Picture of heavenly love. Heavenly love and earthly love. Earthly Love and Heavenly Love

The painting was commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, Secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic. An indirect fact confirming the identity of the customer is the presence of the coat of arms of Niccolo Aurelio on the front wall of the sarcophagus. Aurelio married a young widow, Laura Bagarotto. The wedding was celebrated in Venice on May 17, 1514, and the painting was most likely his wedding gift to the bride. Modern name the painting was not given by the artist himself, but began to be used according to at least two centuries after its creation.

Against the backdrop of a sunset landscape, a richly dressed Venetian woman, holding a needlework box with her left hand, and a naked Venus, holding a bowl of fire, are sitting at the source. According to S. Zuffi, a dressed girl personifies love in marriage; The color of her dress (white), the belt, the gloves on her hands, the myrtle wreath crowning her head, her flowing hair and roses indicate marriage. In the background there is a pair of rabbits - a wish for large offspring. This is not a portrait of Laura Bagarotto, but an allegory of a happy marriage.

A marble sarcophagus turned into a spring is a mysterious detail. Marble, a symbol of death, is quite strange to find in a picture overflowing with wishes for a happy family life. The scene of violence on the sarcophagus apparently recalls the unjust execution of Laura's father, Bertuccio Bagarotto, which occurred in 1509. The basin standing on the sarcophagus is decorated with the heraldic signs of the Bagarotto family. Pure water in the source symbolizes the birth of a new life.

The naked girl symbolizes love, which is transformed into eternal, heavenly, this is indicated by the burning lamp in her raised hand.

Notes

Literature

In Russian

• Batkin L. M. The Italian Renaissance: Issues and People. - M.: RSUH, 1995. - P. 195-196. - 448 p.
• Benois, A. N. Heavenly love, earthly love// History of painting. - St. Petersburg. , 1912-1917. - T. II.
• Dzeri F. (English) Russian . Titian. Earthly love and heavenly love. - White City, 2006. - 48 p. - (One hundred great paintings). - 5000 copies.
• - ISBN 5-7793-0415-7. Zuffi S. it.
• Large atlas of painting. Art. 1000 years. - M.: Olma-Press, 2004. - 432 p. - ISBN 5-224-04316-6. Krivtsun O. A.
• Aesthetics: A Textbook. - M.: Aspect Press, 2000. - 434 p. - ISBN 5756702105. Titian: “Earthly and heavenly love” // Ideas and ideals. - 2009. - No. 2..

• Argan G. C. L"Amor sacro e l"Amor profano di Tiziano Vecellio. - Milano: Bompiani, 1950.
• Bonicatti M. Aspetti dell "Umanesimo nella pittura veneta dal 1455 al 1515. - Roma: Cremonese, 1964.
• Calvesi M. it. Un amore per Venere e Proserpina // Art e Dossier it. - 1989. - No. 39.
• Clerici G.P. Tiziano e l"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili e una nuova interpretazione del quadro della Galleria Borghese (L"Amor Sacro e l"Amor Profano) // Bibliofilia XX. - 1918. - No. 19.
• Cozzi G. (English) Russian . Tiziano e Venezia. Atti del Convegno di Studi. - Vicenza: Neri Pozza, 1980.
• Friedlander W. La tintura delle rose.. - The Art Bulletin. - 1938. - Vol. XVI. - P. 320-324.
• Gentili A. Da Tiziano a Tiziano. mito e allegoria nella cultura veneziana del Cinquecento. - Milano: Feltrinelli, 1980.
• Gibellini C. Tiziano. - Milano: Rizzoli, 2003. - (I Classici dell'arte).
• Gnoli U. Amor Sacro e Profano? // Rassegna d'Arte. - 1902. - Vol. II.
• Goffen R. Titian's ‘Sacred and Profane Love’ and Marriage// The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art. - New York: Harper Collins, 1992.
• Titian's Sacred and Profane Love: Individuality and Sexulity in a Renaissance Marriage Picture// Studies of History of Art. - 1993. - Vol. XXV.
• Hope C. Problems of interpretations in Titian's erotic paintings// Tiziano e Venezia. Atti del convegno di studi. - Vicenza: Neri Pozza, 1980.
• Hourticq L. La Fontaine d'amour de Titien // Gazette des Beaux-Arts. - 1917. - Vol. XII.
• Mayer A. L. Aurelio Nicolò: the Commisioner of Titian's Sacred and Profane Love // ​​The Art Bulletin. - 1939. - Vol. XXI.
• Ozzola L. Venere e Elena. L"amor sacro e l"amor profano // L"Arte. - 1906. - Vol. IX.
• Panofsky E. Immagini simboliche. Studi sull "arte del Rinascimento. - Milano: Feltrinelli, 1978.
• Peterson E. Tizians amor sagro e profano und Willkurlichkeiten moderner Kunsterklaurung // Die Galerien Europas. - 1907. - Vol. 2.
• Poppelreuter J. de . Sappho und die Najade Titians, Himmlische und irdische Liebe // Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft. - 1913. - Vol. XXXVI.
• Ricciardi M. L. L"Amor sacro e profano. Un ulteriore tentativo di sciogliere l"enigma // Notizie da Palazzo Albani. - 1986. - Vol. XV.
• Robertson G. Honour, Love and Truth: An Alternative Reading of Titian's Sacred and Profane Love // ​​Renaissance Studies. - 1988. - Vol. 2.
• Valcanover F.ru it.

For several centuries, Titian's painting was considered only an allegory. However, the artist wrote differently: he deliberately mixed symbols with specific details. After all, the goal was not at all abstract - to smooth out the scandal in the secular circles of Venice.

The painting by the early Titian received the title “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” in 1693. Based on this, art critics identified the women depicted on it with identical faces with two hypostases of the goddess of love, known to Renaissance intellectuals from the works of ancient philosophers. However, the title of Titian's masterpiece was first mentioned in 1613 as "Beauty, Embellished and Unadorned." It is unknown what the artist or the customer called the canvas.

Only in the 20th century did researchers pay attention to the abundance of wedding symbols and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on the canvas. They concluded that the owner of the coat of arms, the secretary of the Council of Ten Nicolo Aurelio, commissioned the painting from Titian on the occasion of his marriage in 1514 to Laura Bagarotto, a young widow from Padua. As the Venetian chronicler of that time, Marin Sanudo, noted, this wedding was “discussed everywhere” - the newlyweds had too difficult a past.

In 1509, at the height of the military conflict Venetian Republic With the Holy Roman Empire, Laura's first husband, the Paduan aristocrat Francesco Borromeo, sided with the emperor. Padua was subordinate to Venice, so Borromeo was arrested and probably executed by the Council of Ten as a traitor. Many of Laura's relatives were imprisoned and exiled. Her father Bertuccio Bagarotto, a university professor, was hanged in front of his wife and children on the same charge, which in his case was unjust.

Permission for the marriage of a high-ranking Venetian official with a widow and daughter state criminals discussed by a commission headed by the doge, and it was received. Through the efforts of the groom, Laura’s previously confiscated rich dowry was returned the day before the wedding. The painting, commissioned from the most prestigious and by no means cheap artist in Venice, was probably supposed to add respectability to the marriage in the eyes of fellow citizens.


1. Bride. According to art critic Rona Goffin, this is unlikely to be a portrait of Laura Bagarotto, because then the naked lady was painted from her, which in those days would have damaged the reputation of a decent woman. This is an idealized image of a newlywed.

2. Dress. As shown by radiographic analysis, Titian first painted it in red. However, at the top of Laura's dowry list was a wedding dress made of white satin, and Rona Goffin believed that the artist decided to depict this dress. A belt, a symbol of marital fidelity, and gloves are also attributes of a wedding dress: grooms gave these things as a gift for betrothal as a sign of the seriousness of their intentions.

3. Wreath. Evergreen myrtle is a plant of Venus, symbolizing love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it were an attribute of weddings in Ancient Rome.

4. Bowl. As Rona Goffin wrote, grooms traditionally presented wedding gifts to Venetian brides in similar vessels.

5. Rabbits. The symbol of fertility next to the figure of the bride is a wish for the newlyweds to have numerous offspring.

6. Nude. According to most researchers, including Italian Renaissance art expert Federico Zeri and British Titian specialist Charles Hope, this is the goddess Venus. She and the newlywed are so similar because in ancient poetry the bride was often compared to the goddess of love. Venus blesses an earthly woman for marriage.

7. Landscape. According to Dzeri, behind the characters’ backs there are two contrasting symbols associated with marriage: the road up the mountain - hard way prudence and unshakable fidelity, the plain is bodily pleasures in marriage.

8. Cupid. The son of Venus, the winged god of love here is the mediator between the goddess and the bride.

9. Fountain. It bears the coat of arms of the Aurelio family. According to art historian Walter Friedländer, this is the tomb of Venus's lover Adonis, described in the 15th century novel “Hypnerotomachy of Polyphilus” - a sarcophagus (symbol of death) from which water flows (symbol of life). The relief on the marble depicts the beating of Adonis by the jealous Mars: according to the novel, the young man died at the hands of the god of war. This is not only an indication of the tragically ended love of the goddess, but also a reminder of the sad past of Laura Bagarotto.

10. Lamp. The antique lamp in Venus’s hand, according to Federico Zeri, symbolizes the flame of divine, sublime love.

Artist Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)

Between 1474 and 1490 - born in the city of Pieve di Cadore, which had been part of the Venetian Republic since 1420, into a noble family.

Around 1500 - moved to Venice to study art.

1517 - received from the Venetian authorities the position of intermediary in the supply of salt, which, according to researchers, indicates his status as the official painter of the republic.

1525 - married Cecilia Soldano, with whom by that time he already had two sons.

1530 - widowed, wife died after the birth of his daughter Lavinia.

1551–1562 - created “Poems”, a series of paintings based on Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”.

1576 - died in his workshop, buried in the Venetian church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

Once upon a time there lived greatest master Renaissance Titian. He wrote a lot - religious subjects, mythological ones, and portraits. Sometimes everything was in one picture at once. As, for example, in the case of “Earthly love and heavenly love.” The mixture of symbols and the absence of an author's title ensured the painting's fame as one of the most mysterious in the history of not only Titian himself, but also world painting.

Titian. Heavenly love and earthly love. OK. 1514
Canvas, oil. 118 × 279 cm
Galleria Borghese, Rome. Wikimedia Commons
Clickable - 6009px × 2385px

Plot

Let's start with the fact that there is nothing precisely defined in the story with the plot and title of this painting. The modern name appeared much later than the painting itself, and there is no agreement among fellow art critics about who is depicted and why. The two main versions do not cancel one another; rather, on the contrary, they complement the mosaic of meanings.

So let's start with the mundane. It is believed that the painting was painted by order of the secretary of the Council of Ten, Nicolo Aurelio, who was going to marry Laura Bagarotto. The painting was supposed to be a gift to his young wife. There is an abundance of wedding symbolism in the picture. The girl is dressed in a white dress; on her head is a myrtle wreath (a plant of Venus, symbolizing love and fidelity); she covers the cup with her hand (in such vessels grooms presented wedding gifts to Venetian brides); she is wearing a belt and gloves (the first is a symbol of marital fidelity, the second is an attribute of a wedding dress, which grooms gave as a betrothal gift as a sign of the seriousness of their intentions).

The painting received its name 150 years after it was painted.

If you suddenly thought that Laura Bagarotto looked like the woman in the painting, then you were mistaken. If this had been a portrait, then the nude Venus would have been painted from Laura, which in those days would have damaged the reputation of a decent woman. Titian created an idealized image of the newlywed.

Titian. Venus of Urbino. 1538
Venere di Urbino
Canvas, oil. 119 × 165 cm
Uffizi, Florence. Wikimedia Commons

“Venus of Urbino” (1538), which 300 years later would inspire Edgar Manet’s scandalous “Olympia”

We see that Venus is equal. That is, for a person in equally Both the earthly, physical, and the heavenly, spiritual are important. After all, through both the first and the second one can know the truth. Earthly Venus holds flowers at her hem, which means a combination of several types of love.

Titian was called Divine for his talent

Context

The painting received its current title in 1693. Prior to this, art historians, based on various options interpretations of the plot and symbolism called the painting “Beauty, embellished and unembellished.” Until the 20th century, no one paid much attention to wedding symbols. And the coat of arms of the Venetian family was not noticed on the well. But especially attentive researchers saw that the owner of the coat of arms was Nicolo Aurelio. His marriage to Laura Bagarotto, a young widow from Padua, was the subject of speculation. The reason for this is the bride’s difficult past.

Titian loved women very much, especially experienced ones and in body

"Allegory of Prudence" (1565−1570). Portraits of Titian, his son Orazio and nephew Marco are combined with the heads of a wolf, lion and dog, representing the past, present and future

Permission for the marriage of a high-ranking Venetian official with the widow and daughter of state criminals was discussed by a commission headed by the Doge, and it was received. It is possible that the painting, commissioned from the most prestigious artist in Venice, was supposed to add respectability to the marriage in the eyes of fellow citizens.

According to one version, the well is a marble sarcophagus. The relief on the marble depicts the beating of Adonis by the jealous Mars - the young man died at the hands of the god of war. This is not only an indication of the tragically ended love of the goddess Venus, but also a reminder of the sad past of Laura Bagarotto.

The fate of the artist

Venetian Renaissance titan, nicknamed Divine. Titian glorified life and sensual beauty. Largely thanks to him, colorism became what we know it today. If it were not for his genius, the artist’s works would be called insolence and blasphemy. But no one could remain indifferent to the power of Titian's talent. His paintings are full of life, strength, dynamics. Canvases with religious subjects literally shine and glorify God. Portraits depict complex psychological types. And mythological stories are full of bliss and a sense of peace and harmony in merging with nature.

Self-portrait, 1567

In 1527 Rome was captured and sacked. Art responded to this with mechanized subjects and dark colors. Darkness is coming, there is no salvation - approximately such sentiments reigned in Italian art. Titian continued to paint a strong man, a fighter.

He lived indecently for his era long life. And he died either from the plague or from old age - there is no consensus. The second version is supported by the fact that the artist was buried not in a plague cemetery, but with all due honors in the Venetian Cathedral of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

“Heavenly Love and Earthly Love”, Titian, ca. 1514. The painting is kept in Rome in the Borghese Gallery

Plot and title

In the foreground of the picture are two women. They are very similar, but dressed differently. One is dressed in the typical Venetian attire of a married lady, and the other is naked. Cupid separates them. Women sit on a sarcophagus decorated with a magnificent bas-relief. It is filled with dark water. The restless god of love plunged his hand into it.

The painting received its familiar title – “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” – in 1693. Based on it, art critics identified women with identical faces with two hypostases of the goddess of love.

However, the painting was first mentioned in 1613 with the title “Beauty, Embellished and Unadorned,” and we do not know what the artist himself called his masterpiece.

Riddles and symbols

Only in the 20th century did researchers pay attention to the abundance of wedding symbols and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on the canvas.

Let's also take a closer look at the picture. So, the background of the canvas is a green plain. On the left it smoothly turns into a mountain on which the castle rises. If you look closely, you can see eared rabbits, a rider on a horse and a group of people waiting for him.

On the right, the plain alternates with hillocks. An attentive observer will also be able to spot two horsemen and a dog chasing a hare.

The woman on the left is wearing a dress with a chastity belt and gloves on her hands.

Wreath. Evergreen myrtle is a plant of Venus, symbolizing love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it were an attribute of weddings in Ancient Rome.

For Titian's contemporaries the symbolism would have been obvious:

• The road uphill is the difficult path of prudence and unshakable fidelity, the plain is bodily pleasures in marriage.
• Rabbits - fertility.
• A dress with a chastity belt and gloves is marriage.
• Myrtle (plant of Venus) - love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it are an attribute of ancient Roman marriage rituals.

Art historians also paid attention to the sarcophagus and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on it.

They concluded that the owner of the coat of arms, the secretary of the Council of Ten Nicolo Aurelio, commissioned the painting from Titian on the occasion of his marriage in 1514 to Laura Bagarotto, a young widow from Padua.

As the Venetian chronicler of that time, Marin Sanudo, noted, this wedding was “discussed everywhere” - the newlyweds had too difficult a past.

In 1509, at the height of the military conflict between the Venetian Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, Laura's first husband, the Paduan aristocrat Francesco Borromeo, took the side of the emperor. Padua was subordinate to Venice, so Borromeo was arrested and probably executed by the Council of Ten as a traitor.

Many of Laura's relatives were imprisoned and exiled. Her father Bertuccio Bagarotto, a university professor, was hanged in front of his wife and children on the same charge, which in his case was unjust. The chosen one of the high-ranking official was Laura Bagarotto. She was the widow of a Paduan aristocrat who was executed for rebelling against the Venetian authorities during the war with the Roman Empire.

The same fate befell her father. The innocent professor was hanged in front of his family.

Permission for the marriage of a high-ranking Venetian official with the widow and daughter of state criminals was discussed by a commission headed by the Doge, and it was received. Through the efforts of the groom, Laura’s previously confiscated rich dowry was returned the day before the wedding. The painting, commissioned from the most prestigious and by no means cheap artist in Venice, was probably supposed to add respectability to the marriage in the eyes of fellow citizens.

According to experts, the sarcophagus reminds of the innocently murdered father of the bride. And the water flowing out of it symbolizes the emergence of new life.

In 1608, the painting appeared new owner. It was bought by the Italian Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Since then it has been kept in the Roman gallery that bears his name.

Titian considered one of greatest painters Renaissance. The artist was not yet thirty years old when he was recognized as the best in Venice. One of his most famous paintings is “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” ( Amor Sacro and Amor Profano). It contains a lot of hidden characters and signs, which art historians are still struggling to decipher.

Most researchers are of the opinion that this painting was supposed to be a gift for the wedding of the secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic, Nicolo Aurelio, and Laura Bagarotto. One of the indirect confirmations of this version is the coat of arms of Aurelio, which can be seen on the front wall of the sarcophagus.

It was not only Titian who filled his canvases with hidden symbolism. In the painting of another Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli