GIORGIONE, TIZIANO, MANET: THREE ARTISTS, THREE VENUS

Abstract

The reclining nude is a classic theme depicted in art history many times. Three masterpieces of this genre are the Sleeping Venus of Giorgione, the Venus of Urbino of Tiziano and the Olympia of Edouard Manet. The most important common point of these three paintings and the fact that they are separated from the other pictures in the same subject is that they are derived from each other. One of the Venetian masters of the Renaissance, Giorgione's Sleeping Venus picture, glorified the natural beauty of woman, idealized the goddess of love Venus. Giorgione’s close friend Tiziano, with the formal characteristics of the Sleeping Venus, formed the picture of the Venus of Urbino. Venus, formally idealized, reflects human emotions as content. Tiziano, who directly contacted the audience with his reclining nude, created an allegory of love and loyalty in this picture. Edouard Manet, an important French painter of the nineteenth century, depicted a nude he had reinterpreted the Venus of Urbino. In this picture, which he called Olympia, Manet described the goddess of love as a prostitute. Created with a realistic and natural formal approach, the painting draws attention with its features. These three pictures, which deal with the same subject, illustrate how the content has changed with the change of form and expression in art.