titian studies raphael

TITIAN STUDIES RAPHAELAuthor(s): Patricia MeilmanSource: Source: Notes in the History of Art, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Winter 1984), pp. 53-59Published by: Ars Brevis Foundation, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23207819 .

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TITIAN STUDIES RAPHAEL

Patricia Meilman

When Ludovico Dolce, in his Dialogo della pit tura, published in 1557, set out to prove the

pre-eminence of Titian over Raphael and Michel

angelo, he described the first conversation as

taking place before Titian's Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece (Fig. I).1 At the end of the Dialogo, Dolce concludes with a lengthy ekphrasis de

scribing that painting.2 In the intervening fic

tional discussions between Aretino and the

Florentine grammarian Fabrini, Dolce leads the

reader through a series of arguments aimed,

first, at demonstrating Raphael's superiority

over Michelangelo in painting. Once that point has been "proven" and Michelangelo eliminated,

Dolce turns to his second issue: Titian's prima

cy over Raphael. This task was made easier by

the fact that Raphael had died more than thirty

five years earlier. Dolce thus avoids a direct

comparison between Titian and Michelangelo;3

he is also able to emphasize the common ground

relating the art of Raphael and Titian.

tino Rota. Perhaps because it is no longer ex

tant, its crucial role in the development of the

altarpiece as a genre has not been fully appre

ciated: the significance of an istoria in the con

text of altar painting is notable. The drama of

the image itself, however, may account in part

for the oversight. Indeed, even contemporary

commentators noted the emotional impact of

In addition to Raphael s ability as a painter of the nude and as a colorist, Dolce's high as

sessment of Raphael is based on the latter's

greatness as a painter of istorie. In the Saint

Peter Martyr Altarpiece, cited by Dolce as the

epitome of Titian's achievements, two aspects

of Titian's borrowing from Raphael become ap

parent. Titian studied Raphael's theory for the

development of a narrative altarpiece. At the

same time, Titian quoted from Raphael's dra

matic figures and their placement in a grand

setting.

The Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece was Titian's

most studied painting. Destroyed by a fire in

the nineteenth century, it is known chiefly

through copies, including the engraving by Mar

Fig. 1 Martino Rota, after Titian, Death of

Saint Peter Martyr. (Photo: The Metropolitan

Museum of Art, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Be

quest, 1917, 17.50.16-155)



54

the painting and pointed out that the drama of

the Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece was com

parable to Titian's large-scale wall decorations.

Dolce linked the Saint Peter Martyr Altar

piece with Titian's commissions for the Sala del

Maggior Consiglio of the Ducal Palace.4 Vasari,

in the 1568 edition of the Lives, compounded

the mistake, saying that when the Doge saw the

Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece, he commissioned

Titian to do the Battle of Spoleto.5 If Vasari

was mistaken about the chronology of the Bat

tle painting—it was commissioned in 1513, thir teen years before the altarpiece, only to be

postponed several times by Titian—he was cor

rect in noting that both works were istorie.

Their goals, however, were different.

Istoria was a more relevant concept in wall

decoration, where the goal or function was to

delight and entertain while relating an instruc

tive series of events. Titian's altarpiece, however,

by virtue of its narrative content, also enter

tains, albeit in a way that is horrifying; it also instructs. Before this landmark work by Titian,

narrative was relatively rare in Venetian altar

pieces dedicated to saints. Indeed, Titian's

painting was among the earliest depictions of

the death of a saint in the main section of the

painting.6 This is not a devotional altarpiece designed to invite prayer for the saint's inter

cession. The saint is no longer merely an inter

mediary. Rather, like Christ and the Virgin (whose lives had traditionally been the subject of narrative altarpieces), a saint's life now be

comes of primary interest, with the implication

that his life should be emulated.

By connecting the altarpiece with the huge

canvas in the Ducal Palace, Vasari and Dolce

were indirectly identifying a fundamental change

in the concept of altar painting; the boundaries

between secular and religious painting would

not be so clearly drawn after the Saint Peter

Martyr Altarpiece: although the content might

remain purely religious, the changing function

of the altarpiece—now to engage and instruct—

would be reflected in new methods of presenta

tion. Titian's efforts at narrative in the Saint Peter

Martyr Altarpiece continue and, in a sense, real

ize the narrative potential of several of Raphael's

altarpieces. Raphael himself did not arrive

quickly at this concept of a narrative altar

painting, but moved gradually from a static

toward a more narrative concept. An early

drawing for the Baglioni Altarpiece7 reveals, for

example, a Lamentation that is far more static

than the final Entombment.8 Similarly, in a

copy of Raphael's early drawing- for the Trans

figuration,9 Christ stands on the ground, oc

cupying the major area of the panel. Only in

the later drawings is the scene with the possessed

boy included. The final scheme combines in

one field the figure of Christ with the story of the possessed boy. In the upper zone Christ

floats above the earth; the lower zone contains

a dramatic narrative, with a complex pattern of

glance and gesture that places the devotional

image above in the context of an istoria. Despite the iconographic innovation of the Transfigura

tion, which continues to be widely discussed,10

the combination of the two scenes is of con

siderable narrative interest: What is the relation

ship of Christ to the lower scene? Is He aware

of the figures below? Do they see Him or re

create His presence through prayer? Raphael comes close to achieving a fully narrative altar

piece, but the visionary nature of the Trans

figuration precludes the full integration of Christ

with the narrative below.

In the Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece, Titian

departs from the traditional formula for an

altarpiece dedicated to a saint. Giovanni Bellini's Peter Martyr,l

1 which was originally the center

of a triptych, is a traditional iconic image: a frontal, full-length standing figure occupies the main section, with the smaller narrative com

ponents below. Giovanni Bellini's Death of Saint Peter Martyr,12 a small painting intended

for private devotion, is closer to a predella type



55

of composition than to an altarpiece. Titian, on

the other hand, concentrates on the event of

the martyrdom (Fig. 1). Eliminating the tradi tional icon of the saint-intercessor, he lifts the

saint's death from its usual location in the pre

della to the main section of the altarpiece. As in

Raphael's Transfiguration, the action takes

place in the lower part of the main section; in

stead of being the dominant figure, imposing

and iconic, the martyred saint sprawls on the

ground. The vertical plane of the painting, how

ever, is consistent with its position above the

altar. Its monumental trees mediate between

the earthly and heavenly spheres.

The carefully orchestrated movement and

energy of the Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece, un

precedented in altar painting but a hallmark of

Raphael's great narrative compositions, recall

the well-circulated engraving Massacre of the In

nocents after a design by Raphael (Fig. 2). In deed, the muscular back of the male nude on

the right is similar in conception to the assassin in Titian's painting. But the figures in both

compositions are related in a more fundamental

way: they share a fluidity of movement and a

graceful interaction despite the horror of the

event. Energy is harnessed by aesthetic control

so that carefully choreographed figures move in

groups set against a monumental background.

Overall, a sense of measure and rhythm prevails.

For the figures themselves, however, Titian

quotes models not from Raphael's altarpieces,

but from his large-scale narrative works, his

great istorie. Dramatic figures capable of ex

pressing profound emotion were not in the

Venetian repertory. Despite a rich tradition of

narrative wall painting, exemplified by Gentile

Bellini's Procession of the Cross in the Piazza

San Marco,13 the Venetian teleri provided a de

tailed historic record though the figures lacked

emotional content or movement.14

Raphael's design, although most familiar

through the engraving by Marcantonio Rai

mondi, may have been known to Titian through the woodcut version by Ugo da Carpi (Fig. 2). Ugo had worked in Venice from about 1510 to

1516 as a cutter of woodblocks before going to

Rome.15 Titian knew Ugo, who had carved and

signed the blocks for two of Titian's own wood

cuts—the monumental Sacrifice of Abraham of

rig. 2 Ugo da Carpi, after Raphael, Massacre of the Innocents.

(Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick

Fund, 1928, 28.15.12)



56

Fig. 3 Raphael and assistants, David and Goliath.

Musei Vaticani. (Photo: Vatican)

c. 1515 and the intimate Saint Jerome in Peni

tence of c. 1516. Before leaving Venice, Ugo had petitioned the Venetian Senate for a privi

lege protecting his "invention" of the chiaro

scuro woodcut.

In Rome, Ugo had a successful career inter

preting the designs of Raphael, Parmigianino, and others in woodcut. Several of Raphael's

invenzioni which were translated into chiaro

scuro woodcuts by Ugo would have been known

to Titian, who, as a designer of woodcuts him

self, might even have owned some of Ugo's

works.

The David and Goliath (Fig. 3) from the Vat ican Loggia frescoes, probably designed by Raphael16 and reproduced as a chiaroscuro

woodcut by Ugo (Fig. 4), contains a fleeing fig ure17 that could have inspired the pose and

placement of the fleeing monk inthz Saint Peter

Martyr Altarpiece. In each painting, the running

figure is on the left border and steps forward on

his right foot while looking backward over his opposite shoulder; each painting acknowledges the viewer's space by potentially violating the

frame; each functions as a mediator between

action and beholder, as Alberti had recom

mended; and in both compositions emphasis is

on the central event in the form of a figure

sprawled on the ground.

Titian's prone saint, placed to one side of the

composition and receding diagonally, may also

reflect Raphael's design for the Sistine tapestry

of the Conversion of Saul.18 This cartoon, and

later the tapestry itself, was in Venice when

Titian painted the Saint Peter Martyr Altar

piece.19 The pose of the running figure in the

left background of the cartoon is related to that

of Titian's fleeing monk. And, despite the large

number of soldiers required for a Conversion of

Saul, the cartoon's economy of gesture and ex

pression is notable. The requisite emotion of

surprise is shown without being repetitive, and,

indeed, its many variations of fear and excite

ment range from mild interest to great shock.

Although paintings of Peter Martyr's death

often contained more figures (cf. Giovanni Bel

lini's Death of Saint Peter Martyr), Titian's has

only three major figures, each of which repre sents a distinct but highly charged emotion.

The figures themselves move with grace and

agility despite the tragedy, recalling John Shear man's observation that in the cartoons Rapha



57

el's movement is continuous, fluent, and bal

anced, with a beginning and an end.20

It has been noted that in Raphael's Sistine

tapestry of the Death of Ananias, as well as in

several other of the tapestry designs, some ele

ments of the story have been combined and

Fig. 4 Ugo da Carpi, after Raphael and assistants, David

and Goliath. (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

Rogers Fund, 1922, 22.73.3-18)

Fig. 5 Ugo da Carpi, after Raphael and assistants, Death of

Ananias. (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers

Fund, 1922, 22.67.41)

others suppressed for the sake of visual clarity.21

Breaking with the Venetian iconography of the

subject, Titian takes similar liberty in the Saint Peter Martyr Altarpiece. He condenses three an

cillary figures into two and places them in the

background.22 Thus, in a composition where



each figure is tense, the story remains simple

and, like the tapestries, immediately compre

hensible.

Raphael's Death of Ananias, also translated

into chiaroscuro woodcut by Ugo (Fig. 5), de

picts a mortally wounded figure reclining awk

wardly on a wrist bent backward; his legs are

spread open and join at the ankles. Titian's Peter

Martyr (Fig. 1) is not a direct quotation of Ananias: the saint reclines on his elbow, his

knees are together, and his ankles far apart. But

a Venetian woodcut by Lucantonio degliUberti,

and long associated with the circle of Titian,

the Conversion of Saint Paul (Fig. 6),23 is a closer adaptation of Raphael's Ananias and may

represent an earlier step in the assimilation of

Raphael's Ananias figure into the Venetian

This essay has been adapted from my disserta

tion "Titian's St. Peter Martyr Altarpiece," cur

rently in progress. I would like to thank Profes

sors David Rosand and James Beck for their

thoughtful comments on this text.

Fig. 6 Lucantonio degli Uberti, Conversion of Saint Paul. (Photo: Mu

seum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of W. G. Russell Allen)

NOTES

1. M. W. Roskill, Dolce s Aretino and Venetian

Art Theory of the Cinquecento (New York: 1968),

pp. 84-85.

2. Ibid., pp. 190-191.

3. Dolce has Aretino argue in favor of Titian and the

repertory. In his figure of Peter Martyr, Titian

returns to Raphael's upward-turned head and

recession of the figure into depth. He extends

the left arm toward the angels, strengthening

the vertical axis required for an altarpiece, and

unbends the right hand to fulfill the iconograph ical requirement that the saint write credo in

the ground with his blood.

That Titian studied Raphael, responding to

his challenge, is apparent in the lost Saint Peter

Martyr Altarpiece: Although he had not been

to Rome by the time of its completion in 1530,

Titian nevertheless was assimilating Raphael's

lessons in narrative painting regarding specific

figures and their placement, as well as the more

comprehensive problems of composition, con

tent, and function.



59

Venetian aesthetic. Aretino, a friend of Titian's, had

emigrated to Venice at the time of the sack of Rome.

He thus served as a particularly appropriate spokesman for Titian, since (as Dolce would have the reader do) he had been won over from the painting of Michel

angelo and Raphael. On Dolce's presentation of the

plastic-linear tendency of Florentine art as represented by Michelangelo and opposed to the plastic-coloristic

approach characteristic of Raphael and Titian, see

D. Rosand, Painting in Cinquecento Venice (New Ha

ven and London: 1982), pp. 15 ff.; S. J. Freedberg,

"Disegno versus Colore in Florentine and Venetian

Painting of the Cinquecento," in Florence and Venice:

ActsofTwo Conferences at Villa I Tatti in 1976-1977, II (Florence: 1980), pp. 309-322; M. Poirier, "'Diseg no' in Titian: Dolce's Critical Challenge to Michel

angelo," in Tizianoe Venezia: Convegno Internazionale

di Studi, Venezia, 1976 (Vicenza: 1980), pp. 249

253; F. Bernabei, "Tiziano e Ludovico Dolce," in

Tiziano e il manierismo europeo, ed. R. Pallucchini

(Florence: 1978), pp. 307 ff.; Roskill, pp. 47-48; and

D. Rosand, "The Crisis of the Venetian Renaissance

Tradition,"L Arte 11-12 (1970):6-12. 4. Roskill, pp. 190-191.

5. G. Vasari, Le Vite de' piu eccellentipittoriscultori ed archetettori, ed. G. Milanesi (Florence: 1878-1885),

VII, p. 439.

6. A painting of the same subject, at S. Martino, Alzano Lombardo (Bergamo), is generally attributed

to Palma Vecchio as an early work, c. 1510-1515: see

G. Mariacher, in I Pittori bergamaschi dal XIII al XIX

secolo, II Cinquecento, ed. P. Zampetti, I (Bergamo:

1975), illus. on p. 226, with a complete bibliography on p, 206. A date of 1510-1515 is too early: the orig

inality of the composition and concept of the altar

piece is out of place in Palma's oeuvre at this time.

The debt to Raphael's tapestry design for the Stoning

of Saint Stephen (J. Shearman, Raphael's Cartoons in

the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen and the

Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel [London: 1972], fig.

18) necessitates a date after 1518.

7. J. Pope-Hennessy, Raphael (New York: 1970), fig. 42.

8. L. Dussler, Raphael, trans. S. Cruft (London and

New York: 1971), pi. 67.

9. K. Oberhuber, "Vorzeichnungen zu Raffaels

'Transfiguration,'" Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 4

(1962): 116-149, fig. 2.

10. See C. King, "The Liturgical and Commemorative

Allusions in Raphael's 'Transfiguration and Failure to

Heal,'" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Insti

tutes 45 (1982): 148-159, which includes a review of

the literature.

11. B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:

Venetian School, rev. ed. (London and New York:

1957), I, pi. 227.

12.Ibid., pi. 256.

13. Le Scuole di Venezia, ed. T. Pignatti (Milan:

1981), fig. 47.

14. On narrative cycles, see D. Rosand, 39 ff.

15. On Ugo da Carpi, see D. Rosand and M. Muraro,

Titian and Venetian Woodcut (Washington, D.C.:

1976), p. 33; and P. Dreyer, "Ugo da Carpis venezian

ische zeit im Lichte neuer Zuschreibungen," Zeitschrift

fur Kunstgeschichte 35 (1972): 282-301.

16. Vasari, IV, p. 384, asserted that Raphael made

designs and sketches for the Logge frescoes. Raphael's actual participation, however, is a matter of consider

able dispute. See N. Dacos, Le Logge di Raffaello: maestro e bottega difronte all'antico (Rome: 1977).

17. O. Fischel, Raphael, trans. B. Packham (Lon don: 1948), II, pi. 221, publishes the Battle of Joshua, a mosaic from Sta. Maria Maggiore, Rome, citing its

dramatic force in relation to Raphael's Expulsion of Heliodorus (I, pp. 103 and 197). Fischel's observations

regarding Raphael and ancient painting are sound, and, in fact, the running figure on the left border of the

mosaic is similar to the running figure in the Vatican

Loggia David and Goliath (Fig. 3). 18. Shearman, fig. 20.

19. Ibid., fig. 144.

20. Ibid., fig. 129.

21. Pope-Hennessy, pp. 166-167.

22. At the time of his death, the saint was accom

panied by another monk; initially there were two as

sassins, one of whom fled immediately before the at

tack. For a full account of the events, see A. Dondaine,

O.P., "Saint Pierre Martyr," Archivum Fratrum Prae

dicatorum 23 (1953):102-103 and, on the reliability of the hagiology, 107 ff.

23. C. Karpinsky, review of D. Rosand and M. Muraro, Titian and the Venetian Woodcut, Art Bulletin 59

(1977):637, points out that a fragment of the same

print, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, bears Luc

antonio's monogram. Since the early nineteenth cen

tury, however, this woodcut has been connected with

Titian, and it almost certainly was executed during Lucantonio's long stay in Venice. For a review of the

literature, see D. Rosand and M. Muraro, p. 111. On the development of Lucantonio's woodcuts during this

period, see P. Kristeller, Early Florentine Woodcuts

(London: 1897), p. xliv; id., Kupferstich und Holz

schnitt in vier Jahrhunderten (Berlin: 1905), p. 160.



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