Women played a prominent role in the public life of 16th-century Venice and were often idealised by the city’s painters. Titian was a prime example; this exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (5 October–16 January 2022) explores how he and contemporaries such as Tintoretto created a new vision of womanhood, combining realistic portraiture with historical,
mythological, and allegorical depictions. Some 60 international loans from institutions including the Met, the Prado and the Uffizi are included, alongside works from the strong collection of Venetian paintings in Vienna. Find out more from the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here
Venus with an Organist and Cupid (c. 1555), Titian. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Photo: © Archivo Fotográfico
Woman with a Plumed Hat (1534–36), Titian. Photo: Dmitri Sirotkin; © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 2021
Clarissa Strozzi (1540–1581) (1542), Titian. Photo: © bpk/Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie/Christoph Schmidt
Young Woman at Her Toilet (c. 1515), Titian. Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/Franck Raux