GUIDING QUESTIONS for Titian's VENUS OF URBINO

Warning: This is a saucy / slightly rated material!

• Who is she?

• Should be describe Titian's application of paint to be SMOOTH or PAINTERLY (showing obvious brushstrokes)?

• Why does the BED project into the foreground / tilt forward? Why did Titian make this artistic choice?

• Who was the PATRON of this work?

• Where was this painting thought to have hung, originally? Was it meant for public or private viewing?

• Why did Titian likely include the GREEN CURTAIN flung back in the Venus of Urbino?

• What did Titian’s frequent use of this women as a model suggest about her?

• Does this painting represent a specific person? If so, who? If not, what does the Venus represent?

• What earlier artwork’s composition inspired Titian’s Venus of Urbino?

• What is epithalamia, and how is the imagery of Venus like this one connected to it?

• Prior to Titian’s “liberation of the nude” with this painting, where could you typically find images of Venus?

• What is a symbol of FIDELITY that can be found in this painting?

• What does the hairstyle that the Venus wears symbolize?

• What ancient Greek and Roman sculptures does the pose of the Venus of Urbino reference?

• Beth and Steven describe glazing (an oil painting technique). What does that mean?

• What genre / artistic tradition is essentially established in ART HISTORY by Titian with this painting?