Research Paper on the Titian’s Mythological Paintings for Philip II

The famous Venetian artist, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) born ca. 1488 and died 1576, was the first artist to painted in oils and fully exploited the medium’s potential for richness in color through his expressive thick paint application with raised brushstrokes known as impasti. This new technique freed the brush from the task of accurately rendering surfaces, volumes, and details and as a result Titian was able to convey light through color and breath life, movement and strong emotion into his characters portrayed on the canvas. With Titian’s most important and influential friends, Aretino and Lodovico Dolce, whose letters and writings praised the extraordinary work of Titian and addressed the powerful throughout Europe, Titian rapidly became the principal painter to the Imperial Court, (independent from the controls and conditioning of the Church), which gave him immense privileges, honors, and even titles such as principal painter to Charles V and Philip II, who were the two greatest collectors and admirers of Titian.

The art of Titian became a fundamental inspiration for three of the famous painters of the 17^th century, Rubens, Van Dyck and Velazquez as all three painters developed a fluency of brushwork and a richness of color in their palette.  Furthermore, Titian provide powerful compositional models (over six hundred) for almost every type of commission from portraits to altarpieces from ceiling painting to erotic mythological narratives placed in landscapes, most notably, the six enigmatic canvases, the Poesie, painted between 1551 to 1562 for Philip II.