Courses

In The Stroke of the Brush (1989), David Rosand introduced the authoriality of Titian’s pictorial brushwork by discussing it in the light of contemporary painting processes, such Willem de Kooning’s abstract expressionism. In the exhibition Titian: Loves, Desire, Death, currently at the National Gallery of London, Matthias Wivel presents the Renaissance Venetian painter as the “father of modern painting”. To what extent a Renaissance painter can be modern and how his modernity is to be conceptualized? Through a critical examination of sources and technical data, the seminar will reconsider the paradigm of Titian’s modernity, focusing on some main issues of recent scholarship and presenting distinct methodologies. Investigating what defined painting as modern in Titian’s own period, as well as its reception in modern time, we will also discuss the perspectives of analyzing Titian’s work in the light of the theorization of contemporary societal issues.

The course will be run as a seminar, with meetings devoted to discussions. Students will be responsible for the summary and introduction of the weekly readings for discussion. Each student will also be asked to carry out a research project, culminating in a class
presentation and a final paper (10/ 15 double-spaced typed pages + illustrations).