The Divine Titian. "Danae" in four author's versions

Titian the Divine - so called the outstanding painter of the Renaissance his contemporaries. To be on the "sight" of his ingenious brush was a great success. Painter, who created dozens of portraits of kings, dukes, cardinals and other representatives of the highest nobility, forever immortalized their faces and names on their canvases.

The birth of style

Titian Vecellio was not even twelve years old when he arrived in Venice and began to study the basics of painting. Here he met with Giorgione, with whom he wrote saints for monasteries and temples. Artistic style of Titian at that time was distinguished by the elegance and purity of colors. Studying the work of Michelangelo, carefully examining the canvases of Raphael, Titian synthesized his own style.

Artistic preferences of the master

He created an incredible number of accurate and profound portraits and wrote a lot of biblical and mythological paintings, among which there is a picture of "Danae". Titian attracted the shades of character, the features of the look, the movements of the hands, the turning of the head in the depiction of the heroes of legends and myths. The painter did not focus on their divine status, but on human manifestations.

Mystery of Danai

The Greek myth of Danae tells us that her father Akrisii imprisoned her daughter in the tower so that she never gave birth to a child whose hand, according to the oracle's prediction, the king Akrisii was to die. But the god Zeus penetrated to the captive, turning in a golden rain. After a love visit, Danae gave birth to Perseus' son. This story inspired many artists, beautiful in the tower wrote Correggio, Rembrandt, Titian. Danae became the heroine of the four canvases in the great heritage of Titian.

Early version

The artist created the first picture in 1546. It is called "Danae with a golden rain" and depicts a languid young girl, stretched out on a crumpled bed after full sweet dream dreams. The triumph of life and harmony is proclaimed in this early work by Titian. Danae is depicted in a dreamy expectation. Without surprise, she looks at the gold pouring from the cloud from where it's taken, and beside the Amur with an arrow and a quiver thrown over his shoulder observes this amazement and delight. The figure of a young woman seems to glow from within, the rounded lines of the body are full of grace and tender beauty. Colors softly pass into each other. This painting is now kept in the National Museum of Capodimonte in Italy.

What was the second painting

The Madrid Prado Museum exhibits another canvas, which this plot was created by Titian. "Danae" this time was written by the order of the Spanish king for Crown Prince Philip the Second, between 1553 and 1554 years. In this picture, the plot is more consistent with the legend. Here there is no pink-cheeked Cupid, an old apiary of the prisoner substituted her apron under the golden streams. The color of the canvas changed the luminous romantic colors, now they mysteriously shimmer, and before us there is an atmosphere in which there is tension and strong emotions. The girl does not have a veil, which was casually thrown over her hips on an early canvas. Linen on the bed, drapes over the bed are made of expensive materials. A royal dog curled around the pillow in a collar studded with jewels.

Features of the third canvas

Titian's canvas became so popular that orders were poured one after another. The third version of the "Danae" still more clearly conveys the contrast that gives rise to dynamics and drama. A canine disappeared from the canvas, and in the clouds from which golden coins are poured out, the face of the inspired Zeus is visible. Here, the unique manner in which the mature Titian is distinguished triumphantly triumphs. Danae is written out with sculptural lines and soft light emitting colors, whereas in the image of the old wet nurse, greenish-sand tones predominate. All together creates an unmatched harmony in color. This canvas can be seen now in the St. Petersburg Hermitage.

Late Danae

The fourth version of the picture is filled with incredible sensuality, the action here is developing rapidly and irresistibly. By 1564, when this canvas was written, at the peak of his ingenious craftsmanship Titian creates. Danae created a plastic and reverent. Transitions of one color to another are executed with the greatest taste and show a delightful color scale, penetrated by light and air. A hymn to the beauty of the human body is combined on the canvas with an expressive depiction of the finest moods and soul movements. Danae looks at Zeus with a seductively restrained passion, and he looks to the beloved with all the power of unquenchable feelings. There is a lot of gold in the picture, harmoniously contrasting with purple and azure. It is no accident that a surprisingly tender pink flower and several golden coins awaken from the cloud, the great Titian, throws on the beauty bed. "Danae" (the description of the late canvas can not be left without mentioning the composition) is depicted here in all the charm of the multifaceted and profound perspective, new for painting of those times. Three-dimensional space and foreshortenings of figures are given in the theatrical dynamics and create the illusion of a living expressive action. A beautiful girl takes a golden shower as a sign of divine love, and for her old maid taking coins on a tray is a payment for aiding and silencing. The picture is decorated with an exposition of the Austrian Art History Museum in Vienna.