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Sacred and Profane Love is a piece done by Titian circa 1515 for Niccolò Aurelio [1]. Niccolò Aurelio, secretary of the Venice Council of Ten, commissioned this painting for his marriage to Laura Bagarotto [2]. The painting itself depicts two ladies,…

This early oil painting by Titian features a pastoral setting with a lake and luscious green rolling hills. To one side we can see a church with a grand steeple while the other side is flanked by a castle-like fortification overlooking a village. In…

Titian painted Sacred and Profane Love in circa 1515. It was commissioned by Niccoló Aurelio in 1514, a superb chancellor in Venice's city government, on behalf of his matrimony to Laura Bagarotto of Padua [1]. In 1613, this composition was described…

Castelfranco Madonna is an altarpiece commissioned by Tuzio Constanzo, a condottierio or warlord, and was made in memory of his son, Matteo, who had passed away most likely while serving under his father in war [1]. The Madonna is featured while…

Created by Michelangelo Caravaggio c. 1606-1610, David with the Head of Goliath was created as a gift for the papal court of Rome, specifically for Scipione Borgehese. Caravaggio was accused of murdering Tomassoni in May 1606, and fled from Rome, but…

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is the founder and first sovereign ruler of modern Corinth (which was then Ephyra). After numerous attempts to trick the gods and cheat death, the gods finally catch up to him and punish him. Sisyphus’ sentence is to roll…

Upon the death of Gentile Bellini in 1507, it was prescribed in his will that his younger brother, Giovanni Bellini, would complete the work St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria commissioned by the Scuola Grande di San Marco [1]. Giovanni’s continuation…

There have been several different interpretations of who the three female figures in this work are, and what they mean. At one point, it was identified as the Three Graces, but later the main figure was identified as Venus, blindfolding her son Cupid…

In this painting, we see Saint Mark preaching in Alexandria. Giovanni and Gentile Bellini pull the focus onto the details of the landscape in multiple ways. First, with regards to the composition of the image, Bellini scattered objects of Venetian…

The first thing that viewer's eyes are drawn to is the larger than life man on the left hand side of the painting.  He is clothed in blue and light red cloth, with one arm on his hip and one outstretched towards the center of the painting.  The cloth…