Titian Taschen Basic Art Series

The Venetian Virtuoso

Titian, Renaissance master of form and color

Immerse yourself in the rich shades and textures of Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1490–1576), commonly known as Titian, and the figurehead of 16th-century Venetian painting. With his bold approach to form and startling, opulent colors, Titian worked with a number of prestigious commissions and left behind an astonishing repertoire of portraits, mythological scenes, altarpieces, and landscapes that remains one of the most important legacies of Renaissance art.

This dependable artist introduction traces Titian’s complete career and its trailblazing influence on successive generations of artists, from Diego Velázquez to van Dyck. From the rippling beauty of Venus of Urbino (c. 1538) to the airborne dynamism of Bacchus and Ariadne (1520–1523), all the major works are here, charting the artist’s stylistic experimentation over time as well as his consistent and unique ability to work across genres and to bring a defining new level of emotional and spiritual aspect to his subjects.

The author

Ian G. Kennedy studied art history at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute, London University. He worked for nearly three decades at Christie’s, New York, and as Curator of European Paintings at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, until 2013. He now lives and works as an independent scholar in Chapel Hill.