Episode XIV: Venus of Urbino by Titian

Teacher

Venus of Urbino by Titian

Titian was the greatest painter from Renaissance Venice. His reputation and achievements in 16^th-century Europe were rivaled only by those of Michelangelo. Venetian artists would introduce their own particular style and vision into Renaissance art, as can be seen in the Venus of Urbino. Suddenly, female nudity and eroticism exploded onto the scene in what I like to call a form of soft-core Renaissance pornography. This lecture will explore how there is little “Venus” in the Venus of Urbino, but instead a rather straight-forward visual voyeurism between subject and object. This lecture will also insert this typology of painting into the larger milieu of Renaissance Venice.

Video Features

Lectures 1
Quizzes 0
Duration 12 minutes
Skill level All levels
Language English
Students 8
Assessments Yes

Rocky Ruggiero, Ph.D.

Rocky Ruggiero has been a professor of Art and Architectural History since 1999. He received his BA from the College of the Holy Cross and a Master of Arts degree from Syracuse University, where he was awarded a prestigious Florence Fellowship in 1996. He furthered his art historical studies at the University of Exeter, UK, where he received a Ph.D. in Art History and Visual Culture. In addition to lecturing for various American universities in Florence, Italy, including Syracuse, Kent State, Vanderbilt, and Boston College, Rocky has starred in various TV documentaries concerning the Italian Renaissance. He has appeared as an expert witness in the History Channel’s “Engineering an Empire: Da Vinci’s World” and “Museum Secrets: the Uffizi Gallery”, as well as the recent NatGeo/NOVA PBS program on Brunelleschi’s dome entitled “Great Cathedral Mystery.”