A lecture by Luke Syson
In this talk Luke Syson will contextualise Titian’s three late works at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Titian was one of the great Renaissance painters of love, as his painting of Venus and the Lute-player so poetically demonstrates. But, as he entered the last years of his long career, now in his 80s, his imagery, and his choice of subject, became darker. The sexual content became more explicit and the violence around the sex was also more evident. Nowhere is this clearer than in the disturbing masterpiece that depicts the Rape of Lucretia, arguably his last completed work. What was he trying to say? By looking closely at both of these works, and a remarkable drawing, Luke will analyse Titian’s attitudes to love and sex, fate, power and violence.
Luke Syson is Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge. From 2012-19, he was Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Earlier he held curatorial positions at the British Museum, V&A and the National Gallery in London.
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please register here or send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it
The registration fee is 15 Euro per person.
To join this lecture online, simply click on this link to register and receive the Zoom meeting invitation: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/3yFUVU71TDu6iBhUHqE6Mg. The virtual doors will open at 18:00 Italian time on Wednesday 21st May.
There is no charge to attend the event on Zoom, but we ask you to consider making a donation to support the Institute and its beautiful library if you wish to attend an event.
This event is sponsored by Lynne Barton for the Angel Academy of Art, Florence