An Analysis of Titians Painting Venus with a Mirror

Venus With a Mirror Introduction Venus With A Mirror was done by Italian master Titian (oil on canvas) in 1555. Currently Venus With A Mirror is in the National Gallery of Art in the Andrew W. Mellon Collection. The painting is 124.5 x 105.5 centimeters (49 x 41 x 9/16 inches). Titian Biography and Background The Italian master was born in 1477 in Pieve di Cadore, Italy and died August 27, 1576, in Venice, Italy. According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography (EWB) he was either born in 1477 or in 1488 (both dates are given). Reportedly Titian (Tiziano Vecellio was his full name) began studying painting at the age of 9; he and his brother initially were learning in the workshop of mosaic artist Sebastiano Zuccati, but soon Titian had the opportunity study painting with Giovanni Ballini (EWB). Soon thereafter Titian collaborated with Ballinis brother Giorgione; the two worked on frescoes for the German Merchants Exchange. It is said that the work of Titian and Giorgione was so similar that it was hard to tell them apart. The first actual commission that Titian received was to produce  ¦three large frescoes in the Confraternity of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy. Next Titian began his great mythological works, including Flora (Florence) and Sacred and Profane Love (EWB). Those pieces were well received and next it is said that Titian firmly established his hand as a quality interpreter of classical mythology when he completed The Andrians, the Worship of Venus