Tiziano Vecellio's Madonna And Child

Tiziano Vecellio’s Madonna and Child, painted in Venice in about 1508 is located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Titian was one of the greatest Venetian artist of the sixteenth century and was well known for his remarkable use of color and for his appealing renderings of the human form. He contributed to all of the major areas of Renaissance art which included painting allegories, portraits, mythologies, and pastoral landscapes with figures. The sacred figures in this painting are the Virgin Mary and her son Christ, who both emit a fascinating humanity. This formal analysis will express how the medium, composition and style contribute to the meaning of the Madonna and Child.
The medium of this painting is oil on wood. The thin layers of oil helped Titian to paint and create a bright surface with depth and glow. He chose this …show more content…
There are valleys and mountains in the distance and the rose colors suggest that the time of day is dusk. The composition which has an informal pose shows the deep intimacy between a mother and her child which tug at our emotions. The infant is plum and fleshy which makes him look realistic. This pose was inspired from Titian’s teacher Giovanni Bellini in his Madonna and Child, painted in late 1480s in Venice. Also, Bellini along with Giorgione inspired Titian to set many of his religious subjects in a pastoral landscape. The painting not only has a rounded form, but a symmetrical composition as well, where the pastoral landscape serves to balance it. The figures are situated in the foreground and they are rendered in a believable space. Titian used both composition and medium to define the space. The pastoral landscape which brings strong feeling to mind has an atmospheric perspective. There is an intense focus on the individuals because the pastoral landscape doesn’t hold one's attention for