TITIAN'S PESARO ALTARPIECE, FRARI, VENICE

TITIAN'S CA' PESARO ALTARPIECE, FRARI, VENICE - 1519-1526

In the last blog we discussed Titian's altarpiece intended for his own tomb on the right side of the nave of the main Franciscan church in Venice, the Frari. We pointed out that nearly directly across the nave from this tomb painting in the Frari stood another altarpiece by Titian on another altar on the left side of the nave. The diagonal arrangement of the figures in both paintings complement one another and were meant to be seen as a pair by the viewer coming into the church. But while they both would have originally been set on altars meant to direct the congregant to the main altar where Titian also painted the altarpiece, (the Assumption of the Virgin, 1515-18)

 they are very different kinds of paintings, one looking out to the sky and one looking inward. The clouds and blue scene beyond the foreground figures in the Pesaro Altarpiece contrast with the enclosing architectural apse that stops the viewer from going beyond the wall behind the figures
in the Pieta. In the Pesaro altarpiece Titian is thinking about his patron, Jacopo Pesaro, and his role in the outside world, whereas the Pieta is meant to be a meditative piece about Titian's own death.

In this Italian plan for the Frari, the painting on the left was originally at number 5 on the plan and the Pieta, on the right was originally set on the right side of the nave at number 30, where Titian's body was laid in 1576. (The Pieta he made for it was transferred to the Accademia Gallery in Venice in 1814, having been taken back by Titian himself to his own studio before his death.)

Number 5 originally -                                                                               Number 30 originally:

 












The location of the Pesaro Altarpiece by Titian (1519-26) is reinforced in the painting itself by the artist's inclusion of two large grey columns in the background of the scene which imitate exactly the grey columns inside the nave of the Frari church itself. (See David Rosand, Painting in Cinquecento Venice, Yale, 1982, pp. 58-69.) Titian intended the Pesaro altarpiece to reflect an extension of the nave to the outside world so that the Pesaro family's accomplishments would not be limited to, but would include, the church space.

The columns extend upward beyond the picture plane so we don't see their capitals because the artist

wishes to suggest a church similar to that of the Frari but in another higher realm, in heaven. The picture plane extends to another aisle of the church, so heaven is within reach and looks very much like the church where the viewer stands. In this heavenly realm, the patron, Jacopo Pesaro, kneeling on the left, is presented to the Madonna and Child up the stairs on the right.

Jacopo Pesaro was the commander of the papal navy when it won a victory over the Turks at Santa Maura in 1502. In the altarpiece Titian paints a reminder of this victory in the portrait of Jacopo
behind whom we see a captive Turk (with white turban) and a soldier in armor looking much like a
martial Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice (since the papal navy was made up of Venetian ships.)

The flag carried by the soldier features the coat-of-arms of Alexander VI, the Borgia Pope who
hired Jacopo Pesaro, and the coat-of-arms of the Pesaro family.

But the most prominent figure in this altarpiece sits on the stair in the middle as mediator between the donor and the Madonna, St. Peter. We know it is he because a key dangles conspicuously below his
robe on the steps:

St. Peter is not the name saint for Jacopo (James) Pesaro, so his prominent presence here is as the
first Pope, and he is here to introduce Jacopo in heaven to the Madonna and Child and to attest to
Jacopo's famous battle where he put his life on the line for Christianity and the Vatican.
           Why are the other members of Jacopo's family in this painting, then, and who are they?

The youngest, who looks out at us, is Leonardo Pesaro, the heir to the family fortunes. In front of him kneels Francesco, whose patron name saint, Francis, stands above and gestures towards him. Next to Leonardo kneel Fantino and Giovanni, and behind them all and underneath his own name saint, is Antonio. Only Francesco and Antonio are blessed by their saints, but the other members of the family are included in the group portrait.

Their presence here is to pay homage to Jacopo for his military honor as Commander of the papal navies and for his religious honor as Bishop of Paphos, Cyprus. A map showing the relation of Santa Maura to Greece and Venice as well as Cyprus is here below:

Jacopo Pesaro won the battle and, in doing so, won his family a place in heaven by fighting a crusade on behalf of all Christians against the Muslim faith. His familiarity with the Mediterranean Sea because of his position in Cyprus allowed him the confidence to take on the responsibility for the
attack on the peninsula of Santa Maura (modern-day Lefkada, Greece) halfway between Rome and
Cyprus and Venice and Cyprus.

He prays and holds in his hand a scroll that is perhaps the commission from the Pope for his undertaking. His experiences in Rome, in Paphos, on the sea in battle and as a Bishop all contribute
to the worldly portrait made of him by Titian and explain why the outside sky seen through the columns is important for the altar painting.

Everyone in the altarpiece has a serious face. Ensuring your place in heaven was a serious business of
16th-century Venice and fighting for a Pope such as Alexander VI had its own perils. As a tonsured bishop Jacopo Pesaro kneels and prays towards St. Peter, St. Francis, and the Madonna and Child. He is grateful to have survived the battle and hopes his naval victory will earn him, and his relatives, a place in the heavenly afterlife. The fact that the family members expected to be buried in the church of the Frari under this devotional altar explains why they are painted in full glory with the Madonna and Child here. The nuns who were given the job of praying daily for the family at masses said at this altar would have had Titian's image to remember the faces of the people they were to pray for. And while they were still alive, the family members would have been reassured that they might find favor in the world of the Madonna and Child.
 
 Above the heads of all the figures fly two naked angels on clouds holding a cross:

Is Titian's irreverent display of the naked bodies, one from the back, a Venetian thumbing of his nose
at the Franciscan piety he is forced to present down below? What wonders what the nuns might have thought of that? Certainly enlivened their prayers and must have amused, as would the Christ Child
sticking his foot out to touch St. Francis.

He seems to be saying, "Why all the glum faces? You will step into a new life with me."