Introduction and Research State
國立臺灣師範大學藝術史研究所
碩士論文 National Taiwan Normal University Graduate Institute of Art History Master‘s Degree Thesis
游移於宗教與自然之間:
威廉戴斯的〈提香第一堂色彩習作〉
Between Nature and Religion Titian’s First Essay in Colour by William Dyce
指導教授 Advisor: Professor Dr. Candida Syndikus
吳品慧 Wu, Pin-Hui
中華民國 104 年 1 月
January 2015 Table of Contents
English Abstract...... 2
Chinese Abstract...... 5
Acknowledgement...... 7
1. Introduction...... 8
2. State of Research...... 9
3. William Dyce‘s Career as an Artist...... 11
4. William Dyce‘s Titian’s First Essay……………………………………………...... 12
4.1. The Painting‘s Composition………………………………………………………..12
4.2. Visual Sources...... 14
4.3. Titian’s First Essay and its Literary Sources...... 17
5. Dyce and Ridolfi‘s Maraviglie dell’arte...... 20
5.1. Dyce‘s Experience with Italy…..……………………………….….………………21
5.2. Dyce and Charles Lock Eastlake…………………………………….………...... 22
6. The Exploration of Renaissance in Nineteenth Century...... 25
7. Titian as Subject in Nineteenth-Century Painting………………………………………28
7.1. Titian and Rulers………………………………………………………………...... 29
7.2. Titian and His Comtemporary Artists...... 35
7.3. Titian with His Friends and Mistress...... 43
7.4. Titian‘s Death……………………………………………………………………....47
8. Titian’s First Essay: William Dyce‘s View on Titian……………………...... 55
8.1. Dyce and Titian…………………………………………………………...... 55
8.2. Titian as a Thinker between Nature and Religion……………...... 63
8.3. The Dual Images: St. Luke and Melencolia I………………………………….....79
9. Conclusion...... 90
10. Bibliography...... 92
Appendix: Figures...... 111
1 Abstract
In the focus of this thesis is William Dyce‘s (1806–1864)picture Titian Preparing to
Make his First Essay in Colouring (Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums), which was presented in 1857 at the Royal Academy Exhibition in London. The painting was inspired by the biography of Titian in the Maraviglie dell’Arte (The Marvels of Art), published in 1648 by the Baroque artist and writer Carlo Ridolfi (1594–1658). Dyce‘s visualization of the Venetian master‘s childhood apparently reinterprets Ridolfi‘s text.
By means of examining Dyce‘s experience with Italy, and his friendship with the artist and director of the National Gallery of London Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865), it can be demonstrated that the gap between Dyce‘s painting and Ridolfi‘s writing was made with purpose and after mature deliberation. The aim of this thesis is to discuss
Dyce‘s motive to adapt his source, and to analyze the significance bestowed upon this painting.
The historical background of Titian’s First Essay in nineteenth century will be taken into account. Under the influence of the popular cultural issue regarding the history between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, European artists showed interest in the lives of the Italian Renaissance artists. The anecdotes of the Venetian master Titian (c. 1485/90–1576) became the prominent topic for nineteenth-century painters to explore. Titian‘s biographies were presented in the Vite de’ piu eccellenti
Pittori, Scultori, e Architettori (Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and
Architects) by the sixteenth-century Florentine artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari
(1511–1574) and Ridolfi‘s Le Maraviglie dell’Arte, both of which revealed the broad reception of Titian‘s œuvre at that time and offered sufficient materials for nineteenth-century painters.
2 In order to illuminate the picture‘s iconographic background, chapter seven will discuss the different images of Titian proposed by nineteenth-century artists. They paid attention particularly to four facets, Titian‘s relationship with rulers, Titian‘s interaction with contemporary artists, the leisure moment of Titian and his friends and mistress and Titian‘s death. Their renderings of Titian‘s life episodes are intriguing and display various aspects of the Venetian artist. The painters weaved historical facts, anecdotes and imagination together to manifest the master‘s immortal status, and they attempted to disclose the private life and the engaging personality of Titian, which were seldom mentioned in the biographies.
The final chapter will focus on Dyce and Titian’s First Essay. Titian‘s influential role in the artistic course of Dyce‘s self-study will be considered. The Victorian painter created this work, when he was in his early fifties, while he reached the apex of his artistic career. He introspected his ideas of Christian art and nature, which were the pivot in his art creation. By virtue of reviewing his religious paintings, from the earlier icon Madonna and Child (1827–1830) to the later work The Garden of Gethsemane
(1855), his conception of the two vital factors takes shape, and the change and hesitation of his attitude reflected in Titian’s First Essay will be analyzed.
At the end of this thesis, Dyce‘s comprehension and interpretation of the anecdote from Ridolfi‘s account will be discussed. Comparing with other nineteen-century painters, Dyce drew attention to Titian‘s connection with his art. He adopted two traditional iconographical subjects in the Western art history, St. Luke and
Albrecht Dürer‘s (1471–1528) Melencolia I (1514), to demonstrate his realization of the textual source. Through the iconography of the dual images, Dyce shows young
Titian immersed in contemplation, and accents the deep religious inspiration blessing the gifted sixteenth-century artist. His representation of Titian marks an illustrious position in nineteenth century painting, and founded the status of the Venetian master
3 on the religious and intellectual level.
Keywords: William Dyce, Titian Preparing to Make his First Essay in Colouring, Carlo
Ridolfi, Titian, St. Luke, Melencolia I
4 中文摘要
William Dyce (1806–1864) 是十九世紀中葉維多利亞時期的畫家，本論文主要討論
他於 1857 年在英國皇家藝術學院所展的〈提香準備他的第一堂色彩習作〉(Titian
Preparing to Make his First Essay in Colouring)。此作品取材於十七世紀巴洛克畫家
與作家 Carlo Ridolfi (1594–1658) 在 1648 年所著的 Le Maraviglie dell’Arte (The
Marvels of Art)，Dyce 運用畫筆再度詮釋 Ridolfi 筆下的威尼斯大師。然而，其畫
作與十七世紀文本之間，卻有明顯的差距存在。透過檢視 Dyce 的義大利經驗、
以及他與藝術家及英國國家藝廊館長 Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865) 之間的
交情，顯示他在〈提香準備他的第一堂色彩習作〉中的改編是出自於刻意以及有
意義性的詮釋。本文主旨試圖理解 Dyce 改編其文本的動機，以及探討此作品所
被賦予的涵義。
首先必須理解 Dyce 創作〈提香準備他的第一堂色彩習作〉的時代背景，在
十八世紀八零年代到十九世紀中葉這段期間，由於受到了當時人們熱烈討論文藝
復興時期歷史文化的風潮影響，西方世界的畫家們對於十四到十六世紀義大利畫
家們的生活充滿興趣，威尼斯文藝復興大師—Titian (1485/90–1576) 的軼事，在十
九世紀成為畫家們喜愛的題材。十六世紀佛羅倫斯藝術史家 Giorgio Vasari
(1511–1574) 所著的 Vite de’ piu eccellenti Pittori, Scultori, e Architettori (Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects)以及 Ridolfi 的 Le Maraviglie dell’Arte 提供了 Titian 傳記，幫助十九世紀畫家們認識此威尼斯藝術家的生命事
跡，並且做為他們創作的材料來源。
為了對於〈提香準備他的第一堂色彩習作〉的圖像涵義有更寬廣的理解，下
一章節將討論提香在十九世紀畫家筆下不同的面貌。畫家們主要從四個方向去描
繪 Titian 的軼事與生活：Titian 與君王的相處、Titian 與同時代藝術家們的互動、
Titian 與其友人及情婦的相聚時刻，以及 Titian 的葬禮。這些作品呈現饒有趣味並
且互異的 Titian 風貌，畫家們編織想像力、史實與軼事，不僅將十六世紀大師 Titian
5 崇高化為不朽的藝術家，同時也試圖構造史料傳記中少有著墨的私生活區塊，展
現出 Titian 鮮明的性格以及其畫室以外的生活片段。
在最終章，回歸到 Dyce 與〈提香準備他的第一堂色彩習作〉上，首先探討
Titian 在 Dyce 摸索藝術的過程，所扮演的關鍵角色。Dyce 約莫是在五十歲左右
創作此畫，而此時他藝術家的名望恰好也達到了高峰，在此作品中 Dyce 回顧其
藝術創作歷程中兩個重要元素: 大自然以及基督教藝術，文中將專注在 Dyce 歷年
來的宗教畫作，從其早期於 1827–1830 所創作的〈聖母子圖〉(Madonna and Child)
出發，到 1855 年所創作的〈基督在客西馬尼花園〉(The Garden of Gethsemane)，
透過檢視其一系列的宗教作品，以了解 Dyce 如何看待自然與基督教藝術之間的
關係，並且分析他對於兩者態度的變化與游移如何反映在此作中。
此章最後分析 Dyce 對於 Ridofli 文本的理解與詮釋，試圖明白其改編的用
意。Dyce 不同於其它十九世紀畫家所呈現的 Titian 形象，他使焦點聚集於提香本
身，專注於畫家與藝術間的關係，並且在此作運用兩個西方繪畫的傳統圖像: St.
Luke 與 Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) 的 Melencolia I (1514)，以展現他對於文本充
分的掌握。藉由巧妙地選擇花朵、安排擺佈位置以及運用花朵在基督教傳統的象
徵意涵和十九世紀花語，以呼應其所參引的 St. Luke 與 Melencolia I 的圖像。透
過雙重圖像的安排，Dyce 賦予 Titian 如哲人般沉思的姿態以及強調其與基督教信
仰緊密的關連，試圖發掘 Titian 在創作藝術之時浸沐於內在思考的樣貌，不僅在
一連串十九世紀的 Titian 圖像中獨占了一席之地，更使 Titian 提升為一名兼具宗
教虔誠與充滿智慧的藝術家境界。
關鍵字: 威廉戴斯，〈提香準備他的第一堂色彩習作〉，卡羅 ．里道非，提香，聖
路加，憂鬱 I
6 Acknowledgement致謝詞
寫論文是一場漫長的馬拉松賽，需要堅強的毅力與腦力方可跑完全程，很高 興我終於抵達終點了。非常感謝我的指導教授辛蒂庫斯 Professor Syndikus，在研 究上給予我許多的幫助以及指引，並且不斷給予我充分的信心與肯定，好幾次都 覺得自己快要放棄之時，和老師談完之後，又能得到滿滿的靈感與力量。此份論 文的完成也要感謝兩位論文口試委員—諾斯邦老師 Professor Nussbaum 與謝佳 娟老師，精準地指出此論文優缺點，也提點我可以繼續發展延伸的方向。在兩次 論文口試之後，深深覺得自己又上了一門精彩的藝術史。
另外，謝謝曾曬淑老師不斷的關心，還有安排豐富紮實的藝術史訓練，這幫 助我能夠從不同的角度去思考與分析我的論題。謝謝Professor Bonnet、Professor Michalski與Professor Richter-Bernburg的密集課程，讓我接觸到以往較少碰觸到的 藝術史領域。也非常感謝所上的助教們，常常提供行政作業上的幫助以及解惑。 謝謝圖書館幫助我在文獻蒐集上能夠取得最新的資訊，尤其感謝林玉鶯阿姨，由 於研究需要必須和外校圖書館借大量的書籍，總是非常有耐心的替我處理，並提醒借 閱的相關事項，並且不斷的給予我溫暖的鼓勵。
在書寫論文的過程之中，我並非孤軍奮戰的單打獨鬥，最感謝研究所一路走 來的好朋友們: 吳馥安、陳紀吟、張佳穎與劉怡萱，在我寫作碰到瓶頸時上給予 我許多建議，當我感到迷惘時陪伴著我走過低潮。謝謝我的論文馬拉松好夥伴盧 履彥，我們彼此互相加油打氣。謝謝所上的學長姊還有學弟妹們的經驗談與分享， 從中收獲許多。非常感謝林容年、張雅婷、陳盈君、賴佩吟、湯皓文、高文珊、 楊承祐、邱倩玟、洪薇婷、高揚萱、蔡侑庭、林依靜與顏立淇，謝謝你們不離不 棄給予我友情的加油，包容我與理解我。
最後，謝謝我最親愛的家人，你們是我最強大的精神後盾，有了你們的支持 我才可以咬緊牙關度過一個個的關卡。最重要的是，謝謝我自己，能夠相信並且 實踐當初的選擇。
7 1. Introduction
In 1857, at the age of fifty-one, the Scottish artist William Dyce (1806–64) presented his newly finished painting entitled Titian Preparing to Make his First Essay in
Colouring (Fig. 1) at the summer exhibition of the Royal Academy in London.1 With this subject of history painting, Dyce paid respect to Titian as one of the major artists of the Italian Renaissance. His choice of the great Venetian master as protagonist of the scenery foreshadows the growing interest of the nineteenth century in Renaissance art history.
When the picture was displayed to the public, it attracted considerable attention among the art critics. Even John Ruskin had a fervent ―Well done!‖ for the painter, although he noticed some ‗errors‘ and drew attention to a discrepancy between the painting‘s iconography and its source.2 As indicated in the exhibition catalog of the
Royal Academy the subject was based on the biography of Titian by the Italian painter and writer Carlo Ridolfi (1594–1658).3 The very title of the picture seems to be misleading, as his subject is a monochrome Madonna statue.
The aim of my thesis is to discuss the relationship between the painting and its literary sources and ask for the possible reasons of the interpretation. This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part spanning from Chapter one to the Chapter five will take the basic background of Dyce and Titian’s First Essay into account and point out the rift between the painting and Ridolfi‘s words.
In the second part, the viewpoint will be extended to the aspect of depicting a
Renaissance painter‘s life in the nineteenth century, which will be in the focus in the
1 Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 67.2 cm, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, Aberdeen, inv. ABDAG3211. In the following text, the short title Titian’s First Essay will be used as a substitute for the longer original title Titian Preparing to Make his First Essay in Colouring. 2 E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn (eds.), The Works of John Ruskin, vol. 14, London 1904, p. 98-100. 3 Francina Irwin, ―William Dyce‘s Titian‘s First Essay in Colour,‖ in: Apollo 108, 1978, p. 251.
8 Chapter six and seven. In the final Chapter eight, we shall see that two subject matters,
Dyce‘s concept of Christian art and nature, will play a leading role in his religious painting. By means of discussing the two key elements, we shall realize the purpose of
Dyce‘s adaption.
2. State of Research
Although William Dyce, as an artist, was not very prolific, the art critics of his time approved his achievements.4 Dyce was nearly forgotten until the mid-20th century; the only reference on his biography, in connection with the German Nazarenes, by Austin
Chester goes back to 1909.5 It was not until 1964, when the Aberdeen Art Gallery
Museum dedicated to him a centenary exhibition, that his work drew the scholars‘ attention. The only recent comprehensive monograph on the painter, which is tellingly subtitled A Critical Biography, was published by Marcia Pointon in 1979. With reference to Dyce‘s unpublished manuscripts, Pointon supplies a broader basis for reconstructing Dyce‘s life, œuvre and theory of art.6
In 2006, an exhibition on Dyce was organized by the Aberdeen Art Gallery and
Museum, and the exhibition catalog edited by Caroline Babingtone includes eight essays analyzing Dyce‘s style, his landscapes, religious paintings, frescoes and his
4 Our living painters: their lives and works: a series of nearly a hundred brief notices of contemporary artists of the English school, London 1859, pp. 61-63; J. C. Dafforne, ―British Artists: their styles and character with engraved illustration,‖ in: The Art Journal 6, 1860, pp. 293-296;―William Dyce, R.A.,‖ in: The Athenaeum 1895, 1864, pp. 265-266; ―William Dyce and William Hunt,‖ in: Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art 17, 1864, pp. 256-258; ―William Dyce, R.A.,‖ in: The Art Journal 3, 1864, pp. 113-114; ―The frescoes of William Dyce, R.A., in all Saints‘ Church, Margaret Street,‖ in: The Art Journal 35, 1864, pp. 320-321; ―Pictures by William Dyce,‖ in: Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art 77, 1894, p. 282. 5 Austin Chester, ―The art of William Dyce, R.A.,‖ in: The Windsor Magazine 29, 1909, pp. 576-590. 6 Marcia Pointon, William Dyce 1806–1864: a critical biography, Oxford 1979. See also the reviews of this book by William Vaughan, in: The Burlington Magazine 123, 1981, p. 315; N. B. Penny, in: The English Historical Review 97, 1982, p. 209. See, furthermore, Charles Carter (ed.), Centenary exhibition of the work of William Dyce, R.A. (1806–1864): oil paintings, drawings and etchings, sketches and cartoons, Aberdeen 1964; David and Francina Irwin, Scottish Paintings at home and abroad 1700–1900, London 1975.
9 achievements in church music. Particularly, the articles of Ann Steed, Jennifer Melville and Emily Hope Thomson provided deep viewpoints on Dyce with his faith and religious art for the present thesis.7
The current studies on William Dyce focus on four main issues: on his connection with Pre-Raphaelitism;8 on the influence the German Nazarenes exercised on his religious works;9 on his role in the development of art education in the nineteenth-century Britain;10 and, finally, on Dyce as a fresco painter.11
Francina Irwin‘s monographic article on Dyce‘s Titian’s First Essay of 1978 provides the most in-depth analysis of the painting under consideration in the present study. According to Irwin, the painting is a pictorial embodiment of the concept and methods of Dyce‘s art education. Furthermore, the author analyzes the obvious impact of Venetian and Flemish art on the master.12 Lindsay Errington suggests that the painting indicates a paradigm shift of Dyce‘s attitude to naturalism. Moreover, she brings up the interpretation that Titian is conscious of nature in the perceptible world where is endowed with ―religious value.‖ 13 In a brief account, Julie F. Codell
7 Caroline Babington (ed.), William Dyce and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision, exhibition catalog, Aberdeen, Aberdeen Art Gallery, 9 September–11 November 2006, Aberdeen 2006 8 Allen Staley, ―William Dyce and Outdoor Naturalism,‖ in: The Burlington Magazine 105, 1963, pp. 470-477; Marcia Pointon, ―William Dyce as a Painter of Biblical Subjects,‖ in: The Art Bulletin 58, 1976, pp. 260-268; Clare Willsdon, ― Dyce ‗in Camera:‘ New Evidence of His Working Methods,‖ in: The Burlington Magazine 132, November, 1990, pp. 760-765; Michaela Giebellhausen, ―Holman Hunt, William Dyce and the image of Christ,‖ in: Nicola Bown, Carolyn Burdett, and Pamela Thurschwell (eds.), The Victorian Supernatural, Cambridge–New York 2004, pp. 173-194. The study of Willsdon links Dyce and the Pre-Raphaelitism together, but her principal point is on Dyce‘s application to photography. 9 William Vaughan, German Romanticism and English art, New Haven 1979; Justine Tracy Hopkins, Terrible and Traditional Muses: Science, Religion and Landscape Art from John Martin to William Dyce, Ph.D. thesis, Birkbeck College, University of London 1990. 10 Arthur D. Efland, A History of Art Education: Intellectual and Social Currents in Teaching the Visual Arts, New York 1990; Stuart Macdonald, The History and Philosophy of Art Education, Cambridge 2004. 11 Debra N. Mancoff, ―Reluctant Redactor: William Dyce reads the legend,‖ in: Martin B. Shichtman and James P. Carley (eds.), Culture and The King–The social Implications of the Arthurian Legend, New York 1994, pp. 254-273; Christine Poulson, The Quest for the Grail: Arthurian legend in British art 1840–1920, New York 1999. 12 Irwin (as note 3). 13 Lindsay Errington, ―Ascetics and Sensualists, William Dyce‘s view on Christian Art,‖ in: The Burlington Magazine 134, 1992, pp. 491-497; Debra N. Mancoff, Flora Symbolica: flowers in Pre-Raphaelite art, Munich–London 2003, p. 14.
10 interprets the painter as guided by ―divine inspiration.‖14 The similar point of view is shared by Jason Rosenfeld. He suggests that the young painter is conjuring his future development by means of the indications from nature and from the Madonna statue.15
The researches of Irwin, Errington, Codell and Rosenfeld offer the point of departure for the present thesis. Allen Staley and Marcia Pointon share the common idea that
Titian’s First Essay was influenced by Pre-Raphaelitism.16 Lindsay Smith goes so far as to connect this painting with the nineteenth-century reception and conception of colors in black-and-white photography, and she considers the child painter reflecting the germination of this new technique of representation.17
3. William Dyce’s Career as an Artist
William Dyce was born in 1806 in Aberdeen, Scotland. He started the career of a scientist, but finally turned to art and theology, and he resolved on becoming a High
Anglican artist.18 In addition to his interest in fine arts, he also took part in the issues of art education and public art collection.19 Moreover, he was a supporter of the
Oxford Movement.20 As a devoted musician he founded the Motett Society, which was
14 Julie F. Codell, ―Artist/Art,‖ in: Helene E. Roberts (ed.), Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art, Chicago 2013, p. 63, (1st ed. Chicago 1998); Kristopher Tiffany, Dante’s “Afterlife” in William Dyce’s Paintings, Master‘s thesis, Arizona State University 2013, pp. 63-65. 15 Jason Rosenfeld, ―Millais and the ‗luster of Titian‘, ‖ in: Peter Humfrey (ed.), The Reception of Titian in Britain: from Reynolds to Ruskin, Turnhout 2013, pp. 180-181. 16 Allen Staley, The Pre-Raphaelite Landscape, Oxford 1993; Pointon (as note 7). The point of view of Staley and Pointon mainly based on the art critics in the mid-nineteenth century England that they rendered the positive comment in Titian’s First Essay and connected it with the Pre-Raphaelitism. See Cook/Wedderburn (as note 2), pp. 98-100; ―The Exhibition of the Royal Academy,‖ in: The Art Journal 3, 1857, p. 167; ―Royal Academy,‖ in: Athenæ um 1541, 1857, p. 602. The painting is also mentioned, albeit without independent judgment, in two recent master‘s theses; Huang Tsan-Wei, The Easel Painting of William Dyce, Master‘s thesis, National Kaohsiung Normal University 2009, pp. 51-52 (in Chinese language) 17 Lindsay Smith, ―‗Thinking blues‘: the memory of colour in nineteenth-century photography,‖ in: Roger Luckhurst and Josephine McDonagh (ed.), Transactions and Encounters: science and culture in the nineteenth century, Manchester 2002, pp. 57-64. 18 Chester (as note 5), p. 577; Irwin (as note 6), p. 245; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 4-5, 17. 19 Pointon (as note 6), pp. 43-60, 136-137; Efland (as note 10), pp. 58-59; Macdonald (as note 10), pp. 77-83. 20 Pointon (as note 6), p, 33 and passim. From the 1830s to the 1850s, the Oxford Movement started by
11 concerned with the reform of church music.21
Since he withdrew from the directorship in the School of Design in 1843, he was active as a fresco painter undertaking the entrustment of the royal family and the Royal
Commission on the Fine Arts,22 and his decorations of the Queen‘s Robing Room at the
Westminster Palace are the representative works.23 His early paintings show that he was affected by the German Nazarenes, though he always denied to have been inspired by them.24 In the 1850s, he was associated with Pre-Raphaelitism,25 and Titian’s First
Essay is usually regarded as a proof of this connection.26 In winter 1863, Dyce‘s career ended while he was at work; he passed away a few months later on 15 February
1864.27
4. William Dyce’s Titian’s First Essay
Dyce inserted rich details in the Titian’s First Essay. In order to realize how Dyce adapted the literary source and to reveal the gap between the painting and the text, it is necessary to analyze the composition, the artistic roots and Ridolfi‘s account step by step.
4.1. The Painting’s Composition
William Dyce shows young Titian in an outdoor setting, in a lovely private English
a group of the High Church Anglicans, in which the central figures were John Henry Newman, James Anthony Froude, John Keble, and Edward Bouverie Pusey. The goal of this movement is to revive the traditional Christian rituals in the Church of England. See William R. Crockett, Eucharist: Symbol of Transformation, New York 1989, p. 215. 21 Chester (as note 5), p. 580; Irwin (as note 6), pp. 249-250; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 71-76. 22 Chester (as note 5), p. 580 and passim; Irwin (as note 6), pp. 254-260; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 81-118. The chairman of the Royal Commission on the Fine Arts was Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. 23 Mancoff (as note 11), pp. 254-273; Poulson (as note 11), pp. 19-49. 24 Chester (as note 5), pp. 577-582; Irwin (as note 6), p. 244 and passim; Vaughan (as note 9), pp. 227-246; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 7, 12-15 and passim; Hopkins (as note 9), p. 217 and passim. 25 Staley (as note 8), pp. 470-477; Staley (as note 16), pp. 162-169; Pointon (as note 8), pp. 260-268 and Pointon (as note 6) pp. 260-261; Irwin (as note 6), pp. 143-154. 26 Staley (as note 16), pp. 164; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 145-146. See also the book reviews by Vaughan and Penny in note 6. 27 Pointon (as note 6), pp. 178-179.
12 garden surrounded by impressive old trees. Perching on a chair, the boy is contemplating the slender Gothic statue of a Madonna and Child, which is rising on a heavy tree stump next to him. He has pushed his chair close to the figure and turned it around, using its high back as a support for his elbow. Titian is absorbed in thought with his chin resting on the left hand; with the other, he has gathered some flowers and a porte-crayon installed with black and white chalks on an open notebook. The tree stump with the impressively detailed texture of its bark serves as a natural pedestal for the statue. Dyce plainly arranged some objects at the foot of the statue, the boy‘s black cap, a red pelargonium28 and a pole cane leading the viewer‘s gaze up to the Madonna.
Titian and his model are placed face to face in the foreground of the picture. Behind them, tall oaks composed in a semicircle form a deliberate natural frame. By means of the young master‘s intense gaze and the pointing direction of the pole cane, the beholder‘s attention is drawn up to the towering Gothic statue.
Under the tree stump, weeds and daisies described in a realistic manner grow vigorously. A basket filled with flowers is arranged in still life-like manner in the picture‘s lower left corner. Its lid is slipped aside displaying the various sorts of flowers in the basket and scattered around it, and a knife used for cutting the flowers is left carelessly in the grass. Mostly flowers in the primary colors and white are represented. Slightly behind the basket, some painting utensils, a glass jar filled with water or oil, and the powders of ochre pigment are displayed on the ground together with a draped white fabric. Trees, plants and objects are rendered with amazing naturalism. The rough bark of the old trees, in particular, which is composed of several layers in various colors and peels off gradually, reveals the painter‘s enormous skillfulness in observation and depiction of natural forms.
28 Brenda Delamain and Dawn Kendall, Geraniums, London 1987, pp. 6-8; Christopher Brickell (ed.), The Royal Horticultural Society A–Z encyclopedia of garden plants, London–New York 1996, p. 758.
13 4.2. Visual Sources
Titian is sitting cross-legged on a chair with his chin resting on his hand. This posture underlines the boy‘s wistfulness. It vaguely reminds the figure of John Campbell,
Duke of Argyll, at the Duke‘s monument in Westminster Abbey by the French sculptor
Louis-François Roubillac (unveiled 1749), which Dyce might have studied on-site (Fig.
2).29 That Dyce found this and other motifs for his works among the monuments at
Westminster Abbey, can be further demonstrated by his fresco entitled Religion: The
Vision of Sir Galahad and his Company of 1851 in the Queen‘s Robing Room at
Westminster Palace (Fig. 3). The star pattern and the scroll motif of the altar-front and
Christ‘s throne refer to the lavish Cosmatesque decoration at the tomb of King Henry
III of 1291–93 (Fig. 4).30 The pose of thinker in Titian’s First Essay could base roughly on the statue of John Campbell. However, there are influential iconographical sources for Dyce, which will be analyzed in the final chapter.
From where did Dyce get the information, how Titian looked like, when he still was a boy? There are, of course, no sources of the young painter‘s appearance. It is, in fact, hardly anything known about the painter‘s early years, before he arrived in Venice.
Titian‘s complexion is handed down to us by two self-portraits from the 1560s, in
Berlin and Madrid, showing him as an old man (Fig. 5, Fig. 12). An engraving after the
Berlin portrait precedes Carlo Ridolfi‘s biography of Titian, and we know that Dyce owned this book (Fig. 6).31 If Dyce knew these representations, they were no help for him. Hence, he had to rely on his inventiveness. Jennifer Melville suggests Dyce‘s children could serve as models as he prepared this painting.32
29 Since 1845, Westminster Abbey has been made permanently accessible to the public. Tony Trowles, Treasures of Westminster Abbey, London 2008, p. 7; Louis Cazamian, The Social Novel in England, 1830–1850: Dickens, Disraeli, Mrs Gaskell, Kingsley, London–Boston 2009, p. 93. 30 Pointon (as note 6), p. 118. 31 Carlo Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie dell’Arte overo le vite de gl’illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato, 2 vols, Venice: Giovanni Battista Sgava, 1648, vol. 1, p. 134. See also below note 53. 32 Jennifer Melville, ―Faith, Fact, Family and Friends in the Art of William Dyce,‖ in: Babington (as
14 The same applies to his costume. Titian wears a short black doublet with yellow sleeves, and a black hose. A purse is attached to his belt. When Dyce was preparing
Titian’s First Essay, there was no material available about medieval and Renaissance costume. He might have consulted James Robinson Planché‘s histories of British costume33 or Frederick William Fairholt‘s Costume in England,34 all published a few years before his painting was created. It is more likely, however, that Dyce directly referred to Italian Renaissance paintings as sources for his protagonist‘s costume. One of the few examples of a boy shown in contemporary clothes in Venetian painting is to be found in Vittore Carpaccio‘s (1460/66–1525/26) Two Venetian Ladies (1490–95;
Fig. 7).35 Carpaccio, who was a Venetian painter excelling at historical subject matters with an accurate narrative method, provides a very precise description of the dressing fashion around 1500 in Venice.36 The delicate ocher garment with sleeves, belt and coral hose, the boy wears in Carpaccio‘s painting can be compared to Titian‘s dress in
Dyce‘s painting.
The chair, on which Titian is sitting, is only at first glance a late-fifteenth-century piece of furniture. We do not know its model; according to Pointon, Dyce had borrowed it from his mother‘s parlor, without, however, providing certain evidence to support this conjecture.37 Titian‘s chair has a separately upholstered back and seat, which was invented in the late sixteenth century and in widespread use in seventeenth-century Europe. The H-stretcher and spiral turnings are the important note 7), p. 42. 33 James Robinson Planché, History of British Costume, London 1834 (2nd ed. London 1847), and British Costume–A complete history of the dress of the inhabitants of the British islands, London 1846. James Robinson Planché (1796–1880) was a famous dramatist and a costume historian that he took part in the armour collection in the Victorian and Albert Museum. See Lou Taylor, Establishing Dress History, Manchester 2004, pp. 35-36. 34 Frederick William Fairholt, Costume in England, London 1846. Frederick William Fairholt (1814–1866) was an engraver and antiquarian that he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries in 1844. See Lou Taylor, Establishing Dress History, Manchester 2004, pp. 36–37. 35 Oil on wood, 94 × 64 cm, Museo Civico Correr, Venice, inv. 44274 recto. 36 Norbert Huse and Wolfgang Wolters, The art of Renaissance Venice: architecture, sculpture, and painting, 1460–1590, Chicago 1990, p. 202. 37 Pointon (as note 6), p. 145.
15 elements of Baroque furniture. 38 These features indicate that it may be a seventeenth-century Baroque chair. The Victoria and Albert Museum (founded in 1852) with its rich furniture collection of all periods could have provided a great choice of models. 39 Therefore, the chair of Titian might be a nineteenth-century copy in
Baroque style.40
As a possible model for the Madonna statue a late Gothic figure in S. Maria della
Spina in Pisa by the Tuscan sculptor Nino Pisano (c. 1334/1360s–1368) has been correctly proposed (Fig. 8).41 Dyce might have seen this statue on his trip to Pisa in
1845.42 Albeit its reversed rendering, the figure‘s extremely slender proportions, her pronounced S-curve, her posture and gesture as well as the Child‘s position, make it plausible that Dyce had known this figure. He increases the delicate appearance of
Pisano‘s statue; that the Madonna is seen from the side, makes her look even more slender. At the same time, Dyce improves the impression of lifelikeness, rendering her in a freer posture. The Madonna‘s delicate face is turned away from the beholder into a lost profile. As a consequence, she seems to be dialoguing with the young painter, who is raising his eyes up to her. The intent colloquy between Madonna and Child, shown by Nino Pisano, was reinterpreted by Dyce in an ambiguous way. Correspondingly, the motion of her highlighted left hand, which in the original design is dialoguing with the
Child—he is trying to grasp a rose she once held43—can be read as a rhetorical gesture
38 Florence de Dampierre, Chairs: a history, New York 2006, p. 75; Judith Miller, Furniture–World styles from classical to contemporary, New York 2005, p. 36. 39 Christopher Wilk and Nick Humphrey (eds.), Creating the British Galleries at the V&A–a study in museology, London–New York 2004, p. 5; J. C. Robinson, A catalogue of the Museum of Ornament of Art at Marlborough House, Pall Mall. (part 1), 3rd rev. ed. London 1856, p. 5. 40 Pictures by William Dyce (as note 4), p. 282. 41 Irwin (as note 3), p. 253. The proposal of Nino Pisano‘s statue as a model for Dyce‘s Madonna seems to go back to Peter Kidson; ibid., p. 255, note 10. For Nino Pisano see Allan Marquand and Arthur L. Frothingham, A Text Book of the History of Sculpture, 2nd rev. ed. Whitefish 2005, pp. 143-148; John Pope-Hennessy, An introduction to Italian sculpture, London 1986, pp. 1-2. 42 Irwin (as note 6), p. 255; Penelope Curtis, On the meanings of sculpture in painting, vol. 1, Leeds 2009, p. 47. 43 Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors, and architects, vol. 1, London 1850, p. 153.
16 indicating towards Titian.
Furthermore, the statue in Dyce‘s picture seems like a mirror image of Nino
Pisano‘s figure in Pisa (Fig. 8). This indicates that Dyce might have referred to a daguerreotype photograph, which could produce the left-right reversal images.44 The daguerreotype prevailed from 1840 to the early 1850s. Ruskin, for example, used daguerreotype photographs as illustrations in his Stones of Venice of 1851–53;45 besides, he visited Pisa and the Gothic church of S. Maria della Spina, from which a daguerreotype exists.46 Otherwise, a print could have been the source. Another possibility would have been a cast copy as Dyce‘s figure, especially due to the matt grey tone of its surface, does not seem to be made of marble, such as the original statue, but of plaster.
Whichever illustration Dyce had used, the accuracy of his reproduction indicates that he had studied the model intensively. To describe the figure as ―a Victorian pastiche based on a fourteenth-century prototype, somewhat reminiscent of Nino
Pisano,‖ as Pointon did, is therefore not appropriate.47
4.3. Titian’s First Essay and its Literary Sources
In the exhibition catalogue of 1857, Dyce provided some brief remarks on the picture‘s historical background:48
―Ridolfi states that Titian when a little boy gave the earliest indications of his future eminence as a colourist, by drawing a Madonna, which he
44 Rudolf Kingslake, A History of the Photographic Lens, Boston 1989, p. 40. 45 John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, 3 vols, London 1851–53; Karen Burns, ―Topographies of Tourism: ‗Documentary‘ Photography and The Stones of Venice,‖ in: Assemblage 32, 1997, p. 24. 46 Michael Wheeler and Nigel Whiteley (eds.), The Lamp of memory: Ruskin, tradition, and architecture, Manchester–New York 1992, p. 146. 47 Irwin (as note 3), p. 253. 48 As early as in 1820, the Royal Academy had regulated that artists attending the annual exhibition had to submit a note to explain their works. See ―Notice to the exhibition,‖ in: The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, London 1820, without pag.
17 coloured with the juices of flowers.‖49
The text refers explicitly to Carlo Ridolfi, a painter and art writer in seventeenth-century Venice.50 As an advocate of the Venetian artists, Ridolfi wrote an art history in order to challenge Giorgio Vasari‘s (1511–1574) claim of the predominance of Florentine art.51 Ridolfi released his Maraviglie dell’Arte (The
Marvels of Art) in 1648; the book contains an extensive biography of Titian, the Vita di
Tiziano Vecellio da Cadore Pittore e Cavaliere.52 The inventory of Dyce‘s library, published in 1875, some ten years after the painter‘s death, proves that he had possessed a copy of Ridolfi‘s original edition of 1648.53
In his biography on the painter, Ridolfi left following record about young Titian:
―While still a boy and prompted only by his natural, God-given ability, using the juice of some flowers, he made (fece) the figure of a Virgin inside a chapel (entro un capitello) in one of the streets of his hometown.‖54
Original sources on Titian‘s youth in his home town Pieve di Cadore (Prov.
49 Catalog entry of The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, London 1857, here quoted after Irwin (as note 3), p. 251. 50 For Ridolfi, see the article ―Ridolfi, Carlo,‖ Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://www.oxford artonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T072059 (accessed 8 January, 2015); Cecil Gould, ―Ridolfi the Historian,‖ in: Apollo 125, n. 301, 1987, pp. 197–199. 51 Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella (eds.), The life of Titian by Carlo Ridolfi, University Park, Pa. 2010, pp. 11-12. For the biography of Giorgio Vasari, see Julian Kliemann, ―Vasari,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T088022pg1?q=Vasa ri+&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Robert Williams, ―Vasari, Giorgio,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t234/e0515?q=Vasari+&se arch=quick&pos=4&_start=1#firsthit (accessed 8 January, 2015); Marilyn Smith, ―Vasari, Giorgio,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2672?q=Vasari+&se arch=quick&pos=5&_start=1#firsthit (accessed 8 January, 2015) 52 Ridolfi (as note 32), p. 134. 53 Catalogue of the Library of William Dyce, ESQ. R. A., London 1875, p. 12, no. 183. 54 Quoted after Norman E. Land, ―Poetry and Anecdote Carlo Ridolfi‘s Life of Titian,‖ in: Patricia Meilman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Titian, Cambridge 2004, p. 209. The original Italian text reads ―come quello ch‘era destinato dal Cielo a rinnovare gli stupori degli antichi secoli: onde ancor piccioletto col solo impulso della natura, fece co‘sughi di fiori, entro ad un capitello sopra ad una strada della sua Patria la figura della Vergine, già non molto tempo, per occasione di certa fabrica rovinato.‖ Carlo Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie dell’arte, overo le vite de gl’illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato, vol. 1, 2nd ed., Padua 1835, p. 197.
18 Belluno) are not preserved.55 Vasari starts his account on Titian with the painter‘s moving to Venice at the age of ten.56 As Ridolfi was born years after Titian had passed away, he must have relied on earlier texts or on hear-say. The only available source preceding Ridolfi‘s account is the anonymously published biography Breve
Compendio della Vita del Famoso Titiano Vecellio of 1622.57 According to its author,
Titian painted a Madonna on the wall of his house (sopra il muro della sua casa), and he used colors made from the juice of flowers, which were so beautiful that the result impressed all the people around him.58 This anecdote was used by the author to explain, why Titian, the young genius, was sent from the Cadore to Venice in order to become a great master.
As we can see, Ridolfi made some modifications, replacing Titian‘s parental home by a capitello. The Venetian term ‗capitello,‘ used by Ridolfi, has often been mistaken by translators.59 It is not a capital or the part of a column, but indicates a small chapel-like building, normally erected at a crossroads or at the entrance of a village. This kind of small chapel is very common in the Veneto, and it usually contains a statue or painting of the Virgin, Christ or a saint. People would come here, and they still do today, in order to pray and bring flowers; services were held there on special holidays. In a watercolor entitled Ave Maria (Copenhagen, Thorvaldsen
Museum), the Scottish painter George Augustus Wallis (1770–1847) shows some
55 Paul Joannides, Titian to 1518. The Assumption of a Genius, New Haven–London 2001, pp. 7–17. 56 Vasari (as note 43), vol. 5, 1852, p. 382. 57 Breve Compendio della Vita del Famoso Titiano Vecellio di Cadore Cavalliere et Pittore, Venice: Santo Grillo et Fratelli, 1622. The text has occasionally been attributed to one of Titian‘s relatives, the so-called Tizianello. Sergio Claut, ―Vecellio,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T088390?q=Vecellio &search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 58 The account reads as follows: ―[…] formò sopra il muro della sua casa una Imagine di nostra Donna col succo di fiori, di così ben appropiati colori, che rende stupore al padre, a parenti, et a gli amici.‖ Breve Compendio (as note 57), without pag. 59 The Bondanellas translate the term ‗capitello‘ as a column; Bondanella (as note 51), p. 58. Lindsay Errington considers it as ―a block of stone from a ruined building.‖ Errington (as note 13), p. 495.
19 people approaching a capitello and kneeling before a Madonna figure (Fig. 9).60
In comparison with Ridolfi‘s literary account, Dyce made apparent modifications, replacing the capitello with the Madonna statue on a tree stump. He also describes differently, what Titian is doing. Ridolfi emphasizes Titian showing his artistic talents for colors. In Dyce‘s painting, however, Titian is neither creating nor finishing his work. He is just looking at the statue and reflecting on it. Furthermore, the title of the painting indicates that it is a study for colors, yet Titian‘s subject matter is a monochrome Madonna statue. The boy, consequently, has a porte-crayon for drawing in his hand. Although Ridolfi undoubtedly wanted to say with ―fece co‘ sughi di fiori‖ that Titian made a wall painting, the verb ‗fece,‘ ―he has made,‖ leaves the technique open. It can mean to paint, to draw or to form a sculpture. The considerable gap between Dyce‘s description and Ridolfi‘s anecdote is a key factor to understand the significance of the painting.
5. Dyce and Ridolfi’s Maraviglie dell’Arte
Before continuing with the interpretation of Titian’s First Essay, two problems have to be considered. First, Ridolfi‘s Maraviglie dell’Arte had not been translated into English in the nineteenth century. It must be examined, if Dyce knew enough Italian to understand Ridolfi‘s text or if he had advisers, who helped him to comprehend the account of the anecdote. Second, we have to explore the intentions behind Dyce‘s adaption of Ridolfi‘s biography.
60 Jonathan Buckley, The rough guide to Venice and the Veneto, London 2004, p. 52; Robert C. Davis and Garry R. Marvin, Venice, the tourist maze: a cultural critique of the world’s most touristed city, Berkeley 2004, p. 326.
20 5.1. Dyce’s Experience with Italy
As early as in the eighteenth century, the Grand Tour had been a suitable way for upper-class young men to broaden their horizon. Italy was the most popular destination thanks to its inexhaustible abundance of art historical treasures and beautiful sites.61
Dyce had visited Italy for four times in 1825, 1827, 1832, and 1845. Although neither his letters nor his writings can provide certain evidence that he was able to read Italian texts and understand the spoken language, his experiences in Italy might provide a solution to this issue. He stayed in Italy for quite long periods, which normally lasted several months.62 These sojourns enlarged his knowledge of the country‘s culture, and his language skill might also be able to reach the level to communicate with local people.
Furthermore, after returning from Italy in 1832, he had planned to launch his career in Rome, where he intended to carry out a scheme to paint a series of works based on the life of the Virgin. It is difficult to believe that an artist would start his business in a foreign country without any capacity of knowing and speaking the local language. However, in the end, his plan failed, because he was dissuaded from practicing in Rome by a friend, Nicholas Wiseman (1802–1865), cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church and the Rector of the English College in Rome.63 Wiseman believed that Dyce, as a High-church painter, would not have been capable of satisfying Roman Catholic clients and afterwards unable to obtain any commissions in
61 Jeremy Black, Italy and the Grand Tour, New Haven–London 2003, pp. 2-3. 62 His first trip to Rome, started in autumn 1825, took nine months. In autumn 1827, he set off to Italy again, and it was only in 1829 that he was back to Aberdeen. In 1832, he spent at least three months visiting Southern France, Venice and Mantua. The last journey to Italy was from October 1845 to March 1846, and he stopped in Pisa, Rome, Siena, and Florence for the fresco business of the Royal Commission. Pointon (as note 6), pp. 7, 12, 15, 25; Irwin (as note 6), pp. 255-256; Carter (as note 6), pp. 5-7. 63 Pointon (as note 6), p. 33; ―Wiseman, Nicholas,‖ in: Britannica Online Traditional Chinese Edition at http://0-daying.wordpedia.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/Content.aspx?id=114426&sword=Nicholas+ Wiseman (accessed January 8, 2015).
21 Rome.64 Dyce followed Wiseman‘s suggestion and gave up his plan.
What is more, Dyce‘s impressive collection of books offers a clue to his possible reading skills in foreign languages, especially in Italian. He owned Italian literature stemming from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, and most of the books were works on art and architecture. Dyce owned nearly all the important Italian texts on art history, such as Vasari‘s Vite de’ piu eccellenti Pittori, Scultori, e Architettori (Florence
1568), Marco Boschini‘s Carta de Navegar Pitoresco (Venice 1655), Carlo Ridolfi‘s
Maraviglie dell’Arte, which has already been mentioned above, and a new edition of
Cennino Cennini‘s Libro dell’arte, published in 1821.65 His collection of books not only shows his enthusiasm for Italian Renaissance art and culture, and implies that
Dyce must have had a sufficient, if not excellent command of Italian, which allowed him to understand Ridolfi‘s writing.
5.2. Dyce and Charles Lock Eastlake
Although it is most plausible that Dyce was able to read Italian, it is not sure whether he understood the content of Ridolfi‘s text. One of his close friends, the painter and scholar Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865), who is well-known as the first director of the National Gallery in London, might have acted as Dyce‘s advisor in matters of art history.
Eastlake mastered the Italian language quite well and he was very familiar with the country‘s culture. He had stayed in Italy from 1816 to 1830 and was leading head of the English colony in Rome.66 His genre painting A Peasant Woman Fainting from the Bite of a Serpent of 1832 (London, Victoria and Albert Museum; Fig. 10) was
64 Vaughan (as note 9), pp. 229-230. 65 Catalogue of the Library of William Dyce (as note 53), pp. 11-12, 14, and 49. 66 David Robertson, Sir Charles Eastlake and the Victorian art world, Princeton, N.J. 1978, pp. 2, 8, and 11-12.
22 based on an experience in Rome. Eastlake noted on the back of the canvas: ―Nina
Ranieri, a young peasant woman of the Roman State, while kneeling before a chapel of the Madonna, was bit by a viper: she sank into a lethargy in a short time, and it is said, died two days after.‖67 Besides, Eastlake depicts a capitello with the figure of Christ in it on the left-hand side of the background.
Eastlake was a great art scholar. He had once participated in the publication of
Franz Kugler‘s influential writing. The German art historian Franz Kugler (1808–1858) was the leading figure of the Berlin School of art history; his Handbook of the History of Painting is his representative work.68 Eastlake was responsible for editing its first volume, entitled The Italian School of Painting, a work, which established his reputation. 69 Eastlake‘s special field was Renaissance art, and he was a great connoisseur of Titian‘s art. Hence, he was well aware how important Ridolfi‘s
Maraviglie dell’Arte were for the research on Titian.70
Friendship between Dyce and Eastlake began in 1837. At that time, Eastlake was one of the committee members, who had to supervise the foundation of the School of
Design. When Dyce was appointed to investigate the education of design in the
Continent for the School of Design, Eastlake was assigned to be his advisor to plan the journey.71 As a result of this opportunity, they became friends and remained connected in their work.
67 Quoted after Robertson (as note 66), p. 42. 68 Franz Kugler, A hand-book of the history of painting: from the age of Constantine the great to the present time. Part I. The Italian schools of painting, London 1842; Udo Kultermann, The History of Art History, New York 1993, pp. 89-91. 69 ―A Handbook to the Public Galleries of Art in and near London,‖ in: The Literary Gazette: A weekly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts 1309, 1842, p. 124; ―A Hand-book of the History of Painting,‖ in: The Examiner 1776, 1842, p. 99. 70 Eastlake showed an ample knowledge of Titian and Ridolfi in the works he wrote and edited. See Charles Lock Eastlake, Materials for a history of oil painting, London 1847, pp. 11, 37, 195, 212, 404, and 495; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe’s theory of colours, London 1840, pp. 360, 370-1, 406-7 and 422; Kugler (as note 68), pp. 359-60, 363, and 370. 71 Robertson (as note 66), p. 49.
23 Eastlake introduced Dyce to Prince Albert; he thus gained the commission to decorate the staircase at Osborne House, and he discussed with Eastlake his ideas for this work.72 Moreover, while Dyce was responsible of The Baptism of King Ethelbert, a fresco at the Palace of Westminster, Eastlake was the Secretary of the Royal
Commission on the Fine Arts. Hence, Dyce sometimes would ask the personal favor of
Eastlake. In 1845, the Royal Commission asked Dyce to hand in a fresco sketch for the exhibition in May, but Dyce was sick and unable to submit on time. Therefore, he wrote to Eastlake, asking him for a postponement of the deadline, which was subsequently granted.73
Still more important is the fact that, at the time when Dyce was preparing Titian’s
First Essay, Eastlake was engaged with a research project on Titian. This finally led to an English edition of a selection of Titian‘s manuscript letters in 1857.74
The experiences William Dyce had made in Italy provide the basis for our understanding of his painting Titian’s First Essay (Fig. 1). As we have seen, Carlo
Ridolfi‘s text presents the point of departure for the picture‘s iconography. His interpretation of the young genius‘s figure, however, shows a considerable independence from the literary model. Even if we suppose that Dyce had to face problems in his understanding this source, he could have found support from his entourage, and especially from his friend Charles Lock Eastlake, a proven specialist concerning the Italian Renaissance art, who had some experience in dealing with the original sources. It is not likely that the discrepancy between Titian’s First Essay and
Ridolfi‘s text is owed to a misunderstanding of the source. The reinterpretation of
Dyce is out of his thorough consideration.
72 Pointon (as note 6), pp. 84, 93. 73 Pointon (as note 6), p. 89. 74 Charles Lock Eastlake, ―Letters by Titian, Reflecting from Pictures Completed by him at the Age of Ninety-one,‖ in: Miscellanies of the Philobiblon Society 4, London 1857–58, pp. 3-28.
24 6. The Exploration of Renaissance in Nineteenth Century
Since the final two decades of the eighteenth century, the new passion of Romantic artists for visualizing anecdotes of old masters arose. This interest in old masters germinated in Great Britain in the late eighteenth century. It subsequently arrived at the
Continent and blossomed in France from the 1830s to the 1850s. When, as a result of the emerging Realism, Romantic history painting lost its predominant position in
European art, the trend of representing old masters came gradually to an end in the second half of the nineteenth century.75 Among the numerous and manifold pictures rendering anecdotes of old masters, the Italian Renaissance—Masaccio, Filippo Lippi,
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian—offered the best suggestions to later artists.76
This trend was deeply connected with the exploration and studies on the age of
Renaissance. Since the second half of the eighteenth century, there was a growing interest in the history, art and culture of the Italian Renaissance. French and English writers in the first place offered broader and more comprehensive perspectives on the
Renaissance.77 In the mid-nineteenth century, Jules Michelet‘s (1798–1874) Histoire de France, Renaissance in 185578 and Edgar Quinet‘s (1803–1875) Les Révolutions
75 Werner Hofmann, Art in the Nineteenth Century, London 1961, p. 236; Francis Haskell, ―The Old Masters in Nineteenth-Century French Painting,‖ in Art Quarterly 34, 1971, p. 58; William Vaughan, Romantic Art, London 1978, pp. 55, and 66-68; William Vaughan, ―Romanticism,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T073207?q=Romant icism&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); David Blayney Brown, Romanticism, London–New York 2001, p. 19. 76 Hofmann (as note 75), p. 236; Haskell (as note 75), pp. 55, 57, 63, and 66-67; Robert Rosenblum, Transformations in Late Eighteenth Century Art, Princeton 1967, pp. 34-36. 77 J. B. Bullen, The Myth of the Renaissance in Nineteenth-Century Writing, New York 1994, pp. 1, 11, 17-26, and 38-58; John Hale, England and the Italian Renaissance: the growth of interest in its history and art, 4th rev. ed. Malden 2005, pp. 24-39; Wallace Klippert Ferguson, The Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Interpretation, 2nd rev. ed. Toronto 2006, pp. 78-112; Udo Kultermann, The History of Art History, New York 1993, p. 28, 34. 78 Jules Michelet, Histoire de France, Renaissance, Paris 1855. See introduction of Jules Michelet in: Ceri Crossley, ―Michelet, Jules,‖ in: Christopher John Murray (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850, New York 2004, pp. 737-739.
25 d’Italie in 1848, 79 as well as Jacob Burckhardt‘s (1818–1897) Die Cultur der
Renaissance in Italien: ein Versuch in 186080 generated a clearer picture of the
Renaissance era.81
Thanks to the reception of the Italian Renaissance, a considerable number of writings, art historical texts, biographies, novels, short stories and poetry in the first half of the nineteenth century, treated the life and work of the artists in the Quattro- and Cinquecento, which were even more than the eighteenth century. 82 Giorgio
Vasari‘s Vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori were republished in various editions, including translations into other languages. Since its first appearance in the mid-sixteenth century, this milestone of art history had always been present in the cultural memory and was still printed in the following three centuries.83
Between 1800 and 1850, no less than ten editions of Vasari‘s masterpiece had been published, that is more than during the two centuries before. Among several editions of the Vite two were published in French, whereas the other two are translations into German and English.84 These versions provided an access to the Vite for those readers who did not know Italian. The republication of the Vite accelerated
79 Edgar Quinet, Les Révolutions d’Italie, Paris 1848. See introduction of Edgar Quinet in: John B. Roney, ―Quinet, Edgar,‖ in: Daniel. R. Woolf, A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, vol. 2, New York–London 1998, pp. 754-755. (2vols.) 80 Jacob Burckhardt, Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien: ein Versuch, Basel 1860. See introduction of Jacob Burckhardt in: Kultermann (as note 3), pp. 95-102. 81 Bullen (as note 77), pp. 156-182; Hale (as note 77), p. 110; Ferguson (as note 77), pp. 173-194; Kultermann (as note 77), pp. 95-98. 82 Haskell (as note 75), pp. 78-79. 83 Giorgio Vasari, Vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, Florence 1550 ( 2nd rev. ed. Florence 1568). 84 Vies des peintres, sculpteurs et architectes les plus cé lè bres, translated into French by Charles Claude Lebas de Courmont, Paris 1803–06; Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti. Illustr. con note, 16 vols, Milan 1807–11; Opere di Giorgio Vasari: pittore e architetto Aretino, 6 vols, Florence 1822–23; Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, Venice 1828–30; Opere di Giorgio Vasari pittore, Milan 1829; Le opere di Giorgio Vasari: pittore e architetto Aretino, 2 vols, Florence 1832–38; Leben der ausgezeichnetsten Maler, Bildhauer und Baumeister von Cimabue bis zum Jahre, 1567: Aus dem Italienischen, Ludwig Schorn (ed.), 6 vols, Stuttgart 1832–49; Vies des peintres, sculpteurs et architects, translated into French by Léopold Leclanché and commented by Philippe Auguste Jeanron with Leclanché, Paris 1839–42; Alcune vite di pittori, Parma 1842; Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architetti, annotated by Ferdinando Ranalli, 2 vols, Florence 1845–1848; Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, 14 vols, Florence 1846–70; Lives of the most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, translated by Jonathan Foster, 5 vols, London 1850–52.
26 the absorption of Renaissance art and spread the influence of the era in nineteenth century. They leaded people to realize that it was a great stage for the illustrious old masters to self-realize their ambitions and won the transcendent status in history.
As Francis Haskell has shown for the first time, the nineteenth century fathered a considerable number of fiction as well as nonfiction texts about major Italian
Renaissance masters, and Vasari‘s Vite served as a convincing source for the writers to know the artists‘ biographies. Moreover, Carlo Ridolfi‘s Le Maraviglie dell’arte, an important work focusing on Venetian artists, was released again in 1835.85 As of the second decade of the century, the great Venetian master Titian was in the focus. Five monographs on Titian‘s life and work, based on the books of Vasari and Ridolfi, including two in English language, are to be mentioned: the Vite dei pittori Vecelli di
Cadore Libri Quattro of 1817 by the Italian historian Stefano Ticozzi (1762–1836),
Osservazioni relative alla vita ed all'arte di Tiziano of 1821 by Giovanni Prosdocimo
Zabeo (1753–1828), Notice of the Life and Works of Titian by the British collector and writer Abraham Hume (1749–1838), published in 1829, The Life of Titian with
Anecdotes of the Distinguished Persons of His Time of 1830 by the British painter and writer James Northcote (1746–1831), and Federigo Wlten‘s Della vita, delle opere e del mausoleo di Tiziano Vecelli of 1852.86 The master also appeared in the novels Le
85 Haskell (as note 75), p. 79. 86 Stefano Ticozzi, Vite dei pittori Vecelli di Cadore libri quattro, Milan 1817. See biography of Stefano Ticozzi in: Franco Bernabei, ―Ticozzi, Stefano,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T084935?q=Stefano +Ticozzi&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Giovanni Prosdocimo Zabeo, Osservazioni relative alla vita ed all’arte di Tiziano, Padova 1821; Abraham Hume, Notice of the Life and Works of Titian, London 1829. See biography of Abraham Hume in: Francis Russell, ―Hume, Sir Abraham, 2nd Baronet,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T039419?q=Abraha m+Hume&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015) ; James Northcote, The Life of Titian with Anecdotes of the Distinguishied Person of His Time, London 1830. See biography of James Northcote in: John Wilson, ―Northcote, James,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T062779?q=James+ Northcote&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015), and Federigo Wlten, Della vita, delle opere e del mausoleo di Tiziano Vecelli, Venice 1852.
27 Fils du Titien about his wayward son Pomponio (―Pippo‖) by the French Romanticist
Alfred de Musset (1810–57) in 1838 and in Titian: a Romance of Venice by the Irish author Robert Shelton Mackenzie (1809–80) in 1843. Both these fictional texts are roughly based on the historical facts.87
The writings of Vasari and Ridofi provided the abundant materials for nineteenth-century artists to know the anecdotes of the Venetian Renaissance master, and a large quantity of nineteenth-century studies on Renaissance history and culture offered a reachable path to imagining the background of the great predecessor. The nineteenth-century painters were, of course, free to transform what they found in the texts into pictorial art history, and every artist had different intentions, when he invited viewers into the private cabinets of the Renaissance master. Before I come to the main issue of this thesis, the analysis of Titian’s First Essay by William Dyce, it seems necessary to consider a series of paintings displaying key moments of Titian‘s life, in order to trace the outlines of the artistic reception of the master‘s biography in the nineteenth century.
7. Titian as Subject in Nineteenth-Century Painting
As Dyce prepared his creation of Titian’s First Essay, contemporary painters also presented their pictorial art historical fictions, which mix imaginations and painters‘ interpretations of Titian‘s anecdotes and biographies. By means of their representation, the life of the old Venetian painter is put on the stage for viewers.
87 Haskell (as note 75), p. 79; Caroline Campbell, ―Titian in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction,‖ in: Peter Humfrey (ed.), The Reception of Titian in Britain: from Reynolds to Ruskin, Turnhout 2013, pp. 153-155. Titian is not the only great painter, who was present in the nineteenth-century literature. Nicolas Poussin and Franz Pourbus the Younger, for example, appear in Honoré de Balzac‘s short story Le chef-d’œuvre inconnu, which was first published in the newspaper L’Artiste in August 1831, and Leonardo da Vinci in Villa Verocchio, or, the youth of Leonardo da Vinci by Diana Louisa Macdonald in 1850. In addition to the tales by Musset and Mackenzie, Titian also took a role in the novel Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (alias Mary Ann Evans), published in 1876.
28 7.1. Titian and Rulers
Titian achieved international fame and worked for eminent patrons throughout Europe.
In order to glory the accomplishment of Titian, nineteenth-century painters represented the interaction between the Venetian master and his royal patrons. They referred to
Pliny the Elder‘s account of Alexander the Great paying a visit to Apelles‘s studio, while the artist was portraying the king‘s mistress Campaspe.88
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the French artist Pierre-Nolasque
Bergeret (1782–1863) concentrated on Titian at work as a portrait painter of European rulers, François I Posing for Titian (1807; Fig. 11).89 Old Titian and the French king
François I (r. 1515–1547) are facing each other at his studio, while the painter is executing the king‘s portrait. The majestic client François I, King of France, standing on the other side of Titian is depicted facing right. He puts the hands around the waist displaying a mighty posture.90 A servant appears unobtrusively at the background to look on the studio.
Bergeret borrowed the figures of Titian and François I from Titian‘s self-portrait in Madrid (Fig. 12) on the one hand and the Louvre portrait of the French king (Fig. 13) on the other.91 The painter might have seen Titian‘s portrait of François I at the Musée
88 Pliny the elder, and translated by John Bostock and H. T. Riley, The Natural History, vol. 6, London 1857, pp. 258-259; Janet Cox-Rearick, ―Imagining the Renaissance: The Nineteenth-Century Cult of François I as Patron,‖ in: Renaissance Quarterly 50, 1997, p. 236; Andrew N. Sherwood, ―Apelles,‖ in: Nigel Wilson (ed.), Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece, New York 2006, pp. 62-63; Susan B. Matheson, ―Apelles,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T003416?q=Apelles&search=quick&pos=1 &_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 89 On Bergeret, see Lucrecia N. El-Abd, Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret (1782–1863), Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University 1976; a shorter article by Simon Lee, ―Bergeret, Pierre-Nolasque,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T008089?q=Bergeret%2C+Pierre-Nolasque &search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 90 On the French king François I, see Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, 4th rev. ed., Chicago 2006, p. 702. 91 Harold Edwin Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, vol. II: The Portraits, London 1971, pp. 101-102. According to Wethey, Titian had made two portraits for François I, which were both painted in the same year, 1539. The earlier one is at the Musée du Louvre, which was the prototype of the one collected by Maurice Clément de Coppet in Geneva.
29 du Louvre, which aroused wide admiration when it was exhibited in 1804.92 Therefore,
François I Posing for Titian is constituted entirely by Bergeret‘s imagination, and he could appropriate an anecdote from Ridolfi, who claimed Titian had received Henry III,
King of France, at his studio in 1574.93
Bergeret ignored a logic problem on purpose that when Titian prepared portrait of
François I in 1539, he was in the prime of life rather than an aged man of the self-portrait made in 1565-1570. In François I Posing for Titian, the two profile portraits by Titian were combined together cleverly that Titian and François I dominates each sides of the picture respectively. Owing to the strong nationalism in
Napoléon‘s regime, Bergeret attempted to enhance the impression of François I as the cultured patron. He also expressed his respect to the old Venetian master, who demonstrates the gifted artistic talent to equal the political power.
Ridolfi‘s biography of Titian provided an intriguing interlude between Titian and the Emperor Charles V (r. 1530–1556) for nineteenth-century painters to exert.94
Ridolfi recorded an interlude between Titian and Charles V. Ridolfi stated ―And there for the third time he did a portrait of the Emperor in his old age, with his burnished armor, decorated with golden engravings, as we can see from copies. And it is told of
Titian that while he was painting the portrait, he dropped a brush, which the Emperor picked up, and bowing low, Titian declared: ‗Sire, one of your servants does not
92 Cox-Rearick (as note 88), p. 235. Titian‘s portrait of François I was commissioned by the Tuscan writer Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) as a gift for the King. See Luba Freedman, Titian’s Portraits through Aretino's Lens, University Park, Pa. 1995, p. 4. According to El-Abd, Bergeret could have been familiar with the fact that Titian had never met the King in reality; El-Abd (as note 89), pp. 201-202. The portrait of François I was the master borrowing a profile of François I from the obverse of a bronze medal by Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) executed in 1537; Wethey (as note 91), p. 102; Cox-Rearick (as note 88), pp. 235-236; Fletcher (as note 92), p. 36; Lisa Jardine and Jerry Brotton, Global Interests: Renaissance art between East and West, London 2000, pp. 48-49. 93 Bondanella (as note 51), p. 135; Charles Hope, ―Titian as a Court Painter,‖ in: Oxford Art Journal 2, 1979, p. 7. According to Hope, Ridolfi‘s record is not correct that Henry III did not come to Titian‘s workshop in Venice. 94 See biography of Charles V in: William Eisler, ―Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T035906pg2#T0359 23 (accessed January 8, 2015).
30 deserve such an honor.‘ To this Charles replied: ‗Titan deserves to be served by
Caesar.‘‖ 95 Ridolfi underlined that Titian‘s genius won him the glory from the
Emperor. The essence of the account of Ridolfi also rooted in the story of Apelles and
Alexander the Great.96
Bergeret represented Charles V Picking up Titian’s Paintbrush (Fig. 14) in 1808, one year after his François I Posing for Titian. In Bergeret‘s, Titian wears a red robe and he is accepting a paintbrush handed from Charles V, who stretches his left hand to the artist. Standing behind the back of the Emperor, the female musician pays her attention on Titian to observe him how to response to the great kindness, while she witnesses this dramatic moment. At the background, a portrait of Charles V, who can be identified by his long-chinned individuality,97 is taken from one of the Emperor‘s portraits depicted by Titian. The authentic painting by Titian disappeared around mid-seventeenth century.98 Bergeret could refer to the copy from Rubens made in
1603 (Fig. 15).
It is likely that Bergeret knew an earlier drawing by the Venetian painter Pietro
Antonio Novelli (1729–1804), who could be a pioneer on this topic The Emperor
95 Quated after Bondanella (as note 51), p. 95; The account reads as follows: ―[…] dove la terza fiata lo ritrasse ridotto alla senile età, in armi brunite fregiate d‘aurei lavori, come dalle copie si vede; e raccontasi che nel ritrarlo gli cadè un pennello, che gli fu da quello levato, a cui Tiziano prostratosi disse: Sire, non merita cotanto onore un servo suo: a cui disse, è degno Tiziano essere servito da Cesare,‖ in: Ridolfi (as note 54), p. 233. In fact, the idea to compare Titian to Apelles in Ridolfi‘s text was effected by the decrees in 1533. The Emperor Charles V conferred a knighthood to Titian with the titles of a Count Palatine and Knight of the Golden Spur, and announced: ―We have noticed your extraordinary faith and respect towards us and the Holy Roman Empire, and that, in addition to the other remarkable abilities and talents of your genius, the exquisite science of painting and representing images faithful to life is an art in which you seem to us indeed so great that you justly deserve to be called the Apelles of this century. To be sure, we are not unlike our predecessors Alexander the Great and Octavius Augustus, the first of whom wanted to be painted exclusively be Apelles, the second solely by excellent masters.‖ In the proclamation, it is obvious that Charles V interpreted himself and Titian as reincarnations of Alexander the Great and Apelles. The quotation of the decree is from Humfrey (as note 2), p. 96. See the research on the decree in: Wethey (as note 91), p. 21; Hope (as note 93), p. 9; Peter Humfrey, Titian: the complete paintings, Gent–New York 2007, p. 96. 96 Land (as note 54), pp. 216-220. 97 Wethey (as note 91), p. 19. 98 Wethey (as note 91), pp. 191-192.
31 Charles V Stoops to Pick up Titian’s Paintbrush (Fig. 16).99 Novelli shows Titian and
Charles V are surrounded by courtiers. Titian is executing portrait for the Emperor, but his brush falls on the ground accidentally. Charles V bends his back to reach the brush for the old artist without any hesitation. At the background, a painting depicting a nude female recalls Titian‘s famous reclining Venus and Danaë, which suggests the location is on the master‘s studio. Novelli arranges the higher position of Titian than Charles V in order to stress the remarkable statue of the Venetian master.
The subject re-appears several times during the 19th century. The French painter
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury (1797–1890), 100 and the Italian painter Modesto
Faustini (1839–1891)101 also rendered this subject matter (Fig. 17; 18).102 They shared the similar purpose with Novelli that the relative position of Titian and Charles V in the paintings implies the divergent station of the two great men. Moreover, the Apennine
Peninsula was invaded by France after French Revolution that Italy was united as late as 1870. During this period, Venice had been controlled by Austria. Considering the historical background in nineteenth-century Italy, Faustini‘s painting could be invested with the spirit of nationalism.
If we juxtapose above-mentioned four pictures, it is interesting to find out
Bergeret took a different manner to perform this anecdote. In the works of Novelli,
Robert-Fleury and Faustini, they arrange several courtiers to witness the scene, and transfer this theatrical moment into a form of ceremony. Nevertheless, Bergeret
99 The title of this painting is given by Jennifer Fletcher (as note 92), in: Hope 2003, p. 40; See the biography of Pietro Antonio Novelli in: Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 25/26, vol. 25, Leipzig 1999, p. 530. 100 ―The Living Artist of Europe,‖ in: The Art-Union, 1848, pp. 41-43; Geraldine Norman, Nineteenth-century Painters and Painting: A Dictionary, Berkeley 1977, p. 181; ―Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T072380pg1?q=Joseph-Nicolas+Robert-Fle ury&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 101 See biography of Modesto Faustini in Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker (as note 99), 11/12, vol. 11, p. 303. 102 Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury‘ s Emperor Charles V Picking up Titian’s Pencil now is unable to trace. Fortunately, we still can trace it through printing plate, which was included in the ―The Living Artist of Europe‖ (as note 100), p. 42.
32 adopted a different manner. He condenses the whole composition into a three-person space. In order to emphasize the interaction between Titian and Charles V, Bergeret only kept primary persons, two protagonists and a musician-witness, to construct a more intimate atmosphere.103
In addition, Bergeret attempted to stress on the close connection between Titian and the royal patron. Therefore, he selected to freeze the time as Charles V is passing around the paintbrush to the master. The paintbrush here could be a symbol of art, which run like a thread linking the two men of different social ranks; in the other words, art crosses the boundary of social positions and connects Titian and Charles V.
Bergeret paid homage to the sixteenth-century predecessor and glorified the virtue of art. From Novelli to Bergeret, although the four artists exerted varied compositions, materials and techniques to render the anecdote, they expressed the same idea in different words at bottom. By virtue of posing Charles V at a lower position, they promoted Titian to a commanding standing. They intended to show studio is the domain of art. In artist‘s studio, the social ranks are reversed that the artist possesses the prerogative in his space.104
The inseparable relationship between Titian and the Venetian Signoria was considered by 19th-century artist. Titian had started his long-term service for the
Venetian government since 1513. After the death of Venice‘s leading painter, Giovanni
Bellini, in 1516, Titian took over the official sinecure, a governmental position originally provided to Bellini, until the end of his life.105 The British painter Robert
Antoine Müller (1821–1883) shows his interest in Titian and Venetian Doge in Visit of
103 El-Abd (as note 89), pp. 203-212; Ting Chang, ―‗The Meeting‘: Gustave Courbet and Alfred Bruyas,‖ in: The Burlington Magazine 138, 1996, p. 588. 104 El-Abd (as note 89), pp. 203-212; Ting Chang (as note 103), p. 588. 105 Hope (as note 93), p. 8; Charles Hope, ―Titian‘s Life and Times,‖ in: Hope (ed.), Titian: essays, London 2003, p. 15; Humfrey (as note 95), p. 36.
33 the Doge of Venice to Titian of 1870–71 (Fig. 19).106 Müller shows Titian stands in front of his house to welcome the Doge, and dozens of people are assembled to witness the noble guest. The overall composition rather recalls stage setting. In addition, Müller depended on Titian‘s self-portrait in Berlin (Fig. 5), which was engraved in Ridolfi‘s biography on Titian (Fig. 6) of 1648 and the second edition in
1835 (Fig. 20) , the frontispiece in Abraham Hume‘s Notice of the Life and Works of
Titian (1829; Fig. 21).107 He adopted a female portrait of Titian (Fig. 22) among the crowd. Müller rendered Titian‘s house in Venice at Biri Grande through referring to the illustrations in Dello amore ai Veneziani di Tiziano Vecellio (Fig. 23), or Cadore or
Titian’s Country (Fig. 24).108
Of course, we do not have records about a doge‘s visit to Titian‘s house or workshop. Müller also did not attach the name of the Doge is not to the picture‘s title.
It is probably the nineteenth-century painter invented this incident by means of his own imagination. The representation of the Doge does not resemble the portraits Titian executed for the Venetian Doges.109 The Doge symbolizes the most authoritative axis in Venice, and he visits Titian‘s house in person rather than summoning the artist in the
Ducal Palace. Müller underlined the prestige of the great master, and he borrowed the idea from Novelli to set Titian in a higher standing.
106 See biography of Robert Antoine Müller in: Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker (as note 99), 25/26, vol. 25, p. 247. 107 Ridolfi (as note 32); Ridolfi (as note 54); Hume (as note 86). 108 Giuseppe Cadorin, Dello amore ai veneziani di Tiziano Vecellio, delle sue case in Cadore e in Venezia e delle vite de’suoi figli: notizie, Venice 1833, p. 28; Josiah Gilbert, Cadore, or, Titian’s Country, London 1869 109 Titian and his workshop had executed portraits for five Doges, Andrea Gritti (1455–1538), Pietro Lando (1462–1545), Francesco Donato (1468–1553), Marcantonio Trevisan (1475–1554), and Francesco Venier (1489–1556). See Titian and the portraits for the Venetian Doges in: Wethey (as note 91), pp. 108-110, 148, 160, 172, and 183-184.
34 7.2. Titian and His Comtemporary Artists
Titian was born in a golden age for artists to manifest their abilities and to complete with each other. The eighteenth-century French painter Nicolas Vleughels
(1688–1737) 110 was the earliest painter to depict the life episode of Titian in
Michelangelo Visiting Titian (Fig. 25). The literary source of Vleughels was from
Vasari‘s record. The event took place when Titian was staying in Rome between 1545 and 1546 serving the Farnese, the family of Paul III. According to Vasari‘s statement:
―One day as Michelangelo and Vasari were going to see Titian in the Belvedere, they saw in a painting he had just completed a naked woman representing Danaë with Jupiter transformed into a golden shower on her lap, and as is done in the artisan‘s presence, they gave it high praise. After leaving Titian, and discussing his method, Buonarroti strongly commended him, declaring that he liked his colouring and style very much but that it was a pity artisans in Venice did not learn to draw well from the beginning and that Venetian painters did not have a better method of study.‖111
Despite it being debatable whether the judgment came from Michelangelo or was fabricated by Vasari, the paragraph reflects a burning dispute; the contest between
Florentine disegno and Venetian colorito in the sixteenth century.
Vleughels was an admirer of the Venetian School. He translated and republished
110 ―Vleughels, Nicolas,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T090008?q=Nicolas +Vleughels&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Mark Ledbury, ―Vleughels, Nicolas‖ in: Jill Berk Jiminez (ed.), Dictionary of Artists’ Models, London 2001, pp. 552-554; Philip Conisbee, Review of ―Nicolas Vleughels: Peintre et Directeur de l'Académie de France à Rome, 1668-1737 by Bernard Hercenberg,‖ in: The Burlington Magazine 118, 1976, pp. 868-869, 871. 111 Quated after Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists, and translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, Oxford–New York 1991, p. 505. The orginal Italian text reads ―Andando un giorno Michelagnolo ed il Vasari a vedere Tiziano in Belvedere, videro in un quadro, che allora avea condotto, una femina ignuda, figurate per una Danae, che aveva in grembo Giove trasformato in pioggia d‘oro, e molto ( come si fa in presenza) gliele lodarono. Dopo partiti che furono da lui, ragionandosi del fare di Tiziano, il Buonarruoto lo comendò assai, dicendo che molto gli piaceva il colorito suo e la maniera; ma che era un peccato che a Vinezia non s‘imparasse da principio a disegnare bene, e che non avessonoque‘pittori miglior modo nello studio. Con ciò sia (diss‘egli) che se quest‘uomo fusse punto aiutato dall‘arte e dal disegno, come è dalla natura, e massimamente nel contrafare il vivo, non si potrebbe far più nè meglio, avendo egli bellissimo spirit ed una molto vaga e vivace maniera. Ed in fatti così è vero, perciochè chi non ha disegnato assai, e studiato cose scelte antiche o modern, non può fare bene di pratica da sè nè aiutare le cose che si ritranno dal vivo, dando loro quella grazia e perfezione che dà l‘arte fuori dell‘ordine della natura, la quale fa ordinariamente alcune parti che non son belle.‖
35 Lodovico Dolce‘s Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, intitolato l’Aretino in
1735, and executed Michelangelo visiting Titian as the frontispiece for this new edition.
Vleughels‘ work was associated with the content of the Dialogo. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the background of this writing. Dolce (1508–1568) released
Dialogo in 1557.112 He was a Venetian based writer, and he also was the friend and support of Titian. In the Dialogo, Dolce composed an interlocution between Pietro
Aretino and the Florentine grammarian Giovanfrancesco Fabrini, in which the art of
Raphael and Michelangelo are discussed from three aspects: Invention, Drawing and
Color. At the end of the fictitious discussion, the two colloquists reached a consensus that Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian were the most exceptional artists of the time, and Titian, in particular, excels Michelangelo.113
In Michelangelo visiting Titian, Vleughels shows Titian is interrupted by two visitors, Michelangelo and Vasari in his studio. Michelangelo raises the hands and lifts up his right leg exaggeratedly to express his astonishment, as he sees the painting
Titian is creating. The other guest, Vasari, is much calmer than that his companion.
According to Vasari‘s account, the canvas depicting a reclining female nude is Titian‘s
Danaë (Fig. 26). In the background, the bust of the young man resting on a pillar is that of Raphael, in order to respond to the final conclusion in the Dialogo. Vleughels attempted to arrange a confluence of the three Renaissance masters.114
112 Lodovico Dolce, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a persetto pittore si acconuengono: con esempi di pittori antichi, & moderni: e nel sine si sa mentione delle uirtu e delle opere de Diuin Titiano, Florence 1735 (1st ed. Venice 1557) 113 Mark W. Roskill, Dolce’s Aretino and Venetian Art Theory of the Cinquecento, Toronto 2000, pp. 5-26; François Quiviger, ―Dolce, Lodovico,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e748?q=Lodovico+D olce+&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Franco Bernabei, ―Dolce, Lodovico,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T023115?q=Dolce& search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Edward Wright, ―Structure and Significance in Dolce‘s L‘Aretino,‖ in: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 45, 1987, pp. 273-274, 277-279; Peter Humfrey (as note 95), pp. 10, 12. 114 Maria H. Loh, Titian Remade: Repetition and the Transformation of Early Modern Italian Art, Los
36 Vleughels‘s adaptation of Vasari‘s account is also worth thinking about. Vasari was a leading exponent of Florentine drawing, and Dolce took a stance defensive of the Venetian School of colors. Being an advocator of Venetian art, Vleughels could not to repeat the condemnation and scornfulness from Vasari and Michelangelo. In his pictorial rendering of the event, Michelangelo is presented as a clownish performer in contrast to Titian‘s calm demeanour, inferring that Titian‘s talent was extraordinary enough to dumbfound his opponent. Vleughels presented the core conception of
Renaissance that is the paragone between Florentine disegno and Venetian colorito. As a counterattack on behalf of Titian and the Venetian School, Vleughels‘s reinterprets the text of the Tuscan art critic so that Vasari ends up slapping himself.115
Antonio Zona (1814–1892), the nineteenth-century Venetian painter, was interested in the intercommunication of the two sixteenth-century masters in The
Meeting of Titian and Veronese on the Ponte della Paglia next to the Ducal Palace (Fig.
27). Zona was the member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice. The Meeting of
Titian and Veronese was a commission from the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph (r.
1848–1916), and made its debut in 1862 at the International Exhibition in London.116
Zona shows the aged Titian and young Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) together surrounded by people. The paternalist gesture of Titian implies that he is instructing
Veronese, who displays his drawing book to the master. Their discussion is too fervent to be interrupted or joined by others.117
Angeles 2007, pp. 27-30; Michael Levey, The Painter Depicted: painters as a subject in painting, New York 1981, p. 43. 115 Loh (as note 114), p. 28. 116 Jos. Arenstein, Austria at the International Exhibition of 1862: upon orders from the I. R. Ministry for Commerce and National Economy, Vienna 1862, p. 117. See biography of Antonio Zona in: John Denison Champlin (ed.), Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, vol. 4, New York 1887, p. 470; Corrado Ricci, Art in Northern Italy, New York 1911, p. 96. 117 See biography of Paolo Veronese in: Diana Gisolfi, ―Veronese, Paolo,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T089003?q=Verones e&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Harold Osborne and Hugh Brigstocke, ―Veronese, Paolo,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online:
37 Zona borrowed Titian‘s self-portrait in Berlin (Fig. 5) in the picture. The bearded man could be Titian‘s friend the Florentine architect Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570), and Zona adopted the representative of Lorenzo Lotto‘s Architect (Fig. 28), which has been identified as a portrait of Jacopo Sansovino.118 At the background, he shows the white and two-storied façade of the Libreria Marciana, which was designed by
Sansovino. The building was erected between 1537 and 1588.119 This offers an explanation to the scaffold annexing the Libreria Marciana in the painting, which was still under construction at Titian‘s time.
Relationships between old Masters and their pupils were a popular way for nineteenth-century artists to investigate their precursors.120 Zona may be influenced by this trend in presenting Titian and Veronese together, although the latter cannot formally be considered the former‘s apprentice.121 In order to enhance the impression of age disparity between Titian and Veronese, the younger artist is represented with a boyish appearance rather than that of a young man. By arranging Titian and Veronese side by side, Zona attempted to express the transfer of different artistic generations in
http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2691?q=Veronese& search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 118 Pietro Zampetti (ed.), Mostra di Lorenzo Lotto: catalogo ufficiale, Venice 1953, p. 89. See biography of Jacopo Sansovino in: Antonia Boström, ―Sansovino, Jacopo,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2343?q=Jacopo+Sa nsovino&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Bruce Boucher, ―Sansovino,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T075803pg1?q=Jaco po+Sansovino&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 119 Alvise Zorzi, Venetian Palaces, New York 1989, p. 76; Giandomenico Romanelli (ed.), Venice: art & architecture, vol. 1, Cologne 1997, p. 322; Norbert Huse and Wolfgang Wolters (eds.), The Art of Renaissance Venice: architecture, sculpture, and painting, 1460–1590, Chicago 1990, pp. 43-45. 120 Haskell (as note 75), p. 70; Marc Gotlieb, ―Creation and Death in the Romantic Studio,‖ in: Michael Cole and Mary Pardo (eds), Inventions of the studio, Renaissance to Romanticism, Chapel Hill 2005, pp. 175-183. 121 Paolo Veronese was born in Verona and was approximately forty years Titian‘s junior. Aside from the fact that Titian‘s use of iridescent colors and compositional language had influenced him, Veronese had never entered Titian‘s workshop to seek formal instruction. In fact, his early training was done in his hometown and he had not arrived in Venice until 1551 to start his business. See the earlier training of Veronese in: Andreas Priever, Paolo Caliari, called Veronese: 1528–1588, Cologne 2000, pp. 12-28; Frederick Ilchman, ―Venetian Painting in an Age of Rival,‖ in: Frederick Ilchman (ed.), Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: rivals in Renaissance Venice, Farnham 2009, pp. 21-39.
38 the Venetian School of the sixteenth century. Moreover, Zona was a local Venetian painter and The Meeting of Titian and Veronese could be interpreted as self-encouragement for the artist to become a nineteenth-century successor of the
Venetian Renaissance masters.
Furthermore, Zone arranged the Libreria Marciana as the background in the painting intentionally. It recalls a historical event in mid-sixteenth century Venice. In
1557, Titian and Sansovino were the adjudicators in the competition for the ceiling at the Reading Room in the Libreria Marciana. Veronese produced roundel Allegory of
Music, which won him a gold chain. While Veronese acquired reputation through the tondi, Tintoretto (1518–1594), another emerging rival of Titian, was excluded from the list of the employed artists of this commission. Tintoretto kept pace with Titian and
Veronese in sixteenth-century Venice, and he had made his mark since the 1550s.
Titian felt the challenge from Tintoretto. It could well have been Titian‘s intention to promote Veronese to include the young man in his camp thereby weakening the influence of Tintoretto.122
This period of Venetian art history recounted a subtle competitive relationship between Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. By means of arrangement of the Libreria
Marciana of the background, Zona indicated the artistic rivalry in Venetian
Renaissance. Is it possible that the other young man, turning his head to look at Titian and Veronese with his left hand on his waist, is Tintoretto in Zona‘s imagination? Does this painting symbolize the meeting of the three great Venetian masters? Zona invites
122 Priever (as note 121), pp. 38, 42-43; W. R. Rearick, ―An Early Dated Veronese and Veronese‘s Early Work,‖ in: Artibus et Historiae 18, 1997, p. 111; Frederick Ilchman (as note 121), pp. 21-39, 116-121; Tom Nichols, Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity, London 1999, p. 66. See biography of Tintoretto in: Hugh Brigstocke, ―Tintoretto,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2593?q=Tintoretto& search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Thomas Nichols, ―Tintoretto,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T085169pg1?q=Tint oretto&search=quick&pos=3&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015).
39 open interpretations of the painting.
Instead of representing the artistic rivalry between Titian and his competitors, nineteenth-century painters raised much concerns about the interaction of the master and his pupil Irene di Spilimbergo (1540–1559). She was born in an eminent family in
Udine. Painting for pleasure, she became a disciple of Titian, and it has been said that her works were quite distinguished. Her biography, which was published in 1561, was compiled and edited by the sixteenth-century Italian writer Dionigi Atanagi. The author stated affirmatively that Titian was her master.123
The tuition of Irene di Spilimbergo was depicted by the Venetian painter, Antonio
Rotta (1828–1903) in Tiziano che istruisce Irene Spilimbergo nella pittura (Fig. 29) in
1853.124 Rotta shows Irene is accepting the instruction of Titian. They look at each other and a tacit dialogue seems to exist between them. A bald man with a long beard perches on a stand to postures for the painters. Behind Titian, a huge unfinished painting depicting the Madonna and Child, in which the depiction of a man‘s head echoes to the appearance of the sitter. Three years after Rotta‘s painting, the Italian little-known artist Jacopo D‘Andrea (1819–1906) rendered the same subject Tiziano insegna pittura a Irene di Spilimbergo (Titian teaches painting to Irene di Spilimbergo)
(Fig. 30) in 1856. D‘Andrea shows Irene holds a palette in her left hand, and leans forward towards the canvas in front of her. Titian stands on her right hand side. With a
123 Dionigi Atanagi, Rime di diversi nobilissimi et eccellentissimi autori: in morte della Signora Irene delle Signore di Spilimbergo, Venice 1561, s. p.: ―Questa nel primo cominciamento della pittura fu presa dalla Signora IRENE per iscorta, et maestra. Et dando poco indugio al pensiero; si pose al disegno, al qual prendendo essempio solo dalle cose piu perfette, come del Signor Titiano.‖ See biography of Irene Spilimbergo in: Michael Bryan, A Biographical and Critical Dictionary of Painters and Engravers: from the revival of the art under Cimabue, and the alledged discovery of engraving by Finiguerra, to the present time: with the ciphers, monograms, and marks, used by each engraver; and an ample list of their principal works, vol. 2, London 1816, p. 423; Elizabeth Fries Ellet, Women Artists in all Ages and Countries, London 1859, pp. 44-45; Anne Jacobson Schutte, ―Irene di Spilimbergo: The Image of a Creative Woman in Late Renaissance Italy,‖ in: Renaissance Quarterly, p.43; ―Spilimbergo, Irene di,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T080582?q=Spilimb ergo%2C+Irene+di&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 124 See biography of Antonio Rotta in: Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker (as note 99), 29/30, vol. 29, p. 96.
40 brush in his hand, he points at the canvas to instruct the young lady. The collars of
Irene‘s costumes in the paintings of D‘Andrea and Rotta base on the sixteenth-century fashion design in Titian‘s portrait Irene di Spilimbergo.
It is obvious that the youth and feminine beauty of Irene di Spilimbergo represent a harsh contrast to the aged Titian in both paintings. The depiction of master, disciple and studio are three essential factors adopted by both D‘Andrea and Rotta. They share an intriguing detail: the brush holder is Titian rather than Irene. The brush symbolizes art. D‘Andrea and Rotta could accentuate Titian, who holds the brush, has the authority to command the power of art. The paintings reflect the prevailing condition of nineteenth-century females in Europe and the United States. As far as women from the bourgeoisie and the upper-classes were concerned, by undertaking art training it was seen as a method to cultivate good breeding and prepare for marriage. Framed within the rules of a patriarchal society, however, women were discouraged from fulfilling their aspirations to become professional artists. Compared with the active and leading characters of men, women were expected to be passive and obedient.125 The images of
Titian and Irene in the paintings of D‘Andrea and Antonio Rotta illustrate a vivid annotation of nineteenth-century gender issues.
Moreover, Rotta touched on a different point that D‘Andrea had not developed further. In Rotta‘s composition, Titian puts his left hand on the back of Irene‘s chair, his position reinforcing a sense of control and command over the situation. The contrasting characteristics of Titian and Irene, male and female, aged and blooming, are associated with the typical erotic images in history of art, which can be found in early works, such as Ill-matched Lovers of Quentin Massys and the story of Susanna with the elders. The
125 Nancy Proctor, ―4. Italy ,‖ in: Delia Gaze (ed), Dictionary of Women Artists, vol. 2, London–Chicago 1997, pp. 106-108; Anne Higonnet, ―Secluded Vision: Images of feminine experience in nineteenth-century Europe,‖ in: Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard (eds.), The Expanding Discourse: feminism and art history, New York 1992, pp. 170-185.
41 eye contact and the close distance between the master and the young girl, which Rotta depicts, create an intimate space, suggesting a subtle connection between Titan and
Irene. Under the surface, Rotta invested the sexual connotation in the intercommunication of the master and his female pupil.
Eugenio Moretti Larese (1823–1874), the Venetian painter skilled at decorative art,126 represented Tiziano e Irene di Spilimbergo (Fig. 31) in 1856. Titian and Irene are situated in an outdoor setting. Titian shows his back to viewers, and his gesture implies he is giving a lecture for Irene. Our heroine however turns her head to face away from Titian. She gazes at something out of our vision, as if her mind is drifting to a distant place and straying from the master‘s lesson. They are accompanied by a boy and a dog.
The focus of Larese is diverted towards Irene, and Titian instead acts as a foil. It is striking that the axis is settled on the feminine beauty of young Irene and her brooding countenance rather than Titian‘s lecture. If ignoring the title, it becomes difficult to recognise the figures as Titian and Irene. The painting looks more like a general genre painting. Furthermore, Larese‘s rough strokes and lively coloring, the outdoor setting, the characters, and the fountain entwined with foliage evoke the
Rococo atmosphere of an eighteenth-century genre, Fête Galantes, which usually depicted couples or friends flirting, enjoying music and having fun in a flourishing garden or other open space.127 The intention of Larese is equivalent to D‘Andrea and
Rotta that their real point is on the traditional sensuous drama of old man and young woman.
126 See biography of Eugenio Moretti Larese in: Francesco Franco, ―Moretti Larese, Eugenio,‖ in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 76, Rome 2012. The electronic text is founded in the Treccani. it: l’enciclopedia Italiana at: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/eugenio-moretti-larese_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/ (accessed January 8, 2015). 127 Daniela Tarabra, European Art of the Eighteen Century, Los Angeles 2008, pp. 14-18.
42 7.3. Titian with His Friends and Mistress
Nineteenth-century artists focus on the close friendships that Titian had. The Tuscan writer Pietro Aretino and the Florence-based architect and sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, two life-long close friends of Titan,128 were depicted by the Belgian painter Niçaise de
Keyser (1813–1887).129 He exhibited Le Titien peignant sa Vénus en présence de ses deux amis, Pietro Aretino et Sansovino (Fig. 32) at the Salon D‘Anvers in 1843.130
Keyser presents a recumbent and undressed woman surrounded Titian, Aretino and
Sansovino. Her countenance is tranquil rather than nervous or embarrassed suggesting that she has no qualms about displaying her body to the males. Titian stares at his model while he is working on the canvas. Aretino sits next to Titian propping up his head and keeping a close distance to the model; he gazes at her intently and seems engrossed in admiration. Grasping a file in his left hand, Sansovino is situated in the back row alongside Titian‘s painting. As a consequence of occupying this convenient position, he is able to examine the woman‘s body and her curves. A wide-eyed, open-mouthed young servant also present is unable to concentrate on his job in the presence of such an attractive woman.
The posture of female model refers to Titian‘s renowned work, Venus of Urbino
(Fig. 33). The scene depicting artists and their female model are common in nineteenth century. Keyser borrows the situation of the nineteenth-century atelier to reconstruct the sixteenth-century studio of Titian. According to Haskell, Keyser‘s intention is to show the working conditions of Titian‘s studio, and the function of the female is
128 Humfrey (as note 95), p. 87. 129 See biography of Niçaise de Keyser in: James Dafforne, ―Modern Painters of Belgium: No. I. Niçaise de Keyser ,‖ in: Art Journal 5, 1866, pp. 5-8; ―The Fine Arts: The Masscare of Innocents,‖ in: Bow bells: a magazine of general literature and art for family reading 8, p. 36; ―Art in Augustus,‖ in: The Magazine of Art, 1887, p. 43. 130 Notice Des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture, Gravure Et Dessin, Executes Par Des Artistes Vivants, Et Exposes Au Salon D’Anvers, ouvert par la Socié té royale pour l’encouragement des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp 1843, p. 7430.
43 merely to pose as Venus of Urbino, which was familiar to viewers as representative of
Titian‘s work.131 In the nineteenth century, scenes depicting artists with their models were far more popular than in previous centuries132 and Keyser used this subject in his imaginary studio of Titian. His depiction of the female model with artists, painter
Titian and sculptor Sansovino, indicates that Keyser played with the two classical motifs, Apelles with Campaspe and Pygmalion with Galatea, both of which were usually used for erotic implication. Furthermore, the female model, who is placed in a dominant position by Keyser, displays her body to the men in the picture as well as viewers. The main intention of Keyser is not merely to depict Titian at work, but to cater to the sexual desires of male viewers.
In the second-half of nineteenth century, painters‘ interests were diverted towards performing Titian‘s leisure moment. They imagined Titian‘s life in sixteenth-century
Venice within the frame of nineteenth century. They invited the current emerging genre, which representing the modern civil life and entertainment, into the historical subject matter of the old master. They also tried to depict Titian‘s genial character. They did not set the scene in Titian‘s studio in order to explore his roles beyond the great artist.
Titian was considered to have a gentle and charming personality and was commented on by his friend Dolce to be ―a very fine conversationalist, with powers of intellect and judgement which are quite perfect in all contingencies.‖133 Even Vasari, who had criticized Titian‘s art, also said he ―[…] deserved to be loved and respected by all artisan‖,134 and Ridolfi, a loyal advocate of Titian, described the life of the master;
―Nevertheless, a person is said to be happy who has fewer worldly cares, as happened to be the case with Titian, who was decorated by talent, honored by the great,
131 Haskell (as note 75), p. 75. 132 Emma Barker, ―Inventing the Romantic artist,‖ in: Emma Barker (ed.), Art and Visual Culture, 1600–1850: academy to avant-garde, London 2012, p. 318. 133 Humfrey (as note 95), p. 8, 12. Quote from Humfrey, p. 12. 134 Quote from Vasari (as note 111), p. 508.
44 numerous in friends, and revered by the world.‖ 135 The impression of Titian‘s harmonious relationship with his friends is rendered in Titian on the Lagunes (Fig. 34), which was painted by the German-American artist, Emanuel Leutze (1816–1868).136
Leutze shows Titian is on a luxurious gondola and attended by three young girls.
One of the girls nestles intimately on the master‘s right shoulder, another sits with him side by side enjoying music performed by the musicians of the nearby gondola. Titian is addressing the two men, who are listening intently to the elder‘s speech.137 In the background, the scumble renders the unique hazy view in Venice, and two popular tourist sites are recognisable; the tallest building is the Campanile of St. Mark and also visible is the Basilica of St. Mary of Health with its huge twin cupolas.
An analogous composition can be found in the Russian-British painter Henry
Nelson O‘Neil‘s (1817–1880) Happy Days of Titian (Fig. 35; 1867).138 O‘Neil shows
Titian sits in a comfortable gondola while is entertained by two ladies. Unfolding a sketch book on his knees, he is sketching for his friends. The lady who is wearing a dark blue dress is playing a lute and her blonde-haired companion wears a much louder dress. Two men are reclined in front of Titian as a young maidservant pours wine while
135 Quote from Bondanella (as note 51), p. 137. 136 See biography of Emanuel Leutze in: ―Artist Biography,‖ in: The Crayon 7, 1860, p. 139; Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the artists: American artist life, comprising biographical and critical sketches of American artists: preceded by an historical account of the rise and progress of art in America, New York 1867, pp. 333-345; Barbara Groseclose, ―Leutze, Emanuel,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T050679?q=Emanue l+Leutze&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); ―Leutze, Emanuel Gottlieb,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/benezit/B00108733?q=Emanu el+Leutze&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 137 In an anonymous letter to The Crayon magazine, the author identified the girl, who is listening music, is Titian‘s intimate Violante, and considered the beauty looking at viewers is from aristocratic Pisani family. The anonymous author also suggested the two men on Titian‘s right hand side are an Venetian painter Paris Bordone and a senior Pisani male, and Veronese is on the left hand side of Titian and he is enchanted by Violante. However, the author did not provide a certain evidence to support his standpoint. See the text in: ―Foreign Correspondence, Items, etc.,‖ in: The Crayon 5, 1858, p. 56. 138 See biography of Henry Nelson O‘Neil in: ―Henry Nelson O‘Neil, A.R.A.,‖ in: Art Journal, 1880, p. 171; ―Mr. Henry Nelson O‘Neil, A.R.A.,‖ in: The Athenaeum 2734, 1880, p. 384; Shearer West, ―O‘Neil, Henry Nelson,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T063575?q=Henry+ Nelson+O%27Neil&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015).
45 smiling. In the bottom left corner of the picture there is a bunch of grapes and a bottle of wine. In the picture Titian is enclosed by beauties, music and wine, just as the title suggests, what a wonderful day! The backdrop is also that of the familiar Venetian scenery, the Campanile of St. Mark and the Basilica of St. Mary of Health erect in the distance. Both Leutze and O‘Neil neglected the historical fact that the Basilica of St.
Mary of Health was built from 1631 to 1687,139 therefore it is not possible to see
Titian against this background.
The delightful gathering of Titian with his friends was also depicted by the little-known artist F. Kraus, A Fête at the House of Titian (Fig. 36), which was included in Great men and famous women.140 As the host, Titian stays seated at the table with his guests. A man sitting to the left of him is talking with a young female, who is holding a lute. It seems that Titian has a good friendship with him, the master pulling his arm in a familiar manner and listening to the conversation between the man and the lady. Sitting next to Titian, a young woman seems interested in the conversation, and tries to move forward to join them. She lays her hand on Titian‘s shoulder, which would suggest she is close to him.
From the gondola scenes of Leutze and O‘Neil to the illustration of a banquet,
Titian is always accompanied by young ladies. Although the interaction of the master and the women is not depicted in a strikingly flirtatious way, they do suggest slightly more intimate relationships. It recalls a lost work, Titian’s Self-Portrait with His
Mistress, which had been attributed to Titian in seventeenth-nineteenth century. It was well known from various copies such as Anthony Van Dyck‘s (1599–1641) Titian and
His Mistress (Fig. 37) from around 1625 and the etching by Flemish engraver Andreas
139 Romanelli (ed.) (as note 119), vol. 2, pp. 474, 479. 140 Charles F. Horne (ed.), Great men and famous women; a series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in history, vol. 8, New York 1894.
46 Pauli (1600–1639) printed between 1630 to 1644.141 Taking into account Titian’s
Self-Portrait with His Mistress and its copies, it is likely that Titian‘s mistress is among the ladies in the renderings of the nineteenth-century painters.
Leutze, O‘Neil and Kraus devoted much effort to image and represent Titian‘s daily leisure time. They presented the leisure moment of Titian in the form of genre for appealing to the tastes of the bourgeoisie, who had become an emerging force since the
French Revolution. They attempted to present Titian‘s affluence, and to give a new definition of the artist‘s success, so that enjoying a delightful moment with friends could also be deemed as a personal achievement for the great Titian.
7.4. Titian’s Death
The scenes of Titian‘s death and funeral also inspired nineteenth-century artists. That
Titian died from the plague in 1576, was a well-known fact in the 19th century. Was he buried in a church? Fatality of this fact, he died from old age, but at the same time from a terrible epidemic, adds to his end a dramatic facet.
Bergeret had represented such a topic, when he exhibited the painting Death of
Titian at the Salon in 1833 (currently untraceable).142 Another example of this subject matter is The Last Moment of Titian (Fig. 38) from a British painter George Jones
(1786–1869). Jones shows the Venetian master lying on his deathbed and an hourglass on the bedside table recalls the end of Titian‘s life.
The painting follows a long-established genre, the deathbed scene.143 From the
141 Wethey (as note 91), pp. 181-182; Jeremy Wood, ‗Van Dyck‘s ‗Cabinet de Titien‘: The Contents and Dispersal of His Collection,‘ in: The Burlington Magazine 132, p. 689; Carl Depauw and Ger Luijten, Anthony van Dyck as a Printmaker, Amsterdam–New York 1999, pp. 240-248. The etching of Anthony van Dyck had been identified by his original creation in William Hookham Carpenter‘s Pictorial Notices, Consisting of a Memoir of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, London 1844, pp. 127-128. 142 El-Abd (as note 89), pp. 200 and 399. 143 Rosenblum (as note 76), p. 28; Patrick Doorly, The Truth about Art: reclaiming quality, Winchester 2013, p. 105.
47 mid-eighteenth century onwards, it became once again in vogue and was endowed with moral doctrine to react against the taste of Rococo, and Nicolas Poussin‘s Death of
Germanicus (Fig. 39) became a paragon for artists in order to emulate a solemn scene, theatrical emotion, and balanced composition. Painters followed this genre representing episodes from the lives of Greco-Roman heroes but also of historical and contemporary great men.144 Angelica Kauffmann might have been the earliest artist to connect the genre with an anecdote of an old master: in 1778, she displayed The Death of Leonardo da Vinci in the Arms of Francis I at the exhibition of the Royal Academy in London (whereabouts unknown). After Kauffmann‘s pioneering painting, numerous artists adopted the genre to render deathbed scenes of old masters.145
Legend has it that the Palazzo Barbarigo at the Grand Canal in Venice was
Titian‘s last residence and studio. While the rumor‘s origins are unknown, several
English and French authors of the first half of the nineteenth century accepted it as a fact;146 so did Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury. In the episode Titian Lying in State at the
Palazzo Barbarigo (Fig. 40), the painter reposes peacefully on a bed with his right hand putting on the abdomen, and the left hand falling down lifelessly from the bed, which implies the death of the master. Details proliferate in Robert-Fleury‘s pictures.
The green pillow slips from Titian‘s head and a candleholder is lying at the ground, both of which indicate Titian might try to get up or move his body before the final breath.
Titian‘s early religious painting The Assumption of the Virgin (Fig. 41) was hung
144 Rosenblum (as note 76), pp. 28-31, 37-38. 145 Haskell (as note 75), p. 57. 146 Laurence Binyon, The Mind of the Artist Thoughts and Sayings of Painters and Sculptors on Their Art, Waiheke Island 2009, p. 131 (1st ed. 1909). Nineteenth-century books mention the rumor can be founed in, such as, Bernard Potocki, Voyage dans une partie de l’Italie, Posen 1825, p. 33; Rembrandt Peale, Notes on Italy, Philadelphia 1831, p. 291; Charles Nodier (ed.), Italie Pittoresque. Tableau historique et descriptif de l’Italie, du Pié mont, de la Sardaigne, de Malte, de la Sicile et de la Corse, par ... De Norvins, C. Nodier ... Orné de dessins, etc., Paris 1834, p. 48; Josiah Conder, Narrative of a residence in South Africa ... A new edition. To which is prefixed, A biographical sketch of the author, London 1840, p. 84 (1st ed. 1834).
48 at the backdrop. In front of the huge canvas, a long candle is situated next Titian‘s bed and is extinguished with a wisp of last smoke rising to the air. The horizontal body of
Titian and the vertical columns enclose The Assumption of the Virgin and divides the whole picture into two sections. A pale man at the corner is the victim of the plague. In the further background, a man holds a cross and the other takes a lamp on a gondola.
The Assumption of the Virgin had never been collected at the Palazzo
Barbarigo.147 It is no coincidence that the altarpiece appears behind the dead Titian in this painting, for an artist like Robert-Fleury, who was familiar with Renaissance and
Titan.148 In fact, the real location of The Assumption of the Virgin is the Church of the
Frari, where Titian was buried. Robert-Fleury intended to endow the meaningful religious connotation in this painting. He utilized the iconography of the altarpiece that he arranged the dead Titian right below the Apostles. The master forms the fourth level of the altarpiece and becomes one part of his masterpiece.149 The candle suggests the end of Titian‘s life. The track of smoke bridges Titian and The Assumption of the Virgin to connect the earthly world of Titian with the divine space in the altarpiece. The smoke also stands for the limited life of Titian is transferred into the immortal artistic region. The men carrying with a cross and lamps on gondola could be a metaphor leading the soul of Titian to the City of God. By inserting religious implications,
Robert-Fleury gave tribute to the Venetian master. The death of Titian was imbued with
147 The Assumption of the Virgin was completed in 1518 for the high altar of the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. Most of time of this altarpiece should be at the Frari, where Titian was buried. It was only moved to the Gallerie dell‘ Accademia of Venice in 1816 for respire, and was transferred back to the original place at the Frari in 1919, as the World War I went to the end. See the history of collection of this altarpiece in David Rosand, ―Titian in the Frari,‖ in: The Art Bulletin 53, 1971, p. 196; Susanna Biadene (ed.), Titian: Prince of Painters, Munich 1990, p. 172. 148 Eugène Montrosier, Peintres modernes: Ingres, H. Flandrin, Robert-Fleury, vol. 2, Paris 1882, p. 102, 130; ―Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online (as note 19) 149 Rober-Fleury could borrow the symbolism from the early Netherlandish paintings. The extinguished candle nearby the bed reminds us the Annunciation of the Mérode Triptych by Robert Campin, the Master of Flémalle, in which a candle on the table going out is a symbol. It means the terrestrial candlelight is replaced by the celestial light. See the researches on the disguised symbol in the Mérode Triptych in: Bernhard Ridderbos, Anne van Buren and Henk van Veen (eds.), Early Netherlandish Paintings: Rediscovery, Reception, and Research, Los Angeles 2005, p. 19; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Renaissance in the North, New York 1987, p. 8.
49 Christian sentiment, and was sublimed to a religious level.
In fact, nineteenth-century painters did not have real details about Titian‘s dying breath. Therefore, the contents in George Jones‘s The Last Moment of Titian and
Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury‘s Titian Lying in State at the Palazzo Barbarigo depend much on their imagination. Ridolfi‘s account on Titian‘s funeral offered materials for painters. According to Ridolfi, Titian passed away in 1576 due to a violent plague of that time in Venice. The master was entombed at the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in
Venice. By reason of the mortal disease, people were prohibited from taking place obsequies. However, the great Titian was awarded a privilege from the Venetian State to own a funeral. Venetian artists of young generation had planned to hold a funeral ceremony in a grand manner to pay homage for Titian, but this proposition was not carried out in the end. It is very likely that the proposal was fabricated by Ridolfi, in order to keep pace with Michelangelo‘s funeral in Florence in 1564.150
Although Titian did not acquire a state funeral, the French painter
Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Hesse (1806–1879) accomplished the unachievable plan in
Funeral Honors for Titian after his Death at Venice during the Plague of 1576 (Fig.
42). Hesse had been to Venice by 1830 and could amass materials of Titian during his trip. Three years later, he showed Funeral Honors for Titian at the Salon of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts, and gained a first-class medal.151 Hesse shows a procession follows a black banner proceeding at the Piazzetta of San Marco. The dead Titian is well-dressed and lies on a luxurious burial bed. He is lifted by the funeral team and the public are allowed to pay last respects to the master. In front of the crowd, a bishop leads the procession. A worker tries to move away a pale body breaking into the
150 Bondanella (as note 51), pp. 137-138; Humfrey (as note 95), p. 217 151 ―Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Hesse,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T037921pg2#T037924 (accessed January 8, 2015).
50 funeral march. At the corner of foreground, a set of workers are busying in carrying away the victim of plague by a rough wooden stretcher. At a corner, a sorrowful and disheveled woman weeps for her lover.
Hesse could refer to the fifteenth-century Venetian artist Gentile Bellini‘s
(1429–1507) Procession in Piazza San Marco (Fig. 43; 1496). He attempted to represent a great funeral procession passing the Piazzetta of San Marco, where is the most important area of Venice. He shows the Ducal Palace, which was the nucleus of
Venetian political power in Renaissance, and he also depicts the landmarks of Venice, two lofty columns installed with the lion of St. Mark and St. Theodore respectively.152
The funeral of Titian also stands for the civil activity and the commemorative ritual in
Hesse‘s representation.
However, Hesses also shows people wearing shabby clothes and suffering from the pestilence. They recall the romantic tragedy in The Raft of the Medusa (1818–1819) by the French painter Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Those poor victims present a striking contrast with the well-dressed Titian and the stately funeral procession, and enhance the Romantic impression of Titian‘s dignity. The splendid pageant directed by
Hesse aims to commemorate the great artist. He transformed the nonexistent burial ceremony for Titian into a verisimilar historical event in his painting. Thanks to his imagination, the funeral of Titian takes place in the civic space, and indicates the death of the great Venetian master is transformed into the public aspect instead of the private issue of the Vecellio family.
Hesse‘s Funeral Honors for Titian was so popular by 1833, which was transformed into the engraving plates in books (Fig. 44, 45).153 Furthermore, it could
152 Henry Maguire and Robert S. Nelson (eds), San Marco, Byzantium, and the Myths of Venice, Washington 2010, p. 81.Ronald Shaw-Kennedy, Venice Rediscovered, London 1978, p. 24. 153 The illustrations are founded in : G. Laviron and B. Galbacio, Le Salon de 1833, Paris 1833; Charles Lenormant, Les artistes contemporains: salons de 1831 et 1833, Paris 1833.
51 be by cause of the printings that the composition of Hesse‘s can be tracked in the succeeding artists. In 1847, an illustrative plate named Funérailles du Titien (Fig. 46), accounts for Titian‘s funeral in 1576 at the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice.154
In the illustration, a burial procession spans across the whole picture. The protagonist
Titian is on a coffin platform going to his final sleep, and the pitiful people devastated by epidemic are on the roadside. The composition here seems to reverse Hesse‘s oil canvas, and owns with variation in the setting of background. An Italian painter Enrico
Gamba155 also utilized Hesse‘s visual language in Titian’s Funeral (Fig. 47) by 1855, in which the Titian‘s funeral procession is transferred into flotilla marching on water.
From Hesse to Gamba, all of them would like to express a message for nineteenth-century viewers that the great master Titian deserved a splendid final farewell.
The nineteenth-century artists excavated the life of Titian primarily through documents recorded by Vasari and Ridolfi and they were selective in the texts that they chose, ignoring any unfavourable descriptions of their predecessor. Titian‘s shame at reluctantly sharing the reward from Charles V with the sculptor Alfonso Lombardi
(1497–1537)156 and the rumor about being jealous of his apprentice Tintoretto, who had been expelled from the workshop,157 were not depicted by nineteenth-century painters in order to sustain his dignified standing. They also neglected to mention the master‘s family and his relationship with its members, not least his son Pomponio, who resisted Titian‘s expectations in taking an ecclesiastical path. Their relationship was
154 Léon Galibert, Historia de la República de Venecia, Paris 1847 155 See biography of Enrico Gamba in: ―Gamba,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T030554?q=Gamba&search=quick&pos=1 &_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 156 Vasari (as note 11), p. 497 157 Robert Echols and Frederick Ilchman, ―New Rivals,‖in: Frederick Ilchman (as note 121), p. 111.
52 left only with mutual accusations by the mid 1560s. 158 Pomponio‘s untamable temperament made him become the talented but dissolute gambler described in Alfred de Musset‘s novel Fils du Titien.159 It is interesting to notice that the emotional tension between Titian and Pomponio could have been a useful piece of theatrical subject matter for nineteenth century artists; however, they preferred to ignore this topic rather than leaving an unfavourable impression of Titian. Furthermore, it is interesting to notice that the artistic rivalry between the Venetian master and the Tuscan representative Michelangelo, and as well as the anecdote with the Venetian artist
Giorgione at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi160 did not raise their concerns.
From the above mentioned works, it can be seen that in the nineteenth-century pictorial interpretations of Titian‘s life, some highly polarized views of the Venetian artist are displayed. As painters presented Titian‘s close connections with influential clients and the great imaginative funeral; on the one hand, they emphasized the master‘s grandeur and the esteem to which he was held by such influential people, waving a victorious banner for art, which could equal, or even surpass, the authorities.
On the other hand, Titian represented an idealised projection to them. They threw their ambitions and dreams under the shadow of the successful master.161 Therefore, in expressing this type of subject matter, they honored historical painting, which was still at the highest level of the academy system, and the episodes of Titian‘s life were transformed into significant moments and were symbolically altered to become a memorial in homage to the master. The nineteenth-century painters intended to elevate their predecessor to the immortal position seen in their paintings.
158 Vasari (as note 111), p. 497; Charles Hope, ―Titian‘s Family and the Dispersal of his Estata,‖ in: Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (ed.), Late Titian and the Sensuality of Painting, Venice 2008, p. 30. 159 Alfred de Musset, ―Le Fils du Titien,‖ in: Revue des deux mondes 14, 1838, pp. 313-350. 160 According to Vasari, it was a frescoes commission at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Giorgione was congratulated by friends that his work towards the Merceria exceeded the part close to the Grand Canal. However, the later part was executed by Titian. See the anecdote between Titian and Giorgione in Vasari (as note 111), pp. 491-492. 161 Hofmann (as note 75), p. 236; Haskell (as note 75), p. 80.
53 While many of the nineteenth-century artists‘ keen eyes were also focused on the contact between Titian, Irene di Spilimbergo and his friends, they exhibited different facets of the master‘s life that the biographers seldom explored. They attempted to look at what roles Titian would take in his daily life as apposed to being a respectable painter. Their intentions were varied and, aside from Antonio Zona‘s The Meeting on
Titian and Veronese, were not only about honoring the master. Bizarrely, family issues were completely skipped and although Titian was not frankly portrayed with erotic connotations, the nineteenth-century painters would convey sexual messages through the small details in some of their paintings. They could have been affected by the sensuality particularly in Titian‘s mythological paintings, and they used this sensational impression as representing the master‘s life. They put the modern nineteenth-century spirit into the sixteenth-century subject matter, when they depicted Titian‘s leisure time with friends. They represented Titian‘s private life, which lacks historical records, and created a new type of genre in order to satisfy the viewers‘ curiosity about the unknown aspects of Titian‘s life.
By using the abundant literary source material, the nineteenth century artists weaved together historical facts and fictional plots and gave us some charming representations of Titian. Dual visual representations emerge from these paintings. One lifts the Renaissance master towards the realm of the immortal, and the other treats him as an ordinary person. It is not necessary to judge which view conforms better to the nineteenth-century impression of Titian, neither is it necessary to deem them as incompatible as fire and water. In fact, they are more like mirrors that reflect in each other the simple fact that Titian was both an immortal master as well as an ordinary man. As most of the nineteenth-century painters devoted their main creative effort to
Titian‘s social life, Dyce, however, presented the childhood of the Venetian master. His approach is completely different. In order to realizing Dyce‘s representation, the next
54 chapter will focus on the Victorian painter and his engagement with Titian.
8. Titian’s First Essay: William Dyce’s View on Titian
After knowing the representations from other nineteenth-century painters, it is time to focus on the topic of William Dyce and the Titian’s First Essay. Why did Dyce make an adaption of Ridolfi‘s text? How did Dyce perceive his textual source? What is the significance of this painting? The goal of this chapter is to propose possible solutions for these questions.
8.1. Dyce and Titian
The sixteenth-century Renaissance master Titian was an essential protagonist, who helped William Dyce to develop his art. His earliest encounter with Titian‘s work is unknown; nevertheless, The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents sent by Juno to
Destroy Him (Fig. 48), executed in 1824 and indebted to the fighting child Hercules
(Fig. 49) in Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) painting The Infant Hercules Strangling
Serpents in his Cradle, may give us a clue. Condensing the complicated subject matter of his eighteenth-century inspiration, Dyce focused solely on the legendary hero; his painterly handling of the human body indicating his appreciation for the High
Renaissance Venetians, also showing more attention to detail with his depiction of tangible skin, various textures of fabric and the skin of the serpents than Reynolds had shown. Although the sombre tone of the piece was clearly influenced by the Reynolds painting,162 it is also reminiscent of Titian‘s later work, and as a student of Trustees‘
Academy in Edinburgh in 1823, he would have undoubtedly had access to copies of the old master‘s work and prevailing versions of woodcuts and engravings.163
162 Errington (as note 13), p. 491; Pointon (as note 6), p. 6. 163 Jonathan Yaker, ―Copies and the Taste for Titian in Late Eighteenth-century Britain,‖ in: Peter Humfrey (ed.), The Reception of Titian in Britain: from Reynolds to Ruskin, Turnhout–Belgium 2013, pp.
55 Dyce‘s more direct contact with Titian‘s paintings originated from a journey to
Rome he made in 1825 after cutting short his study at the Royal Academy in London, feeling disappointed with the teaching he had received. It would be an important experience for the young Dyce, taking his first tour in Rome, making numerous sketches after Titian and Poussin.164 Unfortunately, the literary records and his original studies are not traceable; however, it is likely that the Borghese collection would have provided an ideal opportunity for Dyce to study Titian‘s work. One of Titian‘s masterpieces, Sacred and Profane Love (Fig. 50), was housed in the Palazzo Borghese in the nineteenth century.165 After a nine-month stay in Rome, Dyce returned to his hometown, Aberdeen, to finish Bacchus Nursed by the Nymphs of Nysa, sending this painting to the exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1827 as his debut in front of the
British public.166
Although the finished Bacchus Nursed by the Nymphs of Nysa is now lost, in the oil preparatory study (Fig. 51)167 the influence of Titian‘s Bacchanal of the Andrians
(Fig. 52) on the young Scottish artist can be seen.168 In Dyce‘s sketch, the infant
Bacchus is propped up by a nymph whilst kneeling on a goat. He is raising his hands, reaching for the wine goblets being held by another nymph and Silenus, who brought up the god of wine and acted as a mentor to him. 169 Appropriating Titian‘s
41-51; Michael Bury, ―Printmaking in the Age of Titian,‖ in: Peter Humfrey (ed.), The Age of Titian: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections, Edinburgh 2004, p. 277-279; Chester (as note 5), p. 577; Walter Armstrong, ―Scottish Painters,‖ in: The Portfolio: an artistic periodical 18, 1887, p. 155. 164 Pointon (as note 6), pp. 6-8; Irwin (as note 6), pp. 245-246; Olga Ferguson, ―Introduction,‖ in: Babington (as note 7), p. 10. 165 John Murray, Handbook for travellers in Central Italy, including the Papal States, Rome, and the cities of Etruria; with a travelling map; Murray’s Handbook Central Italy & Rome, London 1843, p. 280; Harold Edwin Wethey, The Paintings of Titian: III. The Mythological & Historical Paintings, London 1971, p. 177 166 Pointon (as note 6), p.9; Ferguson (as note 164), p. 10. 167 Three sketches are preserved. One is the oil sketch cited in this text. The other two respectively are a water-color, 11. 28 × 8.96 cm, 1827, collected at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, and a drawing with pen and ink heightened with white, 22.2 × 33 cm, 1827, collected at the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum. The sequence of them is not be confirmed. 168 Olga Ferguson, ―Bacchus Nursed by the Nymphs of Nysa,‖ in: Babington (as note 7), p. 78; Pointon (as note 6), p. 10; Irwin (as note 3), p. 251; ―The Royal Academy,‖ in: Art journal, 1851, p. 154. 169 Ferguson (as note 168), p.78; Beth S. Gersh-Nešić, ―Drunkenness/Intoxication,‖ in: Helene E.
56 composition in its depiction of the trees and bushes, Dyce‘s woodland encloses the figures in the centre of the composition. The postures of Silenus and the nymph with the goblet are copied from Titian‘s Bacchanal of the Andrians, in which a man extends his hand to pour for a female lying down in the middle ground. The celebrated nude female reclining in the foreground of the Bacchanal of the Andrians is the archetype for Dyce‘s sleeping female, who lies on the left hand side of the painting, resting with her left hand behind head in a pose reminiscent of the woman in Titian‘s painting. The use of Venetian colors can also be detected in the application of light coral red, soft blue and bright yellow on the clothes of the subjects, as well as the color gradation in the sky.170 One point to mention, however, is that during the nineteenth century,
Titian‘s Bacchanal of the Andrians never left Spain171 and Dyce never visited the
Iberian Peninsula, so it is more probable that he studied an engraving of this painting, using it as inspiration to compose this work.172
In addition, the motif of the reclining nude female in the Bacchanal of the
Andrians has been adopted by one of the pendants of The Descent of Venus (Fig. 53), which garnered considerable attention at the exhibition of the Royal Academy in
1836.173 Dyce showed an old man pulling away blue drapery revealing the nude Venus lying on a mass of cloud. Dyce‘s loose handling of his strokes displays his interest in the use of color for moulding figures and clouds.
In his Assumption of the Virgin (Fig. 54), Dyce again borrows from Titian.
Completed in 1836, it was around the same time as The Descent of Venus.174 In the drawing, the Virgin floats in mid air, flanked by cherubs and angels, and a group of
Roberts (ed.), Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art, 2nd rev. ed. Hoboken 2013, pp. 263-264. 170 Ferguson (as note 7), p.78; Pointon (as note 6), p. 10; Irwin (as note 6), p. 251. 171 Wethey (as note 165), p. 148. 172 Ferguson (as note 7), p.78; Wethey (as note 165), p. 152. 173 Samuel Redgrave, A Dictionary of Artists of the English School; painters, sculptors, architects, engravers and ornamentists; with notices of their lives and work, London 1878, p. 134. 174 Irwin (as note 6), p. 249.
57 apostles assemble on the ground below them to witness this celestial moment. We can see from this that the double-level composition dividing the Virgin of the heavens and the apostles of the worldly realm has been influenced by a namesake, the renowned altarpiece of the Frari basilica by Titian, the Assumption of the Virgin (Fig. 41). On
Dyce‘s tour in 1832 he had been to Venice, and according to David Scott (1806–1849), a Scottish engraver and travel companion of Dyce during his travels, the young painter had made several drawings in Venice.175 Dyce may well have sketched Titian‘s Virgin altarpiece in the Frari church, and referred to his sketch book when conceiving his own
Assumption of the Virgin.176
Dyce was requested by the Royal Academy Council to design a medal memorizing Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), the illustrious landscape painter in the first half of the nineteenth century who donated a section of his legacy to the Academy as a prize for young artists.177 Dyce submitted a pair of drawings in 1858, of which a posthumous portrait of Turner used on the front of the medal has been lost.178 Nevertheless, its counterpart, Design for the Reverse of the Turner Medal (Fig.
55), remains at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. For the medal, Dyce chose to illustrate a section from The Divine Comedy by the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri
(1265–1321),179 which served as an inspiration in Dyce‘s late artistic career.180 While
175 See David Scott in: Ann Steed, ―William Dyce in a Gondola Sketch,‖ in: Babington (as note 7), p. 84; Francina Irwin, ―Scott (i).,‖ in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T077110pg1#T0771 11 (accessed January 8, 2015). 176 Pointon (as note 6), p. 25; Steed (as note 175), p. 84. David Scott mentioned Dyce‘s sketches in a letter he wrote to his father, ―Dyce and I travel from this to Mantua, which he has thought of visiting with me. He has made a number of sketches during his excursion, which, I daresay you would like to see.‖ This paragraph is quoted after Steed. The drawings Dyce made are not traceable now. 177 Pointon (as note 6), p. 143; See more introductions for Joseph Mallord William Turner in Cecilia Powell, ―Turner, Joseph Mallord William,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2637?q=Turner&sea rch=quick&pos=10&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Andrew Wilton, ―Turner, J. M. W.,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T086656?q=Turner &search=quick&pos=7&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 178 Pointon (as note 6), p. 187. 179 Pointon (as note 6), p. 155; Errington (as note 13), p. 497. See biographies of Dante Alighieri in John
58 Dante is at the Purgatorio accompanied by Virgil, he falls into a dream in which he sees a beautiful young girl. While she is picking up flowers, she is singing:
―Know ye, whoever of my name would ask, That I am Leah: for my brow to weave A garland, these fair hands unwearied ply. To please me at the crystal mirror, here
I deck me. But my sister Rachel, she Before her glass abides the livelong day, Her radiant eyes beholding, charm‘d no less, Than I with this delightful task. Her joy In contemplation, as in labour mine.‖181
Dyce visualized this paragraph on the design, showing Leah bending over to collect flowers and her sister, Rachel immersed in deep thought looking in the mirror. He used the quote ―Lei lo veder e me L‘oprar appaga,‖ which is the last sentence of Dante‘s progenitor, to annotate his poetic interpretation. The linear description on the design indicates that he may have taken into account the format of the engraving illustrations of iconographic emblems in a late sixteenth century publication, Iconologia by the
Italian writer Cesare Ripa, a French translation of which Dyce kept in his library.182
Through the juxtaposition of Leah and Rachel, Dyce intended to present a binary
C. Richards, ―Dante Alighieri,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e685?q=+Dante+Alig hieri&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Joan Isobel Friedman, ―Alighieri, Dante,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T001819?q=+Dante +Alighieri&search=quick&pos=3&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). 180 Dyce had executed Francesca da Rimini in 1837, Beatrice in 1859, and Dante and Beatrice. The last one is undated and unfinished. 181 Quote from Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante: Purgatory, translated by Henry Francis Cary, Champaign 1997, CANTO XXVII. (1st ed. London 1819) 182 Cesare Ripa, Iconologie, ou Explication nouvelle de plusieurs images, emblemes, et autres figures hyerogliphiques des vertus, des vices, des arts, des sciences [...]. Tirée des recherches & des figures de Cesar Ripa; desseignées & gravées par Jacques de Bie et moralisées par J. Baudoin, Paris 1636; Catalogue of the Library of William Dyce (as note 53), p. 19. For Cesare Ripa (1560–1645), see Elizabeth McGrath, ―Ripa, Cesare,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online at http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T072246?q=Cesare+ Ripa&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015).
59 Platonic concept of artistic creation. One side of the artist is represented by Leah who, attracted by flowers and feeling joyful while making a garland, responds to nature and the external world; the other side is symbolised by Rachel, staring at the mirror, searching for truth and pondering in her own reflection, existing in the internal world along with God.183 Moreover, Dyce‘s rendering of Rachel also recalls the allegorical image of Prudence (Fig. 56) in Ripa‘s book illustration,184 and echoes one of the meanings of virtue, that is, to realise universal fact and achieve knowledge by means of looking in a mirror.185
The contrasting disposition of the clothed Leah and the nude Rachel imitates the pair depicted in Titian‘s Sacred and Profane Love (Fig. 50), which Dyce could have seen during his trip to Rome in 1825. Dyce, in applying Titian‘s composition to the
Turner medal, has created a link between two leading masters of color from different ages. Dyce may have consulted volume three of Ruskin‘s Modern Painters, published in 1856, in which one of the sections, The Teachers of Turner, stated that the colors of the Venetian School, not least of Titian, made a great contribution to Turner‘s landscape paintings. 186 According to Lindsay Errington, the iris which Leah is plucking, could signify ―colour itself and to human perception of colour.‖187 The symbolic application of the iris underlines the fact that color was the most crucial intrinsic element in the art of both Titian and Turner.188
Aside from the referencing of Titian‘s paintings, the deepest connection between
Dyce and the old master can be found in Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo, which was displayed at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1840. An introduction found in the catalogue of the exhibition explains the hypothetical historical background:
183 Pointon (as note 6), p. 155 184 Cesare Ripa (as note 182), Iconologie, pp. 200, 205-206. 185 Sarah Carr-Gomm, The Hutchinson Dictionary of Symbols in Art, Oxford–London 2005, p. 230 186 Errigton (as note 13), p. 497; John Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. 3, London 1856, p. 324. 187 Quote from Errington (as note 13), p. 496. 188 Errigton (as note 13), p. 497; Ruskin (as note 25), pp. 196-234.
60 ―From Tarcente Titian went to the house of Adriano da Ponte, lord of Spilimbergo, whose beautiful daughter, celebrated for her skill in poetry, music and embroidery, was desirous of profiting by his instruction in the art of painting. Titian remained at the villa for a month or six weeks; when besides instructing the lady Irene, he painted her portrait and those of Adriano and Julia his wife.‖189
The text accounts the tutorship of Titian to Irene di Spilimbergo. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of Dyce‘s painting is unknown. Francina Irwin suggested the style and arrangement of Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo could have corresponded to an earlier drawing, Luca Signorelli Painting the Portrait of his Dead Son (Fig. 57) from 1836.190
However, as they is no further ground to imagine the scene of Titian and Irene more concretely, she is not able to offer any further analysis to support this assumption.
Nevertheless, we are able to piece together how this work might have looked by means of reading the descriptions made by a number of critics at that time. Dyce showed Titian ―reclining on the grass in the grounds of a villa, enjoying the conversation of the beautiful Irene,‖191 and ―is directing her attention to some objects out of picture‖;192 Irene is presented as ―seated on a bank, amidst flowers and sunshine.‖193 The scene represents Titian as a teacher, lecturing Irene, which reflects
Dyce‘s own circumstances. However, the critic also commented bitterly: ―There is
189 Quote from The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, London 1840, p. 14. 190 Irwin (as note 3), pp. 252-253. 191 ―Royal Academy Exhibition &C,‖ in: Blackwood’s Edinburgh magazine 48, 1840, p. 380. The original comments ran as follows: ―No. 197. ‗Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo.‘ W. Dyce.–This represents Titian reclining on the grass in the grounds of a villa, enjoying the conversation of the beautiful Irene. There is something so odd in this picture, that you are at first more disposed to laugh at it than to admire. It is, however, a clean picture, though in many parts affected, as in the whiteness of Irene‘ face; and certainly poor Titian, whom we never think of but with respect, is here too much of the sprawling Scaramouch or Jackpudding, There is an audacity in the picture, which, subdued, may make a painter.‖ 192 ―Royal Academy: second notice,‖ in: The Literary Gazette, 1840, p. 316. Here is a quotation of the complete critics: ―197. Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo. W. Dyce.– All here id en couleur de rose; brilliant and beautiful, and a fine example of the florid style of art. A quotation explains the characters of the subject, but the artist has treated it Watteau-like, or as a group in a fête champêtre. The fair damsel is seated on a bank, amidst flowers and sunshine; Titian has thrown himself on the grass beside her, and is directing her attention to some objects out of picture. It is a work attractive and pleasant to look upon, but devoid of any particular interest.‖ 193 ―Royal Academy: second notice‖ (as note 192), p. 316.
61 something so odd in this picture, that you are at first more disposed to laugh at it than to admire […] certainly poor Titian, whom we never think of but with respect, is here too much of the sprawling Scaramouch or Jackpudding,‖194 and the other considered
―the artist (William Dyce) has treated it Watteau-like, or as a group in a fête champêtre.‖195 Their comments recall the paintings of Rotta and Larese (Fig. 29, 31), which are invested with erotic implications and an air of Rococo Fête Galantes. It is possible that Dyce also had the traditional iconography of the contrast between old man and young woman in mind as he interpreted this subject matter.
In 1837, Dyce was offered a post at the Trustees‘ Academy in Edinburgh as
Master of Color. Furthermore, his views on art and design education were valued and approved of by the Board of Trade, who sent him to France and Germany to investigate the curricula and the merits of the continental art and design schools. After returning from mainland Europe in 1838, Dyce was appointed Superintendent of the
Government Schools of Design at Somerset House in London. While he was executing
Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo, he was engaged in the new program to organise schooling for women, who were becoming more and more eager to study art and design. In preparation, he paid a visit to Paris in 1841 in order to visit the French
Female School of Drawing for Young Women on which the Female School of Design in London, founded in 1842, was based.196
Although Dyce had entered the Trustees‘ Academy in Edinburgh and the Royal
Academy of Fine Arts in London in his early twenties, he did not complete his training in the academy system.197 While he was still searching for his own style, the works of
194 ―Royal Academy Exhibition &C,‖ (as note 191), p. 380. 195 ―Royal Academy: second notice,‖ (as note 192), p. 316. 196 Irwin (as note 3), p. 253; F. Graeme Chalmers, Women in the Nineteenth-century Art World: schools of art and design for women in London and Philadelphia, Westport 1998, pp. 14-16; Pointon (as note 6), p. 46; Macdonald (as note 10), p. 147. 197 Chester (as note 5), p. 577; Armstrong (as note 163), 1887, p. 155; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 6-7. Dyce entered the Trustees‘ Academy in Edinburgh in1823. Without finishing the whole course in Edinburgh,
62 masters would act as crucial sources for his self-study. The old Venetian master Titian in particular would play a significant role in the young Scottish artist‘s study. Through
Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo, on the one hand, Dyce indicated he was undertaking the establishment of the Female School of Design in London; on the other hand, he projected his present situation as a teacher onto the old master in the hope of inspiring his young students, as Titian had done for him.198
8.2. Titian as a Thinker between Nature and Religion
In 1840, Dyce exhibited Titian and Irene da Spilimbergo in the Royal Academy exhibition, and more than sixteen years later the Venetian old master caught his attention once more in Titian’s First Essay, which was displayed to the public in 1857.
Rather than continuing the narrative developing the historical fiction of Titian‘s connection with his patrons, friends, followers and rivals, Dyce paid his attention on
Titian himself. Before Dyce performed Titian’s First Essay, two earlier works by different artists also displayed a similar approach in focusing on Titian.
The British portrait painter Robert Trewick Bone‘s (1790–1840)199 Titian’s Last
Picture, an engraving of which was included in Friendship’s Offering: a literary album in 1828 (Fig. 58), showed a mature Titian standing in front of an easel.200 Resting his
he applied to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in London on July 1825. He quitted the School of the Royal Academy in the autumn and went to Rome of the same year. 198 Irwin (as note 3), p. 253. 199 See biography of Robert Trewick Bone in: Samuel Redgrave, A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: painters, sculptors, architects, engravers and ornamentists, London 1874, p. 47; Leslie Stephen (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 5, London 1885, p. 344. 200 Friendship’s Offering: a literary album, and Christmas and new year's present, for 1828, London 1828, p. 253. See the brief introduction of Titian’s Last Picture in the British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3359 768&partId=1&people=105259&peoA=105259-1-6&page=1 (accessed January 8, 2015). The basic research of the British Museum attributes Titian’s Last Picture to the British enamel painter Charles Robert Bone (1809–1890), and dates the engraving in 1829 without mentioning the souse. However, the real painter for this work should be Charles Robert Bone. It can be confirmed by an abbreviation of the artist‘s name, ―R.T. Bone pinxt,‖ which was engraved below the image. Furthermore, the article discussing also identified Robert Trewick Bone offering his work for Friendship’s Offering: a literary album. See ―Friendship‘s Offering,‖ in: Literary magnet: or, monthly journal of the belles-lettres 4, 1827,
63 right hand on the armrest of a chair, he is absorbed with the painting on the easel, which is out of our view. He wears a black cap and a heavy, long robe. Putting brushes and palette down, Titian gazes upon his finished painting and is immersed in it. Bone could have referred to Diego Velázquez‘s Las Meninas, in which the painter shows himself standing in front of his canvas. Compared with the other nineteenth-century representations of Titian, Bone presented us a new impression of the sixteenth century master, that of a reticent contemplator of art.
The other work is Titian in His Study by the French painter Robert-Fleury from
1843. The whereabouts of the painting is unknown, but it was engraved (Fig. 59) for
Robert-Fleury‘s biography in The Art-Union.201 In the print, Titian is shown as an aged man sitting on a stool. Carrying a palette, his back is hunched as he continues to paint on a canvas, using mahl stick to support his hand. On the ground, a paintbrush and an oil bottle are placed on a wooden stand. An hourglass on the base of the stand symbolizes Titian‘s time was drawing to a close. Robert-Fleury‘s rendering echoes the fact that Titian devoted his whole life to art, and he shows respect for the conscientious creative spirit of his predecessor.
Bone‘s Titian’s Last Picture and Robert-Fleury‘s Titian in His Study both presented the Venetian artist alone in his studio. Both of the works were also executed as engravings, through which Dyce could have come to know them. The introspective side of Titian in particular, which was seldom noticed by the other nineteenth-century painters, was developed and underlined in Bone‘s interpretation. The atelier of Titian is not only a place to create art, but also a space for contemplation. Moreover, another painting of Robert-Fleury‘s, Cellini in His Studio from 1840, may also have provided p. 372. According to the online database of The Poetess Archive, Bone‘s work is an illustration for a prose of a little-known writer Richard Thomson with the same title. Unfortunately, this prose is not available in Taiwan now. See the table of contents of Friendship’s Offering: a literary album, for 1828 in: The Poetess Archive: http://idhmc.tamu.edu/poetess/hootman/friendship1828.html (accessed January 8, 2015). 201 ―The Living Artist of Europe,‖ in: (as note 100), p. 42; Montrosier (as note 148), p. 140.
64 inspiration for Dyce. Cellini in His Studio was exhibited at the Salon in 1841. It was reproduced in a lithograph for the catalogue (Fig. 60) in the same year,202 and was reported on by British art critics. 203 Robert-Fleury shows the sixteenth-century
Florentine goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) sitting in his studio, surrounded by his work. Without distraction, the artist is absorbed in his creative thoughts.204 Dyce may have based Titian’s First Essay on the pictures by Bone and
Rober-Fleury to represent the Venetian master as a contemplative creator. Titian’s First
Essay is given deeper significance when considering how the middle-aged Scottish painter Dyce reviewed the two essentials components of his artistic career, namely,
Christian art and nature. A careful examination of his earlier religious paintings and thoughts on Christian art and nature is needed.
Dyce was a pious man, and his religious inclination can be seen when, as an adolescent, he was determined to study theology and to become a member of the clergy.
Christianity had a considerable influence on him, once declaring ―my motto is, ‗In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct the steps‘,‖ acknowledging a biblical quote, continuing to state that this was ―a rule which I have never yet found to fail.‖205
This steady faith gave Dyce an impetus to develop his interest in Christian art. He was
202 Wilhelm Ténint, Album du Salon de 1841, Paris 1841. 203 ―Foreign Art,‖ in: The Art Union: Monthly Journal of the Fine Arts, p. 44; ―On Men and Pictures: à propos of a walk in the Louvre,‖ in: Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country 24, 1841, p. 110. 204 Marc Gotlieb (as note 120), p. 173; see the biography of Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) by Alessandro Nova, ―Cellini, Benvenuto,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T015121?q=Benven uto+Cellini&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Antonia Boström, ―Cellini, Benvenuto,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e506?q=Benvenuto+ Cellini&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015). Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) painted Michelangelo in His Studio in 1849, in which the Renaissance master sits at the studio in a melancholic pose. It bears the similar disposition with Cellini in His Studio of Robert-Fleury. Delacroix presented the old master sinks in mud of creation, and highlights the artistic produce is from the intelligent struggling. In this painting, he saw himself as a reincarnated Michelangelo. Nevertheless, Michelangelo in His Studio was Delacroix executed for himself, and had never been showed to the public before his death. It is not very likely that Dyce had ever known this painting. See the researches for Delacroix‘s Michelangelo in His Studio in: Marc Gotlieb (as note 120), pp. 166-175. 205 Pointon (as note 6), p. 4-5. William Dyce‘s letter to his wife, Quote after Melville (as note 32), p. 38.
65 attracted to the German Nazarenes on his second trip to Rome in 1827.206 The core value of the brotherhood was to revive the devotional art from the early Renaissance, viewing the old masters of fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, such as Fra Angelico,
Masaccio, Perugino, Dürer and Raphael, as paragons to follow.207 Absorbing the
Nazarene attitude to art, Dyce admired their primitive work, considering it a suitable manner in which to present Christian art.
According to an account made by Dyce‘s son, Stirling Dyce, the artist made a number of paintings of the Madonna and Child between 1827 and 1830, in Rome and in Aberdeen. Of these, only the Madonna and Child (Fig. 61), from around 1827–1830, is preserved at the Tate Gallery in London.208 In the painting, the Madonna embraces the Child, her rosy cheeks pressed gently against the Child‘s forehead, while he stares directly at the viewer. She turns her back slightly and carries the Child in her arms with a protective posture. Her hair is modestly braided, and she wears a red dress with the semi-opaque ribbon around her waist. The sfumato used on the contour of her body moderates the volume somewhat. The background consists of a painterly landscape and the red carnations located in the bottom left corner are a symbol of the Passion, a reference to the boy‘s future.
206 Chester (as note 5), pp. 577, 580, 582; Irwin (as note 6), p. 247; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 8-9; Hopkins (as note 9), p. 222-223, 229; Ann Steed, ―William Dyce, his Training and the Formation of his Style,‖ in: Babington (as note 7), pp. 19-21. 207 Mitchell Benjamin Frank, German Romantic Painting Redefined: Nazarene tradition and the narratives of Romanticism, Aldershot –Burlington 2001, pp. 11-35; Robert E. McVaugh, ―Nazarenes,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T061509?q=Nazaren es&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed January 8, 2015); Justine Hopkins, ―Nazarenes,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e1858?q=Nazarenes &search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit(accessed January 8, 2015); ―Nazarenes,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t4/e1144?q=Nazarenes&se arch=quick&pos=3&_start=1#firsthit(accessed January 8, 2015). 208 Pointon (as note 6), p. 13, 15; Hopkins (as note 9), pp. 248-249; Ann Steed, ―Madonna and Child,‖in: Babington (as note 7), p. 106. Three scholars have different points of views on the date of this painting. Pointon and Hopkins considered the painting is the one at the exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1838. Steed and the Tate Galley identified it was painted during 1827 to 1830. I prefer to accept the early date by Steen and the gallery, for the reasons discussed in the following Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Fig. 52).
66 It is clear to see that Dyce borrowed quite heavily from Raphael in terms of style.209 Dyce‘s emulation of the early Italian master can be seen in the Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Fig. 62) from 1835. He presented Christ lying on the ground, his head resting in the lap of Joseph, who is holding Christ‘s wrist to examine the wound.
The Madonna kneels on the right hand side with her hands clasped together. Standing behind Joseph, St. John exhibits a sorrowful countenance as he looks on. According to
Ann Steed, Dyce might have borrowed the composition from Perugino‘s The Mourning of the Dead Christ (Fig. 63) from 1495, mainly because of the posture of St. John and the shallow space left between the figures in the painting and the viewer. Furthermore,
Dyce adopted a pyramid composition comprising of Christ, Madonna and Joseph, this being a typical composition in Renaissance art.210
Comparing the depiction of the draperies in the Tate Madonna and the
Lamentation, Dyce paid more attention to creating a voluminous effect in the latter painting, also intensifying the strong contrast in the gradations on the surface of the clothes. The smooth sfumato in the Madonna and Child is replaced with the dry handling in the Lamentation. The gradation of colors and the dry handling recall the manner of the early Italian Renaissance art works. A similar composition can also be observed in The Judgement of Solomon (Fig. 64), which was designed for a tapestry cartoon in 1836. The figures are situated on the same level to create a frieze-like impression. The arrangement of the parapet is a reference to the Venetian School, and the postures of the man with tulwar and the female opening her arms are indebted to
Raphael‘s fresco of the same subject (Fig. 65). Furthermore, Dyce attempts to make use of tempera, which was widely used before being gradually replaced by oil painting
209 Pointon (as note 6), p. 36;Hopkins (as note 9), p. 248; Steed (as note 208), p. 106; Lucia Impelluso, Nature and Its Symbols, Los Angeles 2004, pp. 115-116. 210 Pointon (as note 6), p. 35-36; Pointon (as note 8), pp. 262-263; Hopkins (as note 9), p. 233-234; Errington (as note 13), p. 494; Ann Steed, ―Lamentation over the Dead Christ,‖ in: Babington (as note 7), pp. 98-99.
67 in the sixteenth century, to imitate the primitivism of the Italian masters.211
Dyce‘s paintings from the late 1820s and 1830s echoed the efforts of the
Nazarene movement in attempting to achieve the religious purity found in early
Renaissance paintings through emulating the style of the old masters from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Nevertheless, this attitude underwent a shift during the period between 1843 and 1846, as Dyce seemingly became conscious of what role should nature plays in Christian art.
In 1843, after resigning as the director at the Schools of Design in London, he finally had time to once more create paintings, which had been neglected during his time of busy administrative work. He realized ―that what power he formerly possessed was rapidly becoming weakened by six years of almost incessant devotion to the
Schools of Design,‖ so he attended Taylor‘s Life School in St Martin‘s Lane to improve his modelling of the human form.212 He strove to make his figures look more stable and was inclined to study from naturalism, which can be seen in a surviving drawing of a male nude (Fig. 66). Furthermore, Ruskin had published volume one of his influential series Modern Painters in 1843, in which the author claimed God was the creator of nature.213 It is likely that Ruskin‘s viewpoint drew Dyce‘s attention towards the correlation of art, religion and nature.214 An unpublished transcript offers a clue in making sense of Dyce‘s ideas about Christian art and nature.
It was prepared for an introductory lecture for students on the 24 May 1844, when he was serving as Professor of the Theory of the Fine Arts at King‘s College,
London University.215 In the lecture, Dyce explained his view on nature and Christian
211 Pointon (as note 6), pp. 35, 39-40; Pointon (as note 8), p. 263. 212 Pointon (as note 6), p. 50; Hopkins (as note 9), p. 237. This statement is from Stirling Dyce, son of William Dyce, quoted after Hopkins (as note 9), p. 237. 213 John Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. 1, London 1842; Stephen Daniels and Denis Cosgrove (eds.), The Iconography of Landscape: Essays on the Symbolic Representation, Design, Cambridge 1988, p. 17. 214 The point was proposed by Errigton (as note 13), pp. 496-497. 215 Irwin (as note 6), p. 251; Pointon (as note 6), p. 79.
68 art, which ―so far agrees with the classical, it takes nature for its guide and its model; but it exercises itself on types altogether different, and has for its drift to interest the moral sentiments, rather than to charm or flatter the sense.‖216 He considered depicting perceptible nature a method for artists to approach spiritual beauty.217
Furthermore, in the lecture, he divided the history of Christian art into five periods: ―Christian-Pagan,‖ adopting the forms of paganism to express a Christian purpose, ending in the sixth century; ―Barbaric,‖ meaning the styles of Byzantine,
Lombard, Rhenish, Saxon and Norman, lasting until the thirteenth century; ―Ascetic,‖ developing from the Barbaric age, and flourishing up until the end of the fifteenth century. Dyce praising this age, ―during which Christian art reached its highest point of excellent;‖ ―Pagan-Christian,‖ appearing at the end of fifteenth century, attaching the revived pagan forms to a debased Christian sentiment; ―Sensual,‖ a degeneration of
Christian art opposed to the Ascetic, emerging around the middle of the seventeenth century. Dyce explained that ―the school which has been termed by Italian critics that of the Naturalisti, or followers of nature, […] is distinguished by neglect of the ancient and approved types of sacred persons and things, and the substitution of a comparatively vulgar and unspiritual imitation of nature.‖218
Dyce opined that artists should ―takes nature for its guide and its model‖ instead of being dominated by it. He equated the ―followers of nature‖ with the sensual style, and thought it to be a terrible tumour, contaminating Christian art.219 As Dyce delivered the lecture, he also presented Joash Shooting the Arrow of Deliverance (Fig.
67) at the exhibition of the Royal Academy in London. The literary source was extracted from the Book of Kings in the Old Testament, in which the young King Joash
216 William Dyce, Theory of the Fine Arts, An Introductory Lecture delivered in the classical Theatre of King’s College, London, May 24, London 1844, p. 13. 217 Dyce (as note 216), pp. 33, 35-36. 218 Dyce (as note 216), pp. 17-19; Irwin ( as note 6), p. 251; Pointon (as note 6), p. 79-81; Errington (as note 13), p. 492 219 Dyce (as note 216), pp. 13- 19. Quoted from Dyce (as note 216), p. 13, 19.
69 consulted the elderly prophet Elisha about how to relieve Israel from the repression of
Syria. Elisha indicated that the king should shoot an arrow in the direction of Syria from the eastern window, an auspicious sign for the future of Israel and Joash‘s victory.220 Dyce presented the two protagonists in a confined room. Joash draws a bow and kneels to keep a stable position while Elisha sits beside him raising his hands to guide the king. It is presented at the very moment when the arrow is to be shot, and the mental intensity is brought to a climax.
Dyce‘s development in style can be seen when comparing the Joash Shooting the
Arrow with the Lamentation and The Judgement of Solomon. The clear outline has been emphasised much more in the Joash and Elisha painting than in earlier paintings.
A movement away from the generalised and plain descriptions of the past figures, the faces of the young king and the prophet bear individual characteristics and present a portrait-like impression. There is a considerably different representation of the skin of the young figures compared with the aged ones; Joash has robust and tight muscles, and the skin of Elisha is pale, loose and withered. It shows the fruitful results of the life-classes at St. Martin‘s Lane. For the sake of reconstructing historical truth, Dyce stressed the archaeological details of the Hebrew costumes, referring to his unpublished essay of 1830 ―On the Garments of Jewish Priests.‖221
Vaughan has noted ―The historicism that Dyce developed in his panel paintings of religious subjects was accompanied by a growing naturalism of effect which eventually surpassed it.‖ 222 Dyce fashioned the religious subject matter in a naturalistic way, and concentrated on distinguishing the different textures of the materials in the painting, such as Elisha‘s curly, hoary beard, the woven, striped
220 The Old Testament, London 1964, 3: 12-3:19. 221 Pointon (as note 8), pp. 266-267; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 50, 76-79; Vaughan (as note 9), pp. 234-236; Hopkins (as note 9), pp. 237-239; Melville (as note 32), pp. 38-39. 222 Vaughan (as note 9), p, 236.
70 loincloth, the leather belt, the wooden hilt, the golden decorations of the scabbard, the lacquered bow, the feathers of arrow, and the stone wall. He could have attempted to manifest his theory of Christian art given in his lectures; however, his High Church fellows did not hold the same views as Dyce did and very much disliked this painting.
They felt that he deviated too much from primitive art and the emulation of the old masters.223 It seems their disapproval was difficult for Dyce to counter and he could only retort ―The picture is not a devotional kind, I admit; but to those who look beyond the surface it may serve to symbolize the arm of secular power directed by the
Church‖224 in his defence.
By the autumn of 1845, Dyce‘s view on nature underwent a decisive change after studying fresco in Italy, although he maintained his taste for the early Renaissance and his appreciation of the work of the old masters such as Giotto, Masaccio, Ghirlandaio, and Botticelli. Among the masters to whom Dyce gave most esteem were Perugino and
Pintoricchio, giving him an important lesson in naturalism.225 He considered Perugino and his school to have ―had some prismatic theory of flesh painting.‖ He produced a diagram to research the secret of flesh painting. In the diagram, colors were divided into two groups; red, orange and yellow, used for the light areas of the skin; and green, blue and purple were used in tints and in the shadows.226
Dyce‘s highest praise was reserved for Pintoricchio, whose frescoes at the
Piccolomini Library in Siena made a deep impression on Dyce. He respected
Pintoricchio very much, considering: ―Of the older masters he is certainly on the whole the greatest and uniformly good colourist in fresco […], I presupposed that he was
223 Vaughan (as note 9), pp. 234-235. 224 Dyce wrote to his friend Hope Scott. Quote after Vaughan (as note 9), p. 235. 225 Staley (as note 8), pp. 470, 473; Irwin (as note 6), pp. 255-256; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 89-90, 113-114, 149-150; Vaughan (as note 9), p. 240; Hopkins (as note 9), pp. 244-246; Errington (as note 13), pp. 492-493 226 Staley (as note 8), p. 473; Errington (as note 13), p. 493. Quoted after Errington (as note 13), p. 493.
71 what is now termed a purist or church painter, and that he is to be judged as such.‖227
He paid attention to Pintoricchio‘s handling of color, which he analysed thoroughly, claiming: ―One of Pinturicchio‘s great excellences is truth of local colour […]. How did he obtained it I confess myself at a loss to say; lake coloured draperies are shadowed apparently with lake and nothing else, blue with blue and so on, yet the effect on the whole is true.‖228
Inspired by Pinturicchio‘s localised colors, Dyce reflected the contemporary condition of the studio; ―I suspect that we modern painters do not study nature enough in the open air, or in broad daylight, or we should be better able to understand how the old painters obtained truth by such apparently anomalous means,‖229 continuing to analyse the effect of the localised color found in nature: ―In sunlight, shadows partake largely of the local colour of the objects, and still more so in the shade viz.: seen by the diffused light of the sky; indeed in the open air I have observed that peculiar indefiniteness of the shadows and darkening of the receding and undercut parts which is so characteristic of the older painters.‖230 Afterwards he criticized the Nazarenes as merely making an ―attempt to follow the old paintings in their method of darkening rather than shadowing: but without success, simply because they learn the method from old art rather than from nature‖ so consequently they were not able to touch the core of Christian art and failed to express spiritual and religious messages through their work.231
In this study trip, Dyce figured out that the old masters, whom he held in very high regard, learned from nature. After returning from Italy in March 1846, he wrote to
Eastlake ―I kept on purpose out of the way of the more powerful works at Munich, that
I might not be diverted from the path which I have chalked out for myself, and which
227 Quoted after Vaughan (as note 9), p. 240. 228 Quoted after Errington (as note 13), p. 493. 229 Quoted after Staley (as note 8), p. 473. 230 Quoted after Staley (as note 8), p. 473. 231 Vaughan (as note 9), p. 229; Stalley (as note 8), p. 473. Quoted after Stalley (as note 8), p. 473.
72 is not that of the Germans,‖232 indicating that Dyce had finally comprehended that he should keep a distance from the manner of the Nazarenes, and at the same time, that his naturalistic style had already been shaped in his mind. In particular, the setback suffered from the Madonna and Child (1845; Fig. 68) would provide an impetus for
Dyce to lean more toward naturalism.
The painting was executed in 1845 for Prince Albert before Dyce departed for
Italy, and was displayed in 1846 at the Royal Academy exhibition.233 In the painting,
Dyce shows the Madonna in profile and the Child nestling in her bosom. They are reading a Bible that she is holding in her hand. The format of the three-quarter-length profile has been appropriated from the traditional profile portraits of fifteenth century
Italy.234 The visages of the Madonna and Child are calm, and the emotion is controlled and flows subtly underneath. Dyce intended to reach devotional solemnity by sacrificing the historical accuracy which he pursued in the Joash Shooting the Arrow.
His inclination towards naturalism has also been reduced to the gradation of light and shade on the white headscarf. The depiction of the draperies is taken directly from the observation of nature, rather than conventional imitation of the Pre-Renaissance masters. More individual representations of the Madonna and Child, resembling life class studies replace the sweet and idealistic faces of those found in the Tate Madonna
(Fig. 61).
Dyce drew closer to the ascetic type than naturalism in this painting. It is possible that he had two things in mind. Firstly, he considered the client, Prince Albert, and his taste for the German Nazarenes. Secondly, the criticism he received from the High
Church regarding Joash Shooting the Arrow the previous year made him reduce the
232 Irwin (as note 6), p. 256; Dyce wrote letter to Eastlake 23rd March 1846 DP XXII. Quote after Hopkins in note 9, p. 288. 233 Pointon (as note 6), p. 36; Errington (as note 13), p. 493; Hopkins (as note 9), p. 249; Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: a complete dictionary of contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904, vol.2 , London 1905, p. 400. 234 Pointon (as note 6), p. 87.
73 detail of his depictions in the manner of naturalism. The painting did earn appreciation from Prince Albert as he collected it at Osborne House. Notwithstanding, it did not receive many positive responses from the exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1846.235
Dyce was viewed as a follower of the Nazarenes, whom he eagerly intended to break away from.236 A more mild observation of the Osborne Madonna and Child was that it was ―sweetly painted, with more of the softness of old Italy than the force of nature.‖237 However another critic condemned Dyce and this painting, stating that ―In this production there is beauty, but it is soulless,–repose, but the repose is rather that produced by the quiet of his brush than by the deep contemplation of his heart,‖238 describing Dyce as ―a resuscitator of the dead forms of early Christian art,‖239 and also sneering ―The artist finds it much easier to imitate the flesh-colour of a gothic panel than that of nature…If the house of Parliament are to be filled with such imitation of ignorance, posterity will laugh at them.‖240
Why did the Osborne Madonna garner such unfriendly reactions from the critics?
It should noted that there was a wave of anti-Catholic feeling in the late 1840s in
England, and John Henry Newman, who was one of the leaders of the Oxford
Movement, had converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, possibly sharpening public prejudice against Catholics.241 In the Osborne Madonna and Child, Dyce adopted a devotional manner to compose the painting rather than a narrative one.
Taking social circumstances into account, the Osborne Madonna undoubtedly aroused
235 Pointon, p. 88; Hopkins (as note 9), pp. 249-250. 236 Art-Union ix (1847) p. 21. Quoted after Hopkins (as note 9), p. 249. 237 ―Royal Academy,‖ in: The Literary gazette: A weekly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts 1532, 1852, p. 450. 238 ―Royal Academy,‖ in: The Athenæ um, 1846, pp. 503-504. 239 Illustrated London News, May 23rd, 1846, p.337. Quote after Hopkins (as note 9), p. 249. 240 H.C.M, ―Royal Academy Exhibition,‖ in: The Connoisseur: a monthly record of the fine arts, music and the drama 2, 1846, p.112. 241 Poulson (as note 11), pp. 36-38; Adele M. Ernstrom, ―Why Should we be always looking back? Christian art in 19th century,‖ in: Art History 22, 1999, pp. 426-427. See introduction for John Henry Newman (1801–1890) in: Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Sorship of the Christian Church, vol. 6, Cambridge 2007, pp. 353-366.
74 Protestant sensitivities towards associating with Catholic iconolatry.
The comment on the Osborne Madonna reminded Dyce of two things. Firstly,
Christian art was still caught up in the difference of attitudes between the Protestants and Catholics, although Protestant writers John Ruskin, Anna Jameson, and Lord
Lindsay had published monographs in 1840s to introduce Christian art.242 Secondly, that British taste for naturalism was stable, as evidenced by the persistent support for landscape paintings.243 Dyce was very much convinced that he should follow in the footsteps of the old masters rather than continue in the manner of the Nazarenes; that is, he felt it important to study from nature just as the old masters did. Nature, which was associated with the sensual character in Dyce‘s lecture of 1844, became an essential element in his paintings. His appeal to naturalism and his enthusiasm for Christian art and the Pre-Renaissance masters had an influence on the young artistic group, the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who had been active since the late 1840s.
His accepting of naturalism can be seen in The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel (Fig.
69).244 During the period between 1850 and 1857, Dyce executed at least four versions of this subject, and this is the earlier one is dated from around 1850 to 1853.245 The scene was taken from the Old Testament and shows Jacob falling in love with Rachel at first sight, as she visits a well to collect water for her sheep.246 Dyce enclosed the
242 Ernstrom (as note 241), p. 427. John Ruskin, Modern Painters, 5 vols, London 1843–1860; Anna Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, 2 vols, London 1848; Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, Sketches of the History of Christian Art, 3 vols, London 1847. 243 William Vaughan, British Painting: the golden age from Hogarth to Turner, New York 1999, pp. 8, 183. 244 Pointon (as note 8), pp. 266-268; Pointon (as note 6), pp. 119-122; Hopkins (as note 9), pp. 253-255; Melville, in: Babington (as note 7), pp. 41, 42, 142. 245 Pointon (as note 6), p. 196. According to Pointon, during 1850-1853, Dyce produced at least four different versions of this subject matter. The earliest one was dated in 1850, which was displayed at the exhibition of the Royal Academy at the same year. The painting was engraved at the illustration in The Art Journal 1 page 295 in 1860, but now is whereabouts unknown. When Dyce displayed The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel for the first time at the exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1850, he just married Jane Brand on 17 January at the same year. He was in his forties and Jane was only a nineteen-year-old girl in the bloom of young. Dyce superimposed his life experience to the painting, which might be a kind of love promise to his newly-married wife. 246 Genesis 29.9-11.
75 quotation from Bible, ―And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept‖ in the catalogue of exhibition.247 It is likely that he referenced a painting by a Venetian school painter, Palma Vecchio‘s (1480–1528) Jacob and Rachel (Fig. 70).248
In order to simplify the composition, Dyce focused on the intimate interaction between Jacob and Rachel. Jacob is bent towards Rachel and gazes at the damsel earnestly. His left hand pulling her towards him intensifies his yearning for her, and his right hand holding her hand close to his chest demonstrating his sincerity. Rachel is too shy to look at Jacob, and simply focuses on the ground. Dyce‘s handling returned to the naturalism of Joash Shooting the Arrow, which can be seen in the downy fleece worn by Jacob, and in his glossy leather canteen.
He painstakingly modelled Rachel‘s hair so it has lustre and each strand appears to be countable. Her white clothes, which are given a strong sculpturesque nature in
Jan Van Eyck‘s paintings, are presented with a strong three-dimensional effect.249 The palm trees situated in the background are an important motif from the New Testament, symbolising the victory of Christ and the martyrs over death.250 The rugged mountain is lacking of any feature that would allow it to be recognised; however, the black-faced sheep grazing on the meadow are common in the Scottish countryside, the painting prefiguring the Scottish scenery consistently adopted in Dyce‘s later paintings.
Another decisive transformation in Dyce‘s attitude to naturalism is in The Garden of Gethsemane (1855; Fig. 71). Gethsemane was a place where Christ prayed to God before he was captured by the Romans and Pharisees. Dyce displays the very moment when Christ experienced human nature in feeling anxious and afraid. In the painting,
247 Graves (as note 233), p. 401. 248 Pointon (as note 6), p. 121. 249 Jan van Eyck‘s Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife was bought by Charles Lock Eastlake for the National Gallery in London in 1842. It is possible that Dyce had known this painting. Irwin (as note 6), pp. 260-261. 250 George Wells Ferguson, Signs & Symbols in Christian Art, London –New York 1961, p. 36; Lucia Impelluso (as note 209), pp. 25-31.
76 Christ, wearing a blue robe, roams a desolate countryside. He is ascending a hill towards the darker area beyond our vision. The rising hills and continuous mountains enclose the lowlands, which suggests that the scene is in a valley. Pointon puts forth the argument that the Scottish glen could be Dyce‘s archetype for the background in this painting.251
In comparison with the previous paintings, in the Gethsemane Dyce made an apparent alteration to the size of the figure in comparison to the landscape. The close up of the Tate Madonna, Joash Shooting the Arrow, the Osborne Madonna and Jacob and Rachel is replaced with a zoomed-out aspect in the Gethsemane so that the landscape occupies a large proportion of the picture. Although Dyce handled the paint in a broad manner in this painting, he concentrated on the contrasting light and shade to present the rich gradations of green that are found in nature. He also switched to different strokes to underline the divergence of leaves, grass and moss. Dyce represents a moment when Christ briefly left the disciples to prey alone. The isolation of Christ has been emphasized here, which lends the picture more of a poetic, devotional feeling than a narrative biblical depiction.252
The painting was made on a small millboard and was never exhibited to the public during Dyce‘s lifetime. It expresses a solemn and quiet atmosphere and invites the viewers to meditate. It might be an experimental attempt to create a new type of religious landscape and devotional painting. Painting from nature is not merely a method to emulate the old masters, nor is it only used for a simple background. It occupies a vital position in the Gethsemane, which paved the way for his latter, more mature Christian works, David in the Wilderness (1859; Fig. 72), The Good Shepherd
(1859; Fig. 73), The Man of Sorrows (1860; Fig. 74), Christ and the Woman of
251 Pointon (as note 6), p. 21. 252 Pointon (as note 6), pp. 21, 64, 161-164; Hopkins (as note 9), pp. 258-261; Emily Hope Thomson, ―The Garden of Gethsemane,‖ in: Babington (as note 7), p. 156; Staley (as note 8), p. 163.
77 Samaria (1860; Fig. 75) and St. John Leading the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Tomb
(1842–1857; Fig. 76).
From the Tate Madonna of the late 1820s to the Gethsemane in 1855, Dyce‘s style went from that of Nazarene purism to a practitioner of naturalism. His alteration was made step by step, and the study trip in 1845 was a key moment for Dyce in allowing him to fully comprehend nature, which he once held subordinate to religion.
In the Gethsemane of 1855, he gradually shapes his ideas about creating Christian art.
Two years later, as he was at the height of his career, Dyce presented Titian’s First
Essay in the exhibition of the Royal Academy.
Titian’s First Essay was a pictorial memoir for the middle-aged Dyce. He attempted to compose the scene, in which Titian studies nature outside, to echo what he learned from the frescoes in the trip of 1845. Moreover, it was popular for nineteenth- century artists to painting in the outdoor space, and they considered nature is a studio.
This idea could also be reflected by Dyce in Titian’s First Essay. He also invested his ideas about art education, which he proposed to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1846, into the painting. According to the conception of Dyce‘s art education, he constructed the system as following way:
―The three schools of the antique, the living model, and of picture copying, should be comprehended under the one title of the ‗School of Painting‘, and that this department should consist of two great sections; the first for drawing and painting from casts, i.e. uncoloured and immovable representations of objects; and the second for drawing and painting from nature, i.e. from those objects whether animate or inanimate, natural or artificial, which form the elements out of which pictures are generally made up. In other words the one section would deal with form, and light and shade; the other with form, light and shade, colour and surface effects. Thus I make the school of the human living model, one subdivision only of the section of study from nature.‖253
253 Quoted after Irwin (as note 3), p. 254.
78 Therefore, Dyce shows youg Titian holding a porte-crayon loaded with black and white chalks, also preparing some flowers for his color essay. According to Dyce‘s art education schedule, Titian would have just finish his first course in ―drawing and painting from casts,‖ and currently be thinking about how to undertake the next course
―drawing and painting from nature.‖254
Reflected in the contemplative young Titian is Dyce‘s own situation, passing back and forth between nature and religion, and continuing to ponder the connection between them. Through Titian’s First Essay, Dyce ruminated over the progress he made in his years of groping at how to best portray Christian art. It also reflects two profound issues that he encountered. Firstly, how he could create a new type of
Christian art that was in harmony with the naturalistic tastes of Protestant tradition in
Britain which dealt Dyce some strong criticism for his Osborn Madonna. Secondly, how he could deal with the troublesome conflict between science and Christian faith that was occurring during the Victorian era. As the result of more and more discoveries regarding physical nature, the Christian world lost its unquestionable position in society and religious faith faced an unprecedented crisis.
It seems that he had already found his own solution in the Christian art works produced in from the mid-1850s to the 1860s mentioned above.255 Through his latter
Christian paintings, it can be seen that nature and religious faith do not stand opposite each other; they coexist and flourish together.
8.3. The Dual Images: St. Luke and Melencolia I
In Titian’s First Essay, William Dyce paid respect to the Venetian artist in re-examining his life experiences and the difficulties he encountered in the Victorian environment. It
254 Irwin (as note 3), pp. 253-254. 255 Errington (as note 13), p. 497.
79 is worth noting that Dyce also demonstrated his knowledge of art history in this painting, acknowledging Ridolfi‘s biography on Titian. He attempted to use two iconographies whilst interpreting the Italian records. In order to make clear Dyce‘s intention, it is necessary to refer back to Ridolfi‘s text:
―While still a boy and prompted only by his natural, God-given ability, using the juice of some flowers, he made (fece) the figure of a Virgin inside a chapel (entro un capitello) in one of the streets of his hometown.‖256
The flowers and the capitello are two important signals given by Ridolfi in the paragraph.257 Pliny the elder recounted the connection between flowers and colours in
The Natural History, a classical encyclopaedic canon translated into English during
1855–1857.258 Pliny gave the following descriptions:
―[flowers] varieties remarkable for a delicacy which it is quite impossible to express, inasmuch as no individual can find such facilities for describing them as Nature does for bestowing on them their numerous tints–Nature, who here in especial shows herself in a sportive mood, and takes a delight in the prolific display of her varied productions.‖259
In the text, Nature is personified by Pliny endowing flowers with rich colours; Nature being just like a great artist and flowers acting as the canvas displaying the miraculous colours. Hence, people were drawn to flowers and extracted the colours from them in order to reach the tinctures created by nature.
The origin of this technique, which Titian used to make his first attempt with colour in Ridolfi‘s writing, was immemorial. According to Charles Lock Eastlake, historical references referring to this method can be found in early Venetian manuscripts and the treatise of Petrus de St. Audemar, which was roughly dated to the
256 Quoted after Land (as note 54), p. 209. 257 Land (as note 54), pp. 209-213. 258 Pliny the elder, and translated by John Bostock and H. T. Riley, The Natural History, 6 vols, London 1855–1857. 259 Pliny the elder (as note 258), vol. 4, 1856, p. 304.
80 end of the thirteenth to the early fourteenth century.260 The historical record offered by
Pliny and Eastlake would lay a foundation for Dyce to realise Ridolfi‘s text, in which flowers symbolise the talent of the Venetian master for colour. By arranging the various colourful flowers in the painting, Dyce echoed to the main point of Ridolfi‘s text.
Dyce also deciphered the code of the capitello which has been analysed in the above section. Based on Breve Compendio della Vita del Famoso Titiano Vecellio by an anonymous writer, Ridolfi composed this life episode of the young Titian. He replaced a wall in the home of the young artist with the capitello, which is a small chapel with a statue or painting of the Virgin, Christ or a saint inside it. By modifying the location
Ridolfi intended to highlight Titian‘s religious inspiration and superimposed the legend of St. Luke onto the childhood of the old master.261
Dyce was aware of the implication which Ridolfi had hidden under the surface of the anecdote. He went a step further in transforming the capitello in the source material into the Madonna statue in his painting. The face-to-face disposition of Titian and the
Madonna statue suggest that Dyce resorted to the typical iconography of St. Luke, painting the portraits as the Virgin Mary and Child. He may have referred to a 1435 painting of Rogier van der Weyden‘s (1400–1464),262 St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna (Fig. 77), from the Alte Pinakothek collection in Munich in nineteenth
260 Charles Lock Eastlake, Materials for a History of Oil Painting, London 1847, p. 127; Mary Philadelphia Merrifield, Original treatises dating from the xiith to xviiith centuries on the arts of painting in oil ... and on glass, of gilding, dyeing [&c.] with tr., prefaces and notes, London 1849, p. 113. Merryfield based on the research of Eastlake, and put further that the date of the treatise of Petrus de St. Audemar could be traced back to twelfth century. 261 Land (as note 54), p. 209, 212. 262 See the biographies of Rogier van der Weyden by Marilyn Smith, ―Weyden, Rogier van der,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2766?q=Rogier+van +der+Weyden&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed 8 January, 2015); Lorne Campbell and C. Périer-d‘Ieteren, ―Weyden, van der.,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T091309pg1?q=Rog ier+van+der+Weyden&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed 8 January, 2015)
81 century.263 It is very possible that Dyce had seen van der Weyden‘s work as he visited
Munich in 1837.264 Borrowing the composition from van der Weyden‘s image, Dyce juxtaposed Titian with the Madonna statue and attempted to intensify the impression of
St. Luke placed on the young Titian. Dyce grasped the two essential elements of the text, flowers and the capitello. It depicts the very moment the sixteenth century
Venetian master encountered the holy inspiration which granted him the genius for colour in painting.
The second traditional iconography depicted by Dyce is Albrecht Dürer‘s
Melancholia I (Fig. 78) from 1514. Dyce probably knew the engraving as he had visited Nuremberg, the hometown of the German master and later the centre for the revival in popularity of Dürer in the nineteenth century, in 1837.265 He may have also seen the image in the British Museum or the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, where the collections featured abundant engravings and woodcuts by Dürer.266 This picture was an influential source for artists and writers in the first-half of nineteenth century
Germany and France. The German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich‘s
(1774–1840) The Woman with the Spider’s Web (Fig. 79) from 1803 showed the influence of the angel in Dürer‘s Melancholia I, sighing for the passing of time and the transient nature of life.267 The anonymous painter who absorbed the ideas of the
263 Catalogue of the paintings in the Old Pinakothek, Munich, Munich 1890, p. 21-22. 264 Pointon (as note 6), p. 46; Paul Greenhalgh (ed.), Quotations and sources on design and the decorative arts, Manchester–New York 1993, p. 31. 265 Pointon (as note 6), p. 46; Greenhalgh (as note 264), p. 31; Ute Kuhlemann, ―The Celebration of Dürer in Germany during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,‖ in: Giulia Bartrum, Albrecht Dürer and His Legacy: the graphic work of a Renaissance artist, London 2002, pp. 45-49. 266 ―Th Residence of Albrecht Durer, at Nuremberg,‖ in: The Mirror of literature, amusement, and instruction 33, 1839, p. 66; Charles Henry Timperley, Encyclopaedia of literary and typographical anecdote; being a chronological digest of the most interesting facts illustrative of the history of literature and printing from the earliest period to the present time..., London 1843, p. 244; Bartrum (as note 265), p. 8. 267 Bartrum (as note 265), p. 298. See biographies for Caspar David Friedrich from: William Vaughan, ―Friedrich, Caspar David,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e959?q=+Caspar+Da vid+Friedrich&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit (accessed 8 January, 2015); Jens Christian Jensen, ―Friedrich, Caspar David,‖ in: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online: http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/subscriber/article/grove/art/T029956?q=+Caspar
82 engraving made Artist in His Studio (Fig. 80) around 1820 to express the Romantic concept of the solitary artist and to indicate the vanitas, which is suggested by the skull on the shelf. 268 The key leader of the German Nazarenes, Friedrich Overbeck, appropriated the posture of Dürer‘s angel in his portrait of Vittoria Caldoni (Fig. 81) in
1821.269 Edward von Steinle (1810–1886), a later member of the Nazarenes, followed in the footsteps of Overbeck in adapting the engraving for his Allegory of Art (Fig. 82) in 1828.
Steinle presented the personification of art, who poses as the brooding figure in
Melancholia I. She holds a voluminous Holy Bible, which is the canon of the
Nazarenes, standing for their faith in Christianity. She has a palette and several paint brushes in her hand, which indicate her allegorical meaning. The scattered implements on the ground such as a compass, a torso, a scroll and three pots echo the arrangement in Melancholia I. The sculpture and architecture in the background suggest the character of the figure. Steinle has left a tablet with an abbreviation of his name lying in front of the figure, emulating Dürer‘s signature in the engraving. 270 Whilst interpreting the contemporary German painters, Dyce absorbed influences from the iconography of Melancholia I.
In Titian’s First Essay, Dyce based the composition on Dürer‘s engraving. The
child Titian poses as a thinker resting his head in his hand. The bottle of oil, the fabric
and the sponge, which indicate the future career of young artist, are situated in the
corner. The diverse flowers with rich colours, working as materials for Titian, are
+David+Friedrich&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed 8 January, 2015). 268 Brown (as note 75), p. 36; Gotlieb (as note 120), pp. 162-164; Matilde Battistini, Symbols and Allegories in Art, Los Angeles 2005, pp. 360-365. 269 Keith Andrews, The Nazarenes: a brotherhood of German painters in Rome, Oxford 1964, pp. 113-114; Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Gallery of Ontario, German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany, New York 1981, p. 180; Mitchell Benjamin Frank, German Romantic Painting Redefined: Nazarene tradition and the narratives of Romanticism, Aldershot 2001, p. 66. 270 Hinrich Sieveking, ―German Draughtsmanship in the Ages of Dürer and Goethe: Paralles and Resonance,‖ in: Master Drawings 39, 2001, p. 134.
83 scattered on the ground. Titian is holding some flowers and a porte-crayon with black
and white chalks, and his blank sketchbook is open, ready for use. The ideas in the
mind of the protagonist seem to drain away, leaving him doing nothing but staring at
the monochrome Madonna statue. Titian‘s situation resembles the pensive angel in
Melancholia I.
Furthermore, the flowers in the painting are important factors inviting viewers
to discover the disguised message. The flowers on the ground can be recognised as
roses, lilies, crocuses, hyacinth, tulips, carnations, azaleas and primroses; Titian
holding iris and clematis; the pelargonium has been placed on the tree stump. They
are seasonal flowers from spring and early summer in Europe, used to symbolise the
childhood of the sixteenth century Venetian master.271 Dyce clearly ignored, or he did
not care about, the fact that hyacinth and pelargonium had only been introduced into
the continent in seventeenth century.272
It is interesting to consider Dyce‘s arrangement of the flowers scattered over the
meadow. They are essential elements in traditional borders, such as the ornamental
borders found in prayer-books, the disguised symbolism in early Italian and Northern
Renaissance and still-life paintings from the Dutch Gold Age. However, the flower
which Titian presents to the Madonna statue is pelargonium rather than rose, lily or
carnation, the typical tokens to the Virgin Mary in Christianity. It is an intriguing
arrangement; however, no contemporary scholars seem to be looking at this issue. It
makes no sense that Dyce would make the arrangement without reason.
Pelargonium was known widely as geranium in the nineteenth century. It was a
widely used plant in Victorian horticultural design.273 The floral language of the
271 Irwin (as note 3), pp. 252-253; Errington (as note 13), p. 496. 272 Maria Lis-Balchin, Geranium and Pelargonium: the genera geranium and pelargonium, London–New York 2002, p. 1; Impelluso (as note 209), p. 82. 273 Hermon Bourne, Flores poetici: the florist’s manual : designed as an introduction to vegetable physiology and systematic botany, etc, Boston 1833, p. 95; J. L. Comstock, The Young Botanist: being a
84 geranium was varied and often confused readers. The general meaning of the plant
was gentility; however, different species of geraniums had their own meanings. Apple
geranium stands for present preference, oak geranium the emblem of friendship and
scarlet geranium symbolizes both comfort and stupidity. 274 If a reader is
inexperienced at botanical knowledge of the genus, he could be lost in the long list of
the geranium‘s meanings in flower books.
The red geranium in Dyce‘s picture was the most common representation of the genus in the nineteenth century and can be found as realistic depictions in horticultural monographs (Fig. 83)275 and emblematic images in flower books (Fig. 84).276 Dyce could have wanted to communicate the common floral sentiment of the geranium, gentility. Nevertheless, there is another possibility as during the Victorian era, the dead leaves, weeping willow and Mourning geranium (sometimes called as sorrowful geranium and dark geranium) were symbols of melancholy in the language of flowers.277 It is likely that Dyce attempted to adopt a symbolic plant in response to his source, Dürer‘s Melancholia I, and the Mourning geranium was the more proper plant for his subject matter.
It is difficult to determine the exact species that is the Mourning geranium in flower books, and it did not feature a great deal in nineteenth century botanical representations. The British writer of The Sentiment of Flowers Robert Tyas
(1811–1879) discribed the appearance of the flower as ―somber, though unaffected,‖278
treatise on the science prepared for the use of persons just commencing the study of plants, 2nd rev. ed. New York 1836, p. 155; Joseph Harrison, The Floricultural Cabinet, and Florist’s Magazine, London 1851, pp.47, 126. In fact, pelargonium and geranium are different genera. See more introductions for the flowers in: Lis-Balchin (as note 272). 274 Anna Christian Burke, The Illustrated Language of Flowers, London 1856. 275 Jane Wells Loudon, The Ladies’ Flower-garden of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants, London 1848. 276 The Language of Flowers: an alphabet of floral emblems, London 1858. 277 Robert Tyas, The Sentiment of Flowers; or, Language of Flora, London 1842, pp. 225-227; Burke (as note 274), pp. 26, 84. 278 Quoted after Tyas (as note 277), London 1842, p. 227. See introduction of Robert Tyas in: Beverly Seaton, The Language of Flowers: A History, Charlottesville 1995, pp. 29-30.
85 and the American botanist Alphonso Wood (1810–1881) gave following description of the Mourning geranium, ―Leaves hairy, pinnate; leaflets bipinnatifid; divisions linear, acute. A foot high. Flowers dark green, in simple umbels […]. Stem elongated, herbaceous or suffruticose.‖279 Although the two writers discussed the plant from different aspects, they indicated that the Mourning geranium comes in unappealing colours.
Dyce never showed interest in botany in his writings or manuscripts and he did not pay attention to botanical accuracy in his work. The red geranium in Titian’s First
Essay does not resemble any descriptions of the Mourning geranium. Dyce placed more emphasis on the aesthetic effect rather than portraying a botanically accurate representation. He borrowed the melancholic significance of the Mourning geranium from flower books, and imposed the meaning onto the more common and much more charming red geranium. In Titian’s First Essay, the red geranium presented to the
Madonna statue, is a symbol of melancholy reflecting Dürer‘s Melancholia I. Dyce created his own language for the geranium, which was obscure and was not revealed to people. By means of adopting the nineteenth century language of flowers, Dyce introduced new aspects to traditional symbolism.
Finally, the objects which are held in Titian‘s hand, the porte-crayon with chalks, the iris and the clematis, should be considered. They contain the key to realising how
Dyce understood Ridolfi‘s text on Titian. In the original text Maraviglie dell’arte,
Ridolfi started his biography ―In a childhood, even though directed toward the study of letters, a subject in which well-born children were trained, Titian nevertheless devoted
279 Quoted after Alphonso Wood, A Class-book of Botany: designed for colleges, academies, and other seminaries. In two parts. Pt. I: The elements of botanical science. Pt.II: The natural orders. Illustrated by a flora of the northern United States particularly New England and New York, Boston 1845, p. 73. See the introduction of Alphonso Wood in: ―Editorial Notes,‖ in: The Gardener’s monthly and horticulturist 23, 1881, p. 92.
86 himself to drawing.‖280 This section is arranged before Titian‘s experience with the capitello. Ridolfi intended to underline the fact that Titian‘s skill in drawing had been shaped in childhood in order to rebut the criticism from Michelangelo in Vasari‘s masterpiece. According to Vasari, after visiting Titian‘s workshop, Michelangelo appreciated his great rival, but he also argued that ―it was a pity artisans in Venice did not draw well from the beginning.‖281 Dyce figured out Ridolfi‘s implication exactly.
Therefore, he played with the meaning of fece, which Ridolfi employed in the anecdotes about the young Titian. The word can be translated into made, and it can also mean painted and drew. The porte-crayon with chalks in Titian’s First Essay, which is
Titian‘s drawing equipment, not only responds to Ridolfi‘s description of the child artist, but also indicates Titian‘s ability in disegno.
Iris has a close connection with colour. The name of the iridescent flower, which originates from Greek, means rainbow. It is also the typically depicted ensemble of the
Virgin Mary in the Christianity. In the context of mid-nineteenth century Britain, it is necessary to take the vagueness of the floral language into account. The language of flowers started in France in the early nineteenth century and had been disseminated widely in Britain around the 1820s. Among the numerous flower books, the French writer Charlotte de Latour‘s Le langage des fleurs, which was published in 1819, was the most influential writing. Using the goddess and messenger Iris from Greek mythology as a reference, Latour endowed the iris with the meaning of ‗message‘.282
In the hand of the young Titian, the iris is a Christian symbol for the sake of echoing the Madonna statue, and it is also an important message to us from Dyce. It reflects the
280 Quoted after Bondanella (as note 51), p. 58. The original Italian text reads ― Questi nell‘ età puerile, benchè posto allo studio delle lettere, in che si avezzano i ben nati fanciulli, davasi nondimeno a disegnare.‖ Ridolfi (as note 54), p. 197. 281 Qoted after Vasai (as note 111), p. 501. 282 Charlotte de Latour, The Language of Flowers, translated by Louise Cortambert, London 1834, p. 297; Charlotte de Latour, Le langage des fleurs, 7th rev. ed. Paris 1858, p. 262.
87 subject of the anecdote in Ridolfi‘s account, that is, Titian‘s genius for colour.283
Other than the porte-crayon and iris, the clematis can also be seen in Titian‘s hand. 284 The genus has four to ten petals and a clear crease on every petal distinguishing it from other flowers.285 Compared to the iris, clematis is absent from classical and Christian art. However, the flower had become a popular decorative flower in the Victorian garden.286 The nineteenth-century flower books held diverse opinions on what clematis symbolised. Some valued it as a symbol of mental beauty and others as an emblem of artifice.287 It is very possible that Dyce took the former meaning for clematis in this painting. He made reference to the engraving Melancholia
I, in which Dürer accentuated the impression of the intellectual artist.288 The clematis in Titian’s First Essay symbolizes the great mentality of the master Titian.
By revealing the significance of the porte-crayon, the iris and the clematis, the messages in the painting become more and more clear. The porte-crayon and the iris in young Titian‘s hand represent the disegno and colorito respectively. They reference
Ridolfi‘s text and indicate Titian possessed the genius for disegno and colorito.
Moreover, Dyce went a step further to touch on the issue of paragone in the
Renaissance. He knew the critical position Titian held in the paragone and that the great artist was involved deeply in the competition between drawing and colour and the rivalry between painting and sculpture. In the context of Titian’s First Essay, the disegno and the colorito do not oppose each other. They are two fundamental branches of painting allied against the white statue. Titian, who possesses the talent for both
283 Errigton (as note 13), p. 496. 284 There is a plant also held in Titian‘s hand. As a result of lacking for detail view, it is difficult to identify the red flower. 285 Brickell (as note 28), p. 274; Jane Halliwell Green, Rugs in bloom: shading flowers in hooked rugs, Mechanicsburg 2012, p. 81. 286 Mary Toomey and Everett Leeds, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Clematis, Portland 2001, pp. 19-20. 287 Catharine H. Waterman, Flora’s Lexicon: an Introduction of the language and sentiment of flowers; with an outline of botany, and a poetical introduction, Philadelphia 1842, p. 59; Tyas (as note 277), p. 43; Burke (as note 274), pp. 15, 69, 84. 288 Erwin Panofsky, The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer, 4th rev. ed., Princenton 1955, pp. 156-171.
88 drawing and colour, is the master and the representative of painting to encounter three-dimensional sculpture. He is contemplating the relationship between painting and sculpture, and how to achieve dominance over the monochrome statue. The thinking posture and the symbolic clematis give Titian the appearance of an intellectual artist, which echoes the iconography of Dürer‘s Melancholia I and reflects the far reaching conception of the Renaissance.
In Titian’s First Essay, Dyce had fully realised Ridolfi‘s text. He made alterations in interpreting his source through adopting the iconographies of St. Luke and
Melancholia I. The combination of the two images reflects Dyce‘s own ambition in creating Christian art and his experience in painting. The dual images represent an attempt to deepen Titian‘s association with religious subject matter and underline his role as an intellectual artist. The most important thing is that they represent the two principle spirits of Titian‘s age, Christianity and the intellectual work of self-aware artists. After studying the naturalism of the works of the Italian old masters, Dyce would change his thoughts on Renaissance art, which he had considered an era of sensualism in his own art theory. The painting of Titian, the leading master of the sixteenth century, as a child would represent his new thinking about Renaissance art. It was a time when art, religion and nature coexisted harmoniously, this period providing the Victorian people with a backdrop to reconsider the contemporary conflict between
Christianity and science. The spirit and substance of the Renaissance were under scrutiny in the nineteenth century and people held various opinions and ideas about this great age and its value to art history. The Victorian painter William Dyce offered his perspective on this era in Titian’s First Essay in Colour. The Renaissance was a vast stage for art and artist alike, and the Venetian master Titian reflects the essential values for Renaissance artists, such as religious life and the intellectual mind.
89 9. Conclusion
The sixteenth century Venetian master Titian became important subject matter in many nineteenth century paintings. This trend was encouraged by the continuous historical exploration of the Italian Renaissance by artists of nineteenth century Europe. Giorgio
Vasari‘s Vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori were republished in several editions and translated into French, German and English, opening an accessible entry point for painters to discover the biography of Titian. Carlo Ridolfi‘s Le
Maraviglie dell’arte of 1648 also was reprinted in the period between 1835 and 1837, offering sufficient anecdotes about Titian‘s life.
The Victorian artist William Dyce, following this fashion for renaissance topic, presented Titian Preparing to Make his First Essay in Colouring in 1857 at the summer exhibition of the Royal Academy in London. This painting is roughly based on the stories about the young Titian in Ridolfi‘s text, and there is a considerable divergence between the painting and its source. Through examining Dyce‘s experience in Italy and his close friendship with Charles Lock Eastlake, it can be seen that Dyce‘s adaption of
Ridofi‘s account was made on purpose rather than due to unfamiliarity with the Italian text.
Titian played an instructive role in Dyce‘s artistic experience. He considered
Titian‘s paintings as inspiration for him to emulate and Dyce paid respect to his predecessor in Titian’s First Essay. The reference to the young Titian can also be viewed as self reference by Dyce. Here he responded to his lifelong aspirations in
Christian art, and reviewed his attitude to sensualism and naturalism. He attempted to create a new type of religious painting to reconcile the conflict between Christian faith and science during the Victorian era. The contemplative young Titian reflected his own situation, moving back and forth between nature and religion, and continuing to ponder the connection between them.
90 Dyce thoroughly comprehended the essence of Ridolfi‘s text, that is, the religious inspiration and Titian‘s genius for colour. He adopted the two typical iconographies, St.
Luke and Dürer‘s Melancholia I to interpret the seventeenth century source. He created a new and personal ensemble of the red pelargonium, which is presented to the
Madonna statue in the painting, to echo the engraving Melancholia I. Dyce went a step further in discussing the fundamental conception of Renaissance paragone, which was bestowed upon the description of Ridolfi. The crayon and the flowers held in the hand of the child artist represent Titian‘s design and colour abilities. The Venetian master is the incarnation of painting, encountering its counterpart in the monochrome Madonna statue.
In the context of the representations of Titian‘s life, the nineteenth century painters focused on various topics including the interaction between Titian and Rulers, the meeting of Titian and Veronese, the sexual implications of the tuition of Irene di
Spilimbergo, Titian‘s leisure time and the great funeral for the illustrious master. They displayed varied rich and discrepant aspects of Titian, who they glorified to immortal level, while at the same time also acknowledging that he was an ordinary person.
However, Dyce did not share the same interests as his contemporaries. He represented Titian alone as a contemplating artist, and focused on exploring the essence of Renaissance artists in order to deepen Titian‘s significance. By using the dual images of St. Luke and Melancholia I, the young Titian in the painting represents the spirit of the Renaissance artist. Dyce presented his nineteenth century impression of
Titian to promote the master to become the great religious and intellectual artist in
Renaissance. The young Titian is a reflection of his own ambitions in Christian art and his hesitation about the relationship between nature and religion. Dyce showed his realisation of Ridolfi‘s text in this work, as well as displaying his interpretation of
Renaissance values in the painting.
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110 Appendix: Figures
1. William Dyce, Titian Preparing to Make his First Essay in Colouring, 1857, oil on canvas, 100.5 × 79 cm, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, London, inv. ABDAG3211
111
2. Louis-François Roubillac, John, Duke of Argyll and Greenwich, 1749, marble, Westminster Abbey, London
3. William Dyce, Religion: The Vision of Sir Galahad and his Company, 1851, fresco, Queen‘s Robing Room, Palace of Westminster, London
112
4. The Italian Masters (known as Cosmati), Tomb of the Henry III (detail), 1291-93,Westminster Abbey, London
5. Titian, Self-Portrait, 1562, oil on canvas, 96 x 75 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin, inv. n. 163
113
6. Portrait of Titian, from: Carlo Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie dell’Arte dell‘Arte overo le vite de gl‘illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato, vol. 1, Venice: Giovanni Battista Sgava, 1648, p. 134
7. Vittore Carpaccio, Two Venetian Ladies, 1490–95, oil on wood, 94 × 64 cm, Museo Civico Correr, Venice, inv. 44274 recto
114
8. Nino Pisano, Madonna on Altar, marble, ht 170 cm, S. Maria della Spina, Pisa
9. George Augustus Wallis, Ave Maria, pen, sepia and watercolor, 53 ×80 cm, Thorwaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
115
10. Charles Lock Eastlake, A Peasant Woman Fainting from the Bite of Serpent, 1831, oil on canvas, 55.9× 47.6 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
11. Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret, François I Posing for Titian, 1807, oil on canvas, 52×61 cm, Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, inv. 03. 8
116
12. Titian, Self-Portrait, 1562, oil on canvas, 86 × 65 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, inv. No. 407
13. Titian, Portrait of François I, 1539, oil on canvas, 109 × 89 cm, Musée du Lovre, Paris, inv. 753
117
14. Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret, Charles V Picking up Titian's Paintbrush, 1808, oil on canvas, 96 × 129 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
15. Rubens after Titian, Charles V in Armor with a Drawn Sword, 1603, oil on canvas, 118 × 91. 5 cm, private collection, Yorkshire
118
16. Pietro Antonio Novelli, The Emperor Charles V Stoops to Pick up Titian’s Paintbrush, pen, ink and wash, 35.8 × 48. 7 cm, private collection
17. Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, Emperor Charles V Picking up Titian’s Pencil, 1843 The plate is from ―The Living Artist of Europe,‖ in: The Art-Union, 1848, p. 42
119
18. Modesto Faustini, Charles V Picking up Titian's Brush, oil on canvas, 65 × 49 cm, Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo Art Gallery, Brescia
19. Robert Antoine Müller, Visit of the Doge of Venice to Titian, 1870–71, oil on canvas, 95. 2 × 132. 7 cm, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Sunderland
120
20. Portrait of Titian, from: Carlo Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie dell’Arte dell‘Arte overo le vite de gl‘illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato, vol. 1, Florence 1735 (1st ed. Venice 1557)
21. Portrait of Titian, from:Abraham Hume, Notice of the Life and Works of Titian, London 1829.
121
22. Titian, Young Woman with a Dish of Fruit, 1555, oil on canvas, 102 × 82 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
23. Titian‘s house in Venice, from: Giuseppe Cadorin, Dello amore ai veneziani di Tiziano Vecellio, delle sue case in Cadore e in Venezia e delle vite de'suoi figli: notizie, Venice 1833
122
24. Titian‘s house in Venice, from: Josiah Gilbert, Cadore, or, Titian’s Country, London 1869
25. Nicolas Vleughels, Michelangelo Visiting Titian, 1735, etching by M. A. Slodtz, 17 × 11. 5 cm, from: Lodovico Dolce, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, intitolato l'Aretino [...], Florence 1735, frontispiece
123 26. Titian, Danaë, 1544-45, oil on canvas, 120 × 172 cm, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, inv. Q 134
27. Antonio Zona, The Meeting of Titian and Veronese on the Ponte della Paglia next to the Ducal Palace, 1861, oil on canvas, Gallerie dell‘Accademia, Venice
124
28. Lorenzo Lotto, Architect, 1535, oil on panel, 105 × 82 cm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, inv. 153
29. Antonio Rotta, Tiziano che istruisce Irene Spilimbergo nella pittura, 1853, from: Ludovico Trotti, Album esposizioni di belle arti in Milano, Milan 1853
125
30. Jacopo D‘Andrea, Tiziano insegna pittura a Irene di Spilimbergo (Titian teaches painting to Irene di Spilimbergo), 1856, oil on canvas, private collection
31. Eugenio Moretti Larese, Tiziano e Irene di Spilimbergo, 1856, oil on canvas, Civico Museo di Storia ed Arte, Trieste
126
32. Niçaise de Keyser, Le Titien peignant sa Vénus en présence de ses deux amis, Pietro Aretino et Sansovino, 1843, whereabouts unknown
33. Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1536-38, oil on canvas, 119 × 165 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, inv. 1890 no. 1437
127
34. Emanuel Leutze, Titian on the Lagunes, 1857, oil on canvas, Museum und Galerie im Prediger, Schwäbisch Gmünd
35. Henry Nelson O‘Neil, Happy Days of Titian, 1867, oil on canvas, 42 × 60 cm, private collection
128
36. F. Kraus, A Fête at the House of Titian, 1894, engraving on glossy paper, from: Charles F. Horne (ed.), Great men and famous women; a series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in history, vol. 8, New York 1894
37. Anthony Van Dyck, Titian and His Mistress, before 1641, etching and engraving, 29.6 x 23 cm, The British Museum, London
129
38. George Jones, The Last Moment of Titian, oil on canvas, 113 × 143 cm, Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, Yorkshire
39. Nicolas Poussin, Death of Germanicus, 1627, oil on canvas, 146 × 195 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, inv. no. 58.28
130
40. Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, Titian Lying in State at the Palazzo Barbarigo, 1862, oil on canvas, 199 × 150 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
41. Titian, The Assumption of the Virgin, 1516–18, oil on wood, 690 x 360 cm, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
131 42. Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Hesse, Funeral Honors for Titian after his Death at Venice during the Plague of 1576, 1833, oil on canvas, 163 × 233 cm, Musée du Lovre, Paris
43. Gentile Bellini, Procession in Piazza San Marco, 1496, Tempera and oil on canvas, 367 × 745 cm. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
132 44. Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Hesse, Funeral Honors for Titian after his Death at Venice during the Plague of 1576, 1833, from: G. Laviron and B. Galbacio, Le Salon de 1833, Paris 1833
45. Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Hesse, Funeral Honors for Titian after his Death at Venice during the Plague of 1576, 1833, from: Charles Lenormant, Les artistes contemporains: salons de 1831 et 1833, Paris 1833
133 46. Funérailles du Titien, from: Léon Galibert, Historia de la República de Venecia, Paris 1847
47. Enrico Gamba, Titian's Funeral, 1855, oil on canvas, 240 × 462 cm, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, inv. 524
134
48. William Dyce, The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents sent by Juno to Destroy Him, 1824, oil on canvas, 92 × 71.8 cm, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, inv. no. NG184
45.
49. Joshua Reynolds, The Infant Hercules Strangling Serpents in His Crade , 1786–88, oil on canvas, 303 × 297 cm, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
135 50. Titian, Sacred and Profane Love, 1514, oil on canvas, 118 × 279 cm, Museo Galleria di Villa Borghese, Rome, inv. 147
51. William Dyce, Bacchus Nursed by the Nymphs of Nysa (unifished), 1827, oil on board, 30.8 × 40.5 cm, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum, Aberdeen, inv. no.40.17.2
136
52. Titian, Bacchanal of the Andrians, 1523–24, oil on canvas, 175 × 193 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, inv. 418
53. William Dyce, The Descent of Venus, 1835–36, oil on canvas, 36. 7 × 55. 8 cm, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum, Aberdeen, inv. no.40.174
137
54. William Dyce, The Assumption of the Virgin, 1836, pen and wash, 23.4 × 18. 4 cm, private collection
55. William Dyce, Design for the Reverse of the Turner Medal, 1858, charcoal and white chalk on grey paper, circular, 61. 0 diam., The Royal Academy of Arts, London
138
56. Jacques de Bie, PRVDENCE, from: Cesare Ripa, Iconologie, ou Explication nouvelle de plusieurs images, emblemes, et autres figures hyerogliphiques des vertus, des vices, des arts, des sciences... Tirée des recherches & des figures de Cesar Ripa ; desseignées & gravées par Jacques de Bie et moralisées par J. Baudoin, Paris 1636, p. 200
57. William Dyce, Luca Signorelli Painting the Portrait of his Dead Son, 1836, pencil heightened with white on grey paper (sketch book page), 13.32 × 22.8 cm, private collection
139
58. Robert Trewick Bone, Titian’s Last Picture, 1828, from: Friendship’s Offering: a literary album, London 1828
59. Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, Titian in His Study, 1843, from: ―The Living Artist of Europe,‖ in: The Art-Union, 1848, p. 42
140
60. Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, Cellini in His Studio, 1840, from: Wilhelm Ténint, Album du Salon de 1841, Paris 1841
61. William Dyce, Madonna and Child, 1827–30, oil on canvas, 102.9 × 80.6 cm, The Trustees of the Tate Gallery, London
141
62. William Dyce, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 1835, oil on canvas, 210.8 × 165.1 cm, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen
63. Pietro Perugino, The Mourning of the Dead Christ, 1495, oil on panel, 214 × 195 cm, Galleria Palatina, Florence
142
64. William Dyce, The Judgement of Solomon, 1836, tempera on paper, 150.35 × 244.35 cm, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
65. Raphael, The Judgment of Solomon, 1518–19, fresco, Loggia on the second floor, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican
143
66. William Dyce, Life Study, charcoal and white chalk, 56.1 × 38.8, 1844
67. William Dyce, Joash Shooting the Arrow of Deliverance, 1844, oil on canvas, 77.6 × 110. 4 cm, Kunsthalle, Hamburg
144
68. William Dyce, Madonna and Child, 1845, oil on canvas, 80.1 × 63.5 cm, Royal Collection
69. William Dyce, The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel, 1850–1853, oil on canvas, 70.5 × 91 cm, New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester
145
70. Palma Vecchio, Jacob and Rachel, 1515–1525, oil on canvas, 146.5 × 250.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
71. William Dyce, The Garden of Gethsemane, oil on millboard, 42.8 × 32.1 cm, National Museum Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
146
72. William Dyce, David in the Wilderness, 1859, oil on millboard, 34.2 × 48.4 cm, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinbough
73. William Dyce, The Good Shepherd, 1859, oil on canvas, 78.9 × 63.5 cm, St. Peter‘s Church, Little Budworth, Cheshire
147
74. William Dyce, The Man of Sorrows, 1860, oil on millboard, 34.3 × 49.5 cm, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinbough
75. William Dyce, Christ and the Woman of Samaria, 1860, oil on canvas, 34.2 × 48.4 cm, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
148
76. William Dyce, St. John Leading the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Tomb, 1842–1857, oil on paper, 76.2 × 109.9 cm, The Trustees of the Tate Gallery, London
77. Rogier van der Weyden, St Luke Drawing a Portrait of the Madonna, 1435, oil and tempera on panel, 138 × 111 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
149
78. Albrecht Dürer, Melancholia I, 1514, Engraving, 23.9 × 18.9 cm, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe
79. Caspar David Friedrich, The Woman with the Spider’s Web, 1803, woodcut by Christian Friedrich after Caspar David Friedrich, 17.1 × 11.9 cm, British Museum, London
150 80. Anonymous, Artist in His Studio, 1820, oil on canvas, 147 × 114 cm, Louvre, Paris
81. Friedrich Overbeck, Vittoria Caldoni, 1821, oil on canvas, 90 × 65 cm, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
151 82. Edward von Steinle, Allegory of Art, 1828, pen and black ink over pencil, private collection, Munich
83. Illustration of red pelargonium (detail), 84. Illustration of geranium, from: from: Jane Wells Loudon , The Language of Flowers: an The Ladies’ Flower-garden alphabet of floral emblems, of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants, London, 1858 London, 1848
152