The Christian Science Monitor

Titian paintings reunite after centuries apart. How receptive are museumgoers?

“The Rape of Europa” (1559-1562) is owned by the Gardner Museum, the sole American venue for the traveling Titian exhibition.

What would the great artist Titian have thought of TikTok? I pondered that question when I visited the landmark exhibition “Titian: Women, Myth & Power” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

For most of Titian’s life, which paralleled the crest of the Renaissance period, painting was overshadowed by other artistic mediums. The printing press had elevated the popularity of drama and poetry, which was sometimes accompanied by music. So when Titian created six masterpieces for King Philip II of Spain – reunited for the first time in several centuries in this exhibition – the artist pioneered a revolutionary style in a bid for primacy against other art forms. The Italian broke with finely detailed techniques of the era for looser, impressionistic brushstrokes that invited one’s eye to fill in the specifics. 

“It’s not hyperbole to say that these

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