the obligations thai are left undone. Do iioi But the analogy with the former Soviet aie questions that will remain unan- address me the way despots are addressed, leader has its limits. Khatami's position is swered and contradictions that will re- and do not avoid me as the ill-tempered are weaker than Gorbachev's, since the Ira- main unresolved until he is put to the treated. Do not approach me with an air of nian system is cne with several centers of political test. He has supported the cre- artificiality', and do not think that I find the power, and is not liable to the kind of ation of political parties, btit the how truth offensive. I do not want you to revere and the when of political change, the me. He who finds listening to complaints authoritarian reform that Gorbachev difficult will surely find administration of practiced. And Khatami's position is also limits of the reform that he seeks, re- justice even more so. Therefore, do not stronger than Gorbachev's, in that he main unclear. He supports greater public hesitate in telling the truth or in advising already enjoys the mandate of popular activity by women, but he has been silent me on matters of jtistice. I am neither election, no major foreign commitments on specific discriminations to which above fallibility nor am I immune fiom to renegotiate, and a constitution that, women are subjected, in dress and in law. error in my conduct, unless God safeguards with reasonable reform, can provide the He is open to Western ideas, but he has me from the self, over which He commands basis for the kind of Iran that he wants to been critical of sectilar intellectuals and more control than I. see. of secularism in general. He wishes to We will soon have a clearer reading make a break with the dogma of the In his inaugural address, Khatami of Khatami's position: elections for the revolutionary past, yet he continues to appealed to the judiciary and the execu- influential Gouncil of Experts will go appeal, in his own rationalist and in- tive to estahlish a society based on the ahead in October, local elections in dependent rendering, to the legacy of rule of law, and he called on the judi- 1999, parliamentary elections in 2000, Khomeini. His attitude to Western politi- ciary to promote and to consolidate the and presidential elections, in which cal thought is positive, but some may principle of accountability. There was Khatami could run for a second term, in wonder whether the intensity of his little in his speech about obedience to 2001. Like Goibachev, he is a reformer admiration for the philosopher-king of religion, bnt there was tnuch about the who emerged from the existing regime, Plato is really a liberal admiration. rights of the people and the need for and like Gorbi.chev, he appears to har- And yet it is impossible any longer to them to participate. In international bor illusions aoout how far the tide of doubt the reality of Khatami's liberaliz- affairs, Khatami emphasized the need change can be stemmed. But Khatami ing venture, and its significance for Iran, for "a proud, prosperous, and indepen- has a political mandate, and a mass for the Middle East as a whole, and for a dent Iran," and for a dialogue among movement supporting him from below; Muslim world torn between an indeci- civilizations. and his country need not disintegrate or sive modernism and an assertive funda- transform its constitutional system for his mentalism. The outside world, Muslim hatami's tone, and the sub- project to be realized. and non-Muslim, is right to be a little stance of his reflections, Within Khatami's own thinking, there mesmerized. • have struck a responsive chord inside Iran. There is a widespreaK d feeling in that country of over 60 million that the goals of the revolution need reviewing, and that, faced with manifest problems at home and abroad, a diversity of views must Venus in Venice etnerge. Khatami's intellecttiai appeal is reinforced by his personal manner: he does not hector or denounce, he chooses BY ANKE HOLLANDER instead a calm, rational tone. And his modesty—he uses public transporta- tion and visits schools without official Titian*!) Women pomp—has impressed many Iranians. by Rona Goffen This is not to say that he has convinced all Iranians. There are those in the con- lYile Univenity Press, 342 pp., $60) servative camp who are determined to hen 1 was an overweight gent as she lies naked in her bracelet and sabotage him, by overt and covert ob- and anxious college her earrings. She buries the fingers of struction, and who see in Ali Khamene'i freshman, I kept a .small one hand in her shadowy pubic fleece a possible counter to Khatami. And there reproduction of Titian's and those of the other in a small bttnch are others, of secular orientation, who VenusW of Urbino over my desk. While of roses, and turns her head gently remain suspicious of anyone who has struggling with the desperate unwieldi- against the pillow to look sidelong into issued from the clerical camp, and re- ness of life, I fcund the picture an inspi- the viewer's eyes. Her hair is both tidy mains a clergyman. The great issue con- ration, a solace, a hope, a constant joy. and careless, both dark and fair; her fronting Khatami, and those who seek For a start, it was the very apotheosis body expresses both vital senstiality and to assess his progress, is how far he can of a plump g rl, intensely erotic and castial ease; her warm gaze is both elec- prevail over these oppositions. stipremely beajtiful; and then it was a tric and untroubled. Her form is harmo- It is certainly too soon to say; optimism glorious tritimph of painting. Titian's nious, unmarred by any special erotic would be as misguided as pessimism. technical mastery, conceptual genius, emphasis other than her own hand's In some respects Khatami resembles and sexual understanding had created a calm pose. She breathes no whiff of Gorbachev, who came to office in March sublime subjec; and a sublime object. It depravity or abandon, of death and cor- 1985 signaling a clear break, but with- hting above m\ books and papers repre- ruption tinder the velvet skin, but she is out the power to implement his inten- senting the perfect synthesis of sex and completely real. love, art and thought, facts and magic, tions. It is worth recalling that it took Her empty dress is slung over a maid's Gorbachev until July 1987, over two desire and science. I wanted to be Venus and I wanted to be her creator. shoulder. Her silky puppy is asleep on years, to constittite a Central Gommittee the bed, her room is in a sumptuous ofhis choosing. Ventis's young face is sweetly intelli- house. Her stirroundings say that she is

34 THE NEW REPUBUC OCTOBERS, 1998 rich; her peaceable curves, in tune with in sixteenth-century Venice and neigh- ona Goffen's book deals the universe, say she has found the love boring principalities, where actual rem- only with Titian's secular of her life. Her hand tells us that she is nants were rarer, were no le.ss glad to and mythological women, thinking of him. Her face tells us that commission visions of Classical antiquity, stretching that a hit to in- she is looking at him. The picture says R in the new humanist spirit. For their clude the conventionally errant and re- that mighty Aphrodite, who rules the taste, however, new images reflecting the pentant Mary Magdalen, as a compan- world, is yours alone. ancient world wotild have to .seem unself- ion for Lticretia, the raped and suicidal conscious, naturally sensual and atmo- Romati wife. Titian's other female Chris- itian was able to achieve spheric—that is, tnodern Venetian— tian saints and his various remarkable this kind of halancc again withotit heing stripped of their antique Virgins are not part of this book, though and again. Hardly any i den tit)'. I wonder why Goffen did not include other painter managed to For mythological scenes, which he the vivid Woman Taken in Adultery from make Tthe pagan deities—or the Chris- Titian's Giorgionesque period. C>offen called his poesie, Titian stirpassed the oth- tian saints, the Virgin and her son— erworldly Bellini and Giorgione, ttshig has written two hooks and many schol- seem so palpahly at home in the modern the modern Venetian mode as if he were arly articles on Venetian painting, and world. Titian had his own personal way employing the fresh, instinctive methods on individtial works hy Titian and Bel- of rendering sacredness, Christian or of an antique painter rendering the lini. Her new hook brings some of the pagan. He managed what seems a natu- nymphs from life. He would not convey views that she has expounded elsewhere rally randotn unity, the effect of life itself an ancient theme simply by quoting in to hear on an overarching thesis ahout ha\ing brotight ahoiit, for the sake of paint from surviving antiquities, most of Titian's use of women as subjects for this uniqtie revelation, the muted fttsion them sculptttre; all Titian's classical ref- painting. and concord among the picttired ele- erences were very carefully tnodified, as Goffen proposes Titiati as a painterly ments. Much of this was due to his champion of women, a Renaissance fem- genius for delicately asymmetrical com- were liis tnany refei ences to the works of position and for subtle facial and hodily his contemporaries and his predecessors. inist expressing his partisanship through expression, with which he could create a He also avoided too-glaringly modern his art, the unique exception to a pre- hlcnd of the cttrrent and the transcen- usages, whenever he stiggested the arti- vailing misogyny expressed throtigh the dent that seemed to hathe visibly mod- facts and the costumes of^ his own time art of others, as well as in a variety of ern persons in the living air of a lost and as elements in antiqtie scenes. By this writings, customs, laws, and everyday holy time. means, he could bring the sacred Ventis assumptions, many of which still pre- into a modern hedrooni like an impossi- vail. She further proposes that Titian's For Christian imagery, Titian's master ble dream, her divinity tempered by nor- strong empathy with women, stemming Bellini had already hegun creating some mal chc'umstance, the room's acttialities from a deep sense of identification with of this effect; hut Titian in particular suddenly harmonized hy her presence. them, caused him always to render their cotild do it with the sensuous universe of the ancient gods. How could he achieve it? First hy being Venetian, aud inherit- ing the distinctive Venetian tradition of painting. From Bellini and even more irom his colleague Giorgione, Titian learned the secrets of the atmospheric method, the famous colorito that the Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State painters of Venice opposed to the Floren- How the Courts Reformed America's Prisons tine insistence on disegno. Disegno medni Malcolm M. Feeley and Edward L. Rubin the controlled proportions, the clear drawing, and the contained modeling on "This is an ambitious project—systematic in its development anJ sweeping in its scope. Feeley which a Central Italian image depended and Rubin stake out controversial ground and defend that ground with empirical data, for its attthority, of which linear perspec- exhaustive research, and insightful analysis and argument. Their prose is straightforward and tive was also a binding element. efficient, devoid of jargon in the main. While this book tvill make an important contribution In the Florentine scheme for painting, to the academic literature, it also should be accessible to any serious reader ofnonfiction who where sculpture always seemed the stipe- is tvilling to invest the time and attention required to study such a complex and controversial rior model, color was the handmaid of set of public issues. This is certainly the best book anyone has ever written about the prison form, casting her warming tints over its cases. It is also the best book anyone has written about judicial policy making. " cool structtires. Btit Venetian painters —Larry W. Yaclde, Boston University Law School made color the master, a mode of formal Between 1965 and 1990, federal JLidj;ci in almost all of the states handed down sweep- composition in itself. Its stihtly layered arrangements—the colorito—alone cre- ing rulings that affected virtually every prison and jail in the United States, Without a ated the proportions, the shapes and the doubt judges were the most important prison reformers during this period. This book spaces, the mobile light and shade, the provides an account of this process, and uses it to explore the more general issue ot the drama and the details. Shifts of tone role of courts in the modern bureaucratic state. Ir provides detailed accounts of how and tint gave Venetian pictures a breath- the courts formulated and soughr to implement rheir orders, and how this action affected ing, immediate air; Florentine picture.s the traditional conception of federalism, separation of powers, and che rule of law. aimed at a lucid beauty made of order Cambridge Criminology Series and stability. 0-521-59353-0 Hardback $69.95 Classical themes went very well in the Florentine scheme, and learned patrons expected mythological paintings to dis- Available in bookstores or from 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211. play the self-conscious clarity, solidity, C^ A 1V4^RR TTlfiPi' ^^" to"*''ee 800-872-7423. and linearity that they found in the sculp- V-'-ti^ViiJ JVXAy\Jij ^^^ jj^g. http://www.cup.org tured remains of Classical art. Patrons UNIVERSITY PRESS MasterCardA/tSA accepted. Prices subject to change.

OCTOBER 5, 1998 THE NEW REPUBLIC 35 sexuality as individual, subjective, and odds with the intentional distortion that tory release and collapse, followed by powf 1 fill, as primary and independent— is the core of pornographic representa- total absence of lust and tbe need to Venus-like, you might say. tion. Plenty of the hard stuff remains rebuild from the beginning, perhaps Goffen omits Titian's holy women be- from the sixteenth century, to show the with some crude pictorial help. cause she presumes tlial (here were con- requiied effect at the time; and the soft Titian's Flora, wlio bears the name of straints on liis rendering of them; and version—exemplified by the luscious, an ancient Roman courtesan as well as she may tliink thai Titian's sympathy nipple-exposing, black-eyed dames often that of a minor Roman goddess, also with female sexuality does not appear rendered by P;ilma Vecchio, who are wears a fully gathered, sliding-off che- in his pictures of saints or the Virgin, excessively blonde-haired and balf-clad mise and a head of artificially blonde despite his singularly creative treatment in excessively full and emphatically un- hair, and you can find one of her nip- of them all. She is more interested in fastened chemises—is also unmistakable. ples if you look for it. In her portrait, those quasi-allegorical compositions in These girls are not heautiful, nor are however, Titian is clearly engaging with which Titian exercised complete imagi- the paintings; hut they arc slick and sexy. the larger erotic imagination that is native freedom, such as the Woma?) with Instead of instantly pleasing, such paint- sustained, increased, and deepened by a Mirroror the Three A^i'S of Man, where a ings and their subjects are instantly trou- gratification, not the one that is quickly shadowy and somewhat inert male is bling, like any pornography, in part fulfilled and exhausted. This painting, often seen iu a close amorous relation because they deliberately seek lo avoid unlike so many Palma versions, has been with a brilliantly rendered female, whom either serious pictorial harmony or a seri- carefully developed and modulated and brought to fruition as an example of per- Goffen sees commanding the scene and ous stake in natural reality. Through fect artistic and erotic equilibrium, a dictating the erotic terms. Palma's insistence on certain parts and beautifully composed painting of a beau- One ofGofTen's apparent reasons for not their .sum. many of his pictures show tiful real woman. The painting bears gazing at for a long time and repeatedly, to permit its slow power and its breathing presence to work on tbe feelings. We are not being shown a female image meant for instan- taneous effect. Flora, moreover, is not Venus, who has everything and does everything in everyway. This might even be intended. Goffen remarks, as an ideal Kady, here rendered as both an antique coiu tesan and an ever-fresh flowei' god- dess. There is a subtle action in this pic- ture that is missing from Palma's cruder renderings. Wilh her body still facing us. Flora looks downward otit of the frame as she begins to lurn in the same direc- tion; bui she seems to hesitate Just an itistant, before holding out her bouquet to the invisible lover who is not one of tis watchers. Venetian law at the time was severe about excess in clothing, with particular restrictions on the kinds and especially the amounts of fabric used. Stiff fines were imposed on tailors as well as on their customers. An extra pinch of dar- writing this book was to express her themselves to be forthright sexual fan- ing in Palma's sexy images must have impatience with a long tradition of writ- tasies inciting to lust, not dreams of a come from the clearly illegal yardage ings, continued by some recent art histo- consuming ero ic love, the kind that that went into those fluff^' undone rians, which insists that Titian's Venuses, moves the earth and perhaps the sun and chemises—nothing like the restrained together with his anonymous beauties other stars. slide of Flora's drape. Great Venetian such as Flora, La BelUi, Vanity, and Woman Goffen may believe, though she ex- ladies did wear elaborate and becoming in a Fur Coat, were intended as soft-core presses this somewhat obliquely, that clothes as necessary complements to pornographic images, with the straight- Titian's own imiigination about sex was their rank and beatity, and powerful fam- forward single aim of sexual arousal. the kind often thought of as female; that ilies could perhaps discreetly flout the Such an idea seems to have arisen years he understood ihe sort of sexual desire law. Paintings also show that lich cere- ago out of Titian's known friendship with that may possible be linked to the capac- monial robes were publicly worn by men the satirist Pietro Aretino. who wrote a ity for overall ccrporeal arotisal and the in Venetian government and other insti- lot of very explicit pornography along possibility of multiple orgasm, but which tutions; but to wear ostentatious clothing with much other coarse and scurrilous in any case is 3 physical desire that is as a clear sign of private wealth was not material that he was paid to produce. always on tap. sc to speak, and thus con- done, Goffen is somewhat overheated in her tinually ready tc blend with other expe- Venetian custom, as Goffen points defense of Titian against this charge, riences, including complex emotions, out, also imposed a purdah-like beha\ior preaching largely to the converted or thoughts, and ideas. It can be contrasted on the ladies of its fust families, even even beating a dead horse. The tem- with that sexual desire which is local and thotigh they were often the repositories pered beatity of the eroticism in Titian's immediate, invoking single-minded pur- of great fortunes and great names. anonymous women seems obviously at suit, concentrated action, hugely satisfac- Ladies rarely went out in the street. They

36 THE NEW REPUBLIC OCTOBERS, I998 watched ptiblic festivals from the window and Totirh or Sight and Hearing, and JIHAD IN THE WEST or the balcony, and they ceriainly did between the Ancients and the Moderns; Muslim Conquests from the not have their portraits painted. Many and further, by extension, between dis- 7th to the 21st Centuries Venetian gentlemen did, but their wives eg)w and colorito, between rational, sculp- were not portrayed to match, as they tural, masculine Florence and sensual, PAUL FREGOSI often were in all the other Italian cities. painterly, feminine Venice. The paragone could even precipitate canwhiU", Venice was out as a rivalry between Titian and (amous tor its many Michelangelo, the two longest-lived titans highly visible courtesans, of High Renaissance Italy. These two some wealthy, literate, artists—apart from daring to render and willMy as well as beautiful, beiiutifuily Heaven and Olympus as if they were dressed, and beaiuif'iilly housed. Book- right here, to bring immortal creatures lets with engravings and descriptions to life and immortalize the living so you of them were printed for the benellt of could not tell the difference—were both foreign visitors. To the dismay of many, internationally famous, both the close iheir tastefully stimptuoiis clothes and friends of nobles, kings, and popes, both their refined behavior made them indis- competing for the same clientele. Leo- tingtiishable from real ladies; and well- nardo and Raphael, the earlier contend- connected courtesans also got away with ers, were dead and out of the rtmning a certain nimiber of illegal excesses of by 1520, when Michelangelo and Titian dres.s without pacing the fines. were just getting fully under way. Did they have their portraits painted? 450 pp • Cloth S29.95 They seem to have imitated ladies in this et every Italian Renaissance ISBN 1-57392-247-1 lespect, too, at least in not letting their painter's constiint rival was names be attached to any. Titian and Apelles, the famous artist of In a bright and brisk narrative, Paul Palma were only two of the many Vene- Greek antiquity, who was Fregosi's unique and provocative tian artists who painted nameless beau- the courYt painter and the friend of work is the first, and only, general lies wearing elaborate dresses, partial Alexander the Great. And here is where history of the Jihad. undress, and classical ntidity; but Goffen Goffen's accotint of Titian's beauties hastens to tell tis that there exists no comes in. No work by Apelles stirvives, At bookstores everywhere, or directly from (toctiniented and named portrait of any only descriptions and anecdotes. Tlie Prometheus Books .sixieenth-rentmy Venetian cotntesan— descriptions all include lifelikeuess, the 59 John Glenn Drive-Amherst NY 14228-2197 except one by Tintoretto, now lost, of painted grapes that the birds peck at, the (800) 421-0351 • E-mail: PBooks6205@aol com the celebrated Veronica Franco. Of painted person that almost speaks: these Titian's named female portrait subjects, were what indicated to later ages how all except the two of his own daughter high the stakes were. were non-Venetian ladies. The pertinent anecdote was abotu Cioffen is so anxious to keep Titian at Apelles's portrait, commissioned by his New York Council for the Humanities a distance fiom dirty-mindedness that master, of .AJexander's dazzling mistress invitL-s you tn CL-lchrutc she plays down the likelihood that Flora Campaspe, with whom the king was be- State Humanities Month and the Venus of Urtjiuo and all his sotted. Apelles outdid himself in paint- with r\vo tree events in New York City: other Venuses and anonymotis dressed- ing her likeness, and .Alexander, perceiv- tip beauties are portraits of specific cour- ing from the picture that the painter tesans or prostitutes, even thotigh no- appreciated her more than he did, New York City: Intellectual and body knows which ones. If you define rewarded the artist by handing Cam- Creative Capital Octoher 5, 6:50 P.M. An courtesan as harlot, then "pornography," paspe over to hitii. This was considered exploration of wii:it makes New York City or pictming whores, would be Titian's an eqtiitable exchange: ^Alexander seems great, with NYU historian Thomas crime. And lor Goffen. all pornography to have found that he liked her better Bender as moderator. Panelists include is nothing btu an intolerable assault in the picture. (A lesson for the ages, Paul LcClerc, President, The New York tipou women, a form of rape. Since her indeed.) Campaspe's own emotions and Public Library; Diane Ravitch, education main theme about Titian is his deep behavior had no role in the story, be- policy expert; and C^ar! Wcisbrod, President, respect for women's sextiality, she can cause her character and her feelings Alliance for Downtown New York. At never read him as veering over even came to life only in the portrait. Apelles Cooper Union's Great Hall, Cooper Square. for a minute into any of the sixteenth- thus deserved to have her, because he centtiry sexual attitudes that she now knew how to see her, and her true call- anathematizes. ing was posing for him. Visualizing History Odobt-r 14, 6:00 P.M. Historian Simon Schama (Columbia Goffen stresses instead Titian's pre- In this suggestive tale Goffen locates Universit\'), the Council's 1998 Scholar of occupation, and that of other Italian the equivalence of a beautiful painting the '^'ear, will examine ways to bring more Renaissance painters, with the paragone. and a beautiful woman, as she interprets imagination to teaching history. At the This denoted an esthetic competition or its later understanding among Renais- rivalry, borrowed from antiquity, test- sance painters and patrons. A beautiful Donncll Library Center, 20 West 53rd ing which of the arts best represented Titian painting of a beautiful woman Street. Spai'e is Hmi/eei, call for resemitions. Reality, or, if you preferred. Beauty—two would show first of all how well the great aspects, one could say, of Truth. The modern Venetian otitdid his ancient For more information, call the Council: jmragone was a malleable idea, variotisly Greek rival; but it would further exem- (212) 233-1131 conceived as existing between Painting plify the creative beauty of art as an or visit our website: and Sculpture, between the Visual Aits eqtiivalent of the transforming power www.culturefront.org and Literattire, but also between Sight of love, both simultaneously dwelling in

OCTOBER 5,1998 THE NEW REPUBLIC 37 the beautifully piciurt-d beauty of a Goffen appeats to be forever fight- who posed for Flora also posed for both woman. Patrons would seek lo own the ing her art-historical enemies, whom she figures in the magnificent and tiiysteri- beautiful image of a nameless beauty as finds assutiiing tbat Titian's beatities ous Sacred and Profane lMX)e, now knowti the quintessential example of Titian's were all courtesans atid the pictures all to have been commissioned as a tiiar- creative genius. Althotigh the model's the equivalent of Palma's most lnrid riage painting. Tbere she Is neither a beauty would be specific atid individ- efforts; and fttriber assuming that cour- courtesan nor a goddess. She is a bride: ual—a speakitig likenes.s, alive and com- tesans were de facto considered de- not the lady berself, wbo wottid not be pelling—its perfect fusion wilh the beau- graded and itnmoral. Sbe knows tbat portrayed in person, but the perfect ty of Titian's picture was what tiiattered Titiati's patronf^ must have assumed his beauty who stands for two aspects of the to the patron, not her identity; and ihis unnamed Venetian tnodels were whores bride's being. One wears the wedding presumably was what tiiattered to Titian, of some sort, siiee professional models dress and the myrtle crown with sensual too. did not exist. She also believes that sttch relish, holds tbe nuptial gift, and gazes gentietiien wert not disposed to despise alluringly at the bridegroom / viewer; udity and pointed refer- the beautiful subjects of pietut es for that the otber, a draped nude holding a lifted ences lo antique goddesses reason: a susceptible look was consid- lamp, gazes at her cottnterpart wbile were fine, but they were ered a nortnal female trait and no dis- lighting love's eternal fire. Togetber tbey unnecessary. A beautiful grace. Tbere is even a letter of Titian's expotmd tbe value—only lately prized in moderNn dress was appropriate as a set- saying he preferred bis local putlane for Veniee, says Goffen—of tbe bride's fresh ting for a perfect woman in a perfect bis poesie to tbe models be might find in and steady eorijttgal Itist. This bad be- painting, to exemplify the potent sway Ferrara. Nobody seetned to worry that cotiie a primary marital \'irttie in women, of beatity as generated by ait. Goffen tbe Virgins wert probably also posed for we are told, ever since contemporary neglects to say tliat strong feelings of lust by whores, witb their susceptibility suit- medical science bad deemed female were also appropriate, nol only to any ably muted. otgasm necessary for conception, and viewer of such a work, but also to its tbtts for the dutiful perpetuation of depicted subject and to its maker—in no et Cioffen seems to fear that dynasties. way ruled out, and perhaps even intensi- we have all bougbt the fied, by the larger forces invested in it. enemy line, and that we he same value and virttte, Goffen is amazingly defensive aboitl automatically despise any- Goffen explains, is being the idea that loose morals, suggested by one dubbeYd a ct'urtesan. Sbe forgets that extolled in tbe peerless their gentle air of et otic readiness, might some tiiigbt think worse of those dttbbed Venus of i'ririno, plainly by be attributed to the women who posed ladies. Maybe the models wet e all excep- the subject'Ts own gesture. This vision for these masterpieces. She takes great tionally pretty b.tusemaids? This leartied is in fact anotlier marriage picttire, bttt pains to establish, with several well- and seriotts stticly bas an annoying inco- this bride's role is being played by Venus supported examples, that a Renaissance herence, born o£ Goffen's periodic need herself, shown as if on her wedding owner of sueh a painting might honor it to express the correct sort of feminist night as sbe welcomes her apptoaeh- as a companion, using il as the reposi- prudery. She tnust tin necessarily tell tis ing bridegroom. Meanwbile her maids tory of his abiding affeetion along witb again and again tbat setistiality does tiot stow her finery in one of ber reqtiisite his ephemeral desires. Then she puz- preclude morality and that a Renaissance twin marriage-cbests, botb prominent at zlingly goes on lo insist tbat he would woman's virtue was tbottglit to appear the back o( the toom, and the dog iti ibe not implicate the subject's feelings in his in her beauty; mttst point out tbat the foreground plays his part as the em- own; and sbe offers tbis as if it were a gaze of the pictured beauty captures blem of fidelity. We know that she really crucial matter—as if attributing lust to the viewer's, not tbe other way; and tiiust is Vetius, too, becatise her pose itnitates tbe subject would have been a way to repeatedly append not very potent Gioigione's celebrated Sleeping Venus despise ber, and that no patron in tbe quotes from Lttee Irigaray ("Here the from a quarter of a centtiry before, sixteenth century would do tbat. But unconsciotis is speaking. And how cottld whose nearby Ctipid identified her tben. tbat is jiisl what she accuses t;s modern it be otherwise? Above all when it speaks The tiiodel for tbis Venus is the same viewers of doing when she appears to of sextial difference"), whotii she also wotnan who appears as Titian's l.a Bella. be asking why an anonymous Venetiati invokes wbile ridiculously complainitig still gazing at its witb ber soft, intelligent beauty must always be a courtesan. To that "the clitot is [is] suppressed or omit- eyes, and now wearing a preciotts diess whieh one might respond, why not? ted" in standard nude art. One migbt of gold-embroidered bltte to play the Especially if respectable ladies never ask why (and how, exactly) the clitoris Ideal Beatity witb all her finery on. The posed in Venice. shotiid be inelttded iti nude art, when it line traced by tbe two-inch edge of is not visible on naked women. chemise showing above tbe neckline of Goffen points to the portrait of the tbis dress is a triumpb of nuance, offer- young, blonde, and picttire-perfect Goffen also refers to the delieate ges- ing perhaps the greatest decolletage in noblewotnan Joanna of Aragon, painted ture witb wbicb A male figure in Bellini's all paintitig; and it is further set off by a in a low-necked red dress by Raphael Fea.'it of the Gods lifts one inch of a sleep-pittnging gold chain and the modish and his ptipil Gittlio Romano. This ing tiymph's (lem as an "attempted tbin scarf witb which Venetian women painting might well have been taken for rape," and the man as a "villain." And wottid soiten the stiff and wide opetiing the picture of a courtesan, she says, if sbe will repeatedly have it that Titian the of a lieavy dress. subject and artists were not thoioughly fetninist has can^fully made his stibjects' documented. She stiggests the same of clothes enlarge and enhance the power Courtesans or fishwives, Flora/Bride Titian's highly idealized portrait of of their bodies, not seeing tbat fasbion and Venus/Bella show that their trtie Isabella d'Este in open-collated rich was doing this for everybody at tbe time. ealling was posing for Titian, in whatever garb. Sbe also points, somewhat resent- The historical perspective that Goffen contexts Titian wished to rendei' them, fully, to Titian's many portraits of deli- wants to preach to ber readers escapes some of wbicb might well have been cious but nameless yoting men with ber when this particttlar fit comes over sacred. Oi course, Goffen does not cotii- melting gazes: tbese paintings are tiot ber, upsetting the balance of her intet- pare these two figures witb Titian's saints autotiiatically assumed to represent men esting book. and Virgins from tlie same decades in who sold their sexual favors. Goffen points out that tlif woman bis career; btu if we are permitted to

38 THE NEW REPUBLIC OCTOBERS, 199a consider iliese crossover possibilities for a monieni, it looks as if the model for THE Titian's nude and pensive Venus Anady- omene of about 1525 might well have GEAR UP WITH NEWREPUBLIC posed for his noble Pesaro Mddonna in the same year, and certainly received the same sympathetic treatment from the i HE NEW REPUBLIC is proud to present the latest in casual painter in each case. Beauty is its own excuse ibr being. apparel: THE NEW REPUBLIC sweatshirt and baseball cap.

ome years alter the bridal Venus, Titian began paint- This heavyweight sweatshirt is fashioned from the choicest ing a string of supine Venuses along with versions 95% cotton/5% polyester blend and custom embroidered with of a seateSd Venus looking in a mirror, hi our logo. Two color combina- all of these, says Goffen, he was engaging with the fmragone of the setises, demon- tions are offered: with strating the supremacy of Sight over Touch and Hearing. He shows Venus black stitching ar redoubling her power by meeting her white stitching. own gaze in the glass, while one cupid holds up the mirror and another con- Available in firms it by gazing at her. The fur stroking Venus's skin, the caress that she gives adult sizes herself, and the cupid's touch on her L, XL, and arm are all submitted to the mirror's generative glance, as if to show that the XXL, this eye creates all sensory joy. crewneck Each of the five lush recumbent Venuses lies nude on her couch, with a fleece can be well-dressed musician at her feet who yours for only $29.^ twists away from his instrument to stare intently at her crotch, or at her breasts as {add $3.50 for XXL Oupid caresses them. The music contin- ues; but she ttirns away her head to nuz- sizes). zle Cupid or to receive a garland from his hand, to look at her dog or to gaze into space, indifferent to the avid stare THE NEW REPUBLIC baseball hat—made from a soft 100% that sets the musician's hands in motion, even unwilling to play the flute that she brushed cotton twill—comes in black with our logo custom sometimes holds. Music cannot move embroidered in crisp white. At just $14.95, this cap will be- her; biu the sight of her strongly moves the music-maker. Titian made the first come the perfect accessory to your casual wardrobe. three of these paintings in the late 1540s and early 1550s, the last two in the late 1560s. In all of them, Venus wears ear- High quality, superior sportswear, designed for comfort and rings and twin bracelets, a pearl or a gold necklace, aud well-dressed blonde made to live in. Satisfaction guaranteed. Order yours today! hair; her bed is always draped in white linen and heavy silk and shaded by a swagged silk curtain. Name A short while later Titian painted his Phone To order, call toll-free first Rape of Lucretia. In the sixth century before Christ, this virtuous and beau- Shipping Address. 1-800-875-9151 tiful Roman wife's legendary rape by State . Zip_ (Monday-Friday. 9-5 EST) the Etruscan prince Sextus Tarquinius, i{)gether with her consequent public Sweatshirt(s): Baseball Cap{s): suicide against the protests of her hus- Qnantity Quantity band, provoked an avenging Roman Size Add $3.25 per item for revolt against the Tarquins that ulti- Color first class shipping & handling mately established Rome's indepen- Subtotal Suhtotal. Grand Total dence from Etruscan rule. Lucretia is thus the founding heroine of Roman If using Visa, MC or AMEX (circle one), please provide the following information: power, not just a symbol of outraged conjugal faith. She is a constant subject Account Number Expiration Date in Renaissance art, sometimes nude, Signature__ sometimes richly dressed, half-dressed, Mail this form along with check or money order made payable lo THK NHW RKPUBLIC, 1220 19th Street, or classically draped, always turning a N.W, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. knife against herself. In the story, she

OCTOBER 5, 1998 THE NEW REPUBLIC 39 publicly expresses her deep shame after temporaries. Goffeu is impressed by the violent and attenti\e to the balf-killed the rape, and her need to kill herself way Titian, in his early Paduan fresco of woman, though her draperies stay deco- right away lesl she prove lo be pregnant, a n)odern

40 THE NEW REPUBLIC OCTOBERS, I 998