed. Simply studying her posture is even implicating, with her unabashed swagger and immodest pose. If you've got it...

Titan, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520

You know what really sucks? Having to leave your family to follow your heart and your boyfriend. You know what is even worse? Having to help him escape a minotaur and risking your life to do so. Want to know the really,really bad part? Having him abandon you on the island, Naxos. Yeah, sucks to by Ariadne. But, as usual love finds a way into her life once again in the form of the god of merriment and drinking, Bacchus.

Titian painted Bacchus and Ariadne in 1520 for the Duke Alfonso’s private dining room. Titian was not the only artist to do a piece of art work for the Duke, he also commissioned artists like Bellini to add to his collection of art inspired by classical mythology. There is something rich and rewarding when feasting your eyes on this Titian. The movement that Titian gives the painting truly helps encompass the viewer in the scene. As the entourage following Bacchus push toward Ariadne, she pushes outward helping add to a circular flow in the painting. She reaches out to the sea for her “love” who has abandoned her without any means of getting off the island. She locks eyes with Bacchus who is in mid-leap to embrace the woman he has become infatuated with. The scene takes on a joyous feel as the cheetahs, satyrs, and other uncommon friends join in the merriment of the moment. The colors bring the tantalizing feeling of new love to life. The blue hues in the sky and Ariadne's dress are a breath of fresh air to the mellow, darker colors on the right of the painting.

Above in the night sky is a starry crown in which Bacchus transfixed in the sky after Ariadne’s death. When they were married, he gave her a golden crown, and he wanted the world to forever remember the love they shared. Now if that’s not love, I don’t know what is. That bad day just got better.