Titian

• 1488-1576• Greatest of the Venetian

artists• Trained under Belinni and

Giogione• Famous for the “tonal

approach” to painting landscapes

• Characteristics:– pastoral landscapes– Rich, tonal and golden quality– Untamed beauty contrasting

with carefully balanced arrangements

Titian [employed] a great mass of colors, which served . . . as a base

for the compositions. . . . I too have seen some of these, formed with

bold strokes made with brushes laden with colors, sometimes of a

pure red earth, which he used, so to speak, for a middle tone, and at

other times of white lead; and with the same brush tinted with red,

black and yellow he formed a highlight; and observing these principles

he made the promise of an exceptional figure appear in four

brushstrokes. . . . Having constructed these precious foundations he

used to turn his pictures to the wall and leave them there without

looking at them, sometimes for several months. When he wanted to

apply his brush again he would examine them with the utmost rigor

. . . to see if he could find any faults. . . . In this way, working on the

figures and revising them, he brought them to the most perfect symmetry

that the beauty of art and nature can reveal. . . . [T]hus he

gradually covered those quintessential forms with living flesh, bringing

them by many stages to a state in which they lacked only the

breath of life. He never painted a figure all at once and . . . in the last

stages he painted more with his fingers than his brushes.

Titian. Christ Crowned with Thorns. C. 1570. Oil on canvas, 9’2”x6”. Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Titian. Bacchanal. C. 1518. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid

Counter-Reformation

• Council of Trent (1543-1565)

• Attempts to address the Reformation (1517-1648)– Ecclesiastical reconfiguration– Religious orders (such as the

newly created cuppuchinorders)

– Spiritual Movements– Political reform

• Works in the Papal States are commissioned to combat the iconoclasm and growing protestant movements in the North.

Protestant Reformation (Summary)

• Great Schism (1378-1416)

• Reformation predeccors

– John Wycliffe at Oxford

– Jan Hus in Prague

• Council of Constance (1414) and the death of Jan Hus

• An Augustinian monk travels to Rome in 1510 hoping to find spiritual enlightenment

Martin Luther

• German Priest (1483-1546)

• Realizes several corruptions in Rome:– Selling of indulgences (Johann

Tetzel)

– Critic of Sixtus IV (Pazzi Conspiracy) and Alexander VI (Orgy Pope)

• Utilized the newly invented printing press (Gutenberg) to bring the message to the populace

• Ultimately reforms the system by which people receive salvation

• Translates the Bible into German

Michelangelo. The Last Judgment. 1534-1541

Mannerism

• Maniera (Style) referingto the characteristic or representative mode– It’s style is represented by

its style

• Elegance of pose• Tension of natural and

“stylized” or representative

• Exaggerated body types• Imbalanced compositions• Ambigious space

Jacopo da Pontormo, Entombment of Christ, CapponiChapel, Santa Felicità, Florence, Italy, 1525–1528. Oil on wood, 10 3 6 4.

Fiorentino. The Descent from the Cross. 1521. Oil on panel.

Parmigianino,Madonna with the Long Neck, from the BaiardiChapel, Santa Maria dei Servi, Parma, Italy, 1534–1540. Oil on wood,7 1 4 4. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

North Italian Realism

• Mannerism does not dominate beyond Florence and Rome

• In the North, many continue to develop the style of Titian

• Characteristics:

– Titian Sfumato with a stronger emphasis on charioscurro

– Vibrant and vivacious human content

– Emphasis on everday life

Correggio. The Assumption of the Virgin. Dome, Parma Cathedral, Italy

Correggio. Jupiter and Io. C. 1532. Oil on canvas,