Women In Venus Of Urbino

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Female nudes in domestic spaces are traditional subjects depicted throughout art history. Titian’s Venus of Urbino, painted during the Venetian Renaissance, features a nude in a home-like setting, engaging the viewer with a confident gaze and seductive gesture. Nude Figure by Firelight by Guy Rose, painted during the American Impressionist movement, depicts a red-haired woman in front of the fireplace, half of her body covered in blankets with her face turned away. Reclining Nude, an oil painting done in 1917 by Amedeo Modigliani, depicts a nude woman reclined across a bed in a openly seductive pose of arms behind her head and body arched. While the three paintings are similar in subject, medium, and underlying intent of depicting idealistic…show more content…
Titian is an artist of the Renaissance, a highly innovative period often regarded as the “Golden Age” of art. Art made during this period were inspired by early Greek and Roman art that favored idealism, naturalism, and complexity. Titian’s painting in Venus of Urbino is smooth, detailed and with no visible brush strokes as seen in the carefully rendered roses in the woman’s hand, her smoothly gradated figure, and the complex background. Guy Rose was an artist of the American Impressionism, a movement characterized with the use of vibrant color, loose brushstrokes, and focus on natural light. In Nude by the Firelight, Guy Rose creates a soft and blurry “impression” of natural light through many layers of rough and loose brushwork. This is the impressionistic way of depicting light: something that is fleeting and nebulous. We can see this in the way fire is depicted using rough dabs of yellow and orange paint and the simple strokes used to define the patterns in the blanket. Though Modigliani did not…show more content…
Titian’s Venus steadily looks into the eye of the viewer, inviting us into her room, tempting us to look at her, suggestively putting her hands between her legs. Titian uses symbols in his painting to convey those qualities: the dog by the bed symbolizes loyalty, the red roses in her hand symbolizes love. By including these symbols, and using a deep and passionate Venetian red throughout the painting, Titian’s painting very effectively depicts the image of an ideal Renaissance woman. Rose’s nude is turned away from the viewer, unposed and distracted but the image feels intimate because it gives the viewer the sense that we are merely observing a private moment in time, perhaps seen through the eyes of the woman’s lover. The red and orange fire in the painting suggests warmth, energy and passion. The use of the color blue for the lady’s blanket also symbolizes peace and loyalty. The warm, inviting and intimate image that Rose reproduces suggests an idealistic depiction of women during that time. Similar to Titian’s Venus, Modigliani’s nude regards the viewer. But while Titian’s nude is subtly suggestive, Modigliani’s nude is direct, arching her back to show off her lithe body and full buttocks and lays with her arms behind her head, openly showing us her armpits and breasts. Modigliani idealistic portrayal of women is very stylized and emphasized with sensuous

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