I loved the Masters of Venice exhibit at the DeYoung of Renaissance paintings visiting from Vienna featuring Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto and Veronese. There was almost no overlap with the Titian exhibit Peg and I saw in London. One of the most striking was Tintoretto’s Susanna and the Elders (1555 – 1556). It is a huge canvas that filled an entire wall. The museum sign was hilarious. It recounted the bible story that the lecherous Elders spied on Susanna in her bath, then demanded that she lie with them or else they would tell her husband that she was adulterous. The painting shows Susanna’s beauty and purity, and the icky manipulative greed of the peeping old men who seek to debase the young wife. I flashed on Saddam Hussein’s private murals when I read the museum notes that Venetian art of the period was often erotic scenes for private viewing by the purchaser. This is one of the most copied works in history, and the museum said it was hung in bedrooms “to remind young wives of the value of purity.” Hmmm. I don’t think that was why it was hung in bedrooms.
Another favorite was Titian’s Danáe (1560s) which he painted for Pope Pius III. According to the museum, DANAE was a Greek princess, a daughter of King Akrisios. When her father learned a prophecy that he was destined to be killed by a son of his daughter, he locked Danae away in a tower. Her prison, however, was easily infiltrated by the god Zeus who impregnated her in the guise of a golden shower. She conceived and bore him a son named Perseus. In the painting, you can see the gold coins. My question, why does a Pope commission a painting like this?
Two more artists were featured whose work was new to me. First is the very tender portrait of a Youth With an Arrow by Giorgione whose life was cut short by the black plague.
The paintings of Veronese were spectacular, including beautiful and noble Greek historical heroine Lucretia poised to take her own life rather than accept dishonor, and the biblical heroine Judith who saved her people by beheading the invading general Holofernes as he dozed after she had seduced him. I am really grateful tot he DeYoung to bring these works to SF because I don’t think I will ever go to impressive Vienna museum.
