Titian's The Aldobrandini Madonna : a longer look

A lovely study morning at the National Gallery looking at the Aldobrandini Madonna by Titian lead by Caroline Brook.

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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