Painter, Patron and War : "The Tempesta" and Titian's battle painting
1994 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 23-33
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1994 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 23-33
Titian's lost mural painting in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Ducal Palace, Venice, has never been connected with Giorgione's "The Tempesta." One is large and official, representing a specific battle, the other is small and private, and the subject is still not known for certain. But the similarity of the compositions, the combination of a bridge and the lightning and the depiction of a delta under a bridge, cannot be ignored. Recently D. Howard has come to suspect that "The Tempesta"'s significance relates to the war of the League of Cambrai (1509-17), and P. H. D. Kaplan's more precise evidence has shown us that it was the picture commemorating the reconquest of Padua in 1509. I support Kaplan's interpretation and propose that Titian's lost battle piece also represents the recapture of Padua after the initial defeat of Agnadello in 1509. This interpretation would show that these two paintings reflect the delicate circumstances of the relation between patron and painter, which was inextricably linked to the historical event of the reconquest of Padua.
