Pesaro Madonna Essay

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Pesaro Madonna, painted by Titian from 1519 to 1526. Pesaro Madonna is a 16 by 9 feet oil painting commissioned by Jacopo Pesaro, who was the military leader that defeated the Turks in the retaking of Santa Maura, 1503. In the painting, the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus are sitting on top of large marble steps leading out of the painting at the base of a large column. Mary is wearing a bright red and a navy blue robe with a white mantle on her head. She’s holding Jesus who is nude and playing with her mantle. Jesus is looking towards his left at St. Francis, recognizable by the stigmata marks on his hands. St. Francis is gesturing at the Pesaro family, looking back at Jesus. The Pesaro family is in the shadows, and one member of the family looks …show more content…

In Raphael’s School of Athens, and even in Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin, the perspective is straight on, with the main focal point in the center. In the Pesaro Madonna, the main focal point (Mary and Jesus) is off to the viewer’s right, and they are the top of what some call a scalene triangle, with the Saints on the sides and the Pesaro family on the bottom. Placing Mary and Jesus off to the side was unheard of in Titian’s time. And the lighting of the scalene triangle could represent the most to least holiest people. The Madonna Mary and Jesus are the most illuminated being the holiest figures in the painting, being the apex of the triangle. Saint Peter and Francis are the second holiest. And the least holiest would be the Pesaro family, and even less so the Turk in the corner, whose face is in the shadows. Above the figures are two naked angels on a dark cloud, playing with a cross. In the background, two giant columns slice across a cloudy blue sky and disappear off the painting. The columns were also a common feature in Renaissance paintings, and many artists during that time would add architectural elements to the

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