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Jacqueline Weiskopff 

Titian’s Venus of Urbino 

“I am a lady young in beauty waiting

Until my truelove comes,

And then we kiss”

John Crowe Ransom, "Piazza Piece"

In 1538, at the time of the High Renaissance in Venice, Italy, during his later mature years, Titian painted a portrait of the Venus of Urbino. It was commissioned for Guidobaldo II della Rovere Urbino, then duke of Camerino, (Hartt pg. 728) the heir of Francesco Maria della Rovere. This masterpiece is not only a portrait of a dreamy nude woman, but a nude goddess, the Greek goddess Venus. Barely awake Venus looks upon her viewer with a relaxed and sensual expression that says..."I am a woman Goddess and I am ready to shower those that gaze upon me with love and affection." Titian may have called this piece "Venus of Urbino," but one wonders due to great similarities if this isn't the lovely Danae, the Greek princess who conceived her son Perseus from a shower of gold. 

Titian, student of Giorgione da Castelfranco painted a like portrait; Sleeping Venus, Giorgione's most famous piece, (Robinson pg. 82) however; this piece depicts Venus as a sleeping nude. It was Titian that finished Giorgione's masterpiece, as it was not yet complete upon his death. Titian who lived a long life created many pieces of work.  Some of his many paintings were depictions of both the Greek goddess Venus and the Greek princess Danae. Beyond the likeness of each painting, Titian was a Venetian painter and was concerned with color and light as all Venetian painters were, but Titian had a skill that would out do all others.

Tiziano Vecellio, better known as Titan, was born in1488.  He grew up in a family of four in Pieve di Cadore, a little village in the Dolomites which is in an area of north-eastern Italy. (Wikipedia) He moved to Venice as a small boy around the age of 8 to 10 years old with his older brother. He was trained under Giovianni Bellini and Giorgione of Castelfranco. He became a shrewd businessman, who invested his earnings and by the time he was 45 years old in 1533 was already wealthy and famous. (Hartt, pg. 636) So famous that there is tale that one day, when Charles V was visiting his studio, Titian dropped his brush and the emperor stooped to pick it up. (Hartt, pg. 636) Considering the 16^th century, emperors just were not known to behave in this type of manner. 

His fame and popularity resulted in commissions from many powerful families.  Titian was a Venetian artist in the Cinquecento period and his work consisted of altarpieces, frescos, pastoral landscapes, mythologies and portraits. (Metmuseum) As with all Venetian artists he tended to focus on color, light effects, perfected oil on canvas medium and developed the Impasto-technique of raised brushstrokes of thick paint.  Titian was primarily a painter of men as Dr. Powers of the Pitti Gallery of Florence suggests “Titian was not greatly interested in women, regarding them as” objects “of physical beauty, as wearer's of fine costumes and jewels." (Oldandsold)

Renaissance men were surely the primary audience in Cinquecento Italy; except, Venus of Urbino is no man. Unlike that of Giorgione's Sleeping Venus, Venus of Urbino is awake and looks upon us.  She lies upon her couch with her dog fast asleep at her feet. Her beautiful brown hair flows down over her shoulders. This warm and demythologized Venus was painted in 1538, it is now located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, the main art museum in Florence. Her color is luminous and soft in its tonality. Titian used a technique (impasto) in his brushwork that consisted of thick paint that shaped forms. As Guidobaldo commissioned this piece refers to the subject simply as "the nude woman," it is possible that Titian used Guidobaldo's wife, Eleonora Gonzaga, as the model. (Hartt pg. 636) 

Perhaps, this lady-in-waiting who basks in the warmth of her own flesh does represent Guidobaldo's lover (wife) as the city / state of Urbino at the time was ruled by Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino. (Robinson, pg. 82) Also, it was not uncommon to present gifts such as paintings to newly married couples. The chest in the background of the painting is one such representation of a marital gift. The two servants to the rear of the painting are rummaging through the chest, possibly looking for clothing that they could dress their young princess in as this could be her wedding night. She is holding a bouquet of flowers in her right hand, possibly symbolizing her renewed status. Heavy thick drapery separates the left rear portion of the painting as the right side of the painting opens up to light as the window brings forth illumination creating a three dimensional image.

Venus of Urbino

Titian, 1538

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Oil on canvas, medium 47 X 65

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/t/titian/titian_venus_of_urbino.jpg

 There are numerous oils depicting Venus done by many different artists through the ages; however with the Venetian painters, illuminating a nude body, especially with that of a Greek goddess, a woman of erotic mystery is needless to say desired. Titian’s visit to Rome produced this series of reclining Venuses and Danaes.  Their attributes are very similar which include bracelets, reclining nude, dog, drapery, and statues. Danae attributes consist of gold coins and chest. Venus's attributes consist of doves, swans, scallop shell, flaming torch, rose, myrtle and the mirror. (Lodwick)

Venus / Aphrodite were the goddess of love and beauty.  Venus is the Roman version of the Greek Aphrodite.  She was the loveliest of all the gods who presided over erotic love and feminine beauty. (Lodwick pg. 112) Aphrodite was not only a goddess of sexual love but also of the affection that sustains social life. The meaning of her name is uncertain, although the ancient Greeks came to believe it referred to foam. Quite possibly this belief arose from the story of Aphrodite's birth. When the Titan "Cronos" cut off the penis of his father Ouranos with a sharp sickle, he cast the immortal member into the sea, where it floated amid white foam. Inside the penis Aphrodite grew and was then washed up at Paphos on Cyprus.  (Cotterell/Storm pg. 20)

Danae was the daughter of King Acrisius of Argos in Greece. Her father imprisoned her in an underground room because he learned from an oracle that his future grandson would kill him one day. While locked away, Zeus one of the mightiest Greek gods, otherwise known as Jupiter as the Roman god, caught sight of her and transformed himself into a shower of gold and slipped through a small opening in the prison’s roof.  He then poured himself onto Danae's lap causing her to conceive.  As the story continues with much adventure, the kings grandson, Perseus, ultimately kills his grandfather by a freak accident when throwing a discus at the games in Larissa, the discus hit the king on the head.  (Cotterell/Storm pg. 75)

Titian died in Venice from the plague August 27, 1576.  He was approximately 99 years of age; however, there is much controversy over his exact age.  He was the only victim of that plague outbreak to be given a church burial and was interred in the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari as intended. He lies near his own famous painting, the Madonna di Ca Pesaro.  Immediately after Titian's death his son Phillip II and his pictorial assistant Orazio died of the same epidemic. (Wikipedia)  Venus of Urbino still lives on at the Galleria degli Uffizi, unfortunately the painting was damaged when it was adhered to a new lining by ironing; as a result Titians rich impasto brushwork was flattened.  Danae and the Shower of Gold also lives on in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.  The two paintings with their similarities being the same are perfect examples of Titian's rich artistic talent and are consistent with the High Renaissance in Venice.  And whether the Venus of Urbino is indeed the lover of the Duke or Urbino or a copy of Giorgione's Sleeping Venus, or even Titian's own replication of "Danae", the nude Goddess invites us to enjoy our vision of her perfectly luminated body within her luxurious surroundings.

                                                Who is in love with loveliness,

                                                Need not shake with cold;

                                                For he may tear a star in two,

                                                 And frock himself in gold...

Lizette Woodworth Reese, "Miracle"

Bibliography

Robinson, Walter.  Instant Art History, From Cave Art to Pop Art. New York:  Fawcett Books, 1995. 

Lodwick, Marcus. The Museum Companion, Understanding Western Art.  New York:  Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2002.

 Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins, David G. History of Italian Renaissance Art.  Prentice Hall, Inc., and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. 2003.

 Hartt, Frederick.  Art, A History Of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture.  Prentice Hall, Inc., and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. 1993. 

Cotterell, Arthur and Storm, Rachel. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology.  Anness Publishing Limited and Hermes House. London. 1999. 

Untermeyer, Louis. Modern American Poetry & Modern British Poetry. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1942.

 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titian#Childhood, April/2005

 Metmuseum: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tita/hd_tita.htm, April/2005 

Oldandsold: http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/venice4.shtml, April/2005

Jacqueline Weiskopff is an Art History major at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania.  She is also employed as a financial aid officer with Mansfield University.