Week Twenty one - Art
The Sacred Conversation - Titian
About this painting
Take in the whole painting for a few moments. Then tell us about the painting without looking at it.
The man is St. Luke and the woman is St. Catherine of Alexandria. St. Luke was a physician and writer of the Gospel of Luke. St. Catherine was a well educated young woman who lived in the 4th century who was brutally martyred after she brilliantly argued with the greatest scholars of the Roman Empire about her Christian belief. It was common to paint Mary and baby Jesus with other saints.
Why do you think these two saints would be depicted together? Perhaps because they were both highly educated.
Who is the focus of this painting? Mary wants to show Jesus to everyone, "My soul magnifies the Lord." They all look at baby Jesus reaches out to Catherine his perfect and divine little hand.
Notice the book in St. Luke's hand. (a symbol of the Gospel) Notice the red of St. Catherine's dress. ( a symbol of martyrdom)
What style of painting is it?
About the artist
Titian 1487 - 1576
His real name is Tiziano Vecellio, and Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. Titian's artistic manner changed drastically over the years and he became a perfectionist, keeping some pictures in his studio for ten years. Titian was a prolific painter. He died in 1576 from the Plague in Venice.
