Exhibition of the week Titian: Love, Desire, Death
Even before the pandemic, the National Gallery’s blockbuster Titian exhibition was a show that “most of us lovers of Renaissance art never believed we would see in our lifetimes”, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times: the Venetian artist’s masterly
series, united for the first time. And for a while, it looked as though we might be proved right: just three days after it opened, the gallery went into indefinite lockdown. But now that it has reopened and the exhibition’s run has been extended, visitors can once again see this “remarkable” show. Although it contains just seven paintings, they are works of incalculable significance. Titian created the series of masterpieces he called [poems] between the early 1550s and his death in 1576, as a commission for Philip II of Spain. Depicting “various mythological escapades between gods and mortals, in which the mortals invariably come off worst”, these paintings are among the greatest works of Renaissance art. Although nominally companion pieces, they had never before been exhibited together, instead ending up scattered across museums from Boston to Madrid. Now, in a masterstroke of diplomacy worthy of “many Henry Kissingers”, the National Gallery has united them for the first time in their near-five-century existence. The result is a “transfixing” experience from start to finish.
Poesie
Poesie
National Gallery, London WC2 (020-7747 2885, nationalgallery.org.uk). Until 17 January 2021
When Titian first met the future Philip II in 1548, he was aware that the 21-year-old prince was a dedicated “womaniser”, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. He thus decided to paint a subject matter that his client “would enjoy”: namely, scenes of
Nowhere is this truer than in the final work of the series, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. Left apparently unfinished at the time of Titian’s death, depicts the goddess Diana readying her bow to attack the hunter, whom she had transformed into a stag after he stumbled on her bathing in the woods. Actaeon’s “faithful hounds, so sympathetically painted by the dog-loving Titian, are already flying to attack”; moments later, they will rip their now unrecognisable master to shreds. The scene is “less dramatic than tragic, sorrowful, immensely subtle”. Reviewing paintings of such “supreme” calibre feels “slightly absurd”, said Martin Gayford in The Spectator. These works are the “touchstones from which Rubens, Velázquez and Rembrandt learnt and their successors still do”. Van Dyck actually owned
Lucian Freud thought and
were jointly “the most beautiful pictures in the world”. You need only visit the show to see why.
News from the art world
Milton Glaser, one of America’s most influential graphic designers, has died at the age of 91, said Rowan Moore in The Observer. His name might not be immediately familiar, but it’s “hard to think of any visual artist so pervasive in his influence”. Glaser helped create “what became the look of the 1960s: flowing lines, rainbow colours, strong patterns” – as seen on his psychedelic inlay poster for the 1967 version of Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. He also designed the logos for DC comics and Brooklyn beer, and the title font for New York magazine. Yet the design for which he will always be best remembered is the “iconic” I NY logo, said Sarah Cascone on ArtNet. ♥ Based on a sketch Glaser made in the back of a taxi in 1976, the “legendary” graphic was created to promote tourism and raise spirits p in his then-bankrupt and crime-ridden hometown. It became an instant classic and a ubiquitous sight worldwide. He created it pro bono and never made a cent out of it, but Glaser didn’t begrudge its success.
Callisto
“love and desire” based mostly on tales from Ovid’s
The first canvas he sent Philip, 1553’s is a perfect example of Titian’s mastery of sensual imagery. The eponymous heroine is depicted lying on a “plush canopied bed”, naked but for a bracelet and earrings; her “lustrous flesh positively glows”. In
meanwhile, Titian lavishes attention on the goddess’s “voluptuous, undulating back”. Yet the artist wasn’t “out to titillate. At least, not entirely.” These are works of “emotional and psychological complexity”, in which women often wield more power than men.
Metamorphoses.
Danaë,
Adonis,
Venus and
The Death of Actaeon
Perseus and Andromeda. The Death of Actaeon Diana and
“Partly I think it endures because it was never just a marketing device,” he said. “It was an expression of how people felt about New York during a very, very tough time... It was emotional, and it was real.”