Author: Sheila Hale File Type: epub Born in the mountains above Venice in the late fifteenth century, Tiziano Vecellioor Titianwas the greatest painter of the Venetian High Renaissance. A poetic visionary and a technical master of oils, he painted everything, from frescoes and grand altarpieces to mythological stories and portraitsworks described by his contemporaries as mirrors of nature.Sheila Hales rich biography is the first since 1877 to examine all contemporary accounts of Titians life and work as well as recent art historical scholarship, some of it previously unpublished. Her book charts the extraordinary transformation of Titians style from the radiant, minutely realized masterpieces of his youth, to the more freely painted work of his middle years, to the dark, tragic, sometimes terrifying visions of his old age. Drawing on the latest scientific examinations of his paintings, Hale seeks to explain the evolution of his methods and his art. In doing so, she also gives many different voicesfrom Titians lifetime to todayfree reign to explore, praise, and sometimes doubt his genius.When Titian died in 1576, in his late eighties, he had spent the whole of his working life in Venicethe most celebrated city in Europetraveling as little as possible despite the clamor for his presence at the great courts of the continent. He had witnessed wars, Ottoman invasions, and the rising Protestant threat to the Catholic Church. He had become the favored painter of both Charles Vthe most powerful man in the worldand his son, Philip II of Spain, who became Titians most important patron.Sheila Hales masterly biography presents Titian through the lens of the turbulent times in which he lived and explores how this innovative sixteenth-century master conveyed in his paintings a kind of truth that few other artists have been able to communicate, which has fascinated Titians admirers and followers ever since.

Author: Walt Whitman File Type: pdf