Titian’s and Peter Paul Rubens’s Venus and Adonis
The essay looks at Rubens and Titian version of Venus and Adonis and makes a comparison of their style. While Rubens and Titian version of Venus and Adonis, Rubens’s picture is typically Baroque. Rubens was greatly influenced by Titian and copied his version of Venus and Adonis. The story behind Venus and Adonis is derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The goddess Venus is shown clinging to her mortal lover, the handsome young Adonis, whom she is infatuated with. Venus attempts to stop her lover from going hunting. But hunting is a passion with Adonis and he knew that it will cause his death ultimately. In the artwork, Venus is shown trying to pursue him away from his passion in order to save his life. The artists try to demonstrate the closeness of the lovers and their final embrace just before their separation and a tragic end. Paintings of Venus were not uncommon during the Renaissance and Baroque eras.Titian’s Venus and Adonis The Renaissance embellishment is done by Titian and shows the helpless Venus preventing her lover from leaving for hunting. Adonis is indifferent to the goddess’s warnings of danger and her charms. The story has attracted both poets and artists and displayed and written about in different ways. Titian’s series of Metamorphoses is referred to as poetry in the art and the high quality of work shows that the artwork was done by the artist himself. The lovers, Venus, and Adonis, are shown in a moment of closeness and passion, just before their permanent separation. The artist shows Venus from the backside, just to add a variation to the nude he did for thecollection. Adonis is shown looking at Venus, torn between his love for her and his passion for
____________________1 Titian." 2016. nga.gov. (April 20, 2016). https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg23/gg23-1223.html
hunting 2. Titian was a Renaissance master who was renowned for his versatility to adapt to different styles of painting. His innovative use of color and paint have had a profound effect. He was the most notable painter of the Renaissance and a master of oil painting. 3 Although he changed his style a number of times during his career, he is best known for portraiture and religious art. His classicism style gave way to naturalism and passion that made him of the highly regarded Renaissance artists. In Titians’ Venus and Adonis, Venus is shown clinging to her lover, imploring him not to go. Cupid sleeps in the background while Adonis looks down at Venus impassively. All those are a sign of Adonis's resistance to Venus's appeals. The loose, energetic strokes by Titian give a sense of spontaneity to the artwork. There is a dynamic tension caused by the awkward pose of Venus. The shimmering highlights and vibrant colors create an evocative mood in the painting. Titian achieves a beautiful contrast with the voluptuous displays of curves and skin of Venus’s body. The play of light on the upper corner adds a dramatic effect.
Rubens’s Venus and Adonis Flemish painter Rubens was the greatest advocate of Baroque painting style. His work carried a dynamic reality and a sensuous exuberance. He is best known for his religious and mythological compositions. His primary work is based on mythological, historical, and visual poems 4. He took a copied several of his works. His pictorial forms convey his deepest feelings with the freshness of colors. He did several canvases on the conflicts and passions of ancient gods and mortals. The “Venus and Adonis” was painted by Rubens as one of a mythological
____________________2 “Venus and Adonis" 2016. metmuseum (April 20, 2016). http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.7.16/3 ""Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (c.1488-1576)." 2016. stevenholl.com. (April 20, 2016). http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/old-masters/titian.htm4 "Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. britannica. (April 20, 2016). ttp://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Paul-Rubens
series that he referred to allegorical subjects and carries a bold naturalism and idealized forms. Rubens usually worked on the key areas on the canvas and retouched the finished painting thoroughly. He is well known for his robust style and sensuous interplays of light and color. Later he broadened his style with looser and almost impressionistic brushwork.
Baroque style originated in Italy and primarily means extravagance and to glorify. It plays audaciously with the details and is conventionally animated and energetic. It was regarded as a new style that was very much alive. Rubens influenced the art of the nude and took Baroque art to an international level. When in Spain, he became fascinated with the collection of works by Titian with King Philip II 5 and often copied their subject matter.
Comparing Titian’s and Rubens’s Venus and Adonis Rubens' Venus is more curvaceous and fuller than Titian's. She is shown in more humanistic ways. There are more tension and a higher balance in his work. The curves used by Rubens are of shorter radius. He was the most superior, as the constructor of the figure, and knew how to lend the right poise, balance, and weight. The way he distributes the lights and darks on the canvas with his work is dramatic and emotional. His artwork carried long, fluid hand movements and his freestyle often did not give full details to the drawing. Titian was his biggest inspiration, and he depicted historical figures based on ancient Greek and Roman mythology. He loved to paint the human body in different dramatic positions.
Rubens’ Venus is portrayed from the back while Titian’s shows frontal nudity. TheDeparting Adonis towards the left is similar to Titian’s but reverse in direction. His spear hasmoved to the other hand and his expression is sadder. The composition and mood in Ruben’s
____________________5"Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. artble. (April 20, 2016). http://www.artble.com/artists/peter_paul_rubens
work is more like de Pasee’s invention and rejects the complicated counterpoise found in Titian’s work. Informed by de Pasee and inspired by Titian 6, Ruben rejects the tense eroticism in the early work and settles for a mournful mood and tender expressions. Unlike Titian, he gives Adonis a more amber expression. The Venus and Adonis are among the several paintings that were copied by Ruben from Titian. However, in Ruben’s Adonis differs from Titian not only in the pose but expression too. He is held back by the passionate embrace of Venus, the clasp of Cupid around his legs and his emotions. 7 The figural pairing of the goddess and her lover addresses the human nature of Venus. Titian creates a narrative moment between Venus and Adonis. He paints Adonis’s departure and Venus’s warning with emotionally charged moments, thus asserting himself as a painter-poet. The Venus here is more masculine than feminine as Titian depicts her to be forceful and aggressive. He creates a complex psychological depth in the work that creates sympathy in the viewer. Titian creates a luminous canvas as he displays the raw emotion of his goddess who invites the viewer’s empathy with a complex emotion. She has turned Titian turned away from the viewer and as she twists at the torso, only her back and bottom are visible, Renaissance audience were familiar with the expression of passions and notion of the masculine. If one looks at Ruben’s work closely, one finds it a fusion of the traditional Flemish realism and Italian Renaissance. His powerful and exuberant style carrying an astounding vitality epitomized the Baroque art of the 17th century. The robust figures in his paintings generate a
___________________________________6" Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume 1 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984), 3437"Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. artble. (April 20, 2016). http://www.artble.com/artists/peter_paul_rubensstrong sense of movement and emotions. The epic quality of his art a shows his multifaceted
genius. His style influenced artists for well over three centuries with his liberty and boldness. As for Titian, he approached art with a passion never seen before and painted realistic works. He was successful in portraying the emotional and psychological state 8 of the subjects on the canvas, as in Venus and Adonis. Here, one can feel the moment of intimacy between the two lovers. Venus wants to stop Adonis at all costs while he is determined to go hunting. Even with the view of the back of Venus, one is able to make out the intensely felt emotions. Titian’s innovative work shows the artistic merit in him and his expertise as a painter. He adds a sculptural quality to the figures of Venus and Adonis, taking them to three-dimensional quality.
______________________________8"Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. artble. (April 20, 2016). http://www.artble.com/artists/peter_paul_rubens
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume 1 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984), 343.
"Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. visual-arts-cork. (April 20, 2016). http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/old-masters/rubens.htm
"Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. artble. (April 20, 2016). http://www.artble.com/artists/peter_paul_rubens
"Peter Paul Rubens." 2016. britannica. (April 20, 2016). http://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Paul-Rubens
“Titian." 2016. nga.gov. (April 20, 2016). https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg23/gg23-1223.html
“Venus and Adonis" 2016. metmuseum (April 20, 2016). http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.7.16/
“Venus and Adonis" 2016. metmuseum (April 20, 2016). http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437535
"Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (c.1488-1576)." 2016. visual-arts-cork. (April 20, 2016). http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/old-masters/titian.htm
"Venus and Adonis.". 2016. /venice.umwblog. (April 20, 2016). http://venice.umwblogs.org/exhibit/titians-venetian-venuses/venus-and-adonis/
