Pesaro Madonna

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Pesaro Madonna: Titian

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Keywords: Pesaro, Madonna

Work Overview: Pesaro Madonna (Madonna with Saints and Members of the Pesaro Family)
Artist Titian
Year 1519–1526
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 4.88 m × 2.69 m (16.0 ft × 8.8 ft)
Location Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

The Pesaro Madonna (Italian: Pala Pesaro) (better known as the Madonna di Ca' Pesaro) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian, commissioned by Jacopo Pesaro, whose family acquired in 1518 the chapel in the Frari Basilica in Venice for which the work was painted, and where it remains today. Jacopo was Bishop of Paphos, in Cyprus, and had been named commander of the papal fleet by the Borgia pope, Alexander VI.[1] This painting recalls one of Titian's earliest paintings Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter, c. 1510-11

Titian shows his patron in a devotional pose, kneeling before the Virgin and presented to her by Saint Peter. Prominently displayed on the step is Saint Peter's key; its diagonal plane, leading toward the Virgin, parallels that of Jacopo. The Virgin's position at the top of the steps alludes to her celestial role as Madonna della Scala (Madonna of the Stairs) and as the Stairway to Heaven. Titian actually used his wife, who died in childbirth soon after, as the model for the Virgin Mary in this work.[3]

The large red banner at the far left prominently displays the papal arms in the center and those of Jacopo below. Also displayed are olive leaves, a symbol of peace. An unidentified knight has two prisoners in tow, a turbaned Turk and a Moor, probably a reference to Jacopo's victory over the Turks in 1502.[1] At the right, Saint Francis of Assisi links the five kneeling Pesaro family members to Christ, suggesting that through his own route of identification with Christ salvation can be achieved. Just behind Saint Francis is Saint Anthony of Padua - both, like Saint Bernardino, are Franciscans, as is the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

The members of the donor's family are motionless. All the other figures gesture energetically and occupy diagonal planes.[1] The steps, surmounted by large columns cut off at the top, are thrust diagonally back into space. Infant angels appear on the cloud above. One seen in rear view holds the Cross. The back of this angel is juxtaposed with the infant Christ, who turns playfully on Mary's lap and looks down at Saint Francis, who returns his gaze. The fabrics are characteristically rich and textured, particularly the flag and costumes. This attention to material textures is further enhanced by the variation of bright lights and dark accents in the sky. The light of Venice, sparkling in its waterways, seems to illuminate this painting.

When Titian painted this altarpiece, he broke with a centuries-long tradition of placing the devotional figures (the Virgin and Child) in the center of the painting and the painted space. By doing this, he allowed for a greater sense of movement through the painting, presaging the Baroque period's more complicated compositional techniques. The painting is particularly innovative and shows an example of developed High-Renaissance style, as Titian has used diagonal and triangular principles to draw the viewer's eye up to the Madonna and Child, thus creating hierarchy within the work and shows that the Pesaro family are pious.[1]

The architectural setting, involving the two large columns (which have been cropped to fit the altarpiece) draw emphasis vertically and to the height of the work; which draws the eye Heavenwards. These columns in the center of the painting are unprecedented in Renaissance painting, and are the subject of some controversy. X-rays reveal that Titian painted several other architectural elements in their place before settling on the columns. Some critics have even speculated that Titian did not paint the columns.[4] The outdoors setting suggests that the activity is taking place in a portico, in which the grandeur of the columns somehow belittles the human beings which leave the figures and the viewer almost in awe of the greater implied force.

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Titian’s great altarpiece depicting the Virgin and Child is located in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (otherwise known simply as the Frari) in Venice. The painting shows both of these figures near the top of a stepped platform; the Virgin wears a beautifully-colored red robe covered with a blue garment and a white mantle, under which the Christ Child playfully appears. The Virgin looks down to the figures on the left side of the canvas, while Christ looks to the right side. Before discussing these various figures, it is important to take note of the monumental architecture in which they appear. We see the bottoms of two enormous columns, which appear to form part of a gateway or portico preceding a large, classical structure only partially visible to the right. This use of grand, classical architecture echoes the same practice being done by artists such as Raphael in his great fresco at the Vatican, the School of Athens.

Since the church of the Frari is operated by the Franciscan order, Titian has placed the order’s patron, St. Francis of Assisi, in a prominent spot in the painting next to the Christ Child. St. Francis is identifiable not only by the brown cassock which is typically worn by Franciscans, but also by his tonsured head and the presence of the stigmata on his hands. Below St. Francis, several members of the Pesaro family kneel in adoration. It is not unusual for Italian painters of this period to include members of the family that commissioned the work, and here we see what appears to be several generations of family members.

On the left side of the Virgin and Child we see a prominent figure dressed in a blue robe, with a marvelous yellow garment draped over him. This is the important apostle of Christ, St. Peter, who is identifiable because of the key which is attached to his ankle. With one hand in the book, Peter looks to the bottom left at another figural grouping.

The group to the left of Peter includes Jacopo Pesaro, a military leader who led forces that defeated a Turkish force, as well as a man wearing a turban who is meant to symbolize the Turks. The message here is that Pesaro is bringing the Turk to Christianity (i.e. the Virgin and Child) and to the Catholic Church (symbolized by St. Peter).

Titian made several strides in the history of art in the Pesaro Madonna. In its composition, it is different than the traditional Virgin and Child altarpieces which were produced in Italy before this time. The figures are not in the center, but are off-center, and they appear to be at the apex of a scalene triangle rather than a balanced isosceles triangle. The perspective is also off-center. If we follow the orthogonal lines of the steps, we can see how they would intersect at a vanishing point to the left of the canvas. This is quite different from other earlier Renaissance works, such as Masaccio’s Tribute Money or Leonardo’s Last Supper, in which the vanishing point lies at the center of the painting in an area of primary visual importance.

The effect of Titian’s design decisions may make it seem as if the viewer, walking into the church of the Frari and seeing the Pesaro Madonna above a side altar to his left, could “walk” up and into the painting; in other words, the angle at which we see the painting corresponded with the direction from which visitors to the church came. Overall, this painting shows that while Titian does not have a name as famous as those of some of his contemporaries, he similarly combined both innovation and technical skill to continually push forward the world of art.
Titian was neither such a universal scholar as Leonardo, nor such an outstanding personality as Michelangelo, nor such a versatile and attractive man as Raphael. He was principally a painter, but a painter whose handling of paint equalled Michelangelo's mastery of draughtsmanship. This supreme skill enabled him to disregard all the time-honoured rules of composition, and to rely on colour to restore the unity which he apparently broke up.

We need but look at Madonna with Saints and Members of the Pesaro Family which was begun only some fifteen years after Giovanni Bellini's Madonna with saints to realize the effect which his art must have had on contemporaries. It was almost unheard of to move the Holy Virgin out of the centre of the picture, and to place the two administering saints - St Francis, who is recognizable by the Stigmata (the wounds of the Cross), and St Peter, who has deposited the key (emblem of his dignity) on the steps of the Virgin's throne - not symmetrically on each side, as Giovanni Bellini had done, but as active participants of a scene.

In this altar-painting, Titian had to revive the tradition of donors' portraits, but did it in an entirely novel way. The picture was intended as a token of thanksgiving for a victory over the Turks by the Venetian nobleman Jacopo Pesaro, and Titian portrayed him kneeling before the Virgin while an armoured standard-bearer drags a Turkish prisoner behind him. St Peter and the Virgin look down on him benignly while St Francis, on the other side, draws the attention of the Christ Child to the other members of the Pesaro family, who are kneeling in the corner of the picture. The whole scene seems to take place in an open courtyard, with two giant columns which rise into the clouds where two little angels are playfully engaged in raising the Cross.

Titian's contemporaries may well have been amazed at the audacity with which he had dared to upset the old-established rules of composition. They must have expected, at first, to find such a picture lopsided and unbalanced. Actually it is the opposite. The unexpected composition only serves to make it gay and lively without upsetting the harmony of it all. The main reason is the way in which Titian contrived to let light, air and colours unify the scene. The idea of making a mere flag counterbalance the figure of the Holy Virgin would probably have shocked an earlier generation, but this flag, in its rich, warm colour, is such a stupendous piece of painting that the venture was a complete success."

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