Renaissance Woman by Ramie Targoff

Author:Ramie Targoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga, first Duke of Mantua and son of Isabella d’Este, by Titian (Prado, Madrid)

There is no definitive record of which of the many Mary Magdalenes Titian painted in his career was Vittoria’s painting: he (and his workshop) painted the Magdalene more than forty times. But the most likely candidate is the The Penitent Magdalene in Florence’s Palazzo Pitti (see color plate 15). This painting, dated to 1531, certainly fits the requirement that Vittoria gave to the artist for the Magdalene to be as “beautiful and tearful as possible.” It is in fact the most erotic version that Titian painted, despite the claims of the sixteenth-century painter and historian of art Giorgio Vasari, who insisted that “although she is very beautiful, [the picture] moves not to lust but to compassion.” Unlike Titian’s other Magdalenes, in which she is at least partially dressed, the Pitti Magdalene is naked, her breasts scantily covered by her luxurious golden hair. The Magdalene’s nudity was part of the legend that had surrounded her since the Middle Ages. In her long years of repentance in the desert following Christ’s ascension, her clothes apparently fell apart.

It is hard to imagine how Vittoria would have responded to the sensuality of Titian’s painting. We know only that she thanked Federico warmly: “For the Magdalene,” she wrote, “I thank you infinite times.” Along with her letter she sent him a lovely, if somewhat odd, gift of several small pillows filled with rose petals, for which he in turn thanked her rather extravagantly in a subsequent letter (the pillow would not have represented Titian’s payment for the work, but simply a gesture of gratitude for her friend). Federico also reported having shared her praise of the painting with Titian himself. It is worth noting that Vittoria’s letter was dated May 25, 1531, only two and a half months after Federico had written to her promising that the painting would be done as quickly as possible. Given that it would have taken at least ten days to transport the canvas from the northern city of Mantua to the southern island of Ischia, Titian must have taken Federico’s instructions to rush very seriously.

The second painting of Mary Magdalene that Vittoria commissioned was from none other than Michelangelo. Once again, the commission did not come directly from her. In a letter sent to Federico from his agent in Florence on May 19, 1531—only six days before Vittoria wrote her letter thanking Federico for the Titian—he related that Michelangelo had received a request from Alfonso d’Avalos for a painting of the Magdalene, to be done for the Marchesa of Pescara. Michelangelo was clearly put off by the request—the name Vittoria Colonna meant nothing to him at the time—and said he would not accept the job unless instructed to do so by Pope Clement himself. Clement had in fact given him strict orders to accept no new projects beyond his papal commissions, but in this case, the pope must have made an exception to satisfy his friend Vittoria.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.