Bartolomeo Maranta's 'Discourse' on Titian's Annunciation in Naples: Introduction1
Bartolomeo Maranta’s ‘Discourse’ on Titian’s Annunciation in Naples: introduction1 Luba Freedman Figure 1 Titian, The Annunciation, c. 1562. Oil on canvas, 280 x 193.5 cm. Naples: Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte (on temporary loan). Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource. Overview The ‘Discourse’ on Titian’s Annunciation is the first known text of considerable length whose subject is a painting by a then-living artist.2 The only manuscript of 1 The author must acknowledge with gratitude the several scholars who contributed to this project: Barbara De Marco, Christiane J. Hessler, Peter Humfrey, Francesco S. Minervini, Angela M. Nuovo, Pietro D. Omodeo, Ulrich Pfisterer, Gavriel Shapiro, Graziella Travaglini, Raymond B. Waddington, Kathleen M. Ward and Richard Woodfield. 2 Angelo Borzelli, Bartolommeo Maranta. Difensore del Tiziano, Naples: Gennaro, 1902; Giuseppe Solimene, Un umanista venosino (Bartolomeo Maranta) giudica Tiziano, Naples: Società aspetti letterari, 1952; and Paola Barocchi, ed., Scritti d’arte del Cinquecento, Milan- Naples: Einaudi, 1971, 3 vols, 1:863-900. For the translation click here. Journal of Art Historiography Number 13 December 2015 Luba Freedman Bartolomeo Maranta’s ‘Discourse’ on Titian’s Annunciation in Naples: introduction this text is held in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Naples. The translated title is: ‘A Discourse of Bartolomeo Maranta to the most ill. Sig. Ferrante Carrafa, Marquis of Santo Lucido, on the subject of painting. In which the picture, made by Titian for the chapel of Sig. Cosmo Pinelli, is defended against some opposing comments made by some persons’.3 Maranta wrote the discourse to argue against groundless opinions about Titian’s Annunciation he overheard in the Pinelli chapel.
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