“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a very common quote. This quote is very true in relevance to ekphrastic poetry. An ekphrastic poem is a literary description or commentary on a visual work of art. In addition to the description of the work of art, the poem usually reveals how a poet verbally represents a piece of art with the use of literary devices. Poets often engage in this literary practice when they come across a piece of artwork that truly captures their attention. Venus and the Lute Player is a piece of artwork by, Titian, that inspired, Paul Engle, to write his very own ekphrastic poem.
Venus and the Lute Player is the late painting executed about 1565-70 by Titian with the help of his studio assistance. The painting is relatively large with the dimensions of sixty five inches by eighty two and a half inches and was created using the technique oil on canvas. Although the painting was unfinished at the time of Titian’s death, it is a famous piece at it’s present location The Metropolitan Museum of Art,…show more content… Just as the title suggests, the painting’s subject is Venus. Titan was an artist who emphasized sexuailty objectification of the female subject, Venus. In the painting Venus and the Lute Player, Titian uses the gaze of the lute player and he also uses Venus as the focal point to make sexual objectification of the woman more apparent. The gaze of the lute player in the painting was known as a term called the “male gaze.” The painting shows the musician playing his instrument, while he studies the nude body of Venus reclined on the bed. He also appears to be gazing at her breast which automatically turns Venus into a sexualized object of desire (Shillair 3). Venus is being viewed as a sexualized object who posses everything of the ideal woman. The nude Venus also serves as a focal point due to the fact she is placed between two men, the musician and