Goffen's Introduction to Titian

Rona Goffen’s Introduction to Titian was very interesting. It really illuminated the influence Titian had on the art world. He studied with Giovanni Bellini and started working under the master. He would eventually gain his own reputation for being a portraits. This skill leads to Titian to be recognized by Charles V, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and his son Philip II of Spain. After Charles V’s death, Titian would be inherited by Philip II. Titian would be commissioned for many portraits and other paintings. He would also create paintings that Philip II would later acquire. These paintings were not commissioned, but Philip II would acquire these paintings just because they were created by Titian. This is a modern way of buying art. Today, art dealers and collectors simply purchase paintings and pieces of art because they were created by a certain artist. I found this fact interesting because it is truly the first time in history that the artist is taking control of their career. Most art we learn about today is commissioned; the artists didn’t decide to paint the paintings that were created. Someone else decided what the artists created. However, Titian took control of his career. He catered his paintings to royalty but then was able to persuade Philip II of Spain to acquire his paintings simply because he painted them.

Another aspect of Goffen’s Introduction I found interesting is the discussion of misogyny in terms of Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Goffen is arguing that misogyny was an everyday presence during the Renaissance; it was present in literature, church, and art. The Church told everyone that it was Eve who caused the downfall of man and that she had many daughters and those daughters birthed the women of the world. Therefore, all women were innately going to cause the downfall of man. However, the Virgin Mary was the mother of Christ; the man would bring redemption to the world. Mary is alone in the world; she is the only woman like herself.

Goffen argues that Titian’s paintings of women are not pornographic in the sense of being purely sexual. Titian’s art always seems to involve some kind of affection or empathy for the subject. Also his women never seem to lacking in personality, unlike the women depicted in the writings of Pietro Aretino, a good friend of Titian’s and a writer. I found this idea interesting because it implies that Titian looked beyond the common attitude toward women. The idea that all of Titian’s women had a personality or inspired empathy, showed that he was thinking that women were not always thought of as the downfall of man, but they could be something else. They could be people with thoughts and emotions. But, what I found even more interesting is that Titian hide these thoughts and opinions in paintings that would be readily accepted as misogynic, like his Venus of Urbino.