Tiziano. Actualidad de los estudios

Abstract

Titian is an inescapable figure in the history of Venetian painting, casting his shadow over the majority of contemporary artists. Veronese, Tintoretto, and Lotto are often judged in relation to his maniera, and their stylistic characteristics are understood as deviations from the norm as embodied by Titian. This perception, largely disseminated by contemporary art history, does not, however, do justice to the diversity of local artistic creation. Mannerism is too often considered unrelated to the Venetian aesthetic, and art historians ascribe to all Venetian artistic production characteristics that are valid (at least in part) for Titian alone. The question of sculpture is similarly marginalized and perceived as fundamentally opposed to the art advocated by Titian. Recent studies of the artist’s « last manner », the famous pittura di macchia, have made it possible to reevaluate Titian’s role in the evolution of art and to better define his actual influence. Research on his workshop, as well as scientific analyses (X-rays, pigment), cast a new light on his style and allow for a « demythologization » of the master of Cadore