Titian's The Aldobrandini Madonna : a longer look
I thought I knew
the National Gallery Titian’s well but I must admit to not consciously looking
this one before. On first glance it looks like a standard Madonna and child
plus John the Baptist with a saint but as you look closely you start to
question whether the figure is a saint as she has no halo or attributes and
also to wonder why the Madonna is sitting in the countryside.
We started by
looking at the context of the picture in 16th century Venice and where it sits
in Titian’s career. Titian was prolific in the 1530s when this picture was
probably painted but very little of the work survives. For example of 12 works
done for the Hapsburgs only 2 survive.
We spent a lot of
time in the gallery looking first at a Bellini of a Madonna in a landscape and
then comparing that to the Titian. The tutor made us look carefully at the work
and then we compare how we all reacted to it. We talked about the richness of
the fabric and whether it might have been commissioned by a silk merchant. We
also discussed the ‘saint’ figure and felt it may just be a representation of a
contemporary woman, although not necessarily a portrait. This would highlight a
contemporary person’s relationship with Christ and God.
Back in the
seminar room we looked at variations on the pictures in other galleries and
discussed which might have come first, partly by looking at an infrared picture
of the work and looking at changes Titian had made.
All in all a
fascinating morning.
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