An essay based on Titian’s painting “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love. The story of one masterpiece: “Earthly Love and Heavenly Love” by Titian Earthly and Heavenly Love in Life

For several centuries, Titian's painting was considered only an allegory. However, the artist wrote differently: he deliberately mixed symbols with specific details. After all, the goal was not at all abstract - to smooth out the scandal in the secular circles of Venice.

Titian "Heavenly Love and Earthly Love." Borghese Gallery

The painting was painted around 1514. The painting received the title “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” in 1693. The women depicted on it with identical faces were identified with the two hypostases of the goddess of love, known to Renaissance intellectuals from the works ancient philosophers. However, the title of Titian's masterpiece was first mentioned in 1613 as "Beauty, Embellished and Unadorned." It is unknown what the artist or the customer called the canvas.

Only in the 20th century did researchers pay attention to the abundance of wedding symbols and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on the canvas. They concluded that the owner of the coat of arms, the secretary of the Council of Ten Nicolo Aurelio, commissioned the painting from Titian on the occasion of his marriage in 1514 to Laura Bagarotto, a young widow from Padua. As the Venetian chronicler of that time, Marin Sanudo, noted, this wedding was “discussed everywhere” - the newlyweds had too difficult a past.

In 1509, at the height of the military conflict between the Venetian Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, Laura's first husband, the Paduan aristocrat Francesco Borromeo, took the side of the emperor. Padua was subordinate to Venice, so Borromeo was arrested and probably executed by the Council of Ten as a traitor. Many of Laura's relatives were imprisoned and exiled. Her father Bertuccio Bagarotto, a university professor, was hanged in front of his wife and children on the same charge, which in his case was unjust.

Permission for the marriage of a high-ranking Venetian official with the widow and daughter of state criminals was discussed by a commission headed by the Doge, and it was received. Through the efforts of the groom, Laura’s previously confiscated rich dowry was returned the day before the wedding. The painting, commissioned from the most prestigious and by no means cheap artist in Venice, was probably supposed to add respectability to the marriage in the eyes of fellow citizens.

1. Bride. According to art critic Rona Goffin, this is unlikely to be a portrait of Laura Bagarotto, because then the naked lady was painted from her, which in those days would have damaged the reputation of a decent woman. This is an idealized image of a newlywed.

2. Dress. As shown by radiographic analysis, Titian first painted it in red. However, at the top of Laura's dowry list was wedding dress made of white satin, and Rona Goffin suggested that the artist decided to depict this particular dress. A belt, a symbol of marital fidelity, and gloves are also attributes of a wedding dress: grooms gave these things as a gift for betrothal as a sign of the seriousness of their intentions.

3. Wreath. Evergreen myrtle is a plant of Venus, symbolizing love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it were an attribute of weddings in Ancient Rome.

4. Bowl. As Rona Goffin wrote, grooms traditionally presented wedding gifts to Venetian brides in similar vessels.

5. Rabbits. The symbol of fertility next to the figure of the bride is a wish for the newlyweds to have numerous offspring.

6. Nude. According to most researchers, including Italian Renaissance art expert Federico Zeri and British Titian specialist Charles Hope, this is the goddess Venus. She and the newlywed are so similar because in ancient poetry the bride was often compared to the goddess of love. Venus blesses an earthly woman for marriage.

7. Landscape. According to Dzeri, behind the backs of the characters two contrasting symbols associated with marriage are shown: the road up the mountain is the difficult path of prudence and unshakable fidelity, the plain is the bodily pleasures of marriage.

8. Cupid. The son of Venus, the winged god of love here is the mediator between the goddess and the bride.

9. Fountain. It bears the coat of arms of the Aurelio family. According to art historian Walter Friedländer, this is the tomb of Venus's lover Adonis, described in the 15th century novel “Hypnerotomachy of Polyphilus” - a sarcophagus (symbol of death) from which water flows (symbol of life). The relief on the marble depicts the beating of Adonis by the jealous Mars: according to the novel, the young man died at the hands of the god of war. This is not only an indication of the tragically ended love of the goddess, but also a reminder of the sad past of Laura Bagarotto.

10. Lamp. The antique lamp in Venus’s hand, according to Federico Zeri, symbolizes the flame of divine, sublime love.

“Heavenly Love and Earthly Love”, Titian, ca. 1514. The painting is kept in Rome in the Borghese Gallery

Plot and title

In the foreground of the picture are two women. They are very similar, but dressed differently. One is dressed in the typical Venetian attire of a married lady, and the other is naked. Cupid separates them. Women sit on a sarcophagus decorated with a magnificent bas-relief. It's filled dark water. The restless god of love plunged his hand into it.

The painting received its familiar title – “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” – in 1693. Based on it, art critics identified women with identical faces with two hypostases of the goddess of love.

However, the painting was first mentioned in 1613 with the title “Beauty, Embellished and Unadorned,” and we do not know what the artist himself called his masterpiece.

Riddles and symbols

Only in the 20th century did researchers pay attention to the abundance of wedding symbols and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on the canvas.

Let's also take a closer look at the picture. So, the background of the canvas is a green plain. On the left it smoothly turns into a mountain on which the castle rises. If you look closely, you can see eared rabbits, a rider on a horse and a group of people waiting for him.

On the right, the plain alternates with hillocks. An attentive observer will also be able to spot two horsemen and a dog chasing a hare.

The woman on the left is wearing a dress with a chastity belt and gloves on her hands.

Wreath. Evergreen myrtle is a plant of Venus, symbolizing love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it were an attribute of weddings in Ancient Rome.

For Titian's contemporaries the symbolism would have been obvious:

• The road uphill is the difficult path of prudence and unshakable fidelity, the plain is bodily pleasures in marriage.
• Rabbits – fertility.
• A dress with a chastity belt and gloves is marriage.
• Myrtle (plant of Venus) - love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it are an attribute of ancient Roman marriage rituals.

Art historians also paid attention to the sarcophagus and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on it.

They concluded that the owner of the coat of arms, the secretary of the Council of Ten Nicolo Aurelio, commissioned the painting from Titian on the occasion of his marriage in 1514 to Laura Bagarotto, a young widow from Padua.

As the Venetian chronicler of that time, Marin Sanudo, noted, this wedding was “discussed everywhere” - the newlywed had too difficult a past.

In 1509, at the height of the military conflict between the Venetian Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, Laura's first husband, the Paduan aristocrat Francesco Borromeo, took the side of the emperor. Padua was subordinate to Venice, so Borromeo was arrested and probably executed by the Council of Ten as a traitor.

Many of Laura's relatives were imprisoned and exiled. Her father Bertuccio Bagarotto, a university professor, was hanged in front of his wife and children on the same charge, which in his case was unjust. The chosen one of the high-ranking official was Laura Bagarotto. She was the widow of a Paduan aristocrat who was executed for rebelling against the Venetian authorities during the war with the Roman Empire.

The same fate befell her father. The innocent professor was hanged in front of his family.

Permission for the marriage of a high-ranking Venetian official with the widow and daughter of state criminals was discussed by a commission headed by the Doge, and it was received. Through the efforts of the groom, Laura’s previously confiscated rich dowry was returned the day before the wedding. The painting, commissioned from the most prestigious and by no means cheap artist in Venice, was probably supposed to add respectability to the marriage in the eyes of fellow citizens.

According to experts, the sarcophagus reminds of the innocently murdered father of the bride. And the water flowing out of it symbolizes the emergence of new life.

In 1608, the painting got a new owner. It was bought by the Italian Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Since then it has been kept in the Roman gallery that bears his name.

Titian considered one of greatest painters Renaissance. The artist was not yet thirty years old when he was recognized as the best in Venice. One of his most famous paintings is “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” ( Amor Sacro and Amor Profano). It conceals many hidden symbols and signs, which art historians are still struggling to decipher.

Most researchers are of the opinion that this painting was supposed to be a gift for the wedding of the secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic, Nicolo Aurelio, and Laura Bagarotto. One of the indirect confirmations of this version is the coat of arms of Aurelio, which can be seen on the front wall of the sarcophagus.

It was not only Titian who filled his canvases with hidden symbolism. In the painting of another Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli

Dear friends!

I offer you an “investigation” of Titian’s painting “Earthly Love and Heavenly Love.”

It was very interesting and exciting to travel through Titian's labyrinths.

A short introduction is necessary here. I have known this painting by Titian since childhood. From the early age- I felt it, touched it, absorbed it. Even before I started reading, I was leafing through art albums that were in our house. And this picture could not pass me by. Two beautiful young women - as a symbol of eternal beauty and immortality against the backdrop of majestic landscapes. So this picture was kept in my memory.

Businessman, writer, screenwriter and collector Oleg Nasobin under the nickname avvakoum I dedicated a series of posts to this picture:
http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/410978.html

http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/411595.html

http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/412853.html

http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/950485.html

After reading these posts, I thought: perhaps my painting also has its own secret meaning, invisible on the surface, Which? I tried to figure it out. And I offer you my thoughts on this matter.

I carefully read Oleg Nasobin’s posts and comments to them. I took some finds and details into use. Thanks for them. I would be grateful for all comments, clarifications, additions and objections.

The starting point of my research was the fact that the customer of this painting was Niccolò Aurelio, secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic. The Council of Ten is the governing body of the powerful Venice, the pearl of the Adriatic. the customer clearly spoke not on his own behalf, but on behalf of other forces who wished to remain anonymous.
But for the “cover legend,” Aurelio ordered the painting as a gift to his bride, the young widow Laura Bogaratto, whom he later married. To strengthen the “legend,” Aurelio’s coat of arms was depicted on the front wall of the sarcophagus. But all this is a “smokescreen” designed to distract from the real meaning of the picture and from the real “customers”. It is interesting to note that the painting received its name “Earthly Love and Heavenly Love” almost two centuries after its creation.

It is obvious that during Titian’s lifetime the painting was untitled, or only a narrow circle of people knew its real name.

What is the mystery of the painting? What did Titian actually paint? It must be said right away that great artist was initiated into the intricacies of secret history and secret societies.

Let's turn to the picture itself. What do we see on it?

Two young women - naked and dressed in a fluffy dress - are sitting on the edge of a sarcophagus filled with water, where Cupid has put his hand.

A river flows in the background of Heavenly Love.

The river can be interpreted as the underground river Alfios, an allegory of secret “underground legends”, a symbol of invisible knowledge passed on by “initiates” from generation to generation.

Or you can interpret the River as a heavenly teaching. It should be noted that water has long symbolized information and Knowledge.

It can be assumed that the sarcophagus contains water from this sacred river. A stream of water in turn pours out of the sarcophagus, feeding the bush depicted in the foreground of the picture. That is, in in this case sarcophagus - Source.

What kind of water-Knowledge is concentrated in the sarcophagus?

Let's resort to decryption.

There are several tips here. This is the Templar tower behind the back of the “earthly” woman, that is, the teachings of the Templars and the sarcophagus itself. Now we will see that this is a sarcophagus, and not a pool or fountain, as some commentators on the painting interpret.

Sarcophagus - a carved stone coffin. And if this is a coffin, then whose remains lie there? And here we have the following “hints”. Dish and Cupid. Some commentators point out that the angel is catching flowers from the water. But flowers, as you know, float on the surface of the water, and do not sink. So what is a child looking for in the water? To answer, just look at the dish. The exact same dish is depicted in Titian’s painting “Salome with the Head of John the Baptist.”

It is interesting to note that Titian has three paintings on this theme.

The first of them was written a year after the creation of “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love.” And the dish there is different. But there is a “hint” in the form right hand, wrapped in a scarlet cape. Earthly Love also has a right scarlet sleeve

But the painting, painted already in 1560, depicts “our” dish.

An interesting fact is that the painting “Salome” turned out to be “prophetic” in relation to one significant historical event. Since 1649, Titian's Salome has been in the collection of Hampton Court Palace in Great Britain. And in the same year, the English monarch Charles I was beheaded.

And in another picture, where Salome is depicted, you can also see a dish already familiar to us.

(In parentheses, it can be noted that this picture is associated with a story similar to the one described by Oleg Nasobin in the post: “Sotheby’s deprived the client of money and sleep” http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/1281815.html

Those who want to familiarize themselves with the material regarding Titian's painting can follow the link http://thenews.kz/2010/02/25/267486.html).

So, we have established that for some reason, years later, Titian decided to “decipher” the dish he had painted earlier and “link” it with the head of John the Baptist.

As you know, according to legend, John the Baptist was the first Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.

This means that the artist depicted the Priory of Sion in a symbolic form; in this case, water (the teachings of the Priory of Sion) in turn becomes a source of nutrition (Knowledge) for the bush. It seems to “give birth” to this bush. At the same time, as I already mentioned, behind “earthly love” is the Tamlian tower...

So, the key to unraveling the picture is the BUSH. What kind of bush is this?

This is a FIVE-PETAL ROSE, something in between (or a hybrid) of a rose and a rose hip. More precisely, a type of the oldest rose - Dog Rose. As you know, rose hips are the ancestor of roses.

This five-petalled rose was the magical plant of the Rosicrucians. If you look closely, you can see that the bush itself is “drawn” in the shape of a cross.

This plant, the leaves of the five-petalled rose, were depicted on the symbols of the Rosicrucian Order.

It is interesting that in the Czech Republic, where various mystical movements were strong, the Festival of the Five Petal Rose is held every year in Krumlov. This rose is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of Cesky Krumlov.

But the meaning of the five-petal rose does not end there.

The five-petalled rose is also a Tudor Rose,traditional heraldic emblemEngland and Hampshire. It is on the coat of arms of Great Britain and Canada.

And this same five-petalled rose is depicted on the Tarot card - the Major Arcana at number 13. Death.

The heraldic five-petalled rose was a symbol of the master-apprentice in Masonic teaching.

And the teachings of the Rosicrucians, as is known, became the forerunner of Freemasonry in the form in which it has come down to our time.

If we “investigate” the painting further, the tree behind the angel can be classified as an elm. According to the shape of the crown, the shape of the leaves, the density of the crown. Of course, this is just a guess, but after comparing several photos of elms with the image of the tree on Titian's painting, I fully admit this fact.

Then we can assume that the picture depicts historical event, known as the “cutting of the elm”, when the Templars broke with the Priory of Sion and the Rosicrucians took the place of the Templars. In any case, many of the details in the picture, which we have already examined, speak precisely about this.

But let's get back to our ladies.

The “earthly” lady holds a five-petal rose flower in her hand. She has a flower in her hand, but her hand is in a glove, and she does not yet feel the flower with her skin, that is, there is a barrier between her and the Teachings of the Rosicrucians. Disputes are caused by the object at hand of earthly Love. Some say it is a bowl, others say it is a mandolin. Although it is possible that Titian deliberately “encrypted” the bowl. If he wanted to depict the mandolin in such a way that there was no “room” for other interpretations, he would have done it. But for some reason, an unambiguous interpretation of the subject at hand of earthly Love is difficult. Thus, Titian “hints” us at the cup.

In this case, the following analogies are easily drawn, firstly, with the Holy Grail, and secondly, the cups were used in Rosicrucian rituals. The object in the hand of Heavenly Love can be defined as an incense burner, which was also used in the ritual rites of the Rosicrucians.

Earthly love looks into the viewer's eyes, and heavenly love looks at her red shoe (or golden-red), or rather, the tip of the shoe. Once upon a time I read that red shoes are a symbol of the goddess Isis, a symbol of the initiate. If we go further, we can draw an analogy with the red papal shoes. Also a symbol of “high dedication”.

So, with a high degree of probability we can say that “during” this picture an initiation into membership of the Rosicrucian Order took place. The process of initiation was taking place. And it is also likely that this process included the ritual of kissing the tip of the red shoe. The two ladies are similar to each other, they are “tied” by the sarcophagus and are equally close to the viewer. They have two legs for two, since the leg of “heavenly love” is hidden from the viewer’s eyes, and the second leg is symbolized by the tip of the red shoe. We can say that the main postulate of Hermeticism is contained in such an encrypted form: “what is above is below, what is below is also above.” That is, the heavenly is reflected in the earthly, and the earthly in the heavenly.
One of the Rothschilds wanted to buy this painting. But his proposal was rejected. The symbol of the secret mysteries remains on Italian territory. In Rome. The city where the Vatican is located is one of the centers of world control.

There are still questions. Can earthly Love be identified with Salome, and heavenly Love with Mary Magdalene (although her hair is not loose, as in canonical images)?

Or is there a reference here to the Sixth Arcana of the Tarot - Lovers...

Not all of Titian’s mysteries have yet been solved, which means that new discoveries and finds await us...

I will be grateful for all clarifications, additions and comments.

The painting was commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, Secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic. An indirect fact confirming the identity of the customer is the presence of the coat of arms of Niccolo Aurelio on the front wall of the sarcophagus. Aurelio married a young widow, Laura Bagarotto. The wedding was celebrated in Venice on May 17, 1514, and the painting was most likely his wedding gift to the bride. Modern name the painting was not given by the artist himself, but began to be used at least two centuries after its creation.

Against the backdrop of a sunset landscape, a richly dressed Venetian woman, holding a needlework box with her left hand, and a naked Venus, holding a bowl of fire, sit at the source. According to S. Zuffi, a dressed girl personifies love in marriage; The color of her dress (white), the belt, the gloves on her hands, the myrtle wreath crowning her head, her flowing hair and roses indicate marriage. In the background there is a pair of rabbits - a wish for large offspring. This is not a portrait of Laura Bagarotto, but an allegory of a happy marriage.

A marble sarcophagus turned into a spring is a mysterious detail. Marble, a symbol of death, is quite strange to find in a picture overflowing with wishes for a happy family life. The scene of violence on the sarcophagus apparently recalls the unjust execution of Laura's father, Bertuccio Bagarotto, which occurred in 1509. The basin standing on the sarcophagus is decorated with the heraldic signs of the Bagarotto family. Pure water in the source symbolizes the birth of a new life.

The naked girl symbolizes love, which is transformed into eternal, heavenly, this is indicated by the burning lamp in her raised hand.

Notes

Literature

In Russian

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