Dearest uncultured swine,
I’ve never been naturally gifted or talented and I assumed this was a bad, bad thing. Being a gifted and talented person seemed cute and easy, removing speculation on one’s divine purpose, while the common man schlepped around trying to find meaning in something like accounting. Like drawing blood from a stone. My perspective on these blessings have changed after reading about Titian. Grab your spectacles, your espresso and scroll on.
A comprehensive history of Titian
Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian, was born in 1490-ish to wealthy parents in Venice, Italy. At a young age he was given every opportunity to pursue painting, because he was connected as fuck. He studied under talented craftsmen and painters, eventually at the best schools in the country. He got asked to do a few cathedrals and frescos and what not. Turns out he was pretty decent. He died peacefully around the age of 88.
The most interesting thing about Titian
Was not Titian. There are probably several inaccuracies above because I was too mind-numbingly bored reading about the mans good fortune, poor sod. But anyone remotely interested in art history knows of Titian and considers his work artistically significant. It’s also true that he inspired generations of artists after him. So what the fuck was it about this man?
There are two answers to this, one is right and one is true. Look at his masterpiece, Assumption of the Virgin (1516-18 (above)), and the first thing you’ll notice is colour. Titian was maybe most known for using a vivid colour palette. At the time, this piece was a unique and striking visual affront, equivalent to our experience of Eurovision today. Over-stimulating but spiritual. Assumption caused an immediate sensation and spearheaded Titian’s avant garde reputation.
You might also notice the composition of Assumption shows three levels of heaven and earth. For the next decade Titian experimented with this structure, eventually creating a piece that still gets scholars hot and bothered today, Pesaro Madonna (1519 - 26 (above)). Aside from unusual techniques, such as use of diagonal plane, Madonna was significant because it broke a centuries long convention: Titian didn’t centre the devotional subject (Virgin Mary). This change likely germinated the Baroque period some century later. My god I wish I cared.
It’s right that these techniques should, and did, make Titian impressive. But it’s true that he painted a good boob. By the 1520-30s, he was at the height of his fame and ripe for a bad-boy arc. In classic Titian style, this too was fairly tepid but for seminal piece, Venus of Urbino (1534 (below)). At this point, reclining female nudes in Venice were commonplace because of a nude Titian collaborated on 25 years prior. But Venus was different.
She looks licentiously at the viewer undaunted, her hand rests on her pubic mound to imply masturbation, and most scandalously, she’s inside. To the art institutions of yore, it was most appropriate for women to be tits-out, outside. Interior spaces were considered too private, and Titian had humanised his Venus by inviting us into her space. His model was also likely to be a courtesan, though some speculate she was a client that didn’t commission the piece (so he was getting off with a patrons wife).
Venus wasn’t well received at the time, but did go on to inspire the biggest flirt of the nineteenth century. Edouard Manet painted his infamous, Olympia (1863 (above)), to be exactly like Titian’s Venus, if Venus had a smoking habit and a place to be. Re-interpreted for post-Realism, Olympia’s grubby hands and bored expression were immediately loathed and derided. The more human these courtesans were made, the more despised the paintings were. Though Titian’s Venus was tame in comparison to Manet, the c*nt had been dead for like 300 years.
The ‘separating art from the artist’ debate is usually reserved for the troubled sort. I can feel scholars, or those who’ve seen Titian’s work in the flesh, showing me tickets of what his work contributed and becoming vexed at my nonchalance, “but the Baroques! the colours! the movement!” they scream. I agree, Titian had tremendous talent and influenced generations of artists. But this is a gossip rag thinly veiled as an arts and culture newsletter and whatever the inverse of a boner is, Titian gave me that.
Give me a dishevelled and impoverished Modigliani who dedicated his short life to painting and sculpture, give me the saint turned street urchin Vincent Van Gogh, or forgotten story of the courtesan who modelled for a dull bearded painter. Give me a sewer rat so desperate to become a chef he controls a mans body using clumps of his hair and together they manage to perfect the ratatouille.
Things got out of hand and I apologise.
Exciting things going on at Dis Content headquarters, both pertaining to the newsletter and not. Ideas are percolating for this ‘intimate’ community I hope to bring to fruition soonish - my word on this is as strong as butter. Do you ever feel like excited for things but a bit sleepy and it comes out as motivated but also crying? Just me?
Thanks Grace for editing thanks YOU for reading, lots of love
Maggie Jean xoxoxox