MUSEO DI CAPODIMONTE, Titian

The Farnese collection naturally has several works by Emilian painters such as Correggio and Parmigianino, but the most fascinating room is definitely the one with paintings Titian made in Rome between 1545 and 1546 when he was the guest of Pope Paul III Farnese.

The great Portrait of Pope Paul III with his Nephews Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese is the most important of all the paintings made for the Farnese family, and one of the greatest portrait masterpieces of all time. In this painting Titian adopted a particular technique, leaving some details almost unfinished to accentuate the atmosphere of intrigue and ceremony. In a harmony of reds that is both lavish and suffocating, this great canvas demonstrates the impression that Titian got from his stay in Rome. The psychological triangulation between the pontiff, apparently decrepit and fragile but with the eyes of an old fox, the young Cardinal Alessandro who's nonchalantly leaning on his uncle's chair, and his grinning grandson Ottavio is truly worthy of a Shakespearian tragedy. Not only that, Ottavio's pose is a parody of one of the most famous statues of Classicism, the Discobolus, and this says a lot about the casual attitude with which Titian approached the classical models!

Now pause the audio and move on to another famous work that's also by Titian, titled Danae....