Edinburgh can now boast of world class facilities for displaying those masterpieces which bear witness to and have moulded our traditions and culture. Such an exhibition is “The Age of Titian” in the National Gallery on Princes Street
The Press are lavish in their praise of this collection of works of art from the
Golden Age of Venice. The city was then, in the 16th century, at the
cultural epicentre of the known world, on the pivot between Byzantine and
Roman, East and West. This strategic position and the prosperity arising from
trade gave rise to the undercurrent of the exotic and the dramatic colourings, especially
in those paintings by Titian himself. So what does today’s visitor from Nordic
Scotland look forward to when entering this display of power and superiority? History
or Art?
Of course we are impressed. Such attention to quality and detail shows a depiction of wealth and achievement that we experience in material terms, but more than that there is a subtlety and sensitivity with a deeper message in the paintings.
The world in Titian’s time would have been one of sudden reversals of fortune: comfort one moment, death, violence or illness striking the next. The wealthy and the powerful pursued by storms, predators and intrigue: proximity to danger and fragility of existence. Such experiences such are graphically illustrated in the pair of paintings Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, where misfortune befalls the players through inadvertency or deceit.
If we ourselves are looking for an
immediate connection or identification, we find it in the understatement, the
sideways glance. Last year, Monet spoke a language closer to our time, more
direct and accessible. This year’s exhibition is largely allegorical. We need
to understand the context and relate it to our own thinking. Sometimes we are
reminded of the huge canvasses of our childhood, when we were paraded before
the venerable pictures in the local art gallery. But clearly the quality of
“The Age of Titian” speaks for itself. Look at the detail, the expressions on
the faces of the subjects, the dogs and the decorations.
Then focus on Titian’s own paintings and consider the textures. Here we can find that sense of a moment in eternity being captured for ever. A feeling which stops us in our tracks and takes us back to that instant when Titian’s brush traced the outline and filled in the colours on his canvas, so that the tools and media he used became the instruments of a creativity which must have astounded even himself. An outstanding example of this craft is Venus Anadyomene, (pictured at the beginning of this article). How fortunate we are that this work belongs to the National Gallery and we can steal in and admire it whenever it suits us!
Having encountered Titian through the window of this picture, we can go on to admire his other works, their symbolism in the classical and biblical scenes and their relevance for us today. The Three Ages of Man reminds us of mortality and An Allegory of Prudence with its echoes of the past reaching into the future is starkly modern in its impact.
So, what started as an excursion through history suddenly becomes transformed into an adventure through art. Scenes of antiquity, history even when they were painted, viewed in the year 2004 through the medium of Venice in the 1500’s. The message of the Age of Titian speaks to us today.
Sic transit Gloria mundi!
Humankind has moved on, discovered and developed different ways to express
ourselves, our society, emotions and achievements.
Here in this exhibition we have an era set in its historical context, and yet through the skills of the artists reaching out to us and crying out not to be forgotten.
Go and see “The Age of Titian”, and take the time to relate to the works and the artists, recalling that they too were people who enjoyed wealth and happiness, but also suffered cold, hunger and doubt. Even as they painted, they would have pondered what the future would bring.
Christopher Davies
“The Age of Titian” is on show at the National Gallery, Princes Street until 5th December