Pope Paul III with his Grandsons, Titian:
Analysis, Interpretation читать ~5 мин.

Pope Paul III with his Grandsons by Titian Interpretation of Renaissance Papal Portrait MAIN A-Z INDEX

Pope Paul III with his Grandsons (Cardinals Alessandro, OttavioFarnese). By Titian.Regarded as one of theGreatest Paintings Ever.

ContentsDescription • Interpretation of Pope Paul III with his Grandsons • Other Famous Portrait Paintings by Titian

Description Artist : Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (1488-1576) Medium : Oil painting on canvas Genre : Portrait art Movement : Renaissance in Venice Location : Capodimonte Museum, Naples.

Art InterpretationTo analyze works ofVenetian Painting byartists like Titian, seeour educational articles:Art Evaluation andHow to Appreciate Paintings.

Religious PaintingsFor analysis of one ofTitian’s top altarpieces, see: Assumption of the Virgin (1518) S. Maria Gloriosadei Frari, Venice.

For more about Titian’s art:Titian and Venetian Painting.

This work by Titian, one of the most famous Renaissance portraits and, perhaps, one of the greatest Renaissance paintings ever, languished in the Farnese family cellars in Rome for more than a century before it was hung on a wall. Now it can be seen in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples, as is regarded by scholars as a perfect example of cinquecento portrait art – a masterpiece of characterization, body language and colour. Commissioned by the Farnese family in 1546, like many papal portraits it was intended as a public statement of Farnese power. In the work, the 77-year old Pope Paul III (born 1468, reigned 1534-49) is shown seated, accompanied by his Grandsons, the Cardinals Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese. Aside from the colouristic magic that Titian creates with his rich, warm Renaissance colour palette, the work perfectly complements the earlier group portrait by Raphael (1483-1520) – Pope Leo X with Cardinals (Giulio de’Medici and Luigi de’Rossi) (1513-18, Palazzo Pitti, Florence) – which is another masterful representation of Papal power and character. Like many popes, Pope Paul III manages to have it both ways: he commissions a portrait of himself and his grandsons, while at the same time as he launches a worldwide propaganda campaign of devout Catholic Counter-Reformation Art to showcase a less corrupt Church.

Analysis In the 16th century, in order to avoid being steamrollered on political and religious issues by Spain or France, the head of the Catholic Church needed money, military resources and a cunning, resourceful mind. In this wonderful example of Venetian Portrait Painting, Titian represents his subject accordingly. It was well known that Pope Paul III applied few if any religious rules to his own conduct. To him, and to many of his predecessors, a religious career was merely an opportunity for self-enrichment. He had his own concubine, with whom he had fathered four children; he made both his grandsons Cardinals; and he amassed a huge personal fortune from church taxes and other benefits. With Emperor Charles V, King of Spain, angling for both financial support (against rebellious Protestants in the Low Countries) and reform of the Catholic Church, and the King of France at loggerheads with Charles, Pope Paul had to tread a devious path between the two monarchs. Titian thus presents him as a man whose body is turned one way, but whose head faces another. His face is shrunken, his beard is unkempt, yet he seems full of dynamic energy – almost as if he is ready to pounce. His eyes are bright and twinkling, but they possess a sort of peasant watchfulness. In short: a wealthy, slightly devious old man.

Alessandro and Ottavio are the two eldest sons of Paul’s son Pier Luigi. They symbolize the continuity of the Farnese Papal line. Raphael’s Medici Family Pope, Leo X, had in time been succeeded by his nephew Cardinal Giulio de’Medici as Pope Clement VII (1523-34), so Paul naturally wanted a successor of his own. Of course Cardinal Alessandro was no more religious than his grandfather. In fact, apart from several mistresses, he diverted huge sums from the Church into his collection of rare antiquities and Renaissance art at the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. X-rays of the canvas show that he was originally positioned further to the left. In all likelihood he convinced Titian to move him closer to the Pope – even to the extent of grasping the top of Paul’s chair with his right hand – as a sign of his claim to the Papacy. The ambivalent expression that Titian gives him is no more than he deserves. Not least because it was Alessandro who invited Titian to Rome with the promise of a living for his son, in place of a fee. In the end Titian’s son was paid off with a small parish worth a fraction of the original offer – an insulting reward for his father’s time and effort.