Titian’s charming Danae, just one of dozens of masterpieces on display now at the Quirinale
The much-anticipated exhibit Tiziano (Titian) opened this week at Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale. I have one word: Go!
So many retrospectives can’t get their hands on a painter’s best masterpieces, but not this one. There are no fewer than 39 works by Titian—you know, the most famous artist to ever come out of Venice, and the most important Italian artist of the 16th century. And they range from the incredible Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (which has an estimated value of 50 million euro, by the way) to the iconic La Bella to the charming Danae.
Find out more in my piece on the Titian exhibit over at BBC Travel. And just as a taste, here are photos of some of the finest paintings in the show (it goes without saying that, as always with artwork, they are a few hundred times more stunning, vibrant, and detailed in person).
The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, an enormous—and spine-tingling—altarpiece by Titian. It was recently restored, so you can see way more details, and it’s much more effused with light, in person than in this photo.
Painted when he was just 20 years old, Titian’s “The Concert” shows he was already an extraordinary observer of his subjects’ emotions and psychology… just look at the intense expression on the guy in the middle!
Flora, Titian’s famous painting, was lent to the show by Florence’s Uffizi
Titian’s charming 1535 Annunciation, from Venice’s Scuola di San Rocco
The man himself: a self-portrait, painted when Titian was in his late 70s (he’d live until his late 80s)
A travel journalist and Rome insider, I'm the author of the Revealed Rome website and of the Revealed Rome Handbook — now available in both print and e-book editions.
