Titian and the image of the woman in the Venetian sixteenth century: interview with Stefano Zuffi
The pivot is there female figurethe red thread is Titianflanked by others great contemporary paintersthe century is the sixteenththe city is there Serenissimahere are the components of the exhibition Titian and the image of the woman in the Venetian sixteenth century.
A fifty canvasesof which 16 by the artist from Pieve di Cadore, in addition to sculptures in bronze and marblesome jewel and some volumes are housed in the rooms of Palazzo Reale in Milan until 5 June.
A variegated female universeMadonnas, saints, women of virtue and sinful women and then courtesans, noblewomen, poetesses, lovers with elegant dresses, sophisticated hairstyles and refined jewels, observes the visitor from canvases with full of colorswhose richness and spectacularity was the characteristic of the Venetian school of the 16th century.
TITIAN Young woman with plumed hat, 1534 1536 ca
Until the 15th century the pictorial image of the woman was linked toangelic aspect; with the advent of the lords and therefore the change of commissions is represented the real woman.
What kind of artistic approach do the painters have in dealing with this change? We ask Stefano Zuffi, art historian and exhibition consultant.
“On the one hand there are women of power, on display we are greeted by a sumptuous image of Isabella D’Este, Marquise of Mantua, who, once widowed, takes over the reins of the state. Women who also have political and not just intellectual power.
TIZIANO Isabella d’Este in black, 1534 1536 ca Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
On the other hand, the very characteristic trend of the Venetian 16th century is the debate that opens up on autonomy and on the difference of the female mind and sensitivity compared to the male one.
Woman is no longer subject to man but claims, especially in Venice, an autonomy of judgment and a role in society that is not that of wife and mother or of angelic object of desire, as in Petrarchian poetry or in the more sophisticated of the woman almost dreamed of. She is a real woman, in flesh and blood ”.
The woman is painted primarily in her external beauty, princesses, courtesans, noblewomen … Are painters ready to grasp also the interiority?
You have to be great people and maybe possibly also an art genius. Titian was. He had a kind of respect towards the woman who is truly special and this also concerns his private life: after all Tiziano, who had this very long, lucky and successful life, was happy and in his existence there are very women. important: his wife Cecilia, his daughter Lavinia, of whom Titian, follows all childhood, adolescence, youth up to engagement and marriage. There is his sister Orsa who has been by his side all his life, since they were children. Female figures are important in his life.
Any other painter?
Difficult to say. On display, one of the masterpieces is Giorgione’s “Laura”, a girl who is discovering her breasts: we can say that perhaps she is a girl she is offering herself, who shows her thanks for her. In reality, if we look closely, we see that it is a very chaste, very controlled, very conscious gesture. Awareness is perhaps the important thing.
GIORGIONE Laura (1506)
Here, when the woman no longer holds the angelic component, she is painted with a carnality and sensuality that did not exist before.
Sensuality, physical love is very important, it is not denied, not put aside; it is not an aspect that cannot be talked about. Indeed it is illustrated, and from this point of view Titian is then particularly explicit. It wasn’t there before. It is part of this great progress that women reached in the 16th century. When we see the loves of the gods, goddesses or water lilies painted by Titian, but also by Veronese, we are not talking about Tintoretto, they are perfectly aware and consenting.
They are not victims of lust, of lustful men.
However, we have an example in Titian’s “Tarquinius and Lucrezia” which represents an aggression against a woman who will then be raped by this man, in which Titian condemns the man, makes him brutal, disgusting, filthy, paints him in a dirty way. He is stained inside. While Lucrezia who suffers this attack is candid, very pure and is the victim of this sordid violence of man.
In other cases, however, the woman is fully involved and consenting, especially in the last painting with which the exhibition ends: “Nymph and shepherd” by Titian, Amor omnia vincit, is a hymn to love in which the woman is even more central and protagonist of man “.
TITIAN and Maria Maddalena workshop 1565 ca. Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Divided into sections, the exhibition, produced by the Municipality of Milan and Skira publisher, in collaboration with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, is a celebration of the female image expressed through a broad and multifaceted investigation of themes.
Titian and the image of the woman in the Venetian sixteenth century
Royal Palace – Piazza Duomo 12 – Milan
Duration: until June 5, 2022
Timetables: 10 / 19.30; Thursday 10 / 22.30; closed on Mondays
Entrances: € 14 – reduced € 12
www.palazzorealemilano.it
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