PESARO MADONNATrained by both Bellini and
Giorgione, Titian learned so well from them that even
today scholars cannot concur about the degree of his
participation in their later works. However, it is clear
that Titian completed several of Bellini’s and Giorgione’s
unfinished paintings, including the background of Bel-
lini’s Feast of the Gods(FIG. 22-34). On Bellini’s death in
1516, the Republic of Venice appointed Titian its official
painter. Shortly thereafter, Bishop Jacopo Pesaro com-
missioned him to paint Madonna of the Pesaro Family
(FIG. 22-38) and presented it to the church of the Frari,
which already housed Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin.
This new work, with its rich surface textures and
dazzling display of color in all its nuances, furthered
Titian’s reputation and established his personal style.
Pesaro, bishop of Paphos in Cyprus and com-
mander of the papal fleet, had led a successful expedi-
tion in 1502 against the Turks during the Venetian-
Turkish war and commissioned this painting in
gratitude. In a stately sunlit setting in what may be the
Madonna’s palace in Heaven, Mary receives the com-
mander, who kneels dutifully at the foot of her throne.
A soldier (Saint George?) behind the commander car-
ries a banner with the escutcheons (shields with coats
of arms) of the Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) and of Pe-
saro. Behind him is a turbaned Turk, a prisoner of war
of the Christian forces. Saint Peter appears seated on
the steps of the throne, and Saint Francis introduces
other Pesaro family members (all male—Italian depic-
tions of donors in this era typically excluded women
and children), who kneel solemnly in the right fore-
ground. Thus, Titian entwined the human and the
heavenly, depicting the Madonna and saints honoring
the achievements of a specific man in this particular
world. A quite worldly transaction takes place (albeit
beneath a heavenly cloud bearing angels) between a queen and her
court and loyal servants. Titian constructed this tableau in terms of
Renaissance protocol and courtly splendor.
A prime characteristic of High Renaissance painting is the mass-
ing of monumental figures, singly and in groups, within a weighty and
majestic architecture. But here Titian did not compose a horizontal
and symmetrical arrangement, as did Leonardo in Last Supper (FIG.
22-4) and Raphael in School of Athens (FIG. 22-9). Rather, he placed
the figures on a steep diagonal, positioning the Madonna, the focus of
the composition, well off the central axis. Titian drew attention to her
with the perspective lines, the inclination of the figures, and the direc-
tional lines of gaze and gesture. The banner inclining toward the left
beautifully brings the design into equilibrium, balancing the right-
ward and upward tendencies of its main direction. This kind of com-
position is more dynamic than most High Renaissance examples and
presaged a new kind of pictorial design—one built on movement
rather than repose.
BACCHUS AND ARIADNEIn 1511 the duke of Ferrara, Al-
fonso d’Este (r. 1505–1534), asked Titian to produce a painting for
his Camerino d’Alabastro (small room of alabaster). The patron had
requested one bacchanalian scene each from Titian, Bellini, Raphael,
and Fra Bartolommeo. Both Raphael and Fra Bartolommeo died be-
fore fulfilling the commission, and Bellini painted only one scene
(FIG. 22-34), leaving Titian to produce three. One of these three
paintings is Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne (FIG. 22-39). Bacchus,
accompanied by a boisterous and noisy group, arrives in a leopard-
drawn chariot to save Ariadne, whom Theseus abandoned on the is-
land of Naxos. In this scene, Titian revealed his debt to classical art.
He derived one of the figures, entwined with snakes, from the re-
cently unearthed Laocoön(FIG. 5-88), which also made an indelible
impression on Michelangelo and many others. Titian’s rich and lu-
minous colors (see “Palma il Giovane on Titian,” page 609) add
greatly to the sensuous appeal of this painting, making it perfect for
Alfonso’s “pleasure chamber.”608 Chapter 22 ITALY,1500 TO 160022-38Titian,Madonna of the Pesaro Family,
1519–1526. Oil on canvas, 15 11 8 10 . Pesaro
Chapel, Santa Maria dei Frari, Venice.
In this dynamic composition presaging a new kind of
pictorial design, Titian placed the figures on a steep
diagonal, positioning the Madonna, the focus of the
composition, well off the central axis.
1 ft.