Titian Painting by Paul Meijering

About "Titian Painting"

by Paul Meijering

About the artwork

Realistic acylic painting and portrait of the painter Titian, actually Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio, painted by the Dutch fine artist Paul Meijering - the original painting is 120 x 90 cm and part of a permanent collection.

In his long career, Titian evolved from virtuoso, original variations on the work of Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and Raphael to a free, loose style in which compositions were built up with seemingly spontaneous patches of colour, a process he sometimes took years to complete. His portraits, altarpieces and mythological representations were admired and copied by Peter Paul Rubens, and his increasingly complex painting technique and use of colour inspired Anthony van Dyck, Diego Velázquez and Rembrandt.

Although he continued to live in Venice throughout his painting life and was extremely successful there, he had a difficult relationship with the city, where he remained an outsider despite his influence and fame. His function as a semi-official painter of Venice was sometimes compromised, as he prioritised his work for rich and powerful patrons outside the republic, such as popes and dukes. He was the favourite painter of Charles V, who made him a knight of the Order of the Golden Rail. His style and working methods were so inimitable that he hardly had any pupils to continue his studio after his death.

The story from early Roman history of the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, and her subsequent suicide, was a popular subject in Renaissance art. Tarquin raped Lucretia after he threatened to kill her if she rejected his advances; The next day, she unmasked him and committed suicide, prompting the Romans to revolt and overthrow Tarquinus' father Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome, and establish the Roman Republic.