The National Gallery of Art had a Titian exhibit this summer, and luckily I was working in DC at the time. So, not having anything else to blog about, and since this blog is primarily devoted towards whatever drivel happens to pass through my mind, I'm going to post one of my favorite paintings from this exhibit, which is rather maladroitly entitled: Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Dominic and a Donor. (presumably, the last guy isn't Saint Donor, but rather the slob who commissioned the work).
Unfortunately, I could not find a JPEG, so the painting has to be seen at this link.
I particularly like how the paintings background is divided in half, with the colorful clothing of the women contrasted with the neutral backdrop of the building (which to me appears to anticipate Velazquez) while the darker clothing of the men is draped by the eye-popping landscape.
What is particularly neat about this painting is how Titian managed to use a rather cliche image (a devotional image of the "Virgin and Child" done a thousand times before hand) and managed to fuse together the techniques of portraiture and landscape in one painting, render the entire painting in vivid colors, and pose the individuals turning towards each other in media res, without any of these elements diminishing the others.
Quite a juggling act that is carried off beautifully.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment