Lecture 8: Venice - Giorgione, Titian
"Sacra conversazione" - uniting saints from different eras, Bellini created a feeling of serenity and spiritual calm through the harmonious and balanced presentation of color and light. - No interaction among the figures - Line is not a chief agent of form, outlines dissolve in light and shadow - Glowing color produces a soft radiance that envelops the forms with an atmospheric haze and enhances their majestic serenity
Giovanni Bellini, "San Zaccaria Altarpiece," 1505. Oil (pg. 482).
One of the great masters of the Venetian painting school, who developed the concept of "poesia," poetical painting. The subjects of his paintings ("Pastoral Symphony", "The Tempest") are often impossible to identify. HIs primary goal was to evoke a pastoral mood (501).
Giorgione (ca. 1477-1510)
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Giorgione, "The Tempest," ca. 1510 and Raphael
• Displays the interest in the poetic qualities of the natural landscape inhabited by humans. • Subject is unidentified/unknown; contributes to the enigmatic quality and intriguing air.
Giorgione, "The Tempest," ca. 1510. Oil (pg. 484). • What interest of Giorgione's does this image display? • Who is the subject of this painting and how does it contribute to a specific quality of the painting?
Impasto
Giorgione, "The Tempest," ca. 1510. Oil (pg. 484). Detail. What painting technique does this display?
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Giovanni Bellini, "San Zaccaria Altarpiece," 1505 and Mossacio
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Giovanni Bellini, "San Zaccaria Altarpiece," 1505. Detail and Masaccio, Detail
Painting that applies the pigment thickly so that brush or palette knife marks are visible
Impasto
The official painter of the Venetian Republic, won renown for his rich surface textres and display of color. He established oil color on canvas as the typical medium of the Western pictorial tradition (501). • A supreme colorist • Most extraordinary and prolific of the great Venetian painters
Titian (ca. 1490-1576)
• Ability to convey light through color. Through vibrant color he infused the image with a drama and intensity
Titian, "Assumption of the Virgin," 1516-1518 •What ability of Titian did he win renown for with this piece?
Titian's remarkable ability to convey light through color emerges in this major altarpiece. Through vibrant color, Titian infused the image with a drama and intensity that assured his lofty reputation, then and now.
Titian, "Assumption of the Virgin," 1516-1518. Oil (pg. 485). •What does Titian do with color in this painting?
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Titian, "Flaying of Marsyas, ca. 1570-75.
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Titian, "Flaying of Marsyas, ca. 1570-75. Detail.
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Titian, "Venus of Urbino," 1583 and Jan van Eyck
Color plays a prominent role. Titian used color not simply to record surface appearance but also to organize his placement of forms. The two deep reds (in the foreground cushions and in the background skirt) play a critical role in the composition as a gauge of distance and as indicators of an implied diagonal opposed to the real one of the reclining figure.
Titian, "Venus of Urbino," 1583. Oil (pg. 488). • What does Titian do with color in this painting?
High Renaissance: • 1500-1520 • Artistic developments in Italy → interest in perspective, anatomy, and classical cultures
Map of Italy, High Renaissance
