ART 235: Pre-Modern Art History

Peter Humfrey's engaging monograph offers an informative overview to the life and works of Titian, one of the most successful Italian painters of the sixteenth century. Renowned for his extraordinary use of colour, among other skills, Titian was not only in demand as a portrait and landscape painter but was also commissioned to paint a wide variety of religious and mythological subjects, working for patrons as prominent as the pope, the German emperor and the King of Spain.

This dazzling survey of 16th-century Venetian painting captures the striking colors and revolutionary characteristics of one of art history's greatest chapters. It is hard to imagine more profoundly influential artists than the Venetian painters of the 16th century. Whether creating sweeping devotional altarpieces or intimate portraits, the Venetian painters changed the way artists employed color and composition. These defining qualities are on brilliant display in this book that covers fascinating aspects of the work of Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Lorenzo Lotto, Jacopo Bassano, and many others. More than one hundred paintings, drawings, and prints are reproduced in stunning detail. Side-by-side comparisons draw readers into the conversations between Venetian artists as they tackled similar subjects and vied for commissions. The book opens with fascinating essays about the history of 16th-century Venice, the Venetian School of painting, and the techniques of the Venetian masters. As beautiful as it is informative, this book features all of the excitement and splendor of one of the most prolific and important chapters in the history of European art.

A celebration of one of the most important groups of Renaissance paintings Titian (active 1506-1576) produced a masterful group of paintings for Philip II of Spain, celebrating the loves of gods, goddesses, and mortals. Depicting scenes from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses, Titian named them "poesie" and considered the works as visual equivalents of poetry. This volume presents a detailed study of the complete series--Danaë, Venus and Adonis, Perseus and Andromeda, Diana and Actaeon, Diana and Callisto, and The Rape of Europa, as well as The Death of Actaeon--lavishly illustrated with details of these emotionally charged paintings. The book explores Titian's creative process and technique, in addition to his use of literary and visual sources and his correspondence with Philip II. The artistic legacy of the series for later European painting is also examined in the works of artists such as Rubens, Velázquez, and Rembrandt. Offering the most comprehensive overview of these remarkable works, Titian: Love, Desire, Death is an indispensable resource for scholars and admirers of Renaissance painting.