On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P00421
- Author
- Titian [Vecellio di Gregorio Tiziano] (Italian)
- Title
- Venus with the Organist and Cupid
- Chronology
- Ca. 1555
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 149 cm x 217,7 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Accompanied by a dog and reclining
on a bed in front of a window
through which the gardens of a
villa are visible, Venus listens to
the music played by an
organist.
There are five known works by
Titian on the subject of Venus and
Music, and all follow the same
model, though the organist is
sometimes a lutenist and the dog is
sometimes Cupid (Prado Museum,
Staatliche Museum of Berlin,
Metropolitan Museum of New York and
Fitzwilliam Museum of
Cambridge).
These paintings have been
interpreted in a variety of
manners. Some historians see them
as simple erotic scenes, while
others consider them neo-platonic
allegories of the senses, in which
vision and hearing are instruments
for knowing beauty and
harmony.
This work is believed to have been
given to Carlos V (1500-1558) by
Titian in Augsburg in 1548. The
emperor then gave it to Cardinal
Granvela. It later belonged to the
Count of Cantecroix and Emperor
Rodolfo II, who gave it to Felipe
III (1578-1621). The scholar,
Cassiano del Pozzo, first lists it
in Spain in the 1626 inventory of
Madrid's Alcázar Palace and it
reappears in the inventories of
1666, 1686 and 1700. It entered the
Prado Museum collection in 1827.
Location on the map
