Why_Not_Tell_the_Truth_

Why Not Tell the Truth' Three Venetian men over a time period of four hundred years, all using the working woman as their model, but which created the most commotion over their painting, and how' Giorgione, 1477-1510, has always been considered as one of Europe’s most important artists. We know of only a few pictures painted by him for definite as he never signed anything throughout his short 15year career. His reputation was not created so much upon his paintings, but on his ideas and what they contributed to Italian art. He was highly influenced by Bellini, leading him to take atmosphere to its logical conclusion, painting emotionally charged pictures that never seemed to rely on any story, unlike religious art that was around at that time. [i] Giorgione proposed a new and sensual interest in the beauty of the human form. Early Renaissance ideals depend on specific intellectual connections, but he breaks away from this approach, creating an ideal of beauty designed to appeal directly to the sense rather than the mind. This is what sparked him to create his last piece of work, the Sleeping Venus 1510, which proved most influential as the first non-religious female nude ever. The choice of using a nude woman marked a revolution in art, and can be considered the starting point of modern art. [ii] His painting portrays a young, nude women sleeping in an open landscape, a feature of Venetian painting. Her undulating body outline enhances the sensation of heavy-eyed sleep, and encourages the eye to cast a caressing gaze over the figure, bringing your attention to her hand covering her genital area.[iii] Not only did he revolutionise art, he also changed the role of patronage, painting non-religious pictures for private people rather than churches which was most prevalently done. Giorgione died in 1510 before he had completely finished Sleeping Venus so Titian, whom he had as his Student finished it off for him, he turned out to be one of Venice’s most important sixteenth-century artists; he carried on with Giorgione’s teachings and, with his vast output and influence, changed Venetian painting forever.[iv] Titian, 1490-1576, known as the greatest Venetian painter of the sixteenth century developed an exceptional expressive energy that characterizes his works due to his unusually rich experiences, combined with his aggressive temperament. He developed an entirely new way of painting that didn’t just rely on draughtsmanship, but used the texture and colours of his oil paint. He built up his technique on the great artists before him such as Delacroix, Rubens and Bellini, producing his own strong style, exploding with bold energy, on to the moods and mysterious landscapes from his early work with Giorgione. Titian composed pictures with colour as opposed to forms in mind, so figures really started to look at home in their landscapes and not like cut-outs placed in a scene. When most of Europe was following the elegant, but soon to be obsolete, ideals of Mannerism, Titian fused the monumentality of Mantegna and Michelangelo with his own wild freedom. He locked the whole thing together with thick flashes of colour, and created not just a style but an entirely new direction for painting. This was particularly shown in his painting Venus of Urbino (1538), a painting of a woman posing nude in an interior, her left hand concealing her genital area in the centre of the composition, while her other hand grips a small bouquet of roses whilst looking directly into the viewers eye with a dog by her feet, similar to the cupid painted on Giorgiones Sleeping Venus, symbolising fidelity and unfaithfulness and the fact that it is asleep hints that the woman portrayed is unfaithful. The space she occupies is partially screened off from a second room. Titian is plainly referring in this canvas to Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus. Titian’s Venus may have been intended for the bridal chambers of the young Duke Guidobaldo della Rovere and his wife Giulia da Varano in Urbino’s ducal palace to go on a bridal chest identical to the one that the two maids are taking clothes out of in the background. Though it has a twist, this woman is, unlike Giorgione’s timeless piece, more sensual and awake, lying on a bed indoors, wearing jewellery and holding a posy of roses. She looks as though she belongs to our world – a courtesan perhaps' Erotic scenes like this were becoming more common by the sixteenth century, they were intended to create an arousing atmosphere in bedrooms and bridal chambers, and sometimes were believed to increase fertility.[v] Mark Twain commented on the Venus of Urbino and called it “the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses” He proposed that “it was painted for a bagnio, and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong” adding that “in truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery” and now it is now hanging in the Galleria degli Iffizi in Florence. Edouard Manet, 1832-1883, seen as a founder of Impressionism, he is actually more of a Realist. Rebelling against his establishment family, he started painting. From the beginning he wanted to free art from narrow-mindedness. When he complained that “We have been perverted by the recipes of painting...Who will deliver us from all this prissiness'”[vi] He answered with his own work, blowing apart accepted views of Old Masters. The first outcry was caused by his Dejeuner sur l’Herbe, which showed dressed men and naked women picnicking together. It was an affront to morality. Actually it was a new take on Giorgione’s masterpiece that hung in the Louvre. Next he took Titian’s Venus of Urbino, mimicking the clichéd pose. Where it had been interpreted as acceptable ‘classic’ nudity, Manet reinvigorated it in the Realism style to make Olympia. Painted in 1863, it brought back the shock of sex that the original by Titian would have had by making her a prostitute in a brothel, ready for business and looking us straight in the eye. When it was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon it stirred a huge uproar, conservatives condemned the work as ‘immoral’ and ‘vulgar’. Journalist Antonin Proust later recalled, “If the canvas of the Olympia was not destroyed, it is only because of the precautions that were taken by the administration.” However, the work had proponents as well. Emile Zola quickly proclaimed it Manet’s “masterpiece” and added, “When other artists correct nature by painting Venus they lie. Manet asked himself why he should lie. Why not tell the truth'”[vii] Manet did not depict a goddess or an odalisque, but a real persona, a high-class prostitute waiting for a client. Many details prove this, like the orchid in her hair, her bracelet, pearl earrings and the oriental shawl on which she lays symbols of wealth and sensuality. The black ribbon around her neck, in stark contrast with her pale flesh, and her cast-off slipper underline the voluptuous atmosphere. Whereas Titian's Venus delicately covers her sex, Olympia's hand firmly protects hers, as if to emphasize her independence and sexual dominance over men. Manet replaced the little dog in Titian's painting with a black cat, which symbolized prostitution. Olympia disdainfully ignores the flowers presented to her by her servant, probably a gift from a client. Some have suggested that she is looking in the direction of the door, as her client barges in unannounced. Manet painted a real woman, whose nakedness is revealed in all its brutality by the harsh light. He broke the shackles of moral, religious and historical allusions ----------------------- [i] The Renaissance [ii] Wikipedia [iii] Great Artists - DK [iv] Impressionism – Judy Martin [v] How to Read a Painting – Patrica de Rynck [vi] The Art of the Renaissance – Peter and Linda Murray