Paesaggio serale con coppia (Paesaggio Rogers)

Since its first publication in 1844, this atmospheric landscape painting on paper has always been attributed in the literature to the Venetian art of Giorgione and Titian.[1] Since the small-format picture is not signed, it requires a closer attribution. Initially placed in the Giorgione corner, it was first attributed to Titian by Tancred Borenius in 1938. Bernard Berenson, on the other hand, described it as 'giorgionesque' in 1957. At three auctions - in 1988, 1994 and 1996 - the painting was sold, with a low estimate, under 'successor' or 'circle' of Giorgione. In view of the cleansed picture, however, it is evident today that the melancholic opacity and enigmatic characteristic of painted landscapes in Giorgione's style are not present here. The work was not included in the catalogues of Titian's paintings published to date - but as a painting on paper, it would have represented a special case there anyway. Nevertheless, a series of approving statements on Titian's authorship began in 1969 and continues to this day, namely by William R. Rearick (2000 and 2001), Matthias Wivel (2018) and finally Paul Joannides (2018 and 2019). After 1996, no attribution other than to Titian has come to light from specialist scholars. Some striking motifs in the painting can also be found elsewhere in Titian's work: this is true, for example, of the knight with beret (for example, in the woodcut for 'Victory of Faith'), the Gothic church tower (in paintings and prints) and the fortification towers (in various drawings). The structures of the trunks and masses of leaves of the trees on the left can be found very similarly in drawings by Titian (for example in 'Arcadian Landscape with Shepherds' in the Albertina) or by Domenico Campagnola, who was strongly influenced by him (in 'The Stigmatisation of St. Francis' in the Klassik Stiftung Weimar). And finally, the motif of the tree, its orange foliage glowing against the blue of the sky, is often and very similarly used in Titian's paintings. The colourfulness characteristic of Titian is to be emphasised overall. In contrast to paintings of the time on canvas or wood, the main motif here is the landscape itself in an innovative way. Comparable works in early 16th century Venice can only be found in the field of drawings and prints. There, the main figures in the landscapes are proportionally much smaller than in paintings of the same period and are usually not arranged centrally. Important representatives of these landscape representations on paper are Titian himself, as well as Giulio Campagnola and his already mentioned stepson Domenico. Accordingly, our picture can be seen as an example of the extension of the landscape concept, as developed in the drawings, into the realm of painting. Significantly, the image carrier paper - which can also be proven in other cases for small paintings in Italy and in the north in the same period - was retained. The question remains open as to whether the painting served as a study or had the character of a work in itself. [1] The only exception: in 1912, the painting was once assigned to the Bolognese School. The work was presented in the summer of 2020 as part of an exhibition on landscape painting at the Kunsthaus and published in its catalogue with a complete bibliography based on new art historical and art technological research. We limit ourselves here to: William R. Rearick, Il disegno veneziano del Cinquecento, Milan 2001, pp. 39-40 and note 42, pp. 211-12. According to an art-technological report already available, surveyed in 2018 by Libby Sheldon in London, the way the materials were handled, as well as the use of certain proven colour materials, allow us to classify the painting as a product of the early 16th century, with connections to Titian's early work. Source