| Portrait of the Vendramin Family | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Titian |
| Year | Early 1540s |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 185 cm× 202 cm(73 in× 80 in) |
| Location | National Gallery, London |
, The Portrait of the Vendramin Family, also known as The Vendramin Family Venerating a Relic of the True Cross, is a large painting by the 16th century Venetian master Titian and his workshop, executed in the early 1540s. It is now in the National Gallery, in London. [1]
The canvas was commissioned by the patrician Vendramin family, and portrays, as was the typical Venetian custom, only male members of the dynasty. [2] It includes the brothers Andrea and Gabriele Vendramin, and Andrea's seven sons. However Andrea was apparently only three years older than Gabriele, which one would not think from the two figures here. It remains uncertain which is which. [3] The three young boys kneeling on the left were added later by another artist, and are markedly lower in quality.
The figures are next an altar holding a reliquary of the True Cross, which still exists. This was connected with a miracle in 1370-82 depicted by Vittorio Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini and other artists - when accidentally dropped into a canal during a congested procession it did not sink but hovered over the water, evading others trying to help, until an earlier Andrea Vendramin dived in and retrieved it. [4] This Andrea had been presented with the relic in 1369, in his capacity as head of the confraternity or Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista; they still hold the relc and its reliquary. [5] Both the large Bellini painting, The Miracle of the True Cross near San Lorenzo Bridge, of 1496–1500,, and the Carpaccio of 1494, are now in the Accademia museum in Venice.
Titian's painting has been described as, "one of the greatest group portraits in history". [2] It balances youth and wisdom as well as demonstrating the power of this family and their public commitments to the Republic. The relic is a central part of the portrait and was seen as both a symbol of the Serene Republic, and a personal symbol for the Vendramin family.
The painting was clearly designed for a specific location, presumably in one of the various Vendramin palaces in Venice, perhaps on a stairway. The lighting and very low vanishing point suggest that the primary viewing point was anticipated to be at the left of the canvas, with the lower edge at about head height. [6]
This painting remained in Venice until at least 1636 when it was bought by Anthony van Dyck who was painter at the court of Charles I. [2] After his death it was claimed as the property of Lady Anne Middleton by her son, Sir John Wittewronge. [7] After claiming possession Sir John sold the painting to Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, one of Van Dyck's major patrons, and passed by descent through the Earls and Dukes of Northumberland and Somerset until 1929, when it was bought by the National Gallery. [8] At some point it has been cut down on both sides and at the bottom. [9]
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, known as Giorgione, was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, though only about six surviving paintings are firmly attributed to him. The uncertainty surrounding the identity and meaning of his work has made Giorgione one of the most mysterious figures in European art.
Tiziano Vecellio, Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian, was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, 'from Cadore', taken from his native region.
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The Feast of the Gods is an oil painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, with substantial additions in stages to the left and center landscape by Dosso Dossi and Titian. It is one of the few mythological pictures by the Venetian artist. Completed in 1514, it was his last major work. It is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., which calls it "one of the greatest Renaissance paintings in the United States".
The House of Vendramin was a rich merchant family of Venice, Italy, who were among the case nuove or "new houses" who joined the patrician class when the Libro d'Oro was opened after the battle of Chioggia. Andrea Vendramin served as the sole Vendramin Doge from 1476–78, at the height of Venetian power, though in 1477 an Antonio Feleto was imprisoned, then banished, for remarking in public that the Council of the Forty-One must have been hard-pressed to elect a cheesemonger Doge. In his youth, Andrea and his brother Luca, in joint ventures, used to ship from Alexandria enough goods to fill a galley or a galley and a half, Malipiero recorded in retrospect: even his factors grew rich managing his affairs. At this period, mentions of Vendramins in various fields of business occur; Luca Vendramin (d.1527) founded a successful bank on the still-wooden Rialto Bridge with three Capelli brothers in 1507, but in his will of 1524 forbade his sons from continuing in banking. An early text on accounting mentions that the Vendramins' soap is so reliably good that you can buy it without inspecting it. Later they owned an important theatre.
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