29_0129_Your_Comments_1st_half_2015
For comments mail P.H.Gommers@skynet.be
Travels of TITIAN'S Painting of EUROPA
At the request of the Spanish king Philips II, Titian started a
series of six paintings chosen from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, he
called them ‘poesies’. He finished the
last one, the Abduction of Europa, in
1562. They remained at the Spanish Court
for over 100 years.
In the mean time, the famous Flemish Baroque painter and diplomat, Peter Paul
Rubens, 1577-1640, extended his mission to the Spanish Court, copying at the
Alcázar many paintings for Philips IV. His
Europe is identical to Titian in size
and all additional objects and surroundings.
His El rapto del Europa, or
the Abduction of Europa, is still to
admire in the Museo del Prada of Madrid (see my book page 109).
Meanwhile the French royal house of Bourbon and the great-grandchild of Louis
XIV inherited the Spanish crown, as Philips V, 1683-1745. He became king
at 17 years and Louis XIV gave him a kind of regent, being the French ambassador
Duke de Gramont. In 1705 Philips V asked Louis XIV to recall the
ambassador. Apparently, to soften the blow, Philips V gave the duke de
Gramont, as a parting gift, three poesies of Titian, among which
L’enlèvement d’Europe.
In 1715, Philippe duc d’Orléans became Regent of France on behalf of Louis XV,
grandson of Louis XIV . He gathered a huge collection of paintings and other artistic
objects.
The collection is known as " La Galerie du Régent, Philippe, duc d’Orléans".
The Duke de Gramont gave in that year the Titian paintings to the Regent, duke
of Orléans for his Galerie. The Collection remained
during almost the whole 18th
century in the Orléans family. At the end of the century, the heir tried to sell
the whole Collection, while master J.Couché, 1755? – 1821, engraver of his
Cabinet, started a huge project to have the whole Collection engraved.
Couché, already working for some time on his project with many others, decided
in 1785 to publish, one by one on a subscription basis, the 355 engravings
he had already assembled. The French Revolution did not help him, nor the sale
of the entire Collection, but he continued and in 1806 more or less the entire
Collection was published in three tomes, of which the first one in 1786
(probably predated). They all have the individual title with mentioning “De la Galerie de S.A.S. Monseigneur le Duc d’Orléans , with the family weapon –with
three French lilies- in the middle. Many designers and engravers were involved.
The prints were based on both etching and engraving technics.
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The print of L’enlèvement d’Europe, is signed: peint par Titien
Vecelli – déssigné par Boret – gravé par J.L. Delignon.
The great grandson, Louis Philippe II – or Philippe Égalité-, 1747-1793, tried to sell off this artistic treasure because of huge
gambling debts in 1788. He succeeded to
sell en bloc a large part of the Galerie to a banker in Brussels. Who sold it
back to a Frenchman, who escaped from the French Revolution with the paintings
to London. Philippe Égalité lost his head by the guillotine in 1793. The
Collection was sold in 1798 in London to a consortium of three English
noblemen; (1) Francis Egerton, 3rd duke of Bridgewater,
(2) earl Gower, 1st duke of
Sutherland and (3) Frederic Howard, 5th count of Carlisle. They sold
a large part to buyers of individual paintings. It was only in 1804 that
Titian’s Europe painting was sold to the 2nd earl of Berwick for his
gallery at Attingham Park. For unknown reasons he
sold the picture again, at the latest in 1816 to the 4th earl
of Darnley. Titian’s Europe painting went to his gallery in his country House, Cobham Hall in Kent. Because of inheritance taxes, among others, the painting
went up for sale and after a while it was sold to the American lady, Mrs Isabella Stewart Gardner
in 1896 through the agency Colnaghi and her personal adviser
Bernard Berenson. It hang for 7 years in
her Drawing Room of her house in Beaconstreet, Boston, U.S.A.. Than it was moved
to its present location: The Titian Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
at Fernway Court, Boston, which opened on January 1, 1903.
J.Couché, La Galerie du Palais-Royal, gravé d’après les tableaux des différentes
écoles qui la composent, etc. Publié par J.Couché, Paris 1786-1806.
Casimir Stryienski, 1863-1912, La Galerie du Régent,Philippe, duc d’Orléans ; ed.
Manzi, Joyant & Cie, Paris, 1913.
Nicolas Penny, National Gallery Catalogues : The 16th century Italian Paintings,
vol II, Venice, 1540-1600, London, Nat.Galery Publ.Ltd. .
Jeremy Howard, Titian’s rape of Europe,
Conference Papers at St.Andrews, May, 2011;
The Reception of Titian in Britain,
ed. By Peter Humfrey, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, Belgium, 2013.
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Another political interpretation of Titian’s Europa
Titia
It is a surprising interpretation, well documented and fitting the political
situation of that time.
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On the prent because of the grey/black overtones the situation looks much more
threatening than in the bright colours of the painting. Also the devilfish
appears more threatening (29_03). The Venetian boat sailing in, on the painting,
is vague but well visible. In the print you need a lot of fantasy
to distinct a sailing boat in the haze mingling sea and sky. Than again
the wreckage opposite Europa and above the girlfriends on shore is more clear on
the prent. The small trail of darker smoke, on the right just above the
mountains looks more marginal.
Karinne Simonneau, Une Relecture
politique de l’Enlèvement d’Europe de Titien : Philips II et les Turcs,
Revue de l’Art, 1999, no 125, p 32-37 du Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique ; Editions Ophrys, Paris.
Titian’s Europa: Fame and Followers
Titian’s painting of Europa and the bull was in that period rather unique. The
image of a Lady in distress was not done, and the way he painted it with rough
strokes, almost like an early impressionist, made the painting not easily
acceptable for admirers of Titian and difficult for lesser painters to copy. As
a consequence the number of known professional copies of this painting have
remained rather limited.
It is known, that Titian copied
between 1562-1568, himself with his studio the six ‘poesies’ he made for
Philipps II, the Spanish Habsburger, and offered these copies to emperor
Maximillian II of Germany, the Austrian line of Habsburgers. Apparently, he was
not interested. Subsequently, he asked the Grandduke of Bavaria Albert III,
House of Wittlesbach, 1519-1591. The reaction of Albert is not known.
However, while these copies where still in Venice, Jacopo Strada, homo
universalis, and working for the Austrian Habsburgers as Art and antiquities
expert, listed in 1568 a copy of Titian’s Europe, his copy or from someone else?
It remained in Venice and was part of the Gallery of Bartolomeo della Nave, who
sold it to Basil Fielding in 1630. Basil
Fielding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh and Desmond, 1608-16175, bought the
painting for his brother in law Lord
Hamilton in 1638/9, during his stay in Venice as ambassador of the UK. After the
execution of Lord James, first Duke of Hamilton, 1606-1649 by the Republican
Rump Parliament, succeeded by Cromwell.
His possessions were confiscated, including most of his paintings which were
handed to, as warbooty, and partly sold to Leopold Wilhelm of Austria,1614-1662,
Governor of the Spanish Netherlands for
his Brussels Gallery. When he later returned to Vienna, he took all his
paintings with him, but Titian’s Europe was subsequently reported lost !
Meanwhile, In Spain Rubens made his
famous copy of Titian and signed it with his own name , now in the Prado,
mentioned under the ‘Januari contribution’ of this webpage
Reduced copies were made by two well-known Spanish 16/17th century
painters.
Juan Sánchez-Coton, 1560-1627,
copied Titian’s Europe. Probably, owned by the Spanish Grandee,Don Gaspar Méndez
de Haro, Marquiz of Carpio, Viceroy of Naples and art collector, who is known to
have owned a copy of Titian’s Europe.Then there is the reduced copie of
Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo,
1612-1667, son in law of Velasquez, who copied several of Titian’s poesias.
In the 17th century Giuseppe
Maria Mitelli (29_05) from Bologna,1634-1718 designed for an engraving a reduced
copy with only the two main figures, Europe lying backwards on the bull.
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A similar copy is found on a laquer tobaccosnuff box with a 9.6cm diam. By
Johann Heinrich Stobwasser in 1764
for the Braunschweig Lacqwaren factory, held by the Braunschweig museum. In both
images the frightened emotion of
Europe is no longer visible.
The Dutch painter David Teniers the
Younger, 1610-1690, was employed by Leopold Wilhelm for his Gallery in
Brussels. Apparently, his Titian’s Europe copy inspired him to paint a small
oil, 21.6-31.1 cm, freely after Titian. Europe is only backward leaning, which
make the image less frightening (see my study p. 115).
Jean Michel Moreau le jeune,
1741-1814 illustrated Charles Albert Demoustrer’s
Lettres d’Emillie.
His Europe myth interpretation is again a copy of
Titian’s main group, showing only Europe
lying backwards on the bull.(see my study p.111).
Very recently, Sotheby recorded the
auction sale on 10/07/2003 of a 17th century Titian
copy for £. 52.800. Probably, It was
the same size as the original with 185-237cm including the modern frame.
The reduced size copy in The Wallace
Collection, London, was owned by Sir Joshua Reynolds, founding President of
the Royal Academy of Arts and important English painter. He thought his reduced
version was from Titian himself, being the base study for his full size
painting. Nowadays, such a complete smaller study by Titian is not considered
realistic. The painting is
now dated as early 18th century. The copy shows a great likeness in
its beauty and emotions.
Another reduced copy is to be found in the Dulwich Collection, London’s first
public Gallery. Its origin cannot
be traced. It is known that Noël Desenfans, 1745-1807, (art dealer) and the
Swiss painter Sir Francis Bourgeois were commissioned by king Stanislaus of
Poland to assemble a royal Collection of paintings. After his abdication as king and
flight to Russia, the two decided to set up the collection in a public Gallery.
Bourgeois in his Will left the Collection to the Dulwich College in London
and stipulated that the Collection should be open for public in general. This
beautiful reduced copy is attributed to Juan del Mazo, mentioned above, although
some experts judge the painting a 18th century copy and not a 17th
century one.
The Reception of Titian in Britain, ed.Peter Humphrey, Brepols, 2013
Die Verführung der Europa, Prof. Dr.Barbara
Mundt, Verlag Ulstein GmbH, Frankfurt a M. 1988
The Vexation of Art; Velasques and Others, Svetlana Alpers, private in China,
2007
John Ingamells Dulwich Picture Gallery, British Cataloque, London, 2008
Titian’s
Rape of Europe - a Misnomer
Titian’s image of Europa is one of the very few Europa paintings, which suggests
a lady in distress. Commentators refer and compare it almost automatically to
the only classical text describing
Europa in despair, i.e. The Ode to
Galathea of Horace (Ode III.27). In both the ode and the painting, modern
minds find here a confirmation of their assumed “rape of Europe”. However, this
was not the intention of the original myth, nor that of Horace in his poem, nor
that of Titian.
When Titian had finished his Europa poesie, he wrote on April 26, 1562, to the
Spanish king Philips II:
“I have finally with divine grace brought
to completion the two pictures that I began for your Catholic Majesty; one
is ′Christ in the Garden′, the other
the ′poesia of
Europa carried by the Bull′,
which I send to you….” In this title he leaves open an interpretation of
voluntariness or coercion between Europa and the bull. Any implication of rape is simply not there.
Horace in his Ode starts out with Europa frightened of the seamonsters;, what
everybody would be. While considering her fate, she thinks with horror
she would be given as a concubine
to the mercies of a barbarian queen and would have to card a mistress wool.
No thoughts of rape. But more significant, she cries out:
“O
name of daughter, that I forsook, and
filial duty… Shameless, I deserted
my household gods…” Here she takes the blame for running away, that would
indicate a voluntary action from her part, against her duty to her father. And
she goes on:
“Worthless Europa, my father, though far
distant, urges, why dost thou hesitate to die? “
She knows, her father now has no other choice than to kill her. This is an example of the
millennia-old custom of honour killings of conservative patriarchal societies,
as already mentioned for priests in the Old Testament (Leviticus 21 -9). Leaving
the house with a stranger without the assient of the Father is enough reason to
lose the father’s and family’s honour. It can also involve rape but that
only would be an additional reason. Also in Roman law the father has, under
serious conditions, the right to kill his daughter. And when Apollodore mentions
that Agenor sends out all her brothers over the world to find her back, it is
not to bring Europa safely home, but to kill her in order to restore her
father’s and family’s honour. Europa is in distress, not because she is afraid
of rape but that her family would want to kill her.
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But what was the original intention of the myth. Classical writers of the last
part of the first Millennium BC focus their stories on the relation East-West,
although that was not a political issue at all, at the most some commercial
interactions, in the beginning of that Millennium or
even before that, it could not have been part of the original myth. Obviously, the myth arose
when the Greeks or Mycaneans conquered Minoan Crete, Apparently they wanted to
incorporate that much higher Minoan civilization into theirs, by engendering the
well known Minoan Heroes through a Greek Lady and the Greek supreme God Zeus,
thus bringing the Minoan culture under
the Greek religious fold with a Greek
supreme god as the common denominator. In such a context Europa as an
eastern Lady does not make any sense, not much
less so as a description of the origin of the coupling of Zeus with the Greek
matriarch of the royal House of Crete. Apparently, it was no longer understood
in 19th century art circles
that in classical times coupling with a god was a great honour to the family,
like the birth of Christianity. All the
mythical lineages of ancient royal Greek houses tried to ensure that their
family was based on a mixed immortal/human origin. The origin of the myth comes
obviously, from the new Greek king-priest of Crete and his inner circle. The
metamorphose of Zeus into a bull is only
a minor part of the story, just to make it sound more romantically attractive.
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Titian named the painting carried by the
bull. In Spain it was translated in
El rapto del Europa (abduction),
and so did the Flemish Rubens. Consequently,the French translated the Spanish
title in L’Enlèvement d’Europe (see
29.01). The beautiful Portuguese Azulejos tiles with Europa are described
rapto de Europa. The glorious Europa
by Rembrandt van Rijn, the same Dutch title,
de ontvoering van Europa. The largest
exhibition concerning exclusively the Europa myth in the Berlin
Kunstgewerbemuseum in 1988 called its Catalogue
Die Verführung der Europa
(seduction). Apparently, when the French Orléans Galerie, with Titian’s Europa,
had to be sold by auction in the UK, the painting
was rebaptized
Rape
of Europe ; Why, a wrong translation
from the Spanish Rapto?, or to
attract the attention of British Auction visitors. In English, this title has
stuck in almost all UK & US musea, suggesting a rather superficial knowledge of
Greek classical times of the experts involved...
Luckily, this misnomer in the English language did not stop the Europa myth to
continue to represent the continent Europe in all its facets, be it geographical
(see 29_09, Europe map by Petrus Schenk), religious (like the Europa paintings
of Gustave Moreau)cultural ( 29_08
Interpretation of Rembrandt), political (29_10,Europe in full armour with the
bull on her shield, looking threatening at the turkish sultan, Punch 1910) and presently, more specifically, Europe's unity
in the European Union (29_10, pamphlet 1st EU parlement election).
Titian, Europa, and the Seal of the Poesie,
Anita Georgievska-Shine, Artibus & Historiae, 2007
Ode to Galathea of Horace, English
translation, my study, page 75.
La Mythique Europe n‘est ni Phénicienne, ni Princesse,
P.H. Gommers, dans Europe entre Orient et
Occident, L’Age d’Homme, Lausanne,
2007
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The wellknown, Spanish seaside town, Torremolinos, below Malaga, attracts each summer great numbers of seaside, euro, tourists. In order to commemorate this European togetherness, the Spanish community placed on the Plaza de la Union Europea in 2005 a life size statue of, the two and a half millennia old, emblem of Europe: Goddess Europe on her divine bull Zeus.
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It has been carved out of beautiful white marbre. A triumphant Europa sitting on her
bull/Zeus with in her hands a laurel wreath with the yellow stars from the EU
flag.
Somewhat surprising; based on the design indications of the Public, Communal Office, the statue was produced by a Chinese company.
May 1, Torremolinos
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In 2009, publisher 'Linkeroever uitgevers nv', Antwerpen, issued a mistery book De Blinde Vlek from Jo Claes. The title page shows the statue by Rik Poot, mentioned already (see left : 2012 1st half june 23_10). He describes how Chief-inspector Berg, approaching the Provinciehuis of Brabant in Leuven, notices a powerful bronze bull with a girl on his back. Apparently, an interpretation of the classical Greek myth of Europa with bull-Zeus. The inspector summarizes for his questioning colleague detective the Ovidian Europa Myth.
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However, the sharp eyes of inspector Berg detect a more specific detail of the
bull's statue. The sculptor
turned the bull's glans of his penus into the head of a snake. The
inspector has also a lot of imagination. An
interpretation more fit for the Minotaurus of Minos.
Leuven, 20 june, an observant student.