Tiziano Vecellio – Historian or Pleaser of Patrons?

Pope Paul III without a Cap, Titian, 1543, oil on canvas, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. 

Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Titian, 1536-1538, oil on canvas, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy.

Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg, Titian, 1548, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Tiziano Vecellio (known as Titian in English speaking countries) was able to capture a subject’s “ideal” persona when he painted them. Giorgio Vasari said “there was almost no famous lard, nor prince, nor great woman, who was not painted by Titian.” One must wonder then, if Titian painted to please his patrons, or if he painted to accurately depict them. Based on historical evidence of those Titian portrayed other than the paintings themselves, I will discover if Titian’s paintings were accurate displays of the character of his subjects, or if they were simply masterpieces whose accuracy was altered just to please his patrons.

                Titian was a famous artist during the Italian High Renaissance. He was known at the time for his use of color and his ability to recreate textures in his paintings. He got his training in Venice and became an independent artist around 1508. He befriended author Pietro Aretino, who would acquire many commissions for the artist.

                Titian was not afraid to depict his subjects as they truly were, no matter how powerful they were. His depictions of Pope Paul III portray the Pope as a conniving man, who seems to revel in having so much power. Phillips writes “During his visit to Rome Titian apparently got to know his hosts, the Farnese, rather well; at least the evidence of this unfinished group portrait of the pope and his grandsons would seem to indicate that the painter was intimately aware of the political dissension and scheming that divided the family”. He continues with “More accurately than a mirror, his portrait of Pope Paul III shows us one of the most powerful men of that age, and depicts him as the wily, suspicious, and consummately political figure that he was.”

                Titian depicted others as well. He depicts King Charles V as a proud soldier after winning a battle, but ignores suggestions to glorify him due to the feat that he accomplished in the battle. The Duke of Urbino is depicted as the condottiere he was, but also as the man who was past his prime. The Duke passed away shortly after the portrait was finished. He depicted Charles V’s son Philip II as he was, and Philip was so displeased that he wrote a letter to his aunt about how poor it was.

                Tiziano Vecellio accurately depicted his subjects’ character, persona, and physical attributes accurately. He did not allow the power of his subjects and patrons alter his depictions of them. As Philips wrote “Titian was a painter whose purpose ultimately served not his patrons but art itself.”

Response Prompts – Do #1 and any combination of the others:

1.     1. Was there anything in my summary or presentation that was unclear or that should be expanded on?

2.      2. Is it legitimate to say, with the amount of information known, to say whether or not Titian accurately depicted the character of his subjects?

3.     3. Do you believe Titian accurately depicted the character of his subjects?

4.     4. On any picture posted above, write about the first impression you get of the character in the portrait.

Olympia's Look

In Olympia’s Look, Susan Vreeland describes the strife Edouard Manet’s wife Suzanne went through surrounding his death. As a Dutch woman in France, she felt unattractive, due not only to her build, but also due to her lack of mastery of the language. Whether her feelings were due to the actions of her husband, or her husband’s actions were due to her supposed unattractiveness, he was a very large flirt with many women of Paris. Despite all of this, Suzanne was a very obedient wife. Her Dutch upbringing had taught her that there was nothing more sacred than the bond between man and wife, while her husband lived by the French lifestyle.

                Suzanne Manet’s obedience as a wife is portrayed by Vreeland in a couple instances. While going through the pain and suffering of syphilis, Edouard is always cared for by his wife. When going to scorn Victorine Meurent, she describes how she nursed him through his illness, and that many women would not have the strength to do so. How she had talked him through his night terrors, knowing her own were only moments away. All this was due to a letter Victorine had sent shortly after the funeral, requesting money Edouard had promised her. In Vreeland’s story, Suzanne knew that an obedient wife would carry out her husband’s promise, no matter how opposed to it as she was. The story makes it seem as though she would have also, if Olympia had sold for a large amount.

                Not only was Suzanne Manet an obedient wife, she was also a very strong woman. In the story, Suzanne is very subdued to her husband, which I believe was due to her view of the sanctity of marriage, and the position she felt a wife should hold. However, she is shown to have a very strong personality. When she suspects her husband’s infidelity and sees him slip a letter to Helene, she is very demanding of the woman. The pain she had felt due to her husband’s many “collaborators” drove her to adopt an even more steadfast personality. She became very independent after his passing. She had arranged an auction of the paintings to supplement her income. She also portrayed her strong character when confronting Victorine Meurent. In no uncertain terms she had told her that she was merely a “fling” of Edouards, and would never, nor could ever hold the intimate position of being his wife. Suzanne even retold the amputation just to punish Victorine, and in a way as he had cared for Victorine, her husband. As the adopted quote from William Congreve’s “The Mourning Bride” says; “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

                Vreeland does give a sense of who Suzanne will become. This is done through a few events. The arrangement of the auction and her starting the fire with no hesitation shows that she is very independent and most likely will spend the rest of her life alone, only because she is perfectly capable of living without the help of someone else. Her gentle demeanor towards Albert gives the sense that she will not shut herself off completely from the world and Edouard’s family. Finally, her sense of regret of describing the amputation to Victorine and adding Collaborator  to Isabelle’s letter, then sending it, show that she has a sense of closure with her husband’s exploits and will not live the rest of her life filled with bitterness.

                The only criticism I have of Vreeland’s writing is the same that many had expressed about The Yellow Jacket. Her transitions are very ethereal, if existent at all, which makes Olympia’s Look very hard to follow if one doesn’t already have a large amount of knowledge of the artist at hand, in this case Edouard Manet.

Who is that Person? Revealed

Titian. Pietro Aretino. Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy.
Italian Renaissance Art. 1 Feb. 2009
  http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Titian.html

MLA

"Pietro Aretino." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Britannica.com. 2 Feb. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/33552/Pietro-Aretino >.

From this source I found a very concise background of Pietro Aretino. He was born in 1492 and lived until he was 62. He lived in Italy and spent his life as a poet, writer, and dramatist. He was known as quite the rebel of his time. His real name is not known, but he created the name he is known by while posing as the bastard son of a noble. In his younger years he tried his hand as a painter. He then moved to Rome and did what he was most well known for, writing “Lewd Sonnets” (Sonnetti lussuriosi). These sonnets were the reason he was forced to leave Rome. While there he had also written satirical works of notable people. He had gained most of his wealth through gifts of kings and nobles who feared the political damage he could do with his writing. He was close friends of the painter Titian, who painted many portraits of him, including the one I speculated on for this assignment.

"Pietro Aretino." Mark Harden's Artchive. 1 Feb. 2009
<http://www.artarchiv.net/doku/museum/Aretino.htm>.

This source spoke of the salacious works of Aretino and all the controversy he created. It explains how he had become known as one of the lewdest and wittiest writers throughout Italy. He did this by writing a fake last will and testament as if it were for Pope Leo X’s pet elephant. In it he had willed the animal’s genitals to a cardinal. One of his most famous works were sonnets he wrote in 1524 to accompany Giuliano Romano’s drawings of sixteen sexual positions. There work together “produced one of history’s most notorious works of erotic art” as the source states. Even Casanova refers to this work of Aretino’s in his memoirs over 200 years later. Aretino was nearly imprisoned for these works. A print version of these ‘Sonnetti Lussuriosi’ along with drawings was created and quickly burned by the Church, leaving none to survive. 

Paolucci, Antonio. "The Portraits of Titian." Mark Harden's Artchive. 2 Feb 2009 .

This source analyzed some of Titian’s works and even included some quotes from Aretino. It tells how Aretino wrote of Titian’s “sense of things in his brush” and then goes on to state that these things were not only physical features of the subject, but of the things that should be highlighted and those that should be subtle which insinuated the social or political standing of the subject. Titian had a sense of creating the “ideal persona of the individual” which concisely made up the subject’s identity to both subject and viewer. It goes on to say that Aretino wrote that his own portrait was “more than a veristic or psychological likeness which breathes, whose pulse throbs and spirit moves in the way I do in life.” Aretino obviously approved of his friends depiction of himself. The portrait depicts Aretino’s “emotional violence, of an irreverent and corrosive intelligence.” 

Children of the Screen

                We are indeed children of the screen as Baylon writes. There is an inordinate amount of truth in the statement “the overwhelming influence in society is the media.” As seen in the reaction of society, many will believe whatever the media tells them to, and adapt the same beliefs of the media. Whether it is due to many unfortunately believing the media is unbiased, or just the sheer amount of media in our environment lambasting us relentlessly, the result is the same. We adopt the media’s beliefs as our own, just as a child does of their parents’. The key word in that statement is child, since it seems as though society automatically accepts what the media says as truth, much like a young child does of their parents, not, like children in adolescence or older who can form their own opinions, sometimes disagreeing with those who raised them. When people go away on vacation, it is not uncommon to hear of how they want to “get away from it all.” However, the moment they come home they indulge in all the offerings of the media such as the news and internet.

Baylon’s concern is just. With the immoderate amount of power the media wields over society in general, all individuality is lost. Just by showing the new hot celebrities wearing a new style of clothing can create a mass wave towards a new fashion line because it is the cool thing to do. Political matters can be decided solely by the producers of a network. If they so choose, they can air scathing reports of propositions and those behind them, and candidates, while praising others.
                As a race, our environment is completely mechanized and produced as Baylon says. No longer is it important for us to adapt to weather changes, all we need to do is sit inside with the thermostat set at 72. If food is running scarce we just import it from another area of the world. Our fight is no longer that of survival, but one of wealth, as we continually see on the screen (subliminally) the happiness that is supposedly brings.

                The photograph included at the end of the essay clearly states Baylon’s fears. The chain around her neck shows the strength of the bounds the screen (media) has us in. The duct tape over the mouth emulates that we have no voice, but must listen to that of the media’s. The neutral color of the gray makeup and the lack of hair, clothes, and colors show the individuality that is lost by someone when everyone conforms to the norms of the media. The blank screen in the background makes me think that nothing else is important to the individual other than the next program to come on.

Transient Beauty

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a very well written, timeless movie. It tells the story of a man whose soul ages in a portrait, while his appearance stays his innocent twenty-two year old self. The message this film addresses is that beauty is transient and that any attempt to make it anything other than that leads to the corruption of one's self. This true beauty comes from innocence.

                In the scene that I like Lord Henry describes how this innocence can be stricken away when trying to hide from oneself. When Dorian first meets Lord Henry, Basil entreats him to not listen to a word he says, as he is a bad influence. When Dorian asks him if he really is a bad influence, Lord Henry replies “There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral-immoral from the scientific point of view.” Dorian of course inquires further, and Lord Henry continues with “Because to influence as person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly-that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays…” This turns to be true at the end of the movie, that people are afraid of themselves, as Dorian is afraid of the true man he becomes, as he can see in his portrait.

                The most important part of this scene though is when the portrait is finally revealed to Dorian himself. Basil and Lord Henry never cease commenting on his beauty while looking at the final portrait, and Basil insists the portrait painted itself, as if it were guiding his hand. When Dorian finally laid his eyes on the portrait, the scene is shot in color, showing the true innocence of Dorian’s soul, and the last of his innocence at that. The beauty Basil and Lord Henry had been commenting on, whether they were aware of it or not, was of Dorian’s soul, not his earthly body.

                When Dorian sees this beauty, and hears Lord Henry speaking of how transient it really is, he says “If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” And thus Dorian seals his fate of destroying his innocence with the immorality that comes from eluding the brevity of beauty.

Who is that Person?

Written as a narrative by the subject in picture 14

With a heavy heart I sit here in my employer’s cellar. The life of a scholar I chose, but never did I imagine I would be here in this hopelessly dark room. I am not a slave, though sometimes my occupation leads me to believe I am. I will stay here going over my research for who knows how long (months, years, my entire lifetime?) only for my employer to publish my work as his own. It is not all hopeless however. The room and board I receive are more than I can ask for in these trying times, and I am not fighting for my life as a soldier or working myself to exhaustion as a blacksmith.

                I’m taking a break from my work pondering my life. As a child I dreamt of raising my own family on the land my father tilled as I took over the farm. However, in school mathematics dazzled me, and I was able to advance quickly enough to gain acceptance to Oxford. Tuition was far too expensive for a child raised on a farm however. Luckily, a wealthy man who had heard of my predicament offered to help me with my fiscal troubles, as long as I agreed to work for him after I graduated. All I wanted was to explore the vast, unexplored world of math, and this man was my gateway to that world.

                If only I had known what I was getting myself into. Ever since I graduated I have lived in his manor’s cellar working on my theories. Only after I was published for the first time did I realize abhorrently large mistake I had made by accepting his offer. I was introduced to my fellow mathematicians as my employer’s assistant! The mathematics journal, with my theory, held his name, not mine. When I confronted him he said that I was in his debt, and such was only fair. I don’t know if I will ever be able to pay off my debt. I cannot leave, as I do not have the skills to avoid detection of those he will surely send to seek me out. Nor do I have the money, as my wage consists of a place to sleep and food in my stomach.  I even sill wear this old blue jacket that my mother had gotten me for my interview with Oxford.

What is bothering me right now however, is my yearning for a wife and family. If I had chosen a different path would I have a family now? I fear it is too late now to begin a family. I am almost forty, yet the years I have spent solving equations by candlelight make my eyes appear as if I am sixty. I could never hope to charm the golden haired woman I see when I go out. Even if I could, how would I provide for a family? The reimbursement I receive for my work is just enough to support myself alone, and I have spent too much of my life on these algorithms to give up now.

This is what I have devoted my life to. These numbers and variables are my wife and children, these equations my land, and these theories my harvest.

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