"Titian and the Renaissance: 500 Years of European Art" was officially launched on March 23 at the 798 Hall of the Encounter Museum in Beijing. The exhibition exhibits 59 authentic works by 47 Renaissance painting masters such as Titian, Raphael, Botticelli, Duggio and Giorgione, all of which come from the collection of the famous Italian collector Joseppe Alessandra, and presents a "condensed European art history" to the audience through European paintings spanning the 13th to the 18th century.
Titian Vecellio (1488-1576) was a representative painter of the Venetian school at the height of the Italian Renaissance, and his use of color not only influenced Italian painters in the Renaissance, but also had a profound influence on Western art. This exhibition is a rare collection of five authentic Titian's paintings, and it is the first large-scale exhibition of Titian's original works in Beijing. Wang Chunchen, professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and director of the Encounter Museum, said that these five works have their own characteristics, and the themes are relatively extensive, including myths and legends, as well as portraits. Among them, "Portrait of Otavio Farnese" and "St. Jerome of the Penitent" are both masterpieces of Titian's impasto method.
In addition to Titian, 46 masterpieces of the Renaissance, including Raphael, the last master of the Florentine School, Botticelli, the founder of the Venetian School, Giovanni, the peak representative of the Baroque style, and Rembrandt, the Dutch master of light and shadow, were also exhibited. The Suicide of Dido, which is on display in the exhibition, is a work of Raphael in his early years in Rome, based on the Aeneid by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. The concise and clear composition is the result of the artist's careful consideration, which also condenses the devotional emotions and ingenious design, making the whole picture full of classical tragic tension.
"This exhibition adopts the structural design context of the symphony movement, presenting a 'symphony of colors' composed by Renaissance masters centered on Titian. Wang Chunchen said that the exhibition focused on a number of original master paintings, high standard, large span, wide coverage, rich subject matter, can be described as a wonderful "slice" of 500 years of European painting history. By appreciating these masterpieces, the audience can observe the changes of European painting from a subtle angle, and can also delicately feel the changes from the expression theme to the painting language, from the artist's personality and style, to the artistic aesthetics of an era. The exhibition will be on view until June 16.