Titian's Portrait of a Man Holding a Book
2012; American Medical Association; Volume: 14; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1001/archfaci.2012.955
ISSN1538-3660
Autores Tópico(s)Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
ResumoArchives of Facial Plastic SurgeryVol. 14, No. 5 Free AccessTitian's Portrait of a Man Holding a BookEmily B. CollinsEmily B. CollinsCorrespondence: Ms Collins, 12 E 88th St, New York, NY 10128 (E-mail Address: emilybcollins@gmail.com).Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:3 Sep 2012AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Titian therefore, who has adorned with great pictures the city of Venice, or rather all Italy and other parts of the world, deserves the love and respect of all craftsmen, who ought to admire and imitate him in many things. For he is a painter who has produced and is still producing works which command unstinted praise and will live as long as the memory of illustrious men endures”Giorgio Vasari, 1568ref-qbe120003-1(p462)Sometimes an artist becomes so famous and such an integral part of the art historical cannon that it is hard to imagine that they were more famous in their own lifetime. Titian (about 1488 to August 27, 1576) is one of the most famous artists to emerge from the Italian Renaissance, a period that was characterized by a staggering amount of talent. His talent was one that was recognized and celebrated by his peers and contemporaries. Titian was born in the Alpine region of what is now Italy but was then a border area between Venice and the Holy Roman Empire. He was born with the name Tiziano Vecellio, later to be shortened to Titian. Titian was such an important painter that legends were invented about him. According to one such story, at the age of 8 years Titian chose to abandon the boyish games of his young friends in order to distill colors from the juices of flowers and then use the colors he made to paint a picture of the Madonna, talented and pious young man that he was. Although the story was retold many times, it was finally discredited in the late 1800s.ref-qbe120003-2(p7)Although this flattering story was fictitious, Titian did begin his art career at a very young age. He was sent out to begin his apprenticeship as an artist at an age when today's children are beginning third grade. Sources differ on Titian's first apprenticeship; some state that it was with a mosaics master, while others say that he began studying with a minor painter named Sebastiano Zuccato.ref-qbe120003-2(p12),ref-qbe120003-3(p1) Regardless of his first position as an apprentice, he was soon a member (early biographies say by age 9 years) of the workshop of Giovanni Bellini (circa 1430-1516), the foremost painter of the early Italian Renaissance and a member of the Bellini family of artists. Because of this influence Titian's early work is often described as “Bellini-esque,” although Titian was also heavily influenced by the artist Giorgione (1477/1478 to 1510).ref-qbe120003-2(p12)Titian would first earn fame by requesting to be the artist of a battle scene for the Great Council Hall of the Ducal Palace in Venice. The importance of the assignment was so great that Titian agreed to do the work for free. There was, however, a problem with this offer. The work had already been promised to Titian's former master, Bellini. The only way that Titian could have the commission was to wait for the death of Bellini, which is what everyone decided to do.ref-qbe120003-3(p2) While he waited, Titian was building his reputation. Throughout the 1520s and 1530s his fame as a top painter grew. He also, either by chance or shrewdness, became acquainted with the right people. On February 24, 1530, Charles V, king of Spain, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands, traveled to Bologna to become the Holy Roman Emperor. Titian's patron, the Marquess Frederico II Gonzaga, was given the title of Duke of Mantua, with the assent of Charles V. Gonzaga arranged for Titian to travel to Mantua and then to Bologna to paint the coronation portrait of Charles. By 1533, Titian was knighted by the Emperor as “Knight of the Golden Spur and Count of the Lateran Palace.” All of this fame and time spent working for the emperor meant that Titian did not really have time to work on unpaid commissions. Bellini had died about 20 years prior at this point, and Titian had to be forced to complete the battle scene for the Great Council Hall that he had promised to do for free. Unfortunately, these frescoes were lost to a fire in 1577.ref-qbe120003-3(p2)The identity of the gentleman in the portrait shown herein is not known. There is an inscription on the back of the canvas that identifies the sitter as Giovanni Paolo Baglione of Perugia. Baglione, however, died in 1520, and a date that would place the painting within his lifetime would be too early to reflect Titian's development in style. Although the sitter's name is unknown, we can learn something of him from what we know of Titian and his work. The man must have been important. By this point in his career, Titian was painting the Holy Roman Emperor and around the date of the portrait shown herein (circa 1540) he also painted the first of 3 portraits of Pope Paul III while the Pope was on his way to Bologna to meet the Holy Roman Emperor. Titian was literally positioned at the nexus of power in 16th century Europe, and so it is not too much of a leap to assume that this man was as well. Another clue to the type of man whose image we see herein is the attention paid to his clothes by Titian. The man is very finely dressed. His doublet has very fashionable slits in it, which was designed so the luxurious fabric worn underneath the doublet could be pulled through and shown off as well. His collar and cuffs are fine lace accentuated with pearls. This was a man of significant means. We might also read into his choice of the color black for the man's clothing. Black was considered to be of the Spanish taste and may indicate the home country of the sitter or simply the rise in popularity of Spanish styles of dress with the rise in power of Charles V. The placement of a book in his left hand was no doubt meant to convey that not only was this gentleman wealthy but also educated and well read.Titian imitated his patrons and their love of glamour. He lived a luxurious life in a palace known as Casa Grande. The parties he threw there were referred to as bacchanalian.ref-qbe120003-3(p5) In such plentiful surroundings, it is hard to believe that Titian often had to fight tooth and nail to get the great patrons he was working for to pay for his work. He always had to write to the Emperor and to other great and wealthy families, like the Farneses, to request payment for works long finished. Unfortunately, the great wars that made Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor also bankrupted the Hapsburg family. It seems that much like today, everyone was living on too much credit.Titian continued to paint the who's who of Europe until his death in 1547. The plague was running rampant at the time, and special permission had to be granted for Titian to even be given his own grave. The elaborate plans for a monument to him had to be put on hold as well, and, unfortunately, it seems from archaeological evidence that the monument was never begun. A monument does not make an artist, though, and, with or without a beautiful display in stone, Titian looms large in the mind of all of those who have studied his work, contemplated his brush strokes, or even admired the work of all of those who followed and learned from this great Renaissance master.Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (about 1488 to 1576). Portrait of a Man Holding a Book, about 1540. Oil on canvas. 38½×30⅜ in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. Charles Potter Kling Fund, 43 83.Financial Disclosure: None reported.REFERENCESVasari G. Lives of the Artists.. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin; 1965 Google ScholarHumfrey P. The Complete Paintings.. New York, NY: Harry N Abrams Inc; 2007 Google ScholarWethey H. The Paintings of Titian II: The Portraits.. London, England: Phaidon Press Ltd; 1971 Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 14Issue 5Sep 2012 InformationCopyright 2012 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. Applicable FARS/DFARS Restrictions Apply to Government Use.To cite this article:Emily B. Collins.Titian's Portrait of a Man Holding a Book.Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.Sep 2012.376-376.http://doi.org/10.1001/archfaci.2012.955Published in Volume: 14 Issue 5: September 3, 2012PDF download
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