Michelangelo and Titian: A Tale of Rivalry and Genius

Italian Renaissance artists Michelangelo and Titian met only twice but participated in a yearslong dialogue via their patrons, subject matter, and motifs, according to this captivating study from art historian Wallace (Michelangelo, God’s Architect). The two first met in 1529 when Michelangelo fled political upheavals in his native Florence for Venice, where he was greeted by a delegation that included Titian, the city’s official painter. Sixteen years later, Titian came to Rome to deliver a painting and Michelangelo paid him a visit on behalf of Pope Paul II. Wallace wraps his analysis of the men’s relationship around these two encounters, using them partly to debunk theories that frame Titian as an imitator of the older artist. Instead, Wallace depicts a layered and complex relationship between two highly competitive men whose art energized, influenced, and sometimes contradicted each other’s. (In 1564, Titian painted the Annunciation—the moment when the angel Gabriel told Mary she would bear Jesus—in a sensual, theatrical vein that eschewed the more “tightly drawn” style Michelangelo had used to depict the scene four years earlier.) Maps and ample illustrations enliven this vivid window into the relationship between two artistic giants and a creatively fertile time in Italian history. Armchair art historians will be riveted. (Feb.)