Sacred and Profane love, after Titian Painting

Titian is undoubtedly one of the greatest painters to have lived. This retelling of Sacred and Profane love, one of his masterpieces, aims to blur the lines of the originals narrative and meaning. Through a manipulation of the oil paint through scraping and sanding and an almost bravura application of wet in wet and glazing, I have created a ghostlike quality to the work which omits certain details to draw the viewer ever more into the figures. By scraping away their identity we are left asking ourselves, who are they? why are they there? What is their story? Through the combination of the traditional Venetian techniques of painting and the removal of certain layers, the painting has become fragmented and it’s entire painting process is evident across the surface, all through from the imprimatura to opaque passages of vermillion in the skin to the deft touches of glaze that sits in the deepest darks of the folds of fabric and the landscape.