A History of European Art

Lecture 19: High Renaissance Painting in Venice

VIII. Titian’s Rape of Europa (c. 1562) was painted for Philip II of Spain,

who was one of the greatest collectors of Titian’s work. The subject is from

Ovid’s Metamorphoses, when Jupiter adopted the appearance of a white

bull and approached the daughter of the king of Tyre, whom he desired. The

king’s daughter, Europa, climbed aboard and was immediately taken out to

sea and to Crete by the swimming bull-god.

The eroticism is overt, yet the sublime palette and extemporizing brushwork

of the aged Titian are the true protagonists. Venetian painting is famous for

this kind of sensuality and splendid color. The composition is asymmetrical,

with the bull carrying Europa about to leave the picture. Ŷ

Giovanni Bellini:

Doge Leonardo Loredan, c. 1501, oil on panel, 24 ¼ x 17 ¾”

(61.6 x 45.1 cm), National Gallery, London, Great Britain.

San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505, oil on panel, c. 16’ 6” H (5 m H), Church

of S. Zaccaria, Venice, Italy.

Giorgione:

Pastoral Concert (Concert Champêtre), c. 1510–11, oil on canvas,

43 ¼ x 54 ¼” (110 x 138 cm), Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Titian:

Assumption of the Virgin, 1516–18, 23’ H (7 m H), Church of Sta. Maria

Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice, Italy.

Bacchus and Ariadne, c. 1522, oil on canvas, 5’ 9 ½” x 6’ 3 ¼”

(176.5 x 191 cm), National Gallery, London, Great Britain.

Madonna of the Pesaro Family, 1519–26, oil on canvas, c. 16’ H

(4.8 m H), Church of Sta. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice, Italy.

Rape of Europa, 1562, oil on canvas, 5’ 10” x 6’ 8 ¾” (178 x 205 cm),

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Works Discussed