The Venetian Virtuoso. Titian, Renaissance master of form and colour

Immerse yourself in the rich shades and textures of the mighty Titian, the most important member of the Venetian High Renaissance. From the rippling sensuality of Venus of Urbino to the airborne dynamism of Bacchus and Ariadne, Titian pioneered startling, opulent colour and a bold new approach to form in a stunning repertoire of portraits, altarpieces, mythological scenes, and more.

Immerse yourself in the rich shades and textures of Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1490–1576), commonly known as Titian, and the figurehead of 16th-century Venetian painting. With his bold approach to form and startling, opulent colors, Titian worked with a number of prestigious commissions and left behind an astonishing repertoire of portraits, mythological scenes, altarpieces, and landscapes that remains one of the most important legacies of Renaissance art.

This dependable artist introduction traces Titian’s complete career and its trailblazing influence on successive generations of artists, from Diego Velázquez to van Dyck. From the rippling sensuality of Venus of Urbino (c. 1538) to the airborne dynamism of Bacchus and Ariadne (1520–1523), all the major works are here, charting the artist’s stylistic experimentation over time as well as his consistent and unique ability to work across genres and to bring a defining new level of emotional and spiritual aspect to his subjects.

The author

Ian G. Kennedy studied art history at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute, London University. He worked for nearly three decades at Christie’s, New York, and as Curator of European Paintings at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, until 2013. He now lives and works as an independent scholar in Chapel Hill.

About the series

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:

 - a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
 - a concise biography
 - approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

The Venetian virtuoso

A leading artist in the High Renaissance, Titian (Tiziano Vecelli, 1488-1576) was the Venetian school’s greatest painter and is one of the best-loved Italian artists of all time. Titian was highly regarded during his lifetime, and his renown has not diminished in the intervening centuries; so great was his ability to manipulate color, texture, and tone that he is still considered to be one of art history’s greatest technical masters. The freedom exhibited in his pictorial compositions was unprecedented and greatly influential on later artists, notably Manet, who closely studied Titian’s work at the Louvre. This book examines Titian’s evolution, from his early years training under Giovanni Bellini to his later mature work, giving a wide perspective on the life’s work of this legendary master painter.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:

Ian Kennedy studied art history at Cambridge and at the Courtauld Institute, London University. He worked for nearly three decades in New York at Christies and as a dealer and is now Ward Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture until 1900 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

Titian is acknowledged as the greatest of the sixteenth-century Venetian painters, best known for his portraits, mythological pictures and religious subjects. Yet his first great achievement as a painter, schooled in the workshop of Giovanni Bellini, was to refashion the portrayal of nature in his own distinctive style by studying the work of Albrecht Durer, whose naturalistic paintings of plants, animals and landscape - for which northern European artists were renowned - had caused a sensation in Venice in the first decade of the sixteenth century.

In this short, beautifully illustrated book, Antonio Mazzotta presents this experience, together with Titian's native landscape of Pievedi Cadore, as crucial influences in the artist's early representation of nature. The recently restored Flight into Egypt (now in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg) - probably painted when Titian was still a teenager - is vivid proof of his interest in the depiction of animals, plants and figures in the landscape. The author's carefully chosen comparisons of paintings, prints, drawings and details of works by the young Titian, Durer and their contemporaries (including Sebastiano del Piombo and Giorgione) suggest that Titian was as innovative and as influential in his unique view of nature as he was in portraiture.

180 Illustrations

Not only does this book offer a studied and insightful look into the works of one of the most technically gifted of the world's painters, but it also invites the reader to discover the bustling world of the Venetian art scene in which Titian lived and worked. Its compelling narrative will please the general public while its unique cross-analysis of the 16th century Venetian painters will interest art specialists and students.
This study of Titian’s life and works relates the contemporary and historical influences of the style and colours that Titian came to master. The author reveals how Titian’s personal life, his relationships with important Venetian painters and influential European political leaders, is inextricably tied to his artistic career, as he defines style through artistic encounters and his powerful friends become his subjects. The calibre of the story and the quality of the images are rarely accompanied by such a competitively moderate price.

The Author
Writer, critic and art historian, Sir Claude Phillips was a Keeper of the Wallace Collection. He started in life as a solicitor and this occupation took him all over the world. During his numerous travels, he visited museums and art collections building up his knowledge of art. He was appointed Keeper of the Wallace Collection and while working there, he wrote on Reynolds and Titian.

У читателей может возникнуть резонный вопрос «что же еще можно рассказать нового и интересного о величайшем художнике, о котором уже столько литературы»? Однако, можно. Прежде всего, новый взгляд на жизнь и творчество итальянского мастера дает нам пищу для размышлений, переоценки, может быть. Безусловно, в каждом новом исследовании найдутся доселе неизвестные исторические факты, что особенно важно для истинных ценителей искусства. Ну и конечно, современные технологии книгопечатания дают уникальную возможность совершенно по-иному взглянуть на работы великих мастеров эпохи Возрождения.

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Посмотреть англоязычное издание книги Тициан - Titian