Leseprobe

26 figure of Venezia in the main paintings in the Doge’s Palace is shown as a queen or bride dressed in white and gold. This also explains the special cult surround- ing the white dress as festive clothing worn by young noblewomen at special ceremonies and at their own wedding. 8 The Christian connotation of the color white as a symbol of purity and chastity was given broad, ex- tremely subtle, scope in the works of Titian and other painters of the Venetian school in their depiction of biblical subjects and votive pictures. In Titian’s paint- ing “Noli me tangere /Don’t Touch Me”, the sinning Mary Magdalene stretches her hand out towards Christ. 9 Her dress is red and white. Chastity and the desire for love symbolically come together in these colors. As penitent and saint, Titian clothes her in a white dress in the later painting “Madonna with Child and Saints John the Baptist, Paul, Jerome and Mary Magdalene” (c. 1516/19). 10 Creating a connection with her mystical marriage to God, Veronese shows Saint Catherine as a bride in a white dress with flow- ing blond hair and a golden crown in his painting “Mary with Child, Saints Lucia, Catherine, and Two Nuns as Donors”. 11 In his painting “Moses Saved from the Waters”, Veronese shows the daughter of the Egyptian king, who adopted Moses, in a white robe similar to that worn by wealthy Venetian women of the period, standing out like a dazzling light from the other persons shown in the picture. 12 In “Esther before Ahasver”, the protagonist begging for her Jew- ish people also appears in a robe of this kind. 13 Just as here the color white is used to introduce worldly aspects into the depiction of religious con- tents, the two painters transfer the Christian signi­ ficance of white to worldly subjects in other works. In his painting “Sacred and Profane Love” (1514/15), Titian adopts the topos of innocence in the ideal con- ception of a normalized marriage intended to unite the bride’s chaste and sensual love (ill. 3). 14 The fig- ure of sacred, chaste love is dressed in white silk satin and assisted by the seductive naked figure of Venus, the goddess of love of ancient Rome. The red silk satin cloak draped sideward over her left arm is quoted in the red sleeves of the figure symbolizing sacred love. Their physiognomy shows that the two women are represented as sisters – or even twins. In the right background, a shepherd tends his sheep, hares hop around and a loving couple can be seen in a stormy embrace while two white rabbits graze peace- fully in the left background. This painting was created on the occasion of the marriage between Nicolò Aurelio, secretary in the “Council of Ten” and subsequently Grand Chancellor of the City of Venice, and Laura Bagarotto on May 17, 1514. 15 The subject of the ideal marriage was already widely spread in the 15 th century in the decoration of the cassoni , the chests containing the bride’s dowry that were exhibited during wedding processions in Florence and Siena. The painted sides of the chests with their historical depictions and mythological scenes from ancient Rome not only emphasized the ideal of the woman but also that of the man including his role as protector of his wife. 16 In his painting the “Allegory of Virtue and Vice”, Veronese places particular emphasis on the perfec- tion of the man, which obviously still needs to be attained (ill. 2). 17 Hercules at the crossroads turns towards the female figure of virtue or wisdom, which is indicated her clothing, leaving the seductive figure of vice behind him, while his gaze remains focused on an imaginary viewer. The scenery is, on the whole, antique. However, the virtuous hero in his fashion- able Renaissance outfit is clearly one of the artist’s contemporaries. His robe of white silk satin with gold trimmings creates an association with the clothing worn by a bridegroom. Ill. 2 Paolo Veronese “Allegory of Virtue and Vice” c. 1580, New York, Frick Collection