0115Aphrodite_Titian

0115Aphrodite_Titian

Borghese Gallery
Ovid Met.

Vecellio Tiziano, "Sacred and Profane Love," 1514, Galleria Borghese, Rome, inv. no. 147

A Neo-Platonic, Renaissance interpretation of the opposite aspects of Venus: Ourania v. Pandemos. For the painting's title, given in the 18th Century, "Profane" translates "Pandemos". We might now say "Popular" instead.

G. Robertson, "Honour, Love and Truth: an alternative reading of Titian's Sacred and Profane Love," Renaissance Studies2 (1988) 268 - 79: argues that the 19th-century interpretation — i.e. Ourania v. Pandemos — is wrong, that Laura Bagarotto is the clothed figure and she is being taught the virtues of "naked" truth.

Two paintings depicting a clothed woman holding an urn and a nude woman with a red drape, with a cherub between them.

The figure on our left, clothed in costly apparel, holds a vase of jewels and other riches that can represent the happiness of earthly existence. The nude figure on the right holds aloft a lamp with a flame that might represent eternal happiness in the afterlife.

Commissioned for the marriage of a Venetian couple, the painting seems to suggest the artist's wish that the newlyweds can achieve all that Venus has to offer them. Cupid's chastisement (see relief) leads to that fulfillment.

Perhaps contrary to 21st-century expectations, the semi-nude figure represents Aphrodite Ourania.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University and other contexts.
This resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.