Titian and Tragic Painting

Late in his life Titian created a series of paintings - the 'Four Sinners', the 'poesie' for his patron Philip II of Spain, and the 'Final Tragedies' - that were dark in tone and content, full of pathos and physical suffering. In this major reinterpretation of Titian's art, Thomas Puttfarken shows that the often dramatic and violent subject matter of these works was not, as is often argued, the consequence of the artist's increasing age and sense of isolation and tragedy. Rather, these paintings were influenced by discussions of Aristotle's Poetics that permeated learned discourse in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century. The Poetics led directly to a rich theory of the visual arts, and painting in particular, that enabled artists like Titian to consider themselves on equal footing with poets. Puttfarken investigates Titian's late works in this context and analyses his relations with his patrons, his intellectual and humanistic contacts and his choices of subject matter, style and technique

Art · Art history · Literature · Painting · Poetics · Poetry · Byzantine Studies and History · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies

• Painting and Poetry in Early Modern Spain

  Open Access•Maria A Vitagliano•Renaissance Quarterly•2013

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• Penelope’s Web

  Open Access•Giancarlo Fiorenza•Renaissance Quarterly•2006

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