Learn About Titian in Art History. View His Art and Famous Paintings
Titian, "Votive Portrait of the Vendramin Family(Detail)", 1543-47
Titian, 1485-1576, one of Italy’s famous artists in art history
painted three famous, rather
orgiastic paintings designed for a pleasure chamber owned by the Duke of
Ferrara, in 1518-23. The first art painting is "Festival of Venus", painted in 1518-19.
Amorous
and hungry Cupids are everywhere busy
collecting golden apples kissing each other in front of the statue Venus.
Another Cupid shoots love arrows while a
maenad reaches out toward Venus holding a mirror.
Titian’s second painting is "Bacchanal of
the Andrians", painted in 1520.The inhabitants of the
island of Andros are under the influence of wine and love. Different
stages of
inebriation cause them to do a variety of different things. The figure on
the far left hasn't
had enough wine and has the entire jug to himself. The female figure in
the right
foreground lies naked and satiated, while the local God lies drunk on a
distant hill.
The third famous painting, "Bacchus and
Ariadne"1522-23, pictures Bacchus swiftly springing
from his chariot to save Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus.The God is attended
by a rowdy band of drunken maenads clashing cymbals.
Titian was the first painter in modern times to loosen the
exactness of his brushwork.
He converted the atmospheric art perspective into expressions of emotion
and surface
tension. He would apply paint over a pre-painted reddish ground
giving his colors warmth, then adding layers of glaze softening and
harmonizing the colors.
Experiencing a kind of artful rebirth, and a compositional change, He
painted three
biblical scenes, in 1542. The paintings were intensely active. The
figures were monumental, heroic, muscular figures, all in life
threatening circumstances.
In "Cain Killing Able", "Sacrifice of Isaac", and in "David and
Goliath" the point of view is startlingly low.
The viewer is
beneath the action watching as the figures twist and
turn across the picture plane. The clouds, the atmosphere, as well as the
figures, are interpenetrated by light and color adding to the emotional
mood of the
artwork.
Toward the last part of Titian's career in art history, his
brushwork became freer. Lines
softened using quick broader brushstrokes losing their linear integrity.
An example is "Danae", painted in 1554.
Jupiter is showing love toward Danae
showering her with golden coins while a greedy, ugly, maidservant reaches
out
with her apron stealing some of the coins.Looser brushwork adds emotion
and drama to the artwork.
He blurred spatial relationships between foreground and background in
the "Rape
of Europe", 1559-62.
The sky, mountains, water, and foreground all
fuse together in a
colorful atmospheric art effect. Variations of these characteristics are
visible in his
paintings the remainder of his life.
Another of Titian's famous paintings "Crowning with Thorns", painted in 1570, creates a
compositional art
drama with the bright white highlight of Christ's clothing and quick
active
brushstrokes.
He leads us into and through the action with the light from Christ's
clothing attracting our
eye to the center of the painting. Pulled back to the foreground figure
we
follow his upraised arm holding a weapon rallying the attackers.
Our eye moves to the muscular figure on the left who fends off a driving
blow
from the upraised arms of the fighter on the right and back again to the
head of
Christ.
In his more formal art compositions, he uses all sorts of triangles
and diagonals to
balancing his compositions and moving the viewers throughout his
paintings.
Another of Titian's famous paintings in art history "Entombment", was painted in 1576.
Moses is high on the
left, and
Mary is on the right carrying the cross. Beneath Mary and the lion head
is a small
picture of him praying with his son. Directly to the left is his
recognizable face
playing the part of Saint Jerome. A putto holds Mary
Magdalen's oil jar, while she raises her arm in grief at the death of
Jesus Christ.
Left of the flying putto is a mosaic of a pelican striking
its breast, a traditional symbol of Christ's sacrifice for mankind. Other
famous artists of the Renaissance period are Giorgione and Raphael.
To view selected paintings and increase their size, click on the graphics below
