Titian�s "Twelve C�sars" (original) (raw)

Figure 1: Charles V. by Seisenegger (Löcher)

Figure 2: Charles V. with a dog by Titian (Tietze)

| | "These being finished, he painted twelve beautiful Heads of the Twelve C�sars, to decorate one of the Rooms erected by Giulio Romano, and when they were done, Giulio painted a Story from the Lives of the Emperors beneath e ach head." | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

Vasari

*** Introduction**

In the High-Renaissance, when Italy became the battlefield between Spain and France, Michelangelo painted the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel and the sack of Rome introduced the fade-out of the epoch, the Venetian painter Titian reached the peak of his career by painting distinguished portraits of the most important rulers of that time.

After a revision of Titian�s life, the translation of the c.v.s of the first Roman emperors into painting under the patronage of Federigo Gonzaga should be explored and later compared with similar portraits of Titian and antique coins and busts.

*** Life of Titian**

Titian, whose real name is Tiziano Vecellio, was born either in 1485 or 1488in Pieve di Cadore, north of Venice. He was sent to Venice early in his childhood, where he was apprenticed by Sebastiano Zuccato, then by Gentile Bellini, who was b est known for his honest, searching portraits of Venetian Doges, and later by his brother Giovanni Bellini, who was the brother-in-law of Andrea Mantegna and the founder of the Venetian school of painting. The most influence on Titian, however, came from Bellini�s pupil Giorgione, with whom he had a close relationship. In 1506-08 he assisted him with the external fresco decoration of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (the German Exchange) in Venice.

At this time he went, still very young, one step further, according to Vasari, than just copying antiques, but to give them an "unwonted softness and relief". Quickly his work became more appreciated than that of Giorgione, which upset their friendship. To avoid a open rivalry, Titian moved to Padua, where he progressively enriched his style. When Giorgione died in 1510, Titian decided to return to Venice because it fell to him to complete the number of unfinished paintings. After Bellini�s d eath, Titian became the official painter to the republic. Meanwhile he was gradually breaking free from the stylistic domination of Giorgione and developing a manner of his own. After a big success in Venice, where he made an altarpiece the celebrated &qu; ot;Assumption of the Virgin Mary" and achieved a great reputation all over Italy, calling the attention of several rulers, he came in touch with the art-loving princely courts such as Ferrara and Mantua.

After Alfonso d�Este, his nephew Federigo Gonzaga from Mantua became the successor of patronage for Titian, who portrayed him in 1525. When Emperor Charles V. saw Titian�s portrait of Federigo, which is full of aristocratic impersonality and restrained opulence, he seemed to have been so impressed as to commission similar painting (Charles V. with a dog will be treated below).

Titian�s most outstanding ability was to improve upon portraits and human illustrations. Preliminary to that, he demonstrated already a change in his majestic representations. The earlier vigorous and dynamical paintings became more quite, smooth and a bundant with details. Often he depicted proudness and masculinity, the neutral atmospheric backgrounds of the earlier portraits were replaced by cleverly disposed elements of settings, such as column, a curtain, or a view into a landscape.

*** The Twelve Caesars**

In 1537 Federigo commissioned Giulio Romano to make a design for the Appartamento di Troia in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Those designs were executed by his team of painters and stuccoists. For one of the rooms he should only provide a surrounding for twelve canvases by Titian, depicting the twelve Caesars, to be inserted later.

This room is still the most enigmatic room in the palace. Only few of the original setting is left, the vanished or destroyed paintings by Titian are only imaginable via copies of dubious value, as described below. Though the portraits belonged at his time to his most famous works, that a contemporary author wrote, that they

are of such exquisite perfection, that vast numbers go to that city only to see them, thinking that they see the Caesars themselves and not their portraits

the Titian research seems to be less interested in those paintings, probably because they do not exist any more. The rare literature about the room is often vague and contradictionary, the most recent publication accessible is the catalogue S plendours of Gonzaga, which contains only one page concerning the Cabinet of the Caesars with information often contrary to former authors. Nevertheless it is possible to reconstruct roughly the original appearance of the room: The ceiling was stuccoed and contained an allegorical painting, the walls showed Titian�s Caesars and a few niches, probably containing statuettes of emperors and beneath was a series from the lives of the emperors and mounted Roman soldiers.

Even if the room must have had a great importance and Titian was at that time a renowned artist, Giulio�s work is made with little expense. Verheyen means that financial difficulties are not the reason for this. The catalogue edited by Chambers mention s that it looked as though it were executed in a hurry, perhaps because it was not commissioned after, but before the visit of Charles V. to Mantua and needed to be finished in time.

Different to that are Titian�s painting of the emperors, whose exact data are also uncertain:

They were probably commissioned in 1536 and finished in 1540. Another source fixes the creation in 1537-1538. The portraits themselves were later sold to Charles I. of England in 1628 and got into the hands of Spain in 1652. Since then they are either missing or are "destroyed by fire in Spain in 1734". Another (older) source states them as already lost after the sack of Mantua in 1630.

But however, there exist more copies than from any other of his works:

The most important ones are the drawings by Hippolito Andreasi in about 1567-1568, who drew them and various sketches of the Palazzo del Te for the antiquarian and art dealer Jacopo Strada, who sold them probably to an agent of a Bavarian duke,
the engravings by Aegidius Sadeler of about 1593 and
various other copies.
Today there are copies on canvas in the room by Bernardino Campi.

They follow the prescription of the Twelve Caesars by the Roman writer Suetonius. Titian painted, that is for sure, only eleven canvases, "the last, Domitian, had to be omitted for lack of space", asserts one, that the twelfth was pain ted by Giulio Romano, another. It must be mentioned in this question, that Andreasi, who copied them earlier, supplies also only eleven exemplars. Sadeler, however, shows us twelve in his later engravings. It is to be assumed, that Domitianus did n ot appear in Mantua, but is an invention by Sadeler to complete his illustrations, which were perhaps not intended to be copies of Titian, but are illustrations for the Twelve Caesars, inspired by those of Titian. That would explain the often great differences between Sadeler and Andreasi (see Figure 3) and thus speaks for the latter to be closer to Titian. The research did not yet look close enough at this point.

Although these copies give us only a vague impression of Titian�s paintings, we know enough from them to deduce roughly what Titian has depicted to value their importance to Federigo. They show us three-quarter-lengths of men on less detailed backgroun ds of hinted sky, drapery or columns. The figures are dressed in full representation-amour, often wrapped in a cloth, all holding a baton as a sign of power and some of them wearing a laurel crown as sign of victory, the eyes turned to a distant aim. Most are posed in a static way. Claudius and Titus rest their hand on the baton, Augustus on a globe. Only Julius seems to be framed in motion, he strikes a powerful stance with his baton swinging with the whole body from his right to the left. The postures differ from direct frontview with the head in profile to a complex contrapposto and could reveal the original hanging of the series. Actually the today�s copies have an uncertain order: The photos supplied by Hartt and Pa ccagnini (Figure 6) show a different sequence in one and the same corner:

Hartt:

Titus / Vespatian Vitellius

Paccagnini:

Galba Otho / Vitellius Vespatian Titus

It is uncertain, however, that Titian considered the particular order. Though he had several visits to Mantua, he did not paint the portraits there, but sent them to Federigo. Yet he must have had in mind some form, because they needed to have a coherence with Giulio Romano�s panels from the lifes of the Caesars, which are today destroyed or dispersed. The sequences above are both in a chronological order: Hartt�s picture shows the succession of the Caesars from right to left, Paccagnini from le ft to right. If we rely on the ground-plan in Chambers and assume that this room without windows (no. 12 in his plan) has space for three paintings on each of the four walls, that makes together twelve:

Hartt'�s room

Paccagnini'�s room

If we imagine someone, e.g. Charles V., is entering from the upper entrance, he faces the image Julius Caesar only in the sequence shown in the photo of Paccagnini, which seems therefore more convincing. It must be mentioned, however, that the position of the doors do not correspond with those in the ground-plan. That means either Chambers� marking is wrong or they have been altered later. Hartt supplies another ground-plan (Figure 5), that fits exactly those above and proves that the plan of Chambers is definitely wrong! Moreover it shows a window on the opposite side of the entrance. If that window is on a higher level than the doors, then it takes the space of one portrait, which is in Paccagnini�s hanging the one of Julius. Hartt suggests:

The pictures were disposed in a band around the room above the wainscoting, three apiece on the two principal sides, two flanking the window, three arranged in alteration with niches ..., and the twelfth in the center of the ceiling.

If that is true, then probably Julius, the first Caesar, was over all the others on the ceiling! A theory, that solves the riddle of the twelve and refutes Verheyen�s assumption, that Donatus was in the room next to this. Whether this is technically possible and imaginable, can only be decided in place.

If we are looking for a clue in the connections between each portrait with its neighbour, the sequence of Hartt�s photo seems more evident. For example Otho, who dispatched a troop of cavalry to murder Galbo, his predecessor, faces him in this sequence across the corner. A further search for such hints are however less fruitful and highly interpretative. This way seems to look for connections where there are non and should be left.

*** Comparisons**

Titian�s achievement was "his extraordinary inventiveness as a portraitist", he was trained in working out the typical characteristic of high-ranking persons. In about 1536-38 he painted the portrait of Francesco Maria della Rov ere, in shining armour, the hand resting on a baton, which is opposed against the hip. This picture gives us probably the best impression of how the Caesars looked.

Shortly before, in 1533, he was painting Charles V. with his dog. He did not have the living emperor sitting in front of him, but a full-length by Jakob Seisenegger (Figure 1), an Austrian painter, who was temporarily in the suite of Charles. The paint ing depicts the Emperor standing upright on marble, one hand on a dagger, the other hand on the collar of the dog, who is raising his head up to his master. The person in front of a wall, half-hidden by drapery, wears a coat with wide shoulders and puffed up sleeves, clothes of fine fabric and a plumed beret. His eyes rove afar and keep the viewer at a distance. The figure has a monument-like representative character. The painting, often seen in the light of Titian, is called "pedantic inventory" ; and "painstakingly detailed picture". While Seisenegger depicts the fabric very elaborately, Titian (Figure 2) gave life to the figure, creating a living entity by correcting slightly the asymmetrical features and giving him penetratingly blue eyes to show the ruler�s strong will.

He managed to make something similar with the Caesars, who he knew only from the study of Roman bust and coins that he had the opportunity to see in Padua and Mantua. So let us have a look at the coins and bust on Figure 4: The antique notion of the ru ler is a stereotype. The coins repeat again and again the idealised form of an emperor, grinded off and polished by reproductions. The full power of the rulers gave them a superhuman aura and made them "holy" and "superior". Busts and, above all, the coins, circulating in the population, were used as official propaganda for the new principat of Augustus. Vierneisel shows, that originated from a prototype the renewals of the stamping seal for coins simplified more and more to a maintype of the portrait, that had probably nothing more in common with the emperor�s real appearance, but was a logo for his governing. Similarities happened to busts, which were often reproduced and spread over the country to show the god-like emp eror.

In the Renaissance, those coins and busts were not only collected, but reproduced and integrated in contemporary art, as we see in Mantegna�s fresco in the camera picta in 1474. But he reproduced simply a Roman relief on the ceiling.

Titian, however, reinstilled them with life. Thus let us have a look of his imagery in Figure 3: Augustus, whose painting was the first one received by the Duke, appears in a frontview, the head turned to the side, one hand holding the baton, th e other resting on a globe, like blessing it or swearing on it. In particular the face diverges from the Roman exemplars in Figure 4, a flashy beard, a remarkable nose and a peculiar line of lips give the impression of a unique personality instead of an i mage of an emperor. Titian might have given him a natural looking superficiality, that we can only presume from the comparison of Seisenegger and Sadeler/Andreasi on one side and Titian�s Charles V. on the other. Freedman points out that a distinguished s ign for the imperial identity are the only few attributes, they are "all in stylized dress, notably held only marshals� batons". The posing with the attributes baton and globe depicts him as ruler over the world, unreachable he seems by looking somewhere beyond over the head of the spectator.

Suetonius describes Otho as

of medium height, bow-legged, and with splay feet; but almost as fastidious about appearances as a woman. His entire body had been depilated, and a well-made toupee covered his practically bald head. He s haved every day, and since boyhood had always used a poultice of moist bread to retard the growth of his beard. He used publicly to celebrate the rites of Isis, wearing the approved linen smock.

He is depicted in front of a landscape, the body slightly twisted to the side, the head in profile, the baton laxly resting on his upper arm in the grasp of both hands. The described smock is wrapping his armour and falls behind him over a step, where he is leaning. Here also, Titian had the ability to paint portraits of people he had never seen in a vital and lifelike way, he emphasises the characteristic imparted by Suetonius and shows them as heroes. Titian�s Caesars are rulers with imp ressingly self-confident appearance, they express proudness and power.

In general, the court portraits are images of command rather than explorations of personality. Titian stresses the character of the emperors and shows them as heroes (compare Augustus to the one of Mantegna).

Small wonder, that the rulers with enough artistic comprehension, were keen on being portrayed by him to look great and imperial like the Caesars, which were used by Federigo and later by the English Charles I. to represent the notion of their own posi tion.

The choice of subject matters reflects Federigo�s obsession with Imperial Themes, stimulated by Emperor Charles V.�s visit to Mantua in 1530 and 1532.

And Tietze writes:

... the power of these petty princes was reduced to a mere semblance, but the importance of art patronage, which added lustre to this semblance, became all the greater.

*** Conclusion**

Titian, one of the greatest painters of High-Renaissance, who came early to Venice and seemed only to wait for his opportunity to reach fame all over Italy, developed the portrait of famous men to perfection. He depicted the rulers in a live ly manner, never seen before and set them in a position, in which they wanted to be seen, understanding exactly the power of images.

The Twelve Caesars elevates the possessor in the succession of those rulers and gives them an outstanding lustre and splendour, with which the "petty princes" wanted to surround themselves.

A set of copies are hung today in the "Rich rooms" of the Residenz in Munich, the building of the governor of the state. That shows, that the fame-affected spirit of those images is still alive.

*** Illustrations** *** Bibliography**