Renaissance ideal of beauty: Titian’s Woman with a Mirror

Vol.11,No.2(2020)

Abstract
This paper deals with art-scientific description, analysis and interpretation of Titian´s canvas Woman with a Mirror (1512−1515) from the Prague Castle Picture Gallery (Obrazárna Pražského hradu). The paper applies iconographic approach to the interpretation of motifs as well as to historic, fine art and literal sources of inspiration and influences. Attention is paid particularly to the motifs of the mirror, reflection and the Renaissance ideal woman in the context of the period fashion, body care and corporal beauty. In this context, the paper also describes and analyses the creation of the female half-length portrait as artistic innovation in the works by Venetian masters from the first third of the 16th century. The paper does not omit other versions and variations of this canvas from Titian’s workshop or painters who followed up with their works Woman with a Mirror. In the last part, the paper presents the acquisition history of the canvas and its occurrence in the Rudolf II’ collection at the Prague Castle.

Keywords:
Titian; Renaissance; toilet; mirror; portrait; woman; ideal of beauty
References

Angeloglou, Maggie (1973): A History of Make-Up. New York: Macmillan.

Berger, Adolf (1883): Inventar der Kunstsammlungen des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm von Österreich aus dem Jahre 1659. Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses in Wien 1−2, LXXIX–CLXXVII.

Bertamini, Marco – Latto, Richard – Spooner, Alice (2003): The Venus Effect: People's Understanding of Mirror Reflections in Paintings. Perception 32, 593−599. https://doi.org/10.1068/p3418

Brown, David Alan – Ferino-Pagden, Sylvia (Eds.), (2006): Bellini, Giorgione, Titian and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Brožková, Helena a kol. (1983): Sběratelství. Praha: Svoboda.

Castiglione, Baldessare (1978): Dvořan. Praha: Odeon.

Cropper, Elizabeth (1976): On Beautiful Women, Parmigianino, Petrarchismo, and the Vernacular Style. Art Bulletin 58, 374–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043079.1976.10787307

Cropper, Elizabeth (1986): The Beauty of Women: Problems in the Rhetoric of Renaissance Portraiture. In Ferguson, Margaret W. (Ed.), Rewriting the Renaissance: The Discourse of Sexual Difference in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 175−190.

Fučíková, Eliška (Ed.), (1997): Rudolf II. a Praha: Císařský dvůr a rezidenční město jako kulturní a duchovní centrum střední Evropy. Praha: Správa Pražského hradu.

Genders, Roy (1972): Perfume Through the Ages. New York: Putnam.

Goffen, Rona (1997): Introduction. In Goffen, Rona (Ed.), Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–22.

Goffen, Rona (1999): Crossing the Alps: Portraiture in Renaissance Venice. In Aikema, Bernard (Ed.), Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the Time of Bellini, Dürer and Titian. Milan: Bompiani, 114−131.

Gunn, Fenja (1973): The Artificial Face: A History of Cosmetics. London: David & Charles.

Hagen, Rainer – Hagen, Rose-Marie (2002): What Great Paintings Say II. Köln: Taschen.

Hausenblasová, Jaroslava – Šroněk, Michal (1997): Urbs Aurea: Praha císaře Rudolfa II. [Praha]: Gallery.

Chojnacki, Stanley (1990): Marriage Legislation and Patrician Society in Fifteenth Century. In Nicholas, David – Bachrach, Bernard S. (Eds.), Law, Custom, and the Social Fabric in Medieval Europe: Essays in Honor of Bryce Lyon. Michigan: Western Michigan University, 163−184.

Christel, Dominik (2011): Žena a zrcadlo: Proměny zobrazení ženy ve vztahu k motivu zrcadla a fenoménu optické reflexe. Diplomová práce. Masarykova Univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, Brno.

Kaminski, Marion (1998): Tiziano Vecellio, Know as Titian: 1488/1490−1576. Köln: Könemann.

Kneidl, Pravoslav (1989): Počátky sběratelství a strahovský kabinet kuriozit. Praha: Památník národního písemnictví.

Köpl, Karl (1889): Urkunden, Acten, Regesten, und Inventare aus dem k. k. Statthalterei-Archiv in Prag. Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses 10, LXIII-CC.

Köpl, Karl (1891): Urkunden, Acten, Regesten, und Inventare aus dem k. k. Statthalterei-Archiv in Prag. Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses 12, I-XC.

Maser, Edward A. (Ed.), (1991): Cesare Ripa: Baroque and Rococo Pictorial Imagery. The 1750−60 Hertel Edition of Ripa´s Iconologia with 200 Engraved Illustrations. Toronto: Dover Publications.

Melchior-Bonnet, Sabine (2001): The Mirror: A History. New York: Routledge.

Meyers, Diana T. (2002): Gender in the Mirror: Cultural Imagery and Women's Agency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Morávek, Jan (1937): Sbírky Rudolfa II.: pokus o jich identifikaci. XII. výstava Musea hlav. města Prahy, spolu s Archivem pražského hradu, březen−květen 1937. Praha: Nákladem Kuratoria Musea hlav. města Prahy.

Neumann, Jaromír (1966): Obrazárna Pražského hradu: soubor vybraných děl. Praha: Academia.

Neumann, Jaromír (1976): Pocta Tizianovi: k 400. výročí úmrtí, výstava, Národní galerie v Praze, Okresní národní výbor v Kroměříži, Československá komise pro spolupráci s UNESCO Praha, Královský letohrádek, prosinec 1976únor 1977. Praha: Národní galerie.

Pardo, Mary (1993): Artifice as Seduction in Titian. In Turner, James (Ed.), Sexuality and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 55–89.

Petrarca, Francesco (1965): Sto sonetů Lauře. Praha: Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury a umění.

Putová, Barbora (2016): Tiziano e la collezione di Rodolfo II. Titian and the Collection of Rudolf II. In Puppi, Lionello – Baccaglina, Serena (Eds.), Tiziano, Vanitas. Il Poeta dell'Immagine e l'Ombra della Bellezza. Titian. The Poet of the Image and the Shade of Beauty. Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 85−98.

Simons, Patricia (1995): Portraiture, Portrayal and Idealization: Ambigous Individualism in Representations of Renaissance Women. In Brown, Alison (Ed.), Language and Image of Renaissance Italy. Oxford: Clarendon, 263−311.

Sterling, Charles (Ed.), (1998): Fifteenth- to Eighteenth-Century European Paintings: France, Central Europe, The Netherlands, Spain, and Great Britain. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Špét, Jiří (2003): Přehled vývoje českého muzejnictví I. (do roku 1945). Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně.

Tinagli, Paola (1997): Women in Italian Renaissance Art. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Tour d´Albenas, Bérenger de la (1953): Le Miroir. In Poèmes du XVIe siècle. Paris: Gallimard, 353.

Turner, Joseph Mallord William (1802): Titian and his Mistress. In: Studies in the Louvre Sketchbook, D04300, D04301; Turner Bequest LXXII. London: Tate Gallery.

West, Shearer (Ed.), (2004): Portraiture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wethey, Harold E. (1975): The Paintings of Titian III.: The Mythological and Historical Paintings. London: Phaidon.

Metrics

0

Crossref logo

0


492

Views

307

PDF (Czech) views