Titian,
Madonna and Child,
the Academia Museum in Venice
The beautiful face of Madonna by Titian. The face of unusual delicacy.
Her beauty wrapped in delicate mist in an invisible way separates a spectator from the flawless beauty of the woman.
Titian touched the surface of the canvas delicately with a brush, using drops, spots, as if he did not want to startle this transitory beauty.
She is not aware of her beauty but Titian is.
What makes us so attracted by this young, delicate, inscrutable face? What was Titian basing on painting such a beautiful person?
A delicate bow of the face. The lower lip lifted by a shadow towards concentration. The left eyelid – sleepy sadness. The eyes lifted with the remains of tears – a white drop on the edge of the eyelash. The capricious mouth but without lustfulness. The ear – hidden tenderness – delicately painted as if the painter wanted to explain himself because of too capricious, maybe too sensuous lips of the girl.
The cheek of the face – a silky surface behind which there is no body – only a pure spirit.
The thin wisps of hair on the temple, after the pain of the delivery. Demons are looming up in the background. The background of a tough, full of demons life. And the knowledge of what is going to happen – spots of blood on the dress.
Hardly noticeable waistline – it mingles with the dark, tough background of life. Why is the veil throwing spots of bloody shadows into the material of the girl's dress? Titian knows the further part of the story. She does not. She is looking at us slightly surprised, trustful. Her faith in a good, safe future mingles only with a slight anxiety. How did this intangible beauty of the face hiding a beautiful childish soul come into being and how does it last?
Titian knew that you have to cut out the bodily aspect, anatomy, that pure spiritual beauty is hidden under the silky surface of the cheeks, head and chin. And similarly he knew that behind our real worldly matters there are hidden the phantoms of demons and torment.