This week we will look at the relevance of literature to the art of the period and how painting during the Renaissance reflects clear changes in literary taste. Depictions of Greek and Roman mythologies became a frequent and popular source material, as both patrons and artists became more familiar with classical sources and stories. Depictions of these could reflect a patron’s erudition and awareness of the antique or relate heroic stories of the past to glorious events of the present. Mythological paintings often thereby become important tools for the display of power and wealth.

We will examine mythological imagery in the National Gallery’s 16th-century collection with a particular focus on Titian’s paintings created for one of the most important and prestigious collections in Europe, that of King Philip II of Spain. These ambitious poesie, as Titian named them, were intended to be the visual equivalents of poetry, drawing upon classical subjects which underlined Philip’s sophistication, yet also appealing to his predilection for sensual subject matter.

After the break we will be joined by guest lecturer Deborah Howard, Professor Emerita of Architectural History in the University of Cambridge, who will discuss Venice’s relationship with the East. Trade with the Eastern Mediterranean was the lifeblood of the Venetian Republic from the start. The eastward voyages of merchants, pilgrims and ambassadors infused the city’s maritime culture and coloured its townscape. This lecture will consider reflections of this eastern perspective on the art and architecture of the city, with particular emphasis on the paintings of Gentile Bellini and Vittore Carpaccio

Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520-3. National Gallery, London.

De mythologische Poesie-serie van Titiaan ontrafeld

Een van de beroemdste mythologische reeksen is de Poesie-serie van Titiaan. De schilderijen vormen een hoogtepunt in het oeuvre van de schilder. Titiaan (1490-1576) streeft ernaar om van de schilderijen visuele gedichten te maken, die bij de toeschouwers dezelfde meeslepende gevoelens oproepen als poëzie doet. Hij tilt zo de schilderkunst tot het niveau van de literatuur en maakt eens te meer duidelijk dat schilderen niet alleen maar een ambacht is. Titiaan noemt de serie liefkozend Poesie.

Titian’s Poesie reframed by the National Gallery for the exhibition, Titian: love, desire, death

De dood van Acteaon is nooit afgeleverd aan koning Filips II. Titiaan begint in 1559 aan dit werk en werkt er het langst aan. Het doek is vluchtig, de verfstreken zijn losser. In deze late Poesie verdwijnen Actaeon en de honden haast in het bos op de achtergrond. De bomen lijken te wijken voor de woedende Diana en de lucht is stormachtig donker. Door de vluchtige penseelstreken lijkt het hele schilderij in beweging. In deze periode staat Titiaan bekend om deze lossere toets en de werken die hij dan maakt worden inspiratiebronnen voor schilders als Rubens, Velazquez en Rembrandt. Sommigen lijken zelfs onaf en worden daarom aangeduid met de term non finito.

Titiaan, De verkrachting van Europa, 1559–62, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Titiaan’s schilderijen

voor de erotische collectie van de Spaanse koning

"The Danaë and the Shower of Gold" comprises at least five oil-on-canvas paintings by the Venetian master Titian🎨, completed between 1540-1570. The works are based on the mythological princess Danaë. According to Ovid she was isolated in a bronze dungeon following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father.

Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus (in Roman mythology Jupiter), who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to entice her as a shower of gold.
The first version, now in Naples, was painted between 1544-46. Titian executed a later version on commission from the art-loving Spanish monarch Philip II. Titian and his workshop produced at least five versions of the painting, which vary to degrees. The dog resting at Danaë's side is absent in some versions, while her companion is a god in some and a haggish nursemaid in others. In all, Danaë is depicted as a voluptuous figure. Her legs are open in all, with her left leg arched; this being a central painterly motif in each.

Part 2: Deborah Howard ‘Venice and the East’

Caterina Vilioni’s tomb in Yangzhou

In 1951, a late medieval Christian tombstone with Latin inscriptions was discovered during road construction at the south gate of Yangzhou (扬州市) in current-day Jiangsu province in eastern China. It survives in excellent condition, and only the bottom of the grey stone slab has been broken off. According to the inscription, the tombstone commemorated the death of Caterina Vilioni, daughter of Domenico Vilioni, in June 1342. While no other surviving written sources attest to the existence of Caterina, her funerary monument is a rare and important testimony to the presence of western European Christianity in Yuan China (1271–1368 C.E.).