The Golden Age of Venetian Painting 1475–1576 / Titian's Mythologies

The century between the advent of Antonello da Messina in 1475 and the death of Titian in 1576 is considered the Golden Age of Venetian painting. What had been a minor regional school achieved international prominence and influenced the future of European art in general for centuries. Central to this achievement was the genius of a succession of painters from Giovanni Bellini and his brother Gentile, Carpaccio, Giorgione, to the great Titian and his younger contemporaries Tintoretto and Veronese. These painters worked in a city undergoing crisis and change: the decline of its maritime empire, the reduction of its monopoly of trade with the East, its near destruction as a state in the early sixteenth century, and the religious turmoil engendered by the Reformation and the reaction of the Roman Church to it. Governed by an oligarchy of merchant nobles who elected a Doge, Venice remained politically stable throughout this turbulent period and continued to flourish economically. The state, the lay confraternities (called scuole) and private individuals provided sufficient patronage and support for a brilliant school of painting to develop in both secular and religious art. The cultural context and history of this school will be studied in eight lectures, followed by a full-day visit to the National Gallery to consider first-hand its outstanding collection of Venetian renaissance paintings.

Titian's reputation soon spread well beyond Venice and he was by the 1520s working for the North Italian rulers like Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara and Federico Gonzaga of Mantua. For the former he produced his vivacious bacchanals, including the 'Bacchus and Ariadne' now in the National Gallery. He was introduced by the latter to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, whose court artist he became in 1532. It was the son of Charles V, King Philip II of Spain, who was to become Titian's principal patron from the 1550s onwards, commissioning from him the 'Poesie' based on Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', two of which now commute between the National Galleries of Scotland and England.

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund