If sensual, sexy, luminous and spectacular are not what you think of when you think of Renaissance painting the the upcoming show at the de Young Museum will change your mind. Featuring fifty masterworks by Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, this stunning exhibit examines the brilliant painters who transformed the art of Renaissance Venice.
On loan from the Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power features outstanding examples of the work of these artists, gleaned from the collections of Hapsburg royalty. From their capitals in Madrid and Vienna, the Hapsburgs ruled most of Europe for over 400 years and during that time, collected the best of the best.
Key works include Titian’s sumptuous Danáe (1560s), Mantegna’s tortured Saint Sebastian (1457–1459) and four rare paintings by Giorgione, including The Three Philosophers (ca. 1508–1509) and Portrait of a Young Woman (Laura) (1506). The exhibition also includes works by Palma, Bordone, Bassano, and more. Together, these examples represent the range of Venetian accomplishment in Renaissance-era painting.
Titian dedicated much of the final two decades of his life to the service of King Philip II of Spain, the most powerful monarch in Europe; Danáe - and other sensual nudes not in this exhibit - painted especially for Philip who obviously hid his sensual side under an aloof, rigid exterior.
Danáe was a princess of Argos in the Greek Peloponessos, a daughter of King Akrisios. When her father learned a prophecy that he was destined to be killed by a son of his daughter, he locked Danae away in a subterranean, bronze chamber. Her prison, however, was easily infiltrated by the god Zeus who impregnated her in the guise of a golden shower.
As his contemporary biographer Giorgio Vasari noted, Titian's soft, sensuous flesh was almost palpable, seeming to "pulse with life and blood."
The painting is one of Titian's most sensual; Danáe sinks into the soft pillow of the sheets, looking slightly upward with undisguised pleasure. The beautifully controlled lighting enfolds part of her face in shadow but ingeniously catches the golden shower as it drifts toward her slightly parted thighs. Titian has elevated the world of carnal desire into myth but the milky flesh speaks all to clearly of earthy sexuality.
To walk into a room and see three paintings by Giorgione - without having to visit Vienna - is priceless. Giorgione is possibly the most mysterious of the painters represented, partially because he died so young but also because his imagery was mysterious and poetic. "The Three Philosophers" air of magic and mystery is possibly intentional; as Michael Levey points out, "what is unmistakable in its depiction of man's serious response to nature...the trio cannot be mistaken for some picnic party. " There is even a work for his handling of paint and color, "Giorgionesque," describing imagery that is dense with layers of meaning but also elusive.
Venice was generous in many ways to its artists and one of her supreme gifts was her light. That light, a color that changes from clear to dazzling, an atmosphere at once solid and ethereal, permeates these paintings. That ambient, sea-reflected light plays across the landscapes, the voluptuous flesh and even the religious paintings in the exhibit.
The Venetian Renaissance was a revolutionary era in the evolution of Western art. With dazzling virtuosity, they celebrated the poetic potential of color and beauty observed in nature
Lynn Federle Orr, curator of European art at San Francisco's Fine Arts Museums, pointed out, "They were meant for the private delectation of very sophisticated connoisseurs who could afford them. They wanted to delight in the sensual realities of the world, not only nature, but the female form."
Opening on Oct. 29th through Feb. 12, 2011
Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power From the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna: Opens Sat. Through Feb. 12. $10-$20. M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Golden Gate Park, S.F. (415) 750-3660. www.famsf.org.
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