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MFAH Houston presents ‘Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting’

Titian - Diana and Actaeon

Titian
Diana and Actaeon

Titian, golden age of Venetian Painting in Houston Exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents 25 masterworks of the Venetian Renaissance, including Titian’s ‘Diana and Actaeon’ and ‘Diana and Callisto’ (1556–1559)

May 22 – August 14, 2011

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Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / theartwolf.com

The “Diana” paintings of Titian are the stars of the exhibition. Painted when the artist was in his 70s, both paintings have long been recognized as among Titian’s finest works. They are part of a series of six great mythological pictures made for the King Philip II of Spain, being the other four “Venus and Adonis”, “Danaë” (both at The Prado, Madrid); “Perseus and Andromeda” (Wallace Collection, London) and “The Rape of Europa” (at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston).

The pair entered the private Bridgewater Collection after the French Revolution. In 2009, “Diana and Actaeon” was purchased by the National Galleries of Scotland and London, and the painting is now shared by the two institutions. “Diana and Callisto”, valued by theartwolf.com at over $100 million, is expected to be purchased by the two institutions “to ensure that both of Titian’s Diana paintings remain in public collections in the U.K”, as the MFAH says in a press note.

The exhibition will also include two other paintings by Titian, “Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist” and “Venus Rising from the Sea”; as well as paintings by Tintoretto, Veronese and Lorenzo Lotto.

Related content

Titian’s Diana and Acteaon on display at the National Gallery (exhibition, 2009)
Titian’s monumental ‘Sacra Conversazione’ for sale at Sotheby’s (2011) (results of the sale)

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MFAH Houston presents 'Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting'