Titian at the National Gallery

Note: This is a write-up on Italian Renaissance masterpieces of the National Gallery.

In 2022, I saw the monument to Titian in the “Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari”.

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The Death of Actaeon

Love the action and drama. And there is an beautiful “lightness” to the crepuscular setting and colours which adds to the beauty & dramatic effect.

From Romano-greek mythology, the legendary hunter Actaeon intruded on the sacred grove inhabited by Diana — goddess of the hunt — and accidentally saw her naked. She then transformed him into a stag, and huntsman Actaeon is punished by being torn to pieces by his own hounds.

I love Diana. Her beautiful hair, the elegance of her wrists and arms as she readies herself for attack. The flowing dress, and the hint of a bosom as her hand moves to recover her privacy. 

Love the figure of the dog chasing through Diana’s legs.

You can see the stag head.

Beautiful in its gilded frame.

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Diana and Actaeon

Beautiful.

Diana about to be startled; with nymphs changing, and one of them pulling on hanging robes to protect Diana.

Beautiful reflective puddles of water. Cute dog. Amazing columns with gargoyles, and Actaeon seeming rather innocent?

This painting is paired with the one below.

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Diana and Callisto

Tragedy & cruelty, but also sensuality. 

Callisto was Diana’s favourite nymph. She was raped by the king of the Gods, Jupiter. Her pregnancy is discovered at the communal bath. For the transgression of chastity, she is banished. Diana painted powerful and condemnatory. 

I notice half of the nymphs seem to be helping Callisto to gather her strength, and clothe her. Callisto’s face is occluded and she seems to have lost her balance. 

The others are by the Goddess Diana, with one clutching arrows and hand resting on a bow.

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Portrait of the Vendramin Family

Love it. I have reviewed it before.

It is a tremendous group portrait. It is beautiful as well as a “history painting” in devotion to a religious relic. There is a story of a cross being presented to Andrea Vendramin who — after it fell into the Venetian canals — jumped in to save it.

I love lynx-fur linings, hair, beards, genuflections, candles flickering in the wind...

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Portrait of a Lady (‘La Schiavona”)

An everlasting gaze?

We do not know who this woman is, but she has an engaging with a direct engagement to the viewer.

The profile relief on the parapet (which was a later addition) repeats her own features.

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Portrait of Gerolamo Barbarigo

This kind of portrait practice solidified Titian’s international reputation.

Gerolamo, the likely sitter, was grandson of Doge Marco Barbarigo. Aged 30, he was the magistrate responsible for navigation. 

He is a nobleman and Titian paints him with a refined intelligence — without seeming contrived.

The blue quilted satin sleeve dominates the picture space, and projects off the canvas and into our space. This subverts the Venetian convention of a parapet giving the illusion of depth.

He appears to be glancing at us ... perhaps from beneath his nose. There is a softness to the beard.

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The Virgin suckling the Infant Christ

Beautiful. Really love it.

A devotional painting which focuses on the Mother’s humility, love and devotion. Also, the sanctity of her milk.

The Virgin gazes tenderly at her infant Christ sitting on her lap in a white cloth — his own face occluded. She seems to be moving him closer to herself. The Christ has cute brown hair, and rosy red cheeks.

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The Aldobrandini Madonna

One of the most touching Madonna and child paintings.

I have reviewed it before:

Typical Renaissance pyramid structure, and nicely balanced with symmetry in the composition, I think. And such an intensely strong arresting vibrant blue. The Virgin sits with elegance and grace. There is a decent perspective against an arcadian vista with an angel soaring high above. The Virgin is accompanied by John the Baptist while Christ is held in such loving tenderness and affection. Both John and Jesus are painted with such innocence and pulchritudinous. This lady’s hair is beautifully arranged with a sumptuous golden piece of cloth about her neck and shoulders.

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Portrait of a Young Man

Classic Titian: the profile intruding the parapet, the sitter’s pose and personality exhibited, the quilted fabrics and silks.

A pensive gaze, and an amazing jawline.

Here the black sleeve against a red section of the sitter holding a kidskin glove. The face seems to glow against the gloomy dark background. 

I wonder what the classical sculptures in the background are intended to convey?

The man’s identity is a mystery.

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The Tribute Money

Love it.

I wrote about this before:

Fascinating. Christ being asked by the Pharisees whether they should pay tax to the Romans.

There is something disembodied in Christ’s eyesight and posture. He doesn’t seem to be addressing the man at all - but rather looking beyond him. It seems the raised arm and elbow might be rebuffing the Pharisees’s coin. Interesting finger, elongated a bit (deliberately?). Smooth, delicate and wrinkle-free. Christ has lovely neat hair, and a glowing complexion with beautiful garments. All set against some vague unrealistic environment of a wall and a sky with clouds. 

The Pharisees’s arm is fascinating. That amazing nuance of his arm’s flesh becoming flaccid with old age; and the muscles protruding under the thin skin. His other hand grasping some other wallet or object. And a spectacled observer in the corner. Then there are the grey hairs of his scalped having been combed; and the blood vessels in his throat.

Beautiful contrast in colours, details and postures; and that pointed finger as a cautionary suggestion.

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Bacchus and Ariadne

Magnificent painting.

Greek mythology.

Princess Ariadne fallen in love with hero Theseus. She helps him to kill the Minotaur on Crete. Theseus then abandoned her while she slept. Distraught, Ariadne went wandering along the shore searching for her lover’s ship. She was surprised by Bacchus, the god of wine. He then fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. He offered her the sky as a wedding gift ... to which she would become a constellation. 

In this painting, Bacchus seems transfixed (even pained and contorted) by love with, Ariadne at first sight ... Ariadne though lamenting her loss (shoreline in the distance). Bacchus was riding a chariot of leopards and seems to have been stumbling out. He is followed by a boisterous crowd, satyr, cute furry animals. Bacchus’s crimson silk so lustrous & magnificent. Ariadne taken aback and afraid (confused?). Her lapis-lazuli tunic so rich and mesmerising.

Their eyes utterly transfixed on each other. Their bodies in anatomical & musical harmony. 

Titian use of colours is masterful. He combined the most vibrant pigments available to him at the time. The conjunction of strongly contrasting colours serves to intensify them.

The ultramarine blue in Titian’s sky was the most intense (and most expensive — sourced from Afghanistan) blue colour of the purest pigment. Titian’s masterpiece was featured on the BBC “A History Of Art In Three Colours” series from 2012. (Go to the 18:00 minute marker).

A guide discussing this painting to the crowds.