Titian’s Early Masterpiece that Illustrates a Political and Moral Controversy
While nobody knows exactly when Titian was born, his active professional life started around 1506 and continued to his death in 1576 – that’s seventy years of painting. Titian may have been close to 90 years old when he died of the plague. He studied art in Venice under Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and his style was heavily influenced by Giorgione. Titian became the undisputed master of Venetian painting, receiving orders from the Dukes of Ferrara, Gonzaga, and Urbino, and later from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V himself. He became the principal painter at the court of Charles V, and later his son, Philip II of Spain. What made Venetian painting stand out even among the other masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance was the Venetian approach of prioritizing color, above the line and drawing. The Venetians favored glowing, jewel-like tones. This was made possible by the fact that Venice was an important center of trade at the time, bringing together wares from al...