Pollaiuolo Vs. Titian: Two Renaissance Artists Comparison Research Paper

The convention of profile portraiture allowed nubile young women to be displayed for viewing without requiring them to meet the viewer “eye to eye,” thereby avoiding the transgression of visual intimacy thought essential to the maintenance of female public honor. (258)

It goes without saying that female honor was considered to be of primary importance, especially in portraits. It is also important to note that such profile portraits did not reveal personality, instead, the major focus was on social status and certain feminine values promulgated in contemporary society (King 123).

One of his renowned works, “Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere”, can be regarded as a great example of his Renaissance approach to portrait painting. First, it is necessary to note that Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere, the Duchess of Urbino, and her husband were patrons of Titians (Freedman and Aretino 87). Admittedly, the artist was acquainted with the duchess and new her quite well. He knew the major traits of her character and could reveal them on his painting.

Notably, the portrait reveals the duchess’s personality. The duchess is depicted sitting at a window. Titian “faithfully rendered” his patroness “as she looked in her mid-forties, her oval face bearing the traces of her faded beauty” (Freedman and Aretino 87). The artists paid much attention to revealing the duchess’s facial features. Of course, this painting is not as formal and static as profile portrait of Pollaiuolo.

Thus, Titian pays much attention to the duchess’s personal characteristics: her appearance, her character, her costume, and even her posture. All these details create the image of a noble and wise woman who is characterized by all the necessary virtues of a woman living in the fifteenth century.

Apart from Titian’s precision to details it is important to point out the characteristic feature of his portraits, symbolism. This symbolism is manifested in many details. For instance, even the colors are very informative. Aretino who described Titians work claimed that “the harmony of colors, which Titian’s brush has spread, renders visible from without the concord which, Eleonora, the handmaids of the noble spirit govern” (qtd. in Freedman and Aretino 88). Thus, black and green colors prevail in the portrait. Notably, black was a heraldic color of the duchess and, apart from this black symbolized “prudence and seriousness”, whereas green was a symbol of “hope and serene joy” (Freedman and Aretino 88).

It is necessary to add that the two artist’s visions were shaped by the conventions and traditions which ruled in the contemporary societies. Admittedly, when working on a portrait, the artist addresses, in the first place, the client’s desires and longings. When painting a portrait of a respectable woman the artists could not insult their objects but some bold artistic vision.

For instance, Pollaiuolo could not depict his Young Woman in other way, since only profile portraits were regarded as decent at that time. He should not distract the viewer’s attention from the costume of the woman, so no symbols could be depicted in the painting. The only codes available for Pollaiuolo were the details of the woman’s dress (which she chose herself).

These differences are mainly due to the changes which were taking place in the society. The shift from some general form (manifested in costume) to content (features of character) which took place in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries shaped the visual art to great extent. Therefore, nowadays people have an opportunity to trace the slightest changes in human society viewing paintings of such prominent artists as Pollaiuolo and Titian.

Clark, Kenneth. “The Artist Grows Old.” Daedalus 135.1 (2006): 77-90. MIT Press Journals Web.

Rubin, Patricia Lee. Images and Identity in Fifteenth-Century Florence. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007.

Seeff, Adele F., Joan Hartman, University of Maryland, College Park. Center for Renaissance and Baroque Studies. Structures and Subjectivities: Attending to Early Modern Women. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2007.