Titian's Later Mythologies Author(s): W. R. Rearick Source: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 17, No. 33 (1996), pp. 23-67 Published by: IRSA s.c. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483551 . Accessed: 18/09/2011 17:13
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http://www.jstor.org W.R. REARICK
Titian'sLater Mythologies
I
Worship of Venus (Madrid,Museo del Prado) in 1518-1519 when the great Assunta (Venice, Frari)was complete and in place. This Seen together, Titian's two major cycles of paintingsof mytho- was followed directlyby the Andrians (Madrid,Museo del Prado), logical subjects stand apart as one of the most significantand sem- and, after an interval, by the Bacchus and Ariadne (London, inal creations of the ItalianRenaissance. And yet, neither his earli- National Gallery) of 1522-1523.4 The sumptuous sensuality and er cycle nor the later series is without lingering problems that dynamic pictorial energy of these pictures dominated Bellini's continue to cloud their image as projected today by scholars and restrained Feastto such a degree that Titianwas, as a last gesture, connoisseurs.1 asked to overpaintpart of its backgroundlandscape with a vision of When GiovanniBellini sent his Feast of the Gods (Washington, wild nature that was more to the modem taste.5 The camerino d'al- National Gallery of Art) to Ferrarain 1514 he clearly had no inten- abastro d Alfonso d'Este was destined to remain intact until 1598 tion of undertakinganother mythologicaltheme for Alfonso d'Este.2 when the pictures were transferredto Rome. Even after their dis- The Feast had been undertakenonly reluctantlyand had occupied persal, the d'Este mythologies would stand as an unparalleledpar- him since 1509; in the last two years of his life he would have been adigm for all artists who undertooksuch themes, most prominently only more resistantto the undertakingof such a demanding project. Poussin and Rubens. And yet, Alfonso had expected an ensemble of paintingsand sculp- So radiantis the example of Titian's Ferrara mythologies that ture intendedto rivalthat of his sister Isabella d'Este in Mantua.He one is suprised to discover that Titian only rarely underook themes decided, as indeed Isabella had decided earlierwhen Mantegna left based on classical legend during the following twenty years. The the third of his mythologies unfinished,to distributefuture commis- unique large scale canvas, the Jupiter and Antiope, called the sions among several artists. Dosso Dossi was called in to contribute Pardo Venus (Paris, Musee du Louvre)was destined for a long ges- one canvas, Fra Bartolommeo was assigned one, and even tation, its composition partly adumbrated around 1512 only to be Raphael was commissioned to add two episodes, works destined to repeatedlyrevised and reworkedup to just before 1564 when Titian remain unrealized.3It was, however,a still younger painterwho was sent it to Philip II to join the already abundant later suite of mytho- called upon to bring the studiolo to completion. Titian painted the logical pictures that will be the subject of this study.6
23 W. R. REARICK
II. Juan de Benevides he reportedthat the canvas was ready for ship- ment.13 In the meantime, Philiphad made the politicallyportentious Philip II remained in his father's shadow as a patronof Titian move of contractingmarriage with Queen Mary Tudor of England. until the aging emperor's retirementto San Yuste in 1555. A few Thus it was that the destination of the Venus and Adonis was years before the artist had depicted the future king of Spain in the London and not Spain or the Netherlands.Its voyage to England in guise of an organist, who serenades the recumbantVenus (Berlin, the autumn of 1554 was not withoutmishap. Staatliche Museen, Gemaldegalerie), in a mysterious picture that On 6 December Philip wrote an angry letter to Francesco clearly never reached Spain-if, indeed, it was a royal commis- Vargas, his agent in Venice, in which he praises ("...me paresce de sion.7 Althoughit is thought that such a project was broached by la perficion...') the Venus and Adonis, apparentlyjust unpacked in Philipto Titianduring their 1551 meeting in Augsburg, it was prob- London, but adds the complaintthat the canvas had been folded ably in 1553 that Philip actually began to order mythologicalsub- horizontallyin packing ("...maltratado de un doblez que haya al jects from Titian. Even then it was evidently not with the idea that traues por medio del, el qual se deuio hazer al cogelle, verse ha el they would form a coherant cycle to be exhibitedtogether in a set- remedio que tiene los otros quadros que me haze le dad prissa che ting recallingthat of Alfonso d'Este's studiolo. Instead, at the begin- los acabe y no me los embieis sino auisadme quando estimieren ning the artist seems to have thought of each as an independent hechos para que yo os mande lo que se haura de hazer dellos."). work that might, if convienent, be hung in juxtapositionwith pre- One may reasonablyassume that the paintinghad been folded hor- ceeding mythological subjects.8 Thus, he began seriously to think izontally near its center and that this resulted in paint loss along about mythologicalpictures only with the commission for the Danae a strip that would have intersected Venus' head just above the (Madrid,Museo del Prado), a paintingalready undertakenwhen the shoulder.14The damage was such that the king's ire requiredaus- artistwrote to Philipon 23 March 1553, and which was shipped to suaging, but the common criticalassumption that the canvas now in Spain the following year.9 A variant of the Danae (Naples, the Museo del Prado in Madrid[Fig. 1] is the damaged original Capodimonte)that he had painted for OttavioFamese in Rome dur- requiresthat we conclude that Titianhimself made no move to cor- ing 1545-1546, the 1553 painting is a size (128 x 176 cm) and rect the problemand that the Prado paintingis the picturedescribed a shape (wide horizontal) that sets it apart from all the other in the king's letter.All the evidence points, however,to a more com- mythologies that would follow.10And yet, his correspondance clear- plex sequence of events, one supportedby the fact that the Madrid ly indicatesthat Titiantook careful account of how these successive edition is recordedfor the firsttime only in 1626 when Cassiano dal pictures would fit together. Pozzo's journaldescribed it as hanging next to the Perseus and The situtationwas, however, simultaneouslyin a state of flux, Andromeda in the Alcazar.15 and another mythologywas in progress that seems clearly to have Always recognizedas an epochal work in Titian's development, established the patter that would be followed in subsequent can- the Venus and Adonis has been subjected to a characteristic criti- vases. Since Titian specifically writes that the Venus and Adonis cal abstractionin which the Prado paintingis rankedhigh as Titian's was conceived as a pendant to the Danae, a composition in which originaland the numerous related pictures are graded in descend- the nude female form would be seen from the back ratherthan the ing qualitativeorder as productsof his shop or worse. Thus, a vari- front as in the preceeding canvas, it is clear that a uniform format ant [London, National Gallery.Fig. 2] now passes as entirelystudio and the possible addition of furtherpaintings was not yet a fixed work, while another [Malibu,J. Paul Getty Museum. Fig. 3] has objective.11Nor was there an integratediconographical program in recently been upgraded from workshop to the status of an auto- 1554. Instead, each successive canvas would be loosely, some- graph painting in which the shop participated.The closely related times quite freely, based on Ovid'sMetamorphoses and no interre- version [Lausanne, private collection. Fig. 4], however, has not lation except for compositional balances was ever intended12. been available for critical evaluation for seventy years and has, Nonetheless, the Venus and Adonis would soon become the start- therefore, remained largely ignored or, worse, categorized as ing pointfor what was destined to be Titian's second great cycle of a modest atelier reproductionof later date. Two smaller pictures of mythological pictures. this subject [Washington,National Gallery of Art. Fig. 5; New York, We do not know precisely when Philip commissioned the MetropolitanMuseum of Art. Fig. 6] have generally been stigma- Venus and Adonis; indeed, as was sometimes the case, Titian may tized as still later revisions in which the shop played a predominant have undertakenit on his own initiativeon the assumption that if it role. Thus, the art historical compulsion to establish an orderly were well received it would be well compensated. The artist's letter heirarchyamong the many versions of Titian's Venus and Adonis to Philipdescribes the Venus and Adonis as potentiallyto be hung seems to have been satisfied, and the records on their historymight together with the Danae that had already been dispatched, and in well have remained a closed chapter. a simultaneous letter, dated 10 September 1554, to the king's agent
24 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES
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2) Titian workshop. 26 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 3) Titian and workshop. Here, we encounterthe first in a series of disquieting inconsis- the level of Venus's neck, but this is, in fact, a seam where two tancies between that reportof the damage to the Venus and Adonis lengths of canvas were sewn together before the painting was and the paintingnow hanging in the Prado, a work that has always begun.17 Whileit is true that if the 1554 Venus and Adonis had been been assumed to be the same canvas.16 The Prado picture has, folded it is probable that the weakest point along the seam would indeed, a visible crease runningthrough the width of the canvas at have given least resistance to such pressure, a close examination 27 W. R. REARICK 4) Titian. < 28 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 5) Titian and workshop. < of the Prado canvas does not show any significantpaint loss along This seam undulates visibly, followingthe sewn conjunctionof the this seam nor is there any physical evidence that it was ever actu- two canvases. This would not correspond with a straight horizontal ally folded at that point.18In fact, this seam in the Prado canvas is break that would have resulted from folding the finished canvas. In not exactly at the half-waypoint of its overall height, its position had short, the paintingthat first appeared in a document of 1626 pre- the picture been folded precisely in half, but is instead about 102 sents no evidence of folding damage that might have provokedthe cm. from the bottomedge and a mere 85 cm. from the top margin.19 king's dissatisfaction.More disquietingis the undercurrentof lack of 29 W. R. REARICK 6) OrazioVecellio. "Venusand Adonis,. New York,Metropolitan Museum of Art. enthusiasmfor the Pradopicture in the criticalliterature. Although the mythologicalpaintings that followit. Theirpraise is directedto every scholar recognizes the importanceof this compositionas its compositionwith a perfunctoryevaluation of its pictorialquality, a crucialdevelopment in Titian'sart, none resporxJsto its pictorial and some are downrightbored by the PradoVenus and Adonis.20 qualitywith the enthusiasmand awe that marktheir writings about 30 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES The primacyof the Prado Venus and Adonis is still furthererod- ed by an importantpiece of contemporaryevidence, the engraving of this subject by Giulio Sanuto [Fig. 7]. As Bury has pointed out, this engraving relates more closely to the Lausanne composition than to the other versions of the Venus and Adonis,21 but the rela- tionshipof Titianto engravers is complex and should be considered before we suggest conclusions on the basis of Sanuto's engraving. Earlierin his career Trtianseems to have favored woodcutters over engravers in the reproductionof his compositions22. Even there, however, the artist'srole in their productionwas variable.For a few woodcuts such as the Saint Jerome, cut around 1515 by Ugo da Carpi and inscribed TICIANUS, the cutter followed attentively a complete, but small scale drawing by Titian,23and for the Six Saints Vasari reportedthat the artist had drawn the design directly onto the woodblock.24In the majorityof cases, however, the mas- ter providedan aggregation of pen sketches which the cutter trans- ferred and assembled for the finished product.25When, during or just after 1537, Titian allowed Jacopo Caraglio to engrave his Annunciation, the graphic artist seems to have had the finished painting before him. This, however, was rare, and later, when engravings began to replace woodcuts in the reproductiverole after Titian's inventions, another process became standard. Here one should alltnuptto reconstructTitian's workingrelationship with such engravers and their publishers. Rarely did a printmakerhave the opportunityto engrave his plate directlyfrom Titian's originalpaint- ing. Instead, taking the contemporary Gloriaas an example, Titian shipped the large canvas to Charles V shortlybefore October 1554, ,. but it was only in about 1565 that Comelis Cort entered into an r agreement with T'tianto reproduceit. LTtianhimself refers in a letter of 15 June 1567 to the fact that he had made availablea drawing as the model for Cort's engraving. That drawingmight be the sheet (Paris, Musee du Louvre, Departement des Arts Graphiques) that 7) Giulio Sanuto, engraving after Titian. < 31 W. R. REARICK drawings by the master provided Orazio with a source for a full- scale drawing. In this light, it might be useful to introducea sheet [Milan,private collection. Fig. 8]27that has heretofore escaped crit- ical attention.It represents the figure of Venus seen from the back and is closest in detail to the Lausanne painting and the Sanuto print. The summary way in which elements around the figure are alludedto but not described as well as the accomodationof Venus's foot to the size of the sheet indicatesthat it is not a preliminaryfig- ure study where only Venus would have been the artist's concem, but that it is, rather,after the painting.The line-workis not based directlyon that of Sanuto's engraving. Its style is dearly reflectiveof that of Titian,but a certain timidityand approximategrasp of anato- my do not encourage an attributionto the master himself. Instead, it is marked by graphic idiosincraciesclose to the decorative squig- gles evident in Orazio's own Crucifix(Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichkabinett)of 1559, precisely the year of the Sanuto engraving. The Crucifix was drawn after Orazio's own painting (Escorial,apartments of Philip II) as a model for the engraver Giulio Bonasone, who, like Cort a few years later, drew corrections direct- ly onto the Berlin sheet. I would suggest, therefore, that the Milan drawing of Venus is part of Orazio's organization of material in preparationfor a finished model drawing to be placed at Sanuto's use for the engraving. Its broad fidelityto the Lausanne paintingand the inclusionof the dove in the printstrongly suggests that not only drawings were available to Sanuto, but that the Lausanne version of the Venus and Adonis was in Titian's studio and was studied by the engraver shortly before 1559. Indeed, the conjunctionof graph- ic style developed from drawings and the motival details based on the painting strongly suggest that both formed part of Sanuto's workingsources. A few passages are closer to the Londontype, but nothing is clearly reproducedfrom either the Madridor Malibuver- sions. The extension above to create a verticalformat is simply the 8) Orazio Vecellio. ?Venus? (drawing). Milan, private collection. invention of the engraver, who was requiredfor commercial pur- poses to produce a vertical image. Prints after the later Diana and Callisto follow the same procedure. One final point regardingthe Sanuto engraving: the long inscriptionon the tabella at top right states explicitlythat the printwas made after the very paintingthat dove, but nowhere except in Sanuto's printandc engravings derived Titianhad sent to King Philip 11.28Since that original had aparently from it, is the first Lausanne idea reproduced.Although many other been retured to the master and its replacement long since dis- details of the print closely follow that painting,there are significant patched to Spain in 1559, this must refer to the Lausanne canvas. differences as well: the draperyand head of Adonis is very close, as MartinoRota was the engraver and publisher of an engraving of is the bow and qiver, but not its ribbon;the buskin is similar,but Venus and Adonis that seems to follow much the same scheme as lacks the prominent mascherone; and the celestial radience and Sanuto's image incuding the dove, but with departuressuch as the landscape follow that model, but omit the death scene. Thus, we elaboratedManiera, sky that probablyhas no source in Titian. Many must assume that either Sanuto was inattentiveto such particulars details such as the faces are crudely abstracted and also depart or that other source materials intervened. The latter is more likely. fromany Titianmodel. Therefore,it is probablethat Rota's printwas Following our theory that in most instances Titian delegated to carriedout withoutTitian's direct collaboration,and that it made free Orazio the task of utilizingshop materials to be assembled into use of Sanuto's prototype.Its date might even fall withinthe span a finished, model pen drawing,we might conclude that here as well after 1568 when Rota was active in Vienna and Prague at the court 32 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES of RudolphII. This opens the possibilitythat he had seen the Titian subject (occasionallymisinterpreted) and the name of the artist original(for which see the discussionof its provenancebelow), but (often optimistic)but seldom with detaileddescriptions and mea- not the Malibureplica that is less preciselyrelated in detail.A cer- surements.Therefore, cinquecento and earlierseicento notices of tain NicoloNelli and Hans Collaertseem also to have plagiarized paintingsby Titiandepicting Venus and Adonis might be associated both Sanuto'sand Rota'sprints, but theirrelative dates are purely with a version of this subject other than the Lausannecanvas. speculative.29Most difficult to locatein this contextis an engraving Therefore,the earlierphase of this painting'sprovenance must be attributedby CatelliIsola to GiacomoCaraglio.30 This engraveris taken as hypothetical.An inventorymade ca. 1598 for Emperor knownto have workedwith Titian only in the years 1536-1537 in RudolfII in Praguelists "Venus undAdonis vom Titian",and a 1621 reproducingthe Annunciationand his departurefor Polandin July, Praguelist called it "Venusund Adonis vom Titiano.Orig."34 Neither 1539, tends to rulehim out for a reproductionof a compositionfor- includesa detaileddescription nor measurementsso we cannotbe mulatedonly in 1554, unless a versionof the paintingreached him sure thatwe are dealingwith the presentpicture and not withanoth- in Crakowprior to his death in 1565, an unlikelyprospect since no er versionof it. The du Fresne inventoryof paintingsbelonging to versionof the pictureis knownto have migratedthere. This print, Queen Christinaof Sweden lists undernumber 115: "Dito. ou Josup however,is moredirectly based on the Pradocomposition than any (sic) est ala chasse, et une femmequi le tient,sur un fonds de la other version, in particularthe uncoveredshoulder and classical toile,"as havingbeen acquiredat the sack of Prague.This is clear- headof Adonisand the antiquarianquiver that only appearsthere. ly a referenceto the Swedishvictory of 1648 in whichmany major This suggests a close contactwith the artisthimself and with his pictures from the Hapsburghcollection were carried off to drawingsand casts the attributionto Caragliointo doubt.Its han- Stockholmas booty.35Although no artistsare namedfor any of the dlingof the burinseems too coarse for Caraglio.It mightbetter be du Fresne registry,it is probablethat he mistookthe reluctant ascribedto an unknownVenetian engraver working with the artist Adonisfor Joseph,who neverwent hunting,and Venusfor the prof- around1554, a momentwhen the Prado replicamight still have ligatewife of Potifer,who did. Since laterSwedish inventorieslist been in the studio,and beforeany of the otherknown printmakers more than one canvas depictingVenus and Adonisit cannot be reproducedthe Venusand Adonis.Thus, althoughmany questions ascertainedif that was the Lausannepicture or another.Thereafter surroundingthe engravingsafter the Venus and Adonis remain it appearsin several lists of Christina'spictures, but only in 1662 unanswered,it is safe to say that all except this last are to some witha more detaileddescription, including the specificationthat it degree based on Titianshop drawingsor on each otheror on the includedthree huntingdogs, and measured8 palmi e mezzo in Lausannepainting which, because of the uniquedove, is unques- heightand 9 palmiin width.These dimensionscorrespond closely tionablyrelated to Sanuto's1559 printand to the engravingsthat with those of the Lausannecanvas which may be translatedas are derivedfrom it. measuring8 palmiin heightand 9 palmiinwidth, but here it should This lengthyexcursus on the problemof Titianand the Sanuto be recordedthat the queenowned more than one versionof Titian's engravingof the Venusand Adonisserves to pointup some of the Venusand Adonis.36Finally, the 1721 Odescalchi-Erbainventory reasonsfor the uncertaintythat pervadesthe recentliterature about describestwo picturesof Venusand Adonisas probablycoming this composition,especially due to the seldom acknowledgedfact from Christina'scollection. One had a carvedframe and the other that the key piece in the puzzle,the Lausannepainting, had been a smooth,gilt frame. It is this latterthat almostcertainly may be availableto scholarsto a limiteddegree priorto 1930 and not at all identifiedwith the Lausannepicture since it is specifiedas having since then.31This impasse now seems about to be resolvedby this framethroughout the early inventories.Subsequent lists of the a recentdevelopment. A letterfrom a privatecollector in Lausanne collectionas it passed fromone Odescalchigeneration to another reachedme in Veniceon 20 June, 1995, in whichhe requestedmy betraya casual approximationin regardthe the pictures'sizes.37An opinion about a painting attributedto Titian that he owned. attentivereading of the evidencemakes it clearthat the one in the Resignedto the drearynecessity of disappointingeager collectors carvedframe is to be identifiedas the canvas now in the J. Paul seized by the hope thattheir canvas mightbe a great masterpiece, GettyMuseum in Malibuand thatthe one in the smooth,gilt frame I opened warilythe envelopecontaining a color photograph.To my is at presentin Lausanne.Although her earlierinventories noted astonishmentit reproduceda paintingof dazzlingbeauty, at once only one originalVenus and Adoniswith three dogs the existance evidentlyan autographwork by Titian himself.32Later, after an of two in the last Odescalchiaccounting suggests that Christina extended examinationof the original,I undertookto explorethe broughtboth with her when she abdicatedand movedto Rome to backgroundof this remarkablework. The firstaspect that seemed take up residencein PalazzoRiario. The 1662 inventoryof the pic- to corroboratemy impressionof its importancewas its prove- ture galleryin Palazzo Riariorecords: "Adone in atto di partiralla nance.33This, as well,was to provecomplicated. As is so frequently caccia con tre cani alla mano trattenutoda Venereche I'abbraccia the case with early lists, pictureswere recordedwith merelythe ignudae seduta in schiena sopra una veste de velluto.Un bellissi- 33 W. R. REARICK mo paese con un amore adormentato sotto gli alberi, figure grandi died in 1925 and in 1930 it was auctionedon 28/29 October at the al naturale, con cornice liscia indorata, alta palmi otto e mezzo e Hugo HelbingGallery in Munichand was acquiredby Carl Beuming larga palmi nove." It was so described in the list drawn up on the of Darmstadt for 65.000 marks. In 1941 it passed to the Philip queen's death in 1689 but with its size given as "alta palmi sei e Reemstma collection and in January,1984,through the dealer Kratz mezzo e larga palmi otto."38It passed after her death to her heir to its present location.Therefore, we may conclude that the present CardinalAzzolini in the Palazzo Odescalchi, then to his nephew the Venus and Adonis probablyonce belonged to the Hapsburgh pic- Marchese Azzolini,in tur to PrincipeLivio Odescalchi where it was ture galleryin Prague as a workof Titianand that its historymay be listed in the inventoriesof ca. 1690, 1692, and that of 1713 made traced securely from the collections of Queen Christinaof Sweden, on his death. It passed to Principe Baldassare Odescalchi-Erba the Duc d'Orleans,Benjamin West, and by unbrokenprovenance to where it remained until 1721 when it was purchased together with its present owner. the entire lot of Christina'spictures by PhilippeDuc d'Orleans.Here If our Venus and Adonis is the picture looted from Prague in the list of Christina'spaintings includes two versions of theVenus 1648, we are left with an hiatus of sixty-fouryears from the time that and Adonis with three dogs and one with two, but since the the firstversion arrivedin London in 1554. Here, we find Panofsky's Odescalchi seem not to have added to the queen's galleryit is prob- theory about its inspirationfor Shakespeare challenging.42The bard able that all three share this provinence. was bom in 1564 and wrote his early poem 'Venus and Adonis"just Philippe's heirs Louis Duc d'Orleans and then Philippe before 1593 with a dedicationto his new patron Henry Wriothsley. "Egalit6",kept the gallery at the Palais Royal in Paris.39This last, in To be sure, the poem emphasizes the very moment when the reluc- turn, sold two hundredand ninety five French and Italianpictures to tant youth seems to flee from Venus's embrace in order to lead his Edouard Walkiersin 1791, who passed the pictures en bloc on to dogs on the chace for the fierce boar-an episode missing from M. Labordede Merevillewho shipped them to Londonin July, 1792, Ovid and other classical sources. Furthermore,Shakespeare's evi- where they were consigned to Jeremiah Harman.It was at this point dent sensual pleasure in his erotic descriptionof the beautifullovers that BenjaminWest made a fruitless effort to persuade William Pitt seems to be inspired by the tactile splendor of Titian's painting. to acquire them for the crown with the Royal Academy their pro- Does this confirm Panofsky's circumstantialclaim that the original posed destination. When this failed, Harman made them over to Venus and Adonis remained in Englandfor at least fortyyears after a consortiumcomposed of the Duke of Bridgewater,Lord Carlisle, its arrivalin 1554? I think not. The explanationlies in the miniature and Lord Gower, eminent English collectors who kept some pic- copy of this theme painted by Peter Oliverin 1631 (BurghleyHouse, tures, exhibitingthe remainderfor sale at the Lyceum in London Stamford, The Burghley House Collections).43This documentary beginning in December, 1798. At that time, the Venus and Adonis work is taken faithfully,only departingin the position of the distant with the carved frame was sold to Lord Fitzhughfor ? 300 and later dog's head, from a pictureof a second type in which there appear passed through the Lords Normantoncollection from which it was only two dogs. King Charles I owned anotherversion, now lost, also sold at Christie's of London on 13 December, 1991, to Hazlitt, ascribed to Peter Oliver. Still another picturein this format (Vienna, Gooden, and Fox who acted on behalf of the J. Paul Getty Museum KunsthistorischesMuseum) was destroyed during WorldWar II.We in Malibuwhere the picturearrived in 1992. The Venus and Adonis would conclude, therefore, that Shakespeare was indeed inspired in the smooth, gilt frame was presented, amost certainlyin 1798, by by Titian's Venus and Adonis, but that it was the latertype with two the Duke of Bridgewaterto the painter and President of the Royal dogs of which the best survivingversion is in the NationalGallery of Academy, Benjamin West, presumably as compensation for that Art, Washington, that he knew and that was Peter Oliver's 1631 connoisseur's evaluation of the remainder of the collection.40 model for the BurghleyHouse and perhaps other English copies.44 Apparentlyin need of funds, West sold it to RichardHart Davis for Where, then, was the Lausanne Venus and Adonis between 1554 the substantialfigure of 4,000 guineas in 1809. Davis, an MP from and about 1621? Philip II would not have left it behind when he Bristol,in turn, sold it with his entire collectionto John Philip Miles, departed, as it turned out forever, for Spain in 1555. On the other another MP whose country seat, Leigh Court,was near Bristoland hand, he might have passed it on to another of his Hapsburghrela- who lent it to the BritishInstitution in Londonfor their 1822 old mas- tives, many of them avid collectors of Titian's work. It is, however, ter exhibition.There it was engraved with a label indicatingTitian's more probable that the damaged canvas was retured to Titian in authorship,the BenjaminWest provenance, the measurement of 70 anticipationof a replacement or satisfactory repairs. The evidence x 80 inches, and Miles's ownershipat Leigh Court.41Sir Cecil Miles, of Sanuto's engravingcertainly confirms that it was back in Titian's who had inheritedthe painting,sold it at auction at Christie'son 13 studio before 1559. That being the case, the present picture might May 1899, when it was boughtfor only ? 420 by Molyneuxwho per- have been among the poesie offered to MaximilianII in 1568. Had haps acted on behalf of Max von Heyl on the recommendationof the Emperoraccepted that offer, it would followthat his Venus and Franz von Lenbach sometime before the latter'sdeath in 1904. Heyl Adonis would have passed directlyto his son Rudolph in Prague. 34 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES Since, however,it appearsthat the Emperordid not followthrough His leg underwenttwo modifications[Fig. 11] in its contour,both on that purchase,the picturelisted in 1568 mighthave gone as an aimed at makingthe finalform slimmer. In bothcases the growing alterativeto DukeAlbrecht V of Bavaria,who owneda numberof transparencyof the pigmentrenders these changes visibleto the Venetianpaintings procured through Jacopo Stradathat eventually nakedeye as well.Here one mightnote the deftclarity of the buskin passed to Rudolph.45Although we have no definativeproof as to mascherone,a strikinggrotesque not so finelydefined in any sub- the identityof the variousdepictions of Venusand Adonisrecorded sequent version. In short, the secure detail and the shifts and by Stradain his two lists,it seems probablethat it was the Gettypic- adjustmentsevident in these passages and probablypresent turethat was offeredto Maximilianin 1568, passing subsequently throughoutthe paintingare those one wouldexpect of Titian'scre- t Albrechtwho died in 1579. It was probablyshortly after that date ative process as he developedhis ideas duringthe worksexecu- thata portionof Albrecht'sMunich gallery passed to Rudolph,who tion.A replicawould be unlikelyto have these signs of creativeevo- had been elected Holy Roman Emperorin 1576 and who made lution;unfortunately, X-radiographs are not availablefor the Madrid majoracquisitions for his gallery in Prague duringthe following canvas. The brushstrokes and layeringof glazes are secure and decade. It is perhapssignificant that Albrechtmarried Maximilian's deftas in otherTitian paintings that have been X-radiographedsuch sister Anne who was thus Rudolph'saunt. The Lausannepainting as the Venuswith a Mirror(Washington, National Gallery of Art).51 might,thus, have been retainedby Titianas a modeland then have One finaldetail as revealedby the X-radiographis crucial. The taken a differentroute on ts way to Prague.This must, finally, horizontalcrease thatwas madewhen the picturewas foldedin half remainhypothetical. for shipmentin 1554 resultedin an irregularstrip of paintloss along On several earlieroccasions Titianhad replacedat no extra most of its widthbut most noticablyin the figures(Plates 9-10) cost paintingsthat had been damaged or had otherwiseproven wherethe impastowas thicker.This would doubtless have been the unsatisfactory.46Thus, we would suggest that when Philipcom- damage that most distressed Philip when the work reached plainedbitterly about the damage to his first Venus and Adonis London.The X-radiographs,in fact, revealthat these losses were Titian,always anxious to please the Spanishmonarch even to the inpaintedwith great skill in the figures,a repairthat moved with pointof makinggifts of some pictures,might have had the damaged casual assurancewell beyondthe areas of actualpaint loss. That canvas returnedto him in Venice where he decidedthat the fold this restorationtook place almostat once afterthe picturewas fin- couldnever be made invisibledespite his own effortsat restoration. ished is confirmedby the fact that subsequentwear and earlyflak- Puttingthe originalaside, he set about paintinga replicathat was ing has resultedin minisculepaint loss equallyin the originaland duely dispatched,this time more carefully,to the king.In an analo- the added restoration.52Had this inpaintingoccured later it would gous situation,Titian had paintedan Entombmentof Christthat was have filledthese lacunae. It seems therefore,that the restoration lost in shipmentto Philipin 1557. Almostat once Titianpainted was in place beforelater damage occurred. This stronglysuggests a replica(Madrid, Museo del Prado)as a replacementand sent it to that a competenthand took on the delicateoperation of repairing the kingtogether with two of the second pairof poesie in September the most evidentpassages of damagefrom the folding.Indeed, this of 1559.47One might,therefore, posit an interimof abouttwo years assured restorermoved freely beyindthe immediatestrip of loss betweenthe originalVenus and Adonisand its replica.In this repli- This restorationappears to the unaidedeye to be indistinguishable ca he revisedseveral passages such as Adonisand the quiverto fromthe originalpictorial material [Fig. 12]. One wonders,therefore, conformto a more antiquarianaesthetic, perhaps at the suggestion if this repairmight not have been undertakenby the masterhimself of Dolce.48This second versionwould thus have been the painting if the picturewas shippedback to Venice from London?Certainly, stilltoday in the Prado.Its characterfully confirms that it is a repli- no local Britishpainter in the traditionof Holbeinor Morcould be ca of the stronger,more sumptiousfirst version. expectedto matchthis unfamiliarVenetian technique so precisely; As confirmationof this sequence,a samplingof foursignificant what couldbe more naturalthan to turnto the artisthimself to put passages of the Lausanne canvas that were recently X-radi- thingsto rights? ographedproves helpful.49They show that Venus's head [Fig.9] The ultimateand most significantquestion remains the style was subjectedto severalchanges as workprogressed and thatthe and characterof the Lausannepicture. Does its qualityjustify our surroundingpassages of Adonis's draperywere laid in after her suggestionthat it is Titian'soriginal that was quicklyreplaced by form was made final.50This is a familiarworking sequence with a replicaafter it was damagedin transit?I believethat it does. First, Titian.More significant are the numerouspentimenti in the figureof what were Titian'ssources in formulatinghis Venusand Adonis? Adonishimself. The contourof his hair[Fig. 10] was twice reduced Startingwith a retrospectivememory of his earlier poesie for as was the lineof his cheek;his upperdrapery was revisedat sev- Alfonsod'Este, he evidentlysought to simplifyhis compositionto eralpoints and the puffof shirtwhere Venus's arm pushes it upward a more monumentalpyramidal central focus. In the process, he at rightwas addedas a finalformulation over a previousflat form. turnedto a picturethat had remainedunfinished in his studiosince 35 W. R. REARICK 9) Titian. < 36 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 10) Titian. < 37 ...... W. R. REARICK ' _X :-'.~-~!~..'...;~...... ': -..'.:.- -::- : .' ' _ :~' = ... F'''':.'?;--;.- .: ----;-:'-,~':' .''-'..-'.:;-..'.';"'" ': ...;' ::-..i: .; ....:--: ;.:.... ." ...', .. ,..:' ...- ~:.:..--'.... ? .... - " . ._. -- . --,..''-.- .. .- ', . . "-.~t~'~ ? . ...:. ? "~~~~"""r~-~5~.'.."* . ''~~~~~~ ' __ . ? : .. J ; 9xM~~~~~~~I(: 11) Titian.~,Venus andAdonis,. -. ; n rct :?: ...... r,. ., .... - 11) Titian. < 38 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 12) Titian. the halcyondays of his youth, Jupiterand Antiope (Paris, Musee du suite just then being formulatedand it would soon be consigned to Louvre).This is almost certainlythe picturedescribed as large and the Royal huntinglodge, El Pardo. From it Titiantook the huntsman by Titianhimself as "...a nude woman in a landscape with a satyr," at center left and, shiftingthe positions of his arms, converted the a canvas shipped to Philipat some point priorto 1564 when it first pose to Adonis. For Venus he tumed to the distant nymph that, in appears in an inventoryof the Pardo huntinglodge.53 A pastorale in tur, derived from his Pastoral Concert (Paris, Musee du Louvre), the Sannazaro tradition,it was never considered to be part of the and opened up her pose to its expansive new gesture. The back 39 W. R. REARICK view depends, in another erudite reference, on the antique relief on the front plane of the picturespace. By comparison,the Prado then knownas the Bed of Polyclitus.54The Cupid harks back, in an replica at once reveals the calculated order of a replica. The brush intentionalcross reference, to the pose of Danae in the canvas that movement is even and cautious, a restrained linear attention to the artist intended to be seen nearby.The dogs derive from the detail that drains the ensemble of pictorialvibrancy. Some changes recently finished animals in Jupiter and Antiope, and many details have been introduced,particularly in Adonis's draperywhich is here are adapted from the nearly contemporaneous Gloria (Madrid, reduced to an even modellingin contrastto the richlyvarious shad- Museo del Prado).The monumentalGloria had been undertakenas ing of the original. Cupid's quiver and bow are rendered more a last majorcommission from Charles V in 1551, but it was shipped archaeologicalycorrect in form, but the ribbon has lost its verve.57 to him in Flanders only in October 1554; its later stages of execu- Even the spatial dynamics, so sure in the first version, become tion were, therefore, simultaneous with those of Venus and a flatlytapestry-like patter of dry surface detail in the replica. Most Adonis.55They share an unusual tonalitycentered on radientflesh revealing is the way in which the dramaticplay of light and clouds of a golden hue, deep rose almost merging into burgundy,richly is stopped down to an analyticalorder at once more legible, but less variegated browns and mossy greens, and, most striking,a dusty evocative than the original.In short, in gathering his drawings and blue in the sky and distant landscape [Fig. 13] in which a touch of perhaps a modello or ricordo together to rise to this emergency, lavender lends it a luminous intensity found only at this particular Titian has manufactureda serviceable reproductionof his inspired moment and developed brieflyinto an even more vivid device in the original. How much of the Prado painting was delegated to the two immediately subsequent mythologies. This particularlyvolatile shop? Probably very little. Dry and regular though the execution experiment with unusual harmonies is balanced through numerous might be, it is uniformlyattentive to correct form and pictorialbal- passages of great pictorialsubtlty such as the ribbon on Cupid's ance as pictures assigned to assistants are not.58I believe, there- quiver, a changeant lavender tinged with apricot to produce fore, that Titianwould not have risked sending a replacementfor the a restrained counterpointwith the peach of Adonis's buskin [Fig. damaged original that was evidently less finished than the pre- 14], and the misty burst of golden sunlight that dominates the ceeding canvas. It was, equally, this fussy concern with getting stormy sky at top right. Particularlyluminous is the red, white, and every detail just right that robbed the replica of spontaneity. Now black striped sash around Adonis's waist, the same fabric depicted one understandswhy generations of critics have respectfullyjudged in the contemporaryPenitent Magdalene (Busto Arsizio, Candiani the Prado painting a major document in Titian's formulation of collection).Thefirm, but mobile, brushworkfocuses in definitionon a poesia in a new vein; it also becomes clear why they have been the figures, most particularlythe radiant Venus whose back Titian unable to respond to it as a powerfulwork of art. himself had considered its salient feature, one that provoked an The Prado Venus and Adonis is not, however,the only replicaof enthusiastic encomium from Ludovico Dolce: "...Ne si pub dis- that compositionto come down to us today.Apart from old copies, cemere qual parte in Lui sia piu bella, perche ciascuna separata- mostly noted by Wethey, two versions of superiorquality are known mente, e tute insieme contengono la perfezione dell'artee il colori- today.59One [London, National Gallery.Fig. 2]60 is a composite of to contende con il disegno e il disegno con il colorito....Vigiuro, both the Lausanne and Madrid compositions, retaining Adonis's Signor mio, che non si trova uomo tanto acuto di visto e di giudizio, uncoveredshoulder from the Prado replica,but going back to the first che, vedendola (Venus) non la creda viva; niuno cos" raffreddato version for details such as Cupid'squiver, and for the pictorialfree- dagli anni o si duro di comprensione che non si senta riscaldare, dom in the landscape which correspondsmuch more closely with the intenerire,e commuoversi nelle vene tutto il Sangue."56Aroundthis Lausanne picture.Its early historyis undocumented,having been first tangible central motive Titian's brush moves outwardin a progres- recorded in the 1783 inventory of the pictures in the Palazzo sively looser centripetalvortex. The penumbraof the forest shaded Colonna, Rome. Broughtto Londonby the dealer Day, it was sold to Cupid emphasizes his secondary role and the dogs are softly but Angersteinin 1801, and in 1824 it was purchased for the National securely distinguished from the landscape. Most vibrant is the Gallery.This, I believe, accounts in part for the prudencewith which explosion of lightthat bursts throughthe shiftingclouds that open to both alternativeversions, then also in London,were treated by col- reveal Venus, distraughtand unstable in her dove-drawnchariot, as lectors there. The criticalhistory of the NationalGallery canvas fol- her vain interventionpierces the forest at rightwith a blazing spot- lows a fairlyconsistant downward parabola from autograph master- lightthat reveals the irrealterror of Adonis's death, a visionary pas- piece to shop replicaafter the Prado picture.This, in part, reflectsan sage of shocking immediacy [Fig. 15]. Unlike the more schematic optimisticmemory of the supposed original,which is simply distinct refulgences in the various replicas,this burst of lightfinds a parallel from the London canvas. Where the Prado canvas is cautious, dry, only in the shower of gold in the 1553 Danae. It is this magisterial but accurate in touch, the Londonpainting is slipperyin form, slatey range of pictorialpulse that vitalizes Titian's still somewhat Maniera in color, and somewhat blunt in detail. X-radiographsreveal a steady composition with its figures compressed to monumental presence hand in the layingin of the figuralelements, but an odd scumbledpat- 40 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 13) Titian. tern elsewhere. In effect, we would propose that in fairly direct ticipationof an assistant, probablyone of his northernassociates to sequence Titian painted the Lausanne original,assembled his shop judge from the cold tonality,is perceptible.It remains, however,clos- materialssuch as sketches and ricordiforthe first replica,and short- er in qualityto the Madridreplica than to the Lausanne original. ly after undertookthe Londonversion for which details of both pre- The two pictures from Christina'scollection, one with a smooth, ceeding versions were reassembled. Here, certainly,the largerpar- gilt frame and the other in a carved frame, remained together until 41 W. R. REARICK 14) Titian. 42 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 15) Titian. < about 1798 when the formerwent to BenjaminWest and the latter workshop. It went subsequently to the J. Paul Getty Museum in was sold first to Frtzhughand then, in 1844, to the 2nd Earl of Malibuwhere it was cleaned and restored.61Unlike the Madridand Normanton.Hung high above eye level at Somerley, the Normanton Londonversions, the Getty pictureretums to the originalin its drap- picture was, like the Lausanne version, given cautious attention, ery and the more compact, tilted position of Adonis's head, but only Wethey suggesting that it might be partiallyautograph, until its retains the quiver of the first replica. X-radiographs[Fig. 16] reveal sale at Christie'sin 1991 when it was judgedto be by Titianand his that it was subject to numerous small pentimentiduring its execu- 43 W. R. REARICK tion. One notes, in particular,the innumerableadjustments in the mulated piecemeal in the shop as a stock available for offer at any upper partof Adonis, where countours were shifted or reduced and moment in which a possible client might come into view. passages of draperysuch as that over his rightbicept or fallen over The replicas and engravings after the Venus and Adonis amply Venus's rightarm have been added last Other details such as the testify to the wide success of that compositionin the years follow- ribbonson the quiverwere firstlaid in with the same shape as those ing 1554, and it was in that year that the projectof a suite of poesie of the Lausanne picture and subsequently finished in a new form. began to take shape. Although the Danae and the Venus and One should note, in particular,the strikinglynew idea of darkening Adonis were conceived by the artist to be complementary,they are Venus's head, a shadowed profilethat looks forwardto the Diana of quite differentsize. Now the progression to two furthermytholo- head in the London Death of Acteon. Together, the X-radiographs gies clearly shows that Titianhad decided to follow the latterpicture reveal a composition in a stage of revision toward a new formula- with two more poesie of nearly identicalsize (that is, about 179 x tion, ratherthan a pedantic replica. In fact, it is clearly transitional 197 cm. for the originalPerseus and Andromedain comparison with between the first type and the later, horizontalformat seen in the 178 x 200 cm. for the Venus and Adonis). The artist wrote to the Washingtoncanvas. Its formal font might well have been a ricordo king on 10 September, 1554, that he would soon send him the after the original, a practice doubtless used for all of the poesie Perseus and Andromeda, and in December of the same year the painted for Philip II. Such a small version of the three dog Venus patronwrote to urge the painterto complete the commissioned pic- and Adonis remainedin Titian's studio and was sold by Bartolomeo tures.63 Finished by March, 1556, it was dispatched to Ghent the della Nave in 1638.62 The key to the Getty picture's place in the following September. Dolce referred to it in 1557 as done for sequence lies, however, in its pictorialcharacter and particularlyin Philip.64 It is normally,but wrongly, assumed that the canvas in the chiaroscuro contrast between spot-lit figures and the darker progress between 1554 and 1556 is the Perseus and Andromeda landscape. Color in the Getty painting tends to a blonder, more today in the Wallace Collection in London, a painting that, instead, evenly illuminatedtonality in the figures, an even light that reduces belongs with Titian's later suite of mythologies.However, the orginal the corporeal plasticityof their forms and is frequently,as in the version is thoughtto have been in Aranjueztogether with the other drapery above Adonis's thigh and his buskin, linear and thready in poesie only around 1584 when the finished cycle was brought texture. This last detail is particularlyill-drawn by comparison with togetherthere for the firsttime. That work was, however, more prob- the original,and the foot has been clumsily turned parallelto the ably the copy seen there togetherwith the other poesie by Cassiano picture plane. The landscape, and most particularlythe celestial dal Pozzo65, and the originalappears to have been given away prior radiance, is dominated by a tendency to black shadow quite unlike to 1579. Although such a gift is not documented, it is likely that the luminous intensityof the Lausanne environmentat right. In this Philip presented this poesia to his favored ministerAntonio Perez, it clearly looks forwardto the later, more horizontaltreatment with since, on the dispersal of Perez's picture gallery in 1585-1586 two dogs and most particularlyto the Washington painting where a "quadrogrande de Andromida e Preseo (sic) volando" was list- a flash of white radience barely pierces the black clouds at upper ed.66 It may have been acquired by the sculptor Leone Leoni right. This darkened tonality in tum parallels the change between between 1589 and 1591 since his son Leon Battistaowned a pic- the original Diana and Callisto [Edinburgh, National Galleries of ture on his death in Milan in 1605 called "Una Andromeda de Scotland. Fig. 21] and its replica [Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Tiziano desheca," that is to say Titian's Andromeda described as Museum. Fig. 26], a picturethat I would date, as discussed below, damaged. His brotherPompeo left on his death in Madridin 1608 to the mid-1560s. The Getty paintingseems similarlyto belong to a large Andromeda by Titian, but hereafter this first version cannot a transitionalphase between the first group of later poesie and their be traced untilit turs up in the collectionof Louis Hesselin in Paris final revisionduring the seventh decade of the century.I would sug- prior to Constantin Huygens mention of it as there in 1649.67 It gest a date of ca. 1561-1562, contemporarywith the Christ in the remained in that Paris collection until Hesselin's death in 1662. In Garden of Gesthemane (Madrid,Museo del Prado) that was sent to the meantime, it would appear that Van Dyck had acquiredTitian's Philip II in 1562 and at the same time as the Last Supper (El second treatment of the theme, the canvas now in the Wallace Escorial)that was in progress between 1558 and 1564. Titian's own Collection, a picture left with the artist's estate in London in 1641 hand is probablyresponsable for much of the surface of the figures and which passed by way of the Earl of Northumberlandto Paris by and crucialpassages of the setting such as the radianceat top right, about 1654. This latter cannot, therefore, be the first version which but a significantamount of workshop execution, probablyOrazio, is may be presumed to have been lost after 1662. That it was a repli- detectable throughout.There is no record of who might have com- ca of the Leoni picture is suggested by the inventorywhere it is missioned it, but, as I will suggest furtheron, this might have been described as "...qui se dit du Titien."68 the Venus and Adonis offered to the EmperorMaximilian II in 1568. The first version of the Perseus and Andromeda, begun in As such, it would belong to the increasingnumber of replicas accu- 1554 just as the originalof the Venus and Adonis was reaching 44 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 16) Titian and workshop. completionand shipped just before 1557, was notablydifferent from sily on her rocky promontoryat right. Her ungainly pose, right arm the Wallace Collectionreplica. For it we have a drawing [Florence, raised over her head which turns away in anguish, shares Uffizi, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe. Fig. 17], the only autograph a brusque naturalismwith the nymphs in the immediatelysubse- study for any of the later poesie.69 It is a rough early stage in the quent EdinburghDiana and Callisto. Partlydependant on the 1553 formulationof the compositionin which Andromeda struggles clum- Saint Margaret(El Escorial, apartments of Philip II) and an antici- 45 W. R. REARICK -';'-s ' " . , . ' . 'J ''-a-''' X, .."'-"i .. . - 18) Titian and workshop. .Perseus and Andromeda,. London, Wallace Collection. X-radiograph. 17) Titian. < 46 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES N 19) Anthony van Dyck. < master probablysaw the first Andromeda in Milanduring the years ographs confirm in the lost picture. The evidence clearly points to between 1621 and 1627 when he was a frequent resident in Genoa. a Perseus and Andromeda in which Andromeda stood at right, Despite missing records, the picture might well have been sent Perseus dropped from the air to battle the sea dragon at center, and back once more to Leoni heirs in Milan.Finally, the firstversion had the pictorialtonality was lighter,more rosy as the Veronese reflects a powerfulimpact on many Venetian painters in the years following it The Wallace Collectionrevision began as a replicaof that lost pic- 1556. Paolo Veronese, always abreast of Titian's latest experi- ture, but quicklygave place to a darkly dramatic new concept. ments, was on particularlyclose terms with the senior master in In 1554 the artist had offered to paint two poesie to follow 1557 when the first Perseus and Andromeda was finished, Venus and Adonis, the Perseus and Andromeda and a Jason and a moment in which Titianawarded him the gold chain as the best of Medea. Jason and Medea is an unusual subject for a Cinquecento the young painters employed on the Libreria Marciana ceiling. painter, and the originalhas disappeared leaving not a trace, even Caliariwould paraphrase the canvas sent to Philip II in his later in the form of copies or derivations.This suggests that since it is not Perseus and Andromeda [Rennes, Musee des Beaux-Arts. Fig. mentioned in later corespondance, the Medea might have been 20]71 which clarifies the ideas only adumbratedin the drawing but projected, perhaps not even begun, and certainlynever finished or subsequentedly defined as Van Dyck's sketch and the X-radi- shipped to Spain. 47 W. R. REARICK Only in September, 1559, does Titianwrite to the king that he ity of touch and color suggests that he reserved this task to himself. is sending the finished Diana and Callisto and Diana and Although several derivations after the large original survive, the Actaeon.72 The first of these to be painted was the Diana and replica recorded in the list of pictures offered in 1568 to Emperor Callisto [Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, Duke of MaximilianII does not. It was, however copied by Teniers (London, Sutherland loan. Fig. 21]73. Its composition is more complex and Kenwood, Iveagh Bequest)79. less monumentalthan that of the Venus and Adonis, but it retains It was on 10 June, 1559, that the painterwrote to the king that certain details of figures and dogs that are clearly developed on the he had begun a paintingof the Death of Acteonthat was, along with basis of the earlierpoesia. Its figures vary from the stylized Diana, the Europa and the Bull, intended to complete the cycle.80Again, who seems inspiredby a Fountainbleau-typeby way of prints,74to that original has not survived, but a later treatment (London, the more naturalistic,even brutallyrealistic nudes at left. Its texture National Gallery) is often identifiedas that first version. Unlike the is still richlyworked in creamy impasto, but certain passages such Wallace Collection Perseus and Andromeda, the National Gallery as the draperyat top rightand the landscape show a softer, more Death of Acteon sheds very littlelight on the formatof the lost first transparent luminosity and a more fluent brush action. Although version. The ambiguitiesevident in the second treatment are limit- Titian seems not to have undertaken replicas of the Diana and ed to the figure of Diana who, like the Andromeda, was first Callisto immediately, he must have regardedit as a success, retain- sketched onto the canvas in a somewhat differentpose. It is not, ing studies and probablya ricordofor future reference. unlikethe first placement of Andromeda,very suggestive of Titian's In tuming to the Diana and Acteon [Edinburgh, National prior composition. The first Death of Acteon remains the most elu- Galleries of Scotland, Duke of Sutherland loan. Fig. 22],75 Titian sive of Titian'spoesie for Philip II. restrainedthe unstable poses and exaggerated action of the nudes Duringthe summer of 1559, before the Diana and Acteon was in the Callisto, orderinghis pictorialspace with a balanced distribu- quite finished and simultaneously with the ricordo after it, Titian tion of figures against a regular background of the trees and undertookwhat was to be the last of the survivingpoesie painted a nymphaeum. The nudes here are more unifiedtoward a natural, for PhilipII, the Rape of Europa [Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner but handsomely idealized norm. The free, luminescent glazes are Museum. Fig. 24].81 Here he both expanded the spacial range and now more translucent and color tends toward a cooler radiance. reduced it, flatteningthe single group of Europa and the bull to the The intense blues of the landscape and sky find their source in the picture plane and enforcing this foregroundconcentration with the first Venus and Adonis, but here they achieve a charged vibrancyof pair of puttiabove and the thirdon the fish at lower left. By contrast, brillianteffect. Silvery rivulets of light skitter across surfaces with he opens the backgroundto a volatile expanse of sea and land- almost autonomous volatility.The balance is held by the reflections scape, one evoked rather than described, one in which form dis- in the stream, a late allusion to the familiarDolce axiom that paint- solves into veils of luminescent mist. Audacious in its synthesis of ing is superior to sculpture because reflections allow simultaneous heroic scale and awkwardrealism in Europa's bouncing movement, views of the forms. It must have attracted wide and enthusiastic this headlong vision was not destined to inspire replicationalthough attention among Venetian painters priorto its departurefor Spain, one repetitiondid exist in 1568. The originalwas finished before 26 an interest documented by copies and variants by Schiavone and April,1562, when the artistwrote to the king that it would soon be other artists in Venice.76Again, no replicas were undertakenin the shipped.82 immediatewake of its shipment to Spain in September, 1559, but in With these stunning masterpieces, Philip's gallery of poesie this case we do have evidence for a ricordopainting. Recently pub- had presumablycome to include seven paintings,an ensemble that lished by Pignatti, the small canvas of Diana and Acteon was apparentlyready to be hung together to constitutea sort of stu- [Lausanne, private collection. Fig. 23]77reproduces the originalwith diolo in the traditionof Isabella d'Este and her brotherAlfonso.83 minimalvariations consisting largely of details simplifiedduring the This room was not, unlike its antecedents in Italy,an architectural reductive scaling down of the larger picture. Its color is somewhat ensemble especially designed for a suite of paintings. It seems, higher keyed and blonderthan the original,but the brushstrokesfol- instead, to have been an ordinary large room somewhat low the model faithfullybut with a surprisingdegree of spontaneity sequestered from the activities of court, one where Philip might of touch. The painter has left marginalstrips of primed canvas at retirefor his own privatedelectation of the aesthetic and erotic plea- either side, a casual effect that suggests that it was never con- sures these poesie so amply afforded.Simultaneously with the poe- ceived to be a finished picturefor sale or consignment to a patron. sie Philip had commissioned a steady stream of religious pictures, The question of its autographcharacter is more difficultto answer. as well as two lost canvases depictingVenus, one described simply We know that Titianassigned the task of making reduced copies of as a "Venere ignuda" completed by 2 December 1567 and a sec- his finished works to his apprentices, occasionally palming them off ond, listed with pictures not yet paid for in 1574, and described later as his own work.78In this case, however, the fresh spontane- more specifically as "Venus con Amor che gli tiene il specchio." If 48 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES %.: ilssE r.l???Jd *i.. I, F 11! i ... *!. / btr -.4 ? " r/ 1-i LLl N . A" , N, - |Q s""r -1 ,,I -1^sj: = _ t. .. ii I 21) Titian. ((Diana and Callisto?. Edinburgh, National Galeries of Scotland, Duke of Sutherland loan. 49 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 23) Titian. they are the same pictureit was probablya replicaof the Venus and therefore, summerize Titian's contributionof poesie to the galleryof Cupid with a Mirror(Washington, National Gallery of Art)84,a can- Philip II as follows: Danae (Madrid,Prado) in progress 1553-1554 vas that Titiankept in his studio untilhis death in 1576. It would not, but not yet conceived as the start of a cycle; Venus and Adonis then, have been intended to continue the suite of poesie. We may, (Lausanne, private collection) in progress 1553-1554 as the first of 51 W. R. REARICK 24) Titian. < 52 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES this size and format,but substitutedby a replica (Madrid,Prado) ca. a participantdropped from the replicas of the Lausanne composi- 1555-1556; Perseus and Andromeda and Jason and Medea (lost, tion. Its color now turns somber, a nocturnal shadow that reduces or in the second case probablynever executed) conceived as a pair Venus' helpless interventionat top right as merely a pale flash of in 1554 and in the first instance probablydelivered just before 1557; lightningthrough the dense black clouds. The best extant version of Diana and Callisto and Diana and Acteon (Edinburgh, National this smaller Venus and Adonis [Washington,National Gallery of Art. Galleries of Scotland, Sutherlandloan) begun as a pair in 1556 and Fig. 5]86can be traced only to the Palazzo Barbarigoprior to 1660 sent in 1559; Death of Acteon (lost) the picture described as in when it was noted by Boschini,but it is possibly one of the pictures progress in 1559; Rape of Europa (Boston, Gardner Museum) of left in Titian's studio at his death, a miscellaneous stock that passed 1559-1562. for the most part to the Barbarigofamily. As such, it would have served the studio as a model for replicas in much the same way as III. the Washington Venus with the Mirrorhad been retained for that purpose a few years earlier. On 24 May, 1562, Titian wrote to It is normally assumed that the rather numerous replicas or Vecellio Vecelli to reportthat Orazio would send him his pictureof variants of this cycle are to a significant degree or perhaps totally Venus and Adonis.87His terms, "Horatiovi manda il vostro quadreto pedestrian repetitions attributableto Titian's later shop. They are, ci Adone il quale e bellissimo et lo goderete...", make it clear that instead, part of a new chapter in the development of the poesia in this Venus and Adonis was a smaller pictureentirely by Orazio. This the last fifteen years of Titian's career. Equally mistaken is the second version of the Washington reductionof this smaller poesia assumption that the Wallace Collection Perseus and Andromeda [New York, MetropolitanMuseum. Fig. 6]88is softer in form, reddish and the London National Gallery Death of Acteon belong with the in tonality, and descriptive in detail in a style that exactly corre- original cycle painted for Philip II. Instead, the evidence points to sponds with our idea of Orazio's interpretationof Titian's mode at both canvases as being two of the poesie that Titianoffered in 1568 this moment. The Washington composition was engraved by to the Emperor MaximilianII. The famous picture dealer Jacopo Raphael Sadeler II in 1610, doubtless when it was already in Strada acted as intermediarybetween the emperor and the imperi- Palazzo Barbarigo a San Polo. Egidius also engraved it at an al agent in Venice, Veit von Dornberg,in formulatingthe list of paint- unrecordeddate probablytoward the end of the Cinquecento. Since ings that Strada described as by the master's own hand.85In it one one assumes that the cycle listed in 1568 was of more or less uni- finds Venus and Adonis, Diana and Callisto, Diana and Acteon, the form scale, the smaller, later reductionof the Venus and Adonis Death of Acteon, Perseus and Andromeda, and the Rape of would not have fitted into that context. It seems, therefore, probable Europa. Perhaps he is careless about titles when he describes that Titiankept the Lausanne and Getty paintingsin his shop, offer- a Diana and Endymeon, a subject seemingly never treated by Titian ing one of them to Maximilianin 1568. In the meantime,in 1562, he at any time, and he omits the Jason and Medea, a picturethat may had made the Washington reductionthat was at once replicatedby never have been undertakenor sent to Spain. It is certainlyunlike- Orazio. There remainsthe odd version of Venus and Adonis (Rome, ly that he confused Medea with Diana. Thus, the Strada list corre- Galleria Nazionale Palazzo Barberini)89,a canvas that had also sponds exactly with the cycle for Philip II with the exception of the come from the collection of Queen Christina.The only edition that ambiguous JasonlEndymeon picture.Which of the poesie recorded is higher than wide, it unexpectedly follows most closely the in 1568 might be identifiedtoday? We might begin with Venus and Lausanne original but expands the space above and especially Adonis, the first in the large scale cycle. As we have noted above, below,doubtless under the influence of one or more of the engrav- the Lausanne originalseems to have been returnedto Titian and ings. Its original contributionis the absurd addition of a rakeish was surely still in the studio in 1559 when Sanuto engraved it; the hunting hat. Its pictorialquality is irregularand episodic, varying London, National Gallery replica might also have been there from inarticulatedin the figures to broadly naturalisticin the land- although we have no evidence about its comission or consignment; scape. Althoughits painter must have had at least one of Titian's and the Getty Museum Venus and Adonis seems to be datable to paintings as a model, most probablythe London replica, he equal- shortly before 1562 as a transitionalwork. It was not, in fact, the ly depended on the Sanuto engraving of 1559. This anonymous final treatmentof this theme. On the basis of the Getty composition, shop assistant seems to have been one of the numerous Flemish but with significantchanges, Titian revised his monumental treat- and German artists who frequented Venetian painters' shops in ment as a more intimatepoesia, one in which the figures even more these years. Althoughhe makes a valiant effortto ape Titian's style, insistantlyfill the foregroundand the landscape recedes into a very he betrays the naturalisticNorthern tradition from which he stems. secondary role with little definitionof either space or detail. The It is possible, but not verifyabledue to lack of comparativepictures, sleeping Cupid and his dove disappear and are awkwardlyreplaced that he was Emanuel Amberger, an Augsburg apprentice who was by a bust length Cupid who is awake and clasps the dove in alarm, still a shop assistant to the master in 1567 when he was called by 53 W. R. REARICK 25) Titian and workshop. < Titianhis very talented young pupil.90While it seems improbable,it ing, the greenish reflections over the loosely brushed waves, and cannot be excluded that the Rome Venus and Adonis was the pic- the touch of scarlet in the coral. The surreal effect of glowing light in ture listed in 1568. the sky and over the distant city closely parallelsthe menacing noc- As we have seen in the case of the Diana and Acteon, Titian turnalfire in the 1565 Saint Margaret (Madrid,Museo del Prado). kept a ricordo of his first Perseus and Andromeda in his studio so Andromeda is an attenuated Maniera form that stands mid-way that he might have a guide in the productionof replicas.91When the between the Diana in Diana and Callistoand the Diana in the Death time came to undertake this replica [London, Wallace Collection. of Acteon, and the compositionis a more sluggish revision of the Fig. 25]92 of the originalPerseus and Andromeda Titian doubtless 1559-1562 Rape of Europa. Thus, we would propose that the consulted this ricordo and began with Andromeda at right, but the Wallace Collection Perseus and Andromeda began as a replica with artist suddenly changed his mind, as the X-radioraphshows, and major changes of the originalaround 1562 and was nearly finished shifted her to the left side of the composition.It was this revised ver- in its revised format around 1565 to be offered to Maximilianin sion that appears in the collection of Anthony van Dyck before 1568. The Emperorseems to have declined the prospect of dupli- 1641.93 He had admired the damaged first concept earlier,probably cating the studiolo of his cousin Philip.It would appear that no early in Milan,and seized the opportunityto acquire the second version, engraver undertookto reproduce either version of this theme. doubtless the replica offered to MaximilianII in 1568 and subse- The Diana and Callisto was shipped to Spain in late summer, quently dispersed around the Hapsburghempire. Indeed, the picto- 1559, but drawings and a ricordowere retained for the production rial character of the Wallace Collection painting entirely supports of replicas.94 The best of these is a revision [Vienna, Kunst- a dating around 1562-1565. Darklystormy in tonality,its shadows historisches Museum. Fig. 26]95, that is only slightly smaller than are impenetrablyopaque although this is emphasized by the bitu- the original.This replica differsfrom it in the substitutionof a statue men which has turned blacker. The color flickers in a visionary of Diana as Huntress for the earlier putto fountain,the omission of intensityof accents such as the rose and lavenderof Perseus'cloth- the nude seated at Diana's feet, the shifts of pose and type in the 54 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES to depart from the pictorialconcept, perhaps by way of a painted ?, I .,.-I-,-: 1?.c ricordo. He changed much of the left side, here right,and lent the -r statue an airy luminositylacking in the Vienna painting.Two years :. * later this print,one of the most successful reproductionsof the later ?r,-?* Lrrjipatl _,QL:??-IL-': ,...?.- poesie, might have helped to advertise the offer of the paintingto Maximilian.We do not know the whereaboutsof the Vienna replica between 1568 and before 1648 when it was in the Antwerp collec- tion of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, but once again a Hapsburgh provenance is probable. Surprisingly, neither the Diana and Acteon nor the Rape of Europa survives in a full scale replica that might be identifiedwith those listed in the 1568 letter.In the case of the Rape of Europa we know that a large replica, presumablythat listed in 1568 by Strada, remained in Venice where Bartolomeodella Nave sold it in 1630 to Basil Fielding who consigned it to Lord Hamilton in 1638-1639. Thence it passed to Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels and finally to Vienna where it was lost.97Neither of these poesie was the subject of engraved reproductions of high quality like Cort's Diana and Callisto.98And yet both subjects figure in the 1568 list of replicas offered to Maximilian.That Maximiliandid not take advantage of this offer is confirmedby the fact that an identicallist, compiled anony- mously and withouta date, records an offer to Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria. Jacopo Strada acted not only for Maximilianbut also for Albrechtduring these years, and therefore might have proposed the pictures to the latter after the former had demonstrated disinterest in the project.Since certain groups of pictures, particularlythose by Paolo Veronese, passed on Strada's recommendationto Albrecht and thence to RudolphII in Prague where they were looted by the 27) Cornelius Cort, after Titian. 55 W. R. REARICK drastic pentimentiand rethinkingof the lost first version, a process and to have been autographin its entirety.However, duringthe last that clearly extended over a rather long span. In fact, the Diana is thirtyyears of his long career Titian depended increasinglyon the painted in a differenttechnique from the remainderof the picture; productionof replicas after his most popular compositions. When thin in glaze, liquidin paint consistency, and nearly monochromein he painted them himself these repeated compositions were invari- a pallidharmony of beige and dull rust, she most closely resembles ably subjected to intensive rethinkingwith a new and often surpris- the Angel in the Annunciation (Naples, San Domenico), a picture ing work the result. For them, he frequentlyretained a first treatment commissioned for Cosmo Pinellifor the altar of his newly acquired of the theme as model; strikingexamples are the Venus with the chapel in San Domenico, a renovationconsacrated in 1557, a date Mirroror the Penitent Magdalene.102In other instances such as the that we would also assign to the Annunciation.101We would pro- Adorationof the Magi, Titian produced a series of replicas of demi- pose that as the Perseuscame near to being finishedin 1557, Titian nishing quality and with augmented shop participation.103His habit undertookthe first version of the Death of Acteon simultaneously of signing them ostentatiously and demanding a consistantly high with the Naples Annunciation,and around 1559 painteda ricordoof price led progressivelyto widespread doubts about the authenticity the finished picture.This, in turn, providedthe startingpoint for the of such replicas or other large scale projects such as the replica which, however, like the Andromeda, underwent significant 1564-1568 ceilings for the Brescia city hall. Precisely these doubts revisionon the new canvas. Then, the Diana laid in, Titian set the seem to have promptedJacopo Strada to write, in his 1568 letter replica aside and tured, as was his wont, to other projects. It was proposing to the Emperor MaximilianII the acquisitionof Titian's only around 1567, probablyunder the pressure of finishingit so that last cyce of poesie, that these six paintingswere entirelythe work it might form part of the cycle ready for sale in 1568, that he doTitian's own hand. retumed to work. The episode of Acteon devoured by his hounds It is evident from the circumstances and character of the sur- had not even been sketched in, and its present placement, parallel viving originalsthat this second suite of later mythologieswere not to the frontplane but deep in the middle ground,separates it entire- the result of a single patron's commission.104Instead, like many ly from the vengeful godess who does not aim in the directionof her other of his revised replicas,they accumulatedpiecemeal in the stu- victum and does not even seem to take any logical role in the dio with no precise destination in view. The fame of the series of tragedy. This execution in two stages allows for studio participation poesie for Philip II must have suggested to Titian that a rich and in the feeble figure of Diana but not in the remainderof the canvas. ambitious patron or patrons might aspire to a similar prestigeous The flickeringillumination of the scene of grisly death only intensi- acquisition;and with such an eventualityonly vaguely in mind, the fies the anguished image of the transmogrifiedhunter who tries in old man seems to have worked sporadicallyon these six canvases vain to find human voice to call off his own dogs. The furious ener- bringingsome to completionin just a couple of years while leaving gy withwhich Titianevokes in tones of brown,bronze, and black the others barely begun or suspended in the midst of sometimes major terrorslurking in the depths of the nocturnalforest makes of it one revision. Early accounts of his working methods, stories about his of his most dramaticlyintense landscapes. The shrubs at frontcen- furiouslyenergetic sketch on a canvas followed by sometimes long ter seem pure evocations of the action of his brush, now almost intervalsin which the picture remained face to the studio wall only detached from naturalisticdescription and instead pure pictorialfer- to be turned around and attacked with renewed energy or tumed vor. Finally,it is precisely the visual and narrativefragmentation of over to assistants for completion,evidently go far toward explaining its protractedexecution that renders the Death of Acteon a harrow- the evident fits and starts that the surviving paintings display.105 ing masterpiece. It is not surprisingthat, as the picturemade its way That he envisioned the productionof such replicas is suggested by to join the other Titians in the gallery of the Queen of Sweden, no the unexpected accumulationof multipleeditions of the Venus and engraver dared attempt to translate its pictorialfuror into a printed Adonis in the studio from 1554 on and by the preparationof ricordi reproduction. such as that done afterthe Diana and Acteon in 1559. In any case, Titianhad found it occasionaly expedient to paint replicas of his by 1568 the Bir Grande studio must have been crowded with large most admired pictures so that another patron, preferably distant poesie in need of a properhome and a remunerativeclient. Hence, from the originalowner, might have the pleasure and distinctionof the clearly abortive attempt to interest the emperor in their pur- owning an admired masterpiece. Althoughmany such replicas were chase. AlthoughMaximilian doubtless was aware of Philip'sfamous assigned in part or entirely to his assistants and apprentices, the cycle, his own artistictaste had never led him to commission pic- master did not disdain the task of repeating himself if the commis- tures from Titian and his reputation for fiscal prudence did not sioner required careful treatment. None of Titian's benefactors encourage large expenditures on useless objects such as painted enjoyed better treatment than Philip II, and the cycle of poesie poesie. One suspects that he or his ministers might have read undertakenfor the king shortly after 1551 and concluded in 1562 between the lines of Strada's protestationsin favor of the paintings' appears to have been the focus of his most concentratedcreativity authenticity. The identical list of poesie among the papers of 56 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES AlbrechtV of Bavaria doubtless testifies to a subsequent effort of in it Damiano Mazza, a Titian pupil, had depicted "...nel soffito d'un Strada's part to dispose of the cycle; a projectabout which we have bel vedere Ganimede rapito dall'Aquila,quanto il naturale, creduto no furtherdocumentation but one that might well have borne fruit.If per la sua esquisitezza di Tiziano."110That canvas, originallyoctag- they went to Munichsometime after 1568, these six pictures were onal but pieced out in the eighteenthcentury to a nearly square for- not destined to remainthere for long, at least some of them moving mat, appears to have left the Assonica collection before Ridolfi's on to the Prague gallery of RudolphII before the end of the centu- time and would reappear, according to Mariettewho ascribed it to ry.106We may summerizethe evolutionof this second set of poesie Titian,in 1717 in the GalleriaColonna at Rome. In the meantime,at as follows: Venus and Adonis (probablythe version now at Malibu, a date close to 1666-1669, Audranengraved [Fig. 31]111the Kisters J. Paul Getty Museum) painted around 1561-1562; the Perseus originalwithout indicatingwhere it was. In 1800 the Colonna repli- and Andromeda (London, Wallace Collection) started around 1562 ca went to Londonwhere Day bought it and sold it to Angerstein in but not finished until about 1565; the Diana and Callisto (Vienna, 1801 with which collection it was purchased for the NationalGallery KunsthistorischesMuseum) painted shortly before Cort engraved it in 1824. Duringmost of this time it was considered to be a work of in 1566; the Diana and Acteon (lost) probablycarried out with the Titian. Gould very tentativelyshifted it to Damiano Mazza on the preceeding replica ca. 1566; the Rape of Europa (lost) executed basis of Ridolfi'sreference.112 It is quite evidentlya replica after the after 1562 but more probably close to 1566-1567; the Death of Kisters collection canvas, and might well be a work of Damiano Acteon (London, National Gallery) begun around 1559-1560 but Mazza who was recordedonly in a documentof 1573 as at work on not finished until just before 1568. Whatever might have been the an altar for the parish church at Noale, a picture of similarly dispositionof this second set of later poesie, Titiandoes not seem Titianesque character. The theme of the handsome shepherd boy to have been tempted to undertakeany furthervariants of his mon- Ganeymede carried away by Jupiter in the guise of an eagle is umental cycle. Except for the small edition of the always marketable a familiarneo-Platonic one in which the youth is a symbol of the Venus and Adonis, all of the poesie had left the shop when the old human spirit transposed from the terrestrialto the celestial realm, man died in 1576. a metaphore of spiritualaspiration. By the Cinquecento its ancient homoerotic aspect had been revived so that it quite often was IV. intended to be read on two levels, a spiritualas well as an erotic one. The angle of view in this ceiling leaves little doubt that By 1568 when the second cycle of poesie was offered for sale Ganeymede's prominentbuttocks remain a firmly sexual allusion. en bloc, Titian had turned to religious and historical themes for The artist, however, approached erotic subjects with a positive Philip II and his project, vaguely adumbrated for the prince in directness that excluded coyly voyeuristic Manieratypical of mytho- Augsburg almost twenty years before, may be considered com- logical themes fifty years before. It is, nonetheless, perhaps this plete. But even duringthe later stages of work on the poesie Titian's explicit homoerotic reference that kept Titian's originalhidden from extrordinaryeffloresence of pictorialinspiration brought into being publicscruteny for so long. In fact, the artistvirtually never suggests other treatments of mythologicalthemes destined for other patrons any enthusiasm for a homoerotic undertone in his pictures that but also the progeny of this richly creative cycle for Spain. The might have been endowed with such a current, a personal prefer- ongoing suite of paintings dedicated to the reclining Venus, some- ence that might explain a certain lack of convictionin this instance. times with an organ or lute player,would be variablyassigned to the The Rape of Ganeymede adds a new and final chapter to workshop assistants,107 and a violent parallel for the mythologies Titian's evolution as an illusionistic ceiling painter. His Vasari- would be found in the subject of Tarquinand Lucretia, but true poe- inspired but modified di sotto in su spatial construct of the Santo sie are rare in the master's last years. Spirito in Isola ceilings (Venice, Salute)113of 1542-1543 retained Here, we might introduce a painting that has, remarkably, a strip of landscape along the bottom of each scene in order to sta- almost entirely escaped critical notice. The Rape of Ganeymede bilize a diagonal recession. The 1559 Sapientia (Venice, Libreria [Kreutzlingen,Heinz Kisters collection. Fig. 30]108appears to have Marciana)114opted for a decisively originalsolution, setting the figu- escaped the attention of early commentators, doubtless because it ra serpentinata on a cloudy ledge against the sky but viewing her was never availableto a broad public, but it is especially remarkable frontally. Its radiantpictorial warmth, so much like that of the last of that the phalanx of energetic scholars at work on Titian over the Philip's poesie, imposes an harmoneous unity despite this spatial past century never mention this strikingcanvas. The sole exception contradiction. In 1564-1568 the artist combined both earlier is Wethey who seems to have seen only a photograph and who approaches in the three ceiling canvases painted for the then took a quite unjustifiablyacidc view of its quality.109True, the Municipio115in Brescia where they bured in 1575. It is clear, how- composition has been known since Ridolficalled attentionto it as ever, that in the Triumphof Brescia picture Titianmade an effortful a ceiling formerlyin the house of the Assonica in Padua, saying that attemptto come to terms with GiulioRomano's doctrinaireMantuan 57 W. R. REARICK i- . d * I I ;W .r; j *W ! * 1 If r V 28) Titian. ((Death of Acteon,. London, National Gallery. X-radiograph. 58 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES 29) Titian. 59 W. R. REARICK , > s s. ... .- ,. . .., .-. 74rz- 30) Titian.(cRape of Ganeymede,,. Kreuzlingen,Heinz Kisters collection. 60 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES ments in ceiling decoration. Once again, Veronese studied and learned from Titian's example; his drawing (London, Duke Ferretti collection) for a Rape of Ganeymede117 turns the nude figure around but clearly remembers Titian's compositionin the eagle and details such as the drapery.The sketch may be dated close to 1583, a moment in which Paolo is unlikelyto have been influenced by Damiano Mazza in Padua. The Ganeymede belongs in the pictori- al ambience of the second cyce of Titian poesie. Its tonality has darkened from the flickeringdissonances that give the 1556-1562 poesie their edgy brilliance;instead, a lilac melancholy tinges the rose-lavender of Ganeymede's draperyand even his flesh tone has a sickley, liverishglow. Brushstrokeis broad and in some passages such as the draperyend improvisationaland sketchy. Doubtless, its position high on the ceiling and a private destination encouraged Ttian to painterlyexperiment. Its visionary light resembles that of the 1565 Perseus and Andromeda but here the brush stroke is more continuous, less fragmented, and the strikingdecorative effect of the almost black eagle's wings against the blue-lilac sky more carefullycalculated. Just this sort of steady control of his medium and elegaic restraintof expression marks the Crucifixion(Escorial, Museo Nuevo) of about 1565. We would, therefore, suggest a sim- ilar date for the Ganeymede. We know nothing of the early history of this ceiling nor who might have commissioned it. Although it is possible that its evident homoerotictone might have suggested dis- 31) Gerard Audran, engraving after Titian. < 61 W. R. REARICK treatmentdestined for Philip II. It never was considered in tandem Seicento suggests that it had been in a Venetian private collection with the poesie and the Spanish monarchseems not to have want- and was earlier among the unfinishedpictures left in Titian's studio ed any further mythologies. Finally,in a mood of melancholy nos- at his death. Its subject is the presidingharmony of divine order vic- talgia, Titianbegan but left unfinisheda pastoral theme of uncertain torious over mere mortal artistic aspiration, a musical allegory of subject (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum)120 and a Cupid antique originthat is normallydepicted in positivelytriumphal terms. Bringer of Harmony (Rotterdam, Boymans-Van Beuningen Titian, however, turs its meaning inwardto conjure up a profound Museum).121Finally, and even more mysterious in its origins, he pessimism, a deeply tragic meditationon the futilityof human art. As started yet again a large poesia, the Flaying of Marsyas (Kromeriz, if to place himself simultaneouslyin the role of creator and specta- Archiepiscopal Palace)122which measures 212 x 207 cm. or slight- tor he depicts himself in the guise of King Midas whose esteem for ly largerthan the firstset of poesie. We know nothingof why, when, the music of the satyr Marsyas earned him ass's ears. Lost in or for whom it was undertaken,but the fact that it was acquiredby melancholy reverie, old Titianseems to rememberthe halcyon days Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, during the first half of the in which his poesie seemed indeed to have been a divine gift.123 2 1 The content of this paper was first presented publiclyon 6 March, Severalrecent studies of the Feast of the Godsare includedin the 1996, on the occasion of the reception of a laurea honoris causa at the volumeTitian 500, J. Mancaed., Hampshireand London,1993. Universityof Udine. My warmest thanks go to the collector,who has not only 3 E. Mattaliano,"II Baccanale di Dosso Dossi: Nuove acquisizioni his to publishhis Venus andAdonis, but has also provided documentarie,"Titian 500, op. cit.,pp. 359-365. given permission 4 ampleinformation about it and the opportunityto study it at lengthin the orig- For the camerinod'alabastro and Titian'spaintings for it, see D. inal.I am equallyindebted to the followingcolleagues who have been gen- Goodgal,'The Camerinoof AlfonsoI d'Este,"Art History,I (1978), pp. erous in offeringideas, councel,and assistancein procuringphotographs: 162-190; C. Hope, 'The 'Camerinod'Alabastro' of Alfonsod'Este," The DeniseAllen, Beverly Louise Brown, David Alan Brown,David Bull, Hugo BurlingtonMagazine, CXIII (1971), pp. 641-650, 712-721;B. L Brown,"On Chapman,Patrick and Pierrede Charmant,Keith Christensen, Sylvia Ferino the Camerino,"Bacchanals by Titianand Rubens, Stockholm,1987, pp. Pagden,Sydney J. Freedberg,Rona Goffen, David Jaffe, FrederichKisters, 43-56; H. Wethey,The CompletePaintings of Titian.Ill. The Mythological StefaniaMason, Konrad Oberhuber, Rita ParmaBaudille, Nicholas Penny, andHistoricalPaintings, London, 1975, pp. 29-41, 143-153. TerisioPignatti, David Rosand,Artur Rosenauer, Carraigh B. Thompson, 5 ForTitian's revisions to the Feast of the Godssee D. A. Brown,in and FulvioZuliani. Tiziano,Venice, 1990, no. 19, pp. 198-201. 62 TITIAN'S LATER MYTHOLOGIES 6 Paris, Musee du Louvre.Oil on canvas, 196 x 385 cm. Cast in a for- hanno da stare, piu grazioso alia vista." In this context it is dear that the mat dose to but more develped than the Flightinto Egypt (Saint Petersburgh, camerino did not imply that an especial room had been designed or even The Hermitage)of 1509-1511, the firststage of the PardoVenus includedthe designated for poesie, but ratherthat Titian assumed, as was the current recliningnude, a revisionof the Giorgione Venus (Dresden, Gemaldegalerie) fashion, that such pictures were for private delectation and not intended for that had been finishedaround 1514 by Titianhimself, and the satyr seen from public reception rooms. For a contraryview see Tanner, 1976, pp. 174-179, the back, a motive first sketched in the drawing(Stone Mountain,Baer collec- and Nash, 1981, pp. 135-158. tion)of about 1512-1513, and the firststage of the satyrat ight and the nymph 12 E. Panofsky, Problems in Titian:Mostly Iconographic, New York, at left,as well as some of the staffage in the middleground such as the nymph 1969, pp. 149-168. For an alternativeinterpretation see Tanner, 1976, pp. quoted from the 1512 Concert Champetre (Pars, Musee du Louvre). 19-134, who gives the most extensive analysis of Titian's literarysources for Conceived in the then familiarpastoral mode of Virgil/Sannazzaro,the subject the later poesie. seems already to have been Jupiter,who in the guise of a satyr, wakens the 13 C. Greppi,ed., Tizianoe la corte di Spagna, Madrid,1975, p. 42. C. sleeping Antiope.Some passages were reworkedsporadically until about 1528 Fabbro, Tiziano-lelettere, Cadore, 1977, no. 133, p. 169. The pictureis men- when the entiresurface was retouchedand the huntertoward the left of center tioned as well in a letter, Fabbro,1977, no. 135, p. 171, of the same date. and the Cupidwere added, both in a style relatedto the Death of Saint Peter 14 Althoughit was more customarythat large canvases be rolledfor ship- Martyr(formerly Venice, SS. Giovannie Paolo). Littleor nothingwas changed ment,the text of Philip'sletter is unequivocal:the picturehad been folded in half untilaround 1562-1564 when the canvas received anothergoing over in which with the resultantdamage along a straighthorizontal line near the center of the the hunterwith the horn and the dogs at left were added in preparationfor its canvas. Had it been rolledand then pressed there would have been a number shipmentto PhilipII as decor for his huntinglodge, El Pardo. For an excellent of parallelhorizontal strips of damage at variouspoints across the surface. One recent summaryof the questions that surroundthis problematicpicture see J. assumes that it was the royalagent Vargaswho was responsablefor this grave Habert,in Le Siecle de Titien, Paris, 1993, no. 165, pp. 520-522 C. Hope, packing error.He, and not Titian,was the object of Philip'sanger. Titian, London, 1980, pp. 123-125, thought that it had been conceived for 15 Cassiano dal Pozzo, Legitione del Signore Cardinale Barbarinoin AlessandroFamese in 1547 and that it was sent as a gift to PhilipII in 1552. Spagna, Rome, Vatican Library,1626, folio 121. 7 Berlin,Staatiche Museen, Gemaldegalerie.No. 1849. Oil on canvas. 16 Madrid,Museo del Prado, no. 422. Oil on canvas, 186 x 207 cm. No 115 x 210 cm. Signed: TITIANUS F. Traceable only to the collection of scholar has expressed doubts that the Prado pictureis the same as the dam- Principe Pio di Savoia in the eighteenth century, it is the firstof a series of aged canvas about which Philipcomplained in his letterfrom London.Almost later paintings depicting Venus with a musician. E. Schleier, Catalogue of all commentatorssee the seam as the fold about which the king was angered. Paintings. Berlin, Gemildegalerie, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1978, pp. 447-448. H. 17 I am gratefulto R. Alonso y Alonso, of the Conservation Laboratory Wethey, 1975, no. 48, pp. 197-199, correctlyidentified the Berlinorgan play- at the Museo del Prado, who confirmedthat the surface irregularityin the er as Philip,then Crown Prince, but no explanationof when, why, and by Prado canvas is, indeed, a seam where two lengths of canvas were sewn whom it was commissioned is easily posited. R. Giorgi, Tiziano. Venere, together before the paintingwas begun. He also provideduseful information Amore, e il Musicista in cinque quadri, Rome, 1990, pp. 113-117, quite on its present condition. unconvincinglyidentified it as Philip's commission of 1554 on the occasion 18 The Prado Venus and Adonis, unlike many of the paintingsin the of his marriageto MaryTudor. Both the style of the Berlincanvas and the age Spanish Royal collection,did not suffer scorchingduring one of the fires that of Philip,clearly younger than in the 1551 portrait(Madrid, Museo del Prado), swept throughthe Alcazar during the seventeenth century. Subsequently, it suggests that it was painted in Augsburg during Titian's 1548 sojoum. This underwent restoration in which a significant amount of in-painting was tends to confirmthe possibilitythat it is the version of this subject commis- added. Had the supposed folding damaged been repaired after the original sioned by the EmperorCharles V in 1545, a picture cited as finished and arrivedin England this intermediatestage of restorationwould have become broughtto Augsburgin 1548. When and why it left the Hapsburghcollections more, not less evident with subsequent treatments. priorto the eighteenth century is unknown. 19 The Madrid canvas today measures 187 cm in height, probably 8 Most authors have insisted, often with a vehemence that distorts the close to its originaldimension, since there is no visible sign of loss either evidence, that there was from at least 1553 a detailed iconological program above or below. Its width,207 cm., includesan additionof 11 cm. at left.I am for Titian's poesie for PhilipII and that the literarysources provideda basis obligedto R. Alonso y Alonso for these measurements. for a predisposed formal and thematic interrelationshipfor the entire cycle. 20 Crowe and Cavalcaselle, 1877, II, pp. 227, 237-239, ascribed it to See M. Tanner, Titian:the "poesie"for Philip II, Ph.D. New York University, Titian in collaboration with his son Orazio, a clear implication that they 1976 (UniversityMicrofilms, Ann Arbor,1983); J. C. Nash, Titian's'poesie'for sensed a problem with the picture's quality.C. Hope, Titian, London, 1980, Philip II, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University,1981 (UniversityMicrofilms, Ann p. 127, says 'The appeal of the picturelay not only in its sensuality...orin its Arbor, 1983); P. Fehl, 'Titian and the Olympian Gods: the 'Camerino'for technical excellence, but above all in its understatedartifice." Even so acute PhilipII," in Tiziano e Venezia, Venice, 1980, pp. 139-147. a critic as S. J. Freedberg, Painting in Italy 1500 to 1600, Harmondsworth 9 Madrid,Museo del Prado. Oil on canvas, 129 x 180 cm. Titian first and Baltimore,1971, pp. 348-349, groups the Venus and Adonis along with mentionedby name the Danae in his letterto Philipwritten in the late sum- the Perseus and Andromeda (London, Wallace Collection) with works that mer of 1554, commenting that it had already been sent to Spain for the "...convey the sense that an extrordinaryreach of classical expression camerino, that had perhaps been projectedas early as 1551 in Augsburg. ...(that)...assumes the stature of idea." He then, like Hope, goes on to an Despite speculation that the Madridcanvas had been painted much earlier, eloquent descriptionof the pictorialqualities of the subsequent poesie. it seems more likely to have been painted and sent during 1553, see F. 21 M. Bury, Giulio Sanuto. A Venetian Engraver of the Sixteenth Valcanover, n Le Siecle de Titien, Paris, 1993, no. 177, pp. 533-534. Century, Edinburgh,1990, no. 2, pp. 11-12. 10 The slight loss along the top marginwould not have broughtit even 22 For the most complete discussion of Titian's woodcuts see M. close to the standardformat of subsequent poesie. Muraroand D. Rosand, Tiziano e la silografia veneziana del Cinquecento, 11 Titian wrote "...e perche la Danae che lo mandai gia a Vostra Venice, 1976. Maesta, si vedeva tutta da la parte dinanzi, ho voluto in quest'altra poesia 23 Muraro and Rosand, 1976, no. 12, pp. 84-85. Rearick, "Titian variare e farle mostrare la contrariaparte, accioche riesca il camerino, dove Drawings:a Progress Report,"Artibus et Historiae, XXIII(1991), pp. 17-18. 63 W. R. REARICK 24 G. Vasari, Le vite de'piu eccelentipittori, ... etc., (ed. Milanesi,1906, been repaired.The canvas has been relined,possibly more than once, and VII,p. 437). Muraroand Rosand, 1976, no. 44, pp. 111-112. a recent patch has been appliedfrom the back in correspondencewith the cen- 25 This is especially true of the large, four block Sacrifice of Isaac, traldog. The paint surface has undergonegeneral wear from old restorations, a work assembled from a stock of drawingsas well as prints,not all of them but local abrasionsare evidentin the X-radiographsin the body of Venus, to the by Titian.The several woodcuts in which landscape dominates, all produced rightof Adonis's mouth,in his lowerright arm, and the sky at upperright Avery in the thirddecade of the century,were composed by Titianhimself, but there early damage resultedfrom the canvas being folded horizontallyat mid-point, he made use of various pen studies assembled for each project,see W. R. that is ca. 96 cm. fromthe loweredge, resultingin an irregularloss of paintsur- Rearick,in Le Siecle de Titien, Paris, 1993, pp. 554-555, 565-566. face about 10 mm. wide along the seamrold. This is most evident in passages 26 K. Oberhuber,Disegni di Tiziano e della sua cerchia, Venice, 1976, of heavy impasto such as the flesh areas of the figures. This damage was no. 42, pp. 97-99. Rearick,'Titian Drawings: A Progress Report,"Artibus et inpaintedin a stripabout 8 cm in widthat a date dose to that of the damage. Historiae, XXIII(1991), pp. 21-22. The Louvre drawing has recently been This restorationhas, in tum, lost flecks of paintsurface at a few pointsfor exam- ascribed entirelyto Cort himself by M. Sellink, Cornelis Cort..., Rotterdam, ple near to Venus's ear, cear evidence that it has sufferedthe same wear as 1994. the orginal.The surface of the picturehas evidentlybeen ceaned several times 27 Milan, private collection. Pen and brown ink on ivory paper. ca. at unrecordeddates, one probablyfairly recently.The smooth gilt frame of 222 x 165 mm. Unpublished. a type used in Rome, recorded in seventeenth century documents, was 28 The central passage of the inscriptionon Sanuto's engraving reads: replaced with an early nineteenthcentury gilt frame of Britishworkmanship. ...non di meno havendo lo questo esempio cavato/ da una rariss. pitturadel- 33 Priorto 1689 all mentionsof Titian's picturesof this subject are with- I'unicoM. Titiano,fatta dalla sua mano al sereniss. e catholico/ FILIPPORe out either measurements or detailed descriptions;therefore allowance must di Spagna..." Althoughthe terms allow for the technical intermediaryof draw- be made for the existance of other versions of the Venus and Adonis in the ings, this inscriptionclearly indicates that Sanuto had before him the paint- same collection. ing done for PhilipII and not a replica. Thus, at a date at least shortly before 34 For the ca. 1598 inventorysee Perger, 1864, p. 108 where the pic- 21 September, 1559, the Lausanne canvas was in Titian's studio. ture is listed on folio 38b. For the 1621 inventorysee Zimmerman,1905, p. 29 See M. A. Chiari,1982, no. 30, p. 67; and CatelliIsola, 1976, no. 23, XLIII,no. 1054 p. 36. 35 Du Fresne, no. 115. 30 Catelli Isola, 1976, no's. 12, 13, pp. 34-35. 36 The picture listed in 1662 as measuring eight and a half by nine 31 The modern (post-1800) art historical comments on the present palmimay be interpretedas being about 190 x 201 cm. while the Lausanne Venus and Adonis may be summerizedas follows:A. Hume, Notices of the picturetoday measures 178 x 200 cm. or about 8 x 9 palmi. It is significant Life and Worksof Titian,London, 1829, p. 65, as "Alarge pictureof Venus & that the Death of Acteon (London, National Gallery)was listed in the same Adonis (by Titian) from the Orleans Gallery,"with details of its gift to inventoryas being the same size as the Venus and Adonis whereas its BenjaminWest who sold it to HartDavis for ? 4.000.; exhibitedas by Titian, height today is 179 cm., only one centimeterhigher than the Lausanne can- London, British Institution,1822; G. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great vas. It is only in the 1662 Palazzo Riarioinventory that we find a clear dis- Britain,London, 1854, III,pp. 178, "Agood school copy of the celebrated pic- tinction made among the various pictures representing Venus and Adonis ture in the Museumat Madrid"(Waagen had had, on his firstvisit, a hard time that belonged to Queen Christina.One incuded three dogs, and was very gaining access to the picturegallery at Leigh Court and complainedof being close to the dimensions of the Lausanne picturebut differentfrom those of rushed throughthe rooms, but during a second visit he was allowed ample the Getty Museum canvas, which at 158 x 201 cm. would have been about time to study the collection);J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, Titian.His 7 by 9 palmi. The smaller one seems to have been considered a copy. Life and Times, London, 1877, vol. II, p. 151, who follow a very inaccurate 37 In the 1689 inventorythe measurements are palmi sei e mezzo e discriptionof the compositionwith the observationthat 'This copy is by some larga palmi otto for the canvas in the same smooth gilt frame. old Venetian followerof Titian."It is dear that they believed it was identical 38 Althoughthis smaller format might seem better associated with one to the later, smaller Venus and Adonis of the Washingtontype; noted as by of the later reductionsof the theme, the discriptionis dearly that of either the Titianin ArtNews, 4 October,1930, p. 14; writtenexpertises, all ascribingthe Lausanne or Getty pictures.The smooth frame suggests the former. paintingto Titianor Titianassisted by a Northernassistant who was respon- 39 J. Couche, Galerie du Palais Royal, Paris, 1786, consisted of two sible for some of the foregroundplants, by A. L. Mayer,1930; D. von Hadeln, volumes of etchings after the major paintingsin the d'Orleanscollection with 5 September, 1930 (mistakenlydated 1940), quoted in the Helbing Gallery comments by the Abbe de Frontenai.Although the collection had already sale catalogue of 1930; D. von Hadeln, pre-1935;A. Pelzer, Munich,15 July, been dispersed in 1792, publicationresumed in 1808 with a three volume 1937; K. F. Suter, Leipzig, 23 April, 1941. H. Wethey, The Complete edition arranged by school but with the commentaryomitted. The etching of Paintings of Titian, The Mythologicaland HistoricalPaintings, London, III, Titian's Venus andAdonis reproducedthe picturenow in the Getty Museum, 1975, pp. 191-192, as "...probablya replica by Titian's workshop",but he but it gave as its measurements5 pieds 7 pouce x 6 pieds 2 pouces, dimen- admittedthat he knew it only from a photograph;M. Bury,Giulio Sanuto. A sions that correspondonly with those of the Lausanne canvas. This was evi- VenetianEngraver of the Sixteenth Century, Edinburgh,1990, pp. 11-12, as dently an error in transcriptionthat goes back to the 1786 edition. The the source for Sanuto's 1559 engraving. He also knew it only from pho- Lausanne picture was not reproduced there. C. Stryienski, Le Galerie du tographs, and thus prudentlyascribed it to the studio of Titian,while empha- Regent Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, Paris, 1913, gives a detailed discussion of sizing that it must have been in the studio in 1559.. the contents of the Palais Royal based on its various inventories. 32 Lausanne, privatecollection. Oil on canvas, 178 x 200 cm. For its 40 This informationwas providedby AbrahamHume, 1829, p. 65, not provenancesee notes 33-45. Its conditionis one of honest, hard wear. The always a reliablesource but in this case a virtualeye witness since he was canvas, made up of two widthssewn togetherat about 96 cm. fromthe present present at the Lyceum sale of the balance of the collection.The most rea- loweredge, is of the familiarVenetian rather heavy weave texturepreferred by sonable explanationfor such a gift to the artist is that it was compensation Ttian. It has lost a very slight strip along all marginsbut virtuallynone of the for his advice and counsel in giving valuationsfor the paintingsto be sold. original painted surface. Several small tears in the canvas, particularlyan Such a service was often providedin the eighteenth century by distinguished extensivelydamaged passage around the head of the foregrounddog, have artists. The standard remunerationin such cases was to allow the evaluator 64 TITIAN'S LATER MYTHOLOGIES his choice of a paintingfrom the collectionto be sold. The date of this trans- 56 L Dolce, Lettere di diversi eccellentissimi huominiraccolte da diver- action is suggested by the appearance of the Lausanne canvas in a cata- si libritra le quali se ne leggono molte non piu stampate, Venice, 1554. See logue of the Miles collectionwith the date of 1798-1809, a span that crre- M. Roskill,Dolce's Aretinoand VenetianArt Theory of the Cinquecento, New sponds exactly with the years of West's ownership. See J. Young, A York, 1968, pp. 212-217.. Catalogue of the Pictures at Leigh Court,near Bristol;the seat of PhilipJohn 57 The tubular,contemporary type quiverdepicted in the Lausanne pic- Miles, Esq., M. P., withetchings from the whole Collection, London, 1822, p. ture was changed in the Prado replicato a rectanglarshape with grottesque 4; and H. Von Erffaand A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New relief decorations on its broad side. This form resembles that of the scab- Haven, 1986, p. 448. bard, then sometimes described as a quiver, seen in the antique marblerelief 41 A photographof this engravingis on file at the Witt Library,London. called the Throne of Saturn (Venice, Museo Archaeologico). This "erudite" 42 Panofsky, 1969, pp. 153-154. correctionmight have been suggested by a friendlycritic such as Dolce. Both 43 Wethey, 1975, III,p. 194. quivertypes recur in replicas suggesting Titian's lack of convictionin his revi- 44 Wethey, 1975, III,p. 194. sion. The classical quiver inserted into the Jupiter and Antiope might date 45 It now seems clear that Jacopo Strada acted as agent for Albrecht from 1554 duringthe preparationof the replicaof the Venus and Adonis. V in the purchase of several pictures by Paolo Veronese in 1567-68, most 58 At least seven versions of the Penitent Magdalen issued from the notably the splendid suite of mythologicalallegories (New York,The Frick BiriGrande studio over the span between the Granvelleoriginal of 1554 and Collection;New York, MetropolitanMuseum of Art; Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Titian's death in 1576. Of them only one example (Saint Petersburg,The Museum; etc) and the four allegorical ceilings (London, National Gallery). Hermitage)is an autographrevision by Titian himself. In the others (Naples, The list of Titianpoesie preserved in Albrecht's Municharchive suggests that Capodimonte;etc.) passages of loosely brushed execution, as in the sky and these works by Titian were at least offered and perhaps purchased by landscape, altemate with lineardetail, as in the stripedshawl, and bits of lap- Albrecht.They might all have passed to Rudpolphin Prague on Albrecht's idarygleam, such as the ointmentjar. Although these jumps in technique are death. sometimes due to the presence of more than one assistant in the execution, 46 When the Pentecost(Venice, Salute), painted in 1541-1542 for the it is also typicalof a diligent imitator,who attempts to adjust his handlingto church of Santo Spiritoin Isola, began to deteriorate,Titian replaced it with what he sees as distinctionsin the model picture.What he cannot ape is the a second version around 1546 or shortly thereafter. See W. R. Rearick, integrityof vision and painterlycohesion evident in the Busto Arsizioor Saint "TitianDrawings: a Progress Report,"Artibus et Historiae, XXIII(1991), pp. Petersburg originals. 23-24. 59 Wethey, op. cit., 1975, III,pp. 188-194. 47 For the correspondance see Crowe and Cavalcaselle, 1875, II, pp. 60 London, National Gallery, inv. no. 34. Oil on canvas. 177.1 x 187.2 515-517. cm. C. Gould, National Gallery Catalogues. The Sixteenth Century Venetian 48 The analogous, but not identical, classical quiver in the Louvre School, London, 1959, no. 34, pp. 98-102. Wethey, III, 1975, no. 41, pp. Jupiterand Antiope may have been added to that pictureat about the same 190-191. Nicholas Penny kindly made the X-radiographsavailable for my time. study. 49 Four X-radiographsof details of the Lausanne canvas were made in 61 Malibu,J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. no. 92.PA.42. Oil on canvas. 160 Paris in 1993. x 196.5 cm. Christie's,London, December, 1991, no. 85, with provenancein 50 The contourof Venus's chin was reduced and the highlightson the part conflated with that of the Lausanne picture. The J. Paul Getty Museum pearls were added after their first indicationof form. Adonis's white shirtwas Journal, XXI (1993), pp. 117-118. The cleaning and restorationwas carried brushed in after Venus's arm had been painted. out by Andreas Rothe during 1992. I am most gratefulto Denise Allen who 51 See D. A. Brown,in Tiziano,Venice, 1990, no. 51, pp. 302-305. This provided me with the photographand X-radiographsmade after treatment. first version of the subject was painted very cose to 1555 and shows exact 62 Ridolfi,1648, I, p. 187, described it as a bozzetto and described its technical analogies with the Lausanne Venus and Adonis, but less so when proveance. It was recorded in the Marques of Hamiltoninventory of 1638 compared with the Prado replica. See also F. Valcanover, in Le Siecle de and again in 1648 as measuring2 palmi. Soon after it passed to Archduke Titien, Paris, 1993, no. 178, pp. 534-535. Leopold Wilhelmin Brussels where it was recorded as measuring 3 spann, 52 Note in the X-radiographof Venus's head the small chips of restora- 1 fingerx 2 spann 9 finger. It seems to have disappearednot long afterward. tion that have flaked near to her ear and in her hair.The same type of loss 63 Crowe and Cavalcaselle, 1877, II, pp. 237 and 249. Fabbro, 1977, is notable in Adonis's chest band. That both the original pigment and the no. 198, pp. 268-270. restorationhave suffered the same damage stronglysuggests that they are 64 Dolce, Dialogo della Pittura, Venice, 1557 (P. Barocchi ed., Bari, nearly coeval. 1960, p. 205, M. Roskill,1968, pp. 193, 336).. 53 The Jupiter and Antiope was recorded at El Pardo under the title 65 Cassiano dal Pozzo, 1626, folio 121. Danae in 1564, and is almost certainly the canvas vaguely described in 66 For details relativeto the documented early historyof the Perseus Titian's 1574 letterto AntonioPerez in which he recounts the picturessent to and Andromeda see J. Ingamells,in The Wallace Collection, London, 1985, the King.See Wethey, 1975, III,pp. 161-162. I, pp. 357-358. There its provenance is conflated with that of the second, 54 It is not cear which of the copies after this antique relief might have Wallace Collection, version. been known to Titian, but he had certainlyseen its reflectionin Raphael's 67 C. Huygens, Werken, XLVI,1888, p. 98, joural entry for 14 June, MarriageFeast of Psyche (Rome, Villa Famesina) during his visit to Rome 1649. almost a decade earlier. See Panofsky, 1969, p. 151. 68 For the inventory made on 30 August, 1662, of the estate of 55 Commissionedby Charles V in 1551 in Augsburg, the Gloria was Hesselin see Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 60, XLIX(1957), p. 60. shipped to Flanders just priorto October, 1554. The Venus and Adonis was 69 Rearick, Tiziano e il disegno veneziano del suo tempo, Florence, packed and sent to Londonabout a month earlier.The Penitent Magdalene 1976, no. 28, pp. 61-63. Rearick,in Le Siecle de Titien, Paris, 1993, no. 232, (Busto Arsizio, Candiani collection), sent to Nicola de Granvelle on pp. 580-581. A. ChiariMoretto Wiel, Tiziano. Corpus dei disegni autografi, September 15, 1554, shares with that poesia a richlysensuous materialtex- Milan,1989, no. 31, pp. 93-94, thoughtthe association with the Andromeda ture and a very similar golden chromatic range. composition hypothetical. H. Wethey, Titian and His Drawings, Princeton, 65 W. R. REARICK 1987, no. X-2, p. 222, rejects the attributionto Titian, assigning it to an 85 For the most thoroughdiscussion of Strada's role in this transaction anonymous Venetian drafltman of the late sixteenth century and misinter- see E. Verheyen, "Jacopo Strada's Mantuan Drawings,"Art Bulletin, XLIX preting my 1976 publication. (1967), pp. 62-70. 70 Ingamells,in The Wallace Collection, 1985, p. 357, argued that the 86 Washington,National Gallery of Art, no. 680. Oil on canvas, 106.8 x Van Dyck drawingwas after a lost drawingby Titianin which the figure was 136 cm. F R. Shapley,Catalogue of the ItalianPaintings, Washington, 1979, studied twice. This would be uncharacteristicof Titian's late use of the pen. pp. 492-495. Wethey, 1975, III,no. 44, pp. 193-194. The qualityof this picture 71 Rearick, The Artof Paolo Veronese. 1528-1588, Washington, 1988, was fullyrevealed by the conservationcarried out by D. Bull in 1995-1996. no. 86, p. 171. Titian's original,together with Veronese's canvas, exerted 87 Fabbro, 1977, no. 164, p. 215. It has not been associated untilnow a striking influence on French painters during the years when both were with a specific version of this composition. simultaneouslyvisible in Paris. 88 New York, MetropolitanMuseum of Art, no. 49.7.16. Oil on canvas, 72 For the correspondancesee Crowe and Cavalcaselle, 1877, II, pp. 106.7 x 133.3 cm. F. Zeri and E. E. Gardner,Italian Paintings. Venetian 278, 512, 515, and Fabbro,1977, no. 144, pp. 186-187, and no. 149, p. 195. School, New York,1973, pp. 81-82. Wethey, 1975, III,no. 43, pp. 192-193. 73 Edinburgh,National Galleries of Scotland, Duke of Sutherlandloan. F. Valcanover, 1993, no. 256, pp. 616-617. There is no record of this pic- Oil on canvas, 188 x 206 cm. Signed: TITIANUS.Wethey, 1975, III,no. 10, ture's provenance priorto its 1804 appearance in Palazzo Mariscotti,Rome. pp. 141-142. 89 Rome, Galleria Nazionale Palazzo Barberini,no. F. N. 547. Oil on 74 Engravings after Fountainbleauworks by Primaticciowere already canvas, 187 x 184 cm. Wethey, 1975, III,no. X-40, p. 223. in wide circulationin Venice by 1550. 90 EmanuelAmberger is referedto by Titianas his very talented young 75 Edinburgh,National Galleries of Scotland, Duke of Sutherlandloan. pupilin a letter of 1567 in which he proposes to PhilipII an ambitiouscycle Oil on Canvas, 188 x 203 cm. Signed: TITIANUSF. Wethey, 1975, III,no. 9, of paintingsof the life of Saint Lawrence,a project never realized. pp. 138-141. 91 Ridolfi,1648, I, p. 187 (ed. Hadeln, 1914, I, p. 207), understandably 76 Vienna, KunsthistorischesMuseum, no. 168; HamptonCourt, Royal called this a bozzetto. Colections, no. 47; formerlyVienna, privatecollection; Venice, Pietro Scarpa. 92 London,The Wallace Collection,no. P-11. See Ingamells,1985, pp. See F. Richardson,Andrea Schiavone, Oxford,1980, no. 262, p. 163; no. 349-360. 327, pp. 190-191; no. 328, p. 191; no. 333, pp. 194-195. The existance of 93 Catelli Isola, 1976, no. 38, p. 44. Mattheus Greuter (1564-1568) Titian's ricordo (see note 77) allows for a wider dating than the 1559 sug- copied Cort's engravingin Rome. See CatelliIsola, 1976, no. 64, p. 50. gested by Richardson, p. 191. Schiavone drew a study (London, British 94 For Ridolfi's report on Titian's bozzetti see 1648, I, p. 187 (ed. Museum, no. 1851-3-8-966) for the nymph seen from the back, probablyto Hadeln, 1914, I, p. 207). darifythe form that was only partiallyvisible in the Titian. 95 Vienna, KunsthistorischesMuseum, no. 71. Oil on canvas, 183 x 77 Lausanne, privatecollection. Oil on canvas, 55.2 x 66.5 cm. Pignatti, 200 cm. Wethey, 1975, III,no. 11, pp. 142-143. Die Gemaldegalerie des "Abbozzi and Ricordi: New Observationson Titian's Technique,"in Titian Kunsthistorisches Museums in Wien, Vienna, 1991, p. 124. X-radiographs 500, Hanover and London, 1993, pp. 75-81. He lists several other copies reveal that the firstsketched form on the canvas differedfrom the final paint- after either the ricordoor the original ing in many details, some of them directlyrelated to the first, Edinburgh,ver- 78 Ridolfi,1648, I, pp. 188-189 (ed. Hadeln, 1914, I, pp. 206-207). sion. This suggests a sequence in which a ricordoand/or drawings served at 79 See Pignatti,1993, p. 78. This small copy shows variationsthat cor- the start of the replicationprocess as was the case with the Perseus and respond with the ricordobut not with the 1559 original. Amdromeda and the Death of Adonis. 80 Fabbro, 1977, no. 141, p. 179. 96 Exceptin the case of the Gloria, for which he had Orazio'scomplete 81 Boston, Isabella Stewart GardnerMuseum, no. P26e1. Oil on can- drawingwhich he reversed (see note 26), CorneliusCort allowed all of his vas, 178 x 205 cm. Signed: TITIANSF. P. Hendy,European andAmerican subsequent engravings after Titianto be printedin reverse of the painting. Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1974, pp. This is unusual, since most printmakersbegan by reversing the source so 257-260. Wethey, 1975, III,no. 32, pp. 172-175. The glittery attention to that the reproductionwould preserve the originalsense of the composition. realisticsurface in the fish suggests that Titiandelegated this detail to one of This suggests that later Cort worked directlyfrom the pictureand allowed his the northemassociates known to have assisted him at this time cuttingof the plate to followthat model ratherthan a reversed drawing. 82 Fabbro,1977, no. 153, p. 200, and no. 162, p. 212. 97 Voltelini,1893, XLVII,no. 8804. The version purchased by Christine 83 Despite insistant efforts to devine an iconographicsignificance in the of Sweden from Leopold Wilhelm was smaller, ie. six by seven palmi as arrangementof these pictures,none was intended and we have a record of opposed to the nine by twelve palmi assigned to della Nave's version. It them being hung togatheronly in 1584 when they were at least brieflyin the mighthave been one of the ricordiafter the poesie. palace at Aranjuez. By 1626 they were displayed in various parts of the 98 Q. Boel engraved a Rape of Europafor Teniers' TheatrumPictorium Alcazar. Fehl, 1980, pp. 139-147, recognized that Titian took the icono- of 1658 with measurementsof 4 x 6 braccia. This composition is reversed graphic and formal interrelationsof his poesie into consideration, but he from the originalwith small figures of Europa and the bull and the group of assumes that both patron and painterenivsioned a fixed and significantspa- handmaidenson the same scale in a vast seascape. Unless the second ver- tial environmentfor them. Instead, as he concedes at the end of his essay, sion made these changes, a shift in figurescale that would have thrownit out pp. 146-147, its evolutionas a cycle was subject to loose improvisationas of balance with the other parts of the Maximiliancyce, they are probablydue each picturewas added. Certainly,no overallprogram had been set down at to excessive libertieson Boel's part. any point between 1551 and 1562. 99 Wethey, 1975, III,no. 8, pp. 136-138. 84 Wethey, 1975, III,no. 51, pp. 200-201. The unusual double portrait 100 London, National Gallery. Oil on canvas, 179 x 198 cm. Wethey, that X-radiographshave revealed to be under the present paintingwas pre- 1975, III,p. 136, reproducedthe X-radiograph. pared with a technique comparable with that revealed by the X-radiographs 101 Wethey, The Complete Paintings of Titian. I. The Religious of the Lausanne Venus and Adonis but ratherdifferent from that of the Getty Paintings, London, 1969, no. 12, pp. 72-74. Valcanover, 1993, no. 251, p. Museum version of that theme, the Wallace Collection Perseus and 612. Hetzer, voce Vecellio, Tiziano, in Thieme and Becker, Allgemines Andromeda, and the NationalGallery Death of Adonis. Lexikonderbildenden Kunstler, Leipzig,XXXIV (1926), p. 166, attributedthe 66 TITIAN'SLATER MYTHOLOGIES DeathofActeon to an anonymouspainter he consideredalso responsiblefor galleryof RudolphII. Not long afterwardhe undertooka replica(New York, the NaplesAnnunciation. MetropolitanMuseum of Art)that remainedunfinished at his death. In part 102 Titianhad paintedthe prototypeof the PenitentMagdalene (Busto the workof Orazio,this last picturehas a strikinglandscape entirely by Titian Arsizio,Candiani collection) in 1554, and it was sent to Nicolade Granvelle himself. on 15 September,1554, almostsimultaneously with the LausanneVenus 108 Kreutzlingen,Heinz Kisters collection. Oil on canvas, 68 x 68 cm. andAdonis.Wethey, I, 1969, no. 124, p. 146. For its identificationas the (octagonalshape). Sold in London,Christie's, 2 February,1961, no. 72, as Candianipicture see Rearick,"Una 'Maddalena'incompiuta di Paolo byTintoretto, its earlyhistory is not documented,but it is possiblythe picture Veronese,'Arte Veneta XLVI (1994), pp. 29-30. In 1561 he undertooka repli- noted in Mundler'snotebook of 1856 as in a privatecollection in Padua.It ca for PhilipII, a canvas purchasedby a Venetiancollector named Silvio for was boughtby the dealerRothman in 1961 and passed in 1962 to Hans a high price,a concessionthat requiredthe artistto painta replicafor the Wendlandin Pariswhere it was acquiredby its presentowner in the same king.Both are lost today.It was probablyat this point,contemporary with the year. Kistershimself identified it as the originalafter which Damiano Mazza WashingtonVenus and Adonis, that the masterpainted the splendidreplica painteda replica(London, National Gallery) and thoughtthe Audranengrav- (Saint Petersburg,Hermitage) that remaineduntil his death in the shop ing to be afterhis picture. whereit servedas modelfor at least five shop replicas. 109 Kisterssent Wetheya blackand white photograph,but the latter 103 The firstand onlyentirely autograph version of the Adorationof the deniedthat the picturewas autograph.Wethey, 1975, III,no. X-16,p. 212. Magi (Milan,Pinacoteca Ambrosiana)was commissionedby Cardinal No subsequentscholar has discussedit nor has it ever been reproduced. Ippolitod'Este as a gift intendedfor HenryII of France.Its inceptionmay 110 Ridolfi,1648, I, p. 203 (ed. Hadeln,1914, I, p. 224). probablybe relatedto the Cardinal'svisit to Venicein 1556, butthe canvas 111 The plate is inscribed:Ticien pinxit/ G. Audransculp. cum privil. was stillin Titian'sstudio when the Spanishambassador saw it therein 1559 Reg. GerardAudran was bor in 1640 and died in 1703. See CatelliIsola, and suggestedthat it be sent insteadto PhilipII. The styleof the Milanpaint- 1976, no.s 122-123,p. 61. Thisengraving is clearlyafter the Kistersoriginal ing shows an intemalevolution stretching over several years, the figures and not the Mazzareplica. It makesa mostlysuccessful effort to reproduce relatingto worksof ca. 1557-1559and the vaporouslandscape belonging to Titian'spictorial and chromaticrange, most notablyin the variegatedfeath- the same phase seen in the Rapeof Europaof 1559-1562.Just as he had ers of the eagle. It was, conversely,the Mazza canvas that Domenico done on otheroccasions such as the replicationof the PenitentMagdalene Cunegoengraved when it was alreadyin the PalazzoColonna and had been for the Spanishmonarch, Titian retained the original,painting a replica(El piecedout to a squareformat. Escorial,Museo Nuevo)with extensiveassistance from Orazio, a canvas 112 Gould,1959, no. 32, pp. 55-56, gives a thoroughdiscussion of the that he shippedto Spain in 1560. Sometimebefore the Cardinalfinally replicabut did not knowthe original.Nicholas Penny has kindlyinformed me receivedhis picturein 1564 Titian'sworkshop produced, with virtually no par- thatX-radiographs reveal notable changes in the positionsof Ganeymede's, ticipationfrom the masterhimself, at least three furtherreplicas (Cleveland, feet, perhapsa false starton Mazza'spart. Museumof Art;Madrid, Museo del Prado;Paris, d'Atricollection). See 113 Wethey,1969, I, no.s 82-84, pp. 120-121. Wethey,1969, I, pp. 64-68, and Hope,1980, pp. 137, 142. 114 Wethey,1975, III,no. 55, pp. 204-205. 104 Ourview that the firstpoesia, the PradoDanae, was neverconsid- 115 Wethey,1975, III,no. L-1,p. 225. ered an integralpart of Philip'scycle is bore out by the factthat it was point- 116 Rearick,"Post-Maniera," in La ragionee I'arte.Torquato Tasso e la edly omittedfrom the 1568 list. Nonetheless,Titian and his shop had in the RepublicaVeneta, G. Da Pozzoed., Venice,1995, pp. 67-78. interimproduced a sequenceof replicasafter it, one of whichmight well have 117 R. Cocke,Veronese's Drawings, London, 1984, no. 110,p. 259. The been availablefor the listoffered to Maximilian. decisionto view Ganeymedefrom the frontis probablyconditioned by an 105 The best descriptionof the aged Titianat work is given by M. awarenes of engravingsafter Michelanelo'sRape of Ganeymede(lost, Boschini, Le ricche minere della pittura veneziana, Venice, 1674, a copy in the RoyalLibrary, Windsor Castle). Introduzionep. 4 v. who had heardit directlyfrom Palma il Giovane,an eye- 118 Vasari,1568, (ed. Milanesi,1906, VII,p. 456). witness. 119 Wethey,1975, III,no.s 35, 34, pp. 180-182. 106 Althoughthe vagariesof his inventoriescreate a marginof doubt,it 120 Wethey,1975, III, no. 27, pp. 166-167. Panofsky's identification is probablethat Rudolphowned two versionsof Venusand Adonis, a Rape (1969, pp. 168-171)ofits subjectas Parisand Oenonedoes not carrycon- of Europa,and a Deathof Acteon,but not a Dianaand Callistosince thatpic- viction. ture was firstmentioned in Venice in the della Nave collection.We may, 121 Wethey, 1975, III,no. 2, pp. 129-130 The identificationof the sub- therefore,conclude that the 1568 cycle was neversold en bloc. ject of this picture,certainly not a fragment,is due to Rearick,1988, pp. 107 The prototype(Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Gemaldegalerie.See 135-136, in relationto Veronese'streatment of it (Munich,Alte Pinakothek). note 7) of about1551 wouldbe replicatedin a canvas (Madrid,Museo del 122 Wethey,1975 III,no. 16, pp. 153-154.For an excellentstudy of this Prado,no. 421) thatis almostexclusively shop and cannotbe the 1548 pic- subject,in particularas depictedby Titian,see E. Wyss, TheMyth of Apollo ture done for CharlesV. A still laterreplica (Madrid, Museo del Prado,no. and Marsyasin the Artof the ItalianRenaissance, Newarkand London, 420) is of stillpoorer quality except in the figureof Venus,a passage added 1996, pp. 133-141. by Titianhimself around 1564-1566. Its supposed provenancefrom the 123 Fora discussionof Titian'svarious selfportraits see Rearick,'The Paduahouse of FrancescoAssonica is possiblebut not firmlydocumented. VenetianSelfportrait. 1450-1600", in Le metamorfosidel ritratto,Venice, in Finally,Titian painted a monumentalrevision of the theme (Cambridge, press. FitzwilliamMuseum) close to 1569-1570, a canvas later in the Prague 67