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Created in collaboration with the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna, it will remain open to the public until 5 June 2022 - Photo gallery

Milan, February 22 2022 – Palazzo Reale opens 2022 with a major exhibition dedicated to the image of women in the sixteenth century in the paintings of the great master Titian and his famous contemporaries such as Giorgione, Lotto, Palma il Vecchio, Veronese and Tintoretto.

"What we present today, in addition to being an extraordinary exhibition on an absolute protagonist of the sixteenth century who was a point of reference for all his contemporaries, is a historical and social exhibition that investigates the new perspective with which women were portrayed by virtue of a more central role in society, in literature and therefore also in art – declares the councilor for Culture Tommaso Sacchi –. An important production that confirms the international level of the artistic proposal of Palazzo Reale".

The exhibition, open from 23 February to 5 June 2022, is promoted and produced by the Municipality of Milan, Palazzo Reale and Skira editore, in collaboration with the Kunsthistorisches museum of Vienna. The Bracco Foundation is the main partner of the exhibition, while Corriere della Sera is the media partner. The layout and graphics are designed by Pierluigi Cerri Studio. The exhibition is curated by Sylvia Ferino, former director of the Art Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, assisted by a prestigious international scientific committee made up of well-known scholars in the sector, such as Anna Bellavitis, Jane Bridgeman, Enrico Maria Dal Pozzolo, Wencke Deiters, Francesca Del Torre, Charles Hope, Amedeo Quondam. The book that accompanies the exhibition is published by Skira in three editions, Italian, German and English.

Around a hundred works are on display, of which 47 paintings, 16 by Titian, many of which are on loan from the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna, in addition to sculptures, applied art objects such as jewellery, a tribute creation by Roberto Capucci to Isabella d'Este ( 1994), books and graphics.

"This exhibition talks about the woman painted by Titian and his contemporaries: about beauty, elegance and sensuality, and about the very particular role that their representation acquired in sixteenth-century Venice – states the curator – and aspires to reflect on the dominant role of women in Venetian painting of the 16th century, which has no equal in the history of the Republic or other areas of European culture of the period".

In Venice in the sixteenth century the image of women took on a unique role and an importance that had never been seen before in the history of painting. On the one hand there is the presence of Titian, with his interest in the depiction of women in her tender carnality and sophisticated elegance, and on the other the particular status that women enjoyed in Venetian society. In fact, Venetian wives exercised uncommon rights, such as continuing to have access to their dowry and being able to distribute it among their children after the death of their husband. Women could not participate in political or financial life, but they certainly played an important role in presenting the image linked to the public ceremonial of the sumptuous and powerful Republic.

At the same time, there was a great increase in literature on women and this concentrated attention on women probably raised their self-esteem and inspired the most erudite women to participate with their writings in gender discussions in the famous "querelle des femmes" which constitutes the most important movement "proto-feminist" before the French Revolution.

Among Titian's most important paintings we highlight: Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere (circa 1537) from Florence, Uffizi Galleries; Madonna and Child (1510-1511), Isabella d'Este in Black (c. 1534-1536), Venus, Mars and Love (c. 1550) Danae (post 1554), Portrait of a Woman (traditionally identified with Lavinia) (c. 1565) , Lucrezia and her husband (c. 1515) from Vienna, Kunsthistorisches museum; Young Woman with Plumed Hat (1534-1536) from St. Petersburg Hermitage; Portrait of a young girl (circa 1545) from Naples, Capodimonte Museum; Allegory of Wisdom (circa 1560) from Venice, Marciana Library.

By Giorgione: "Laura" (1506), from Vienna, Kunsthistorisches museum. By Lotto: Giuditta (1512), from Rome, BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas. By Tintoretto: The temptation of Adam and Eve (circa 1550-1553), from Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia, which opens the exhibition together with Titian's Madonna and Child representing Eve and the Virgin Mary, the two emblematic female figures of the Old Man and New Testament; Portrait of a Woman in Red (circa 1555) and Susanna and the Elders (1555-1556), from Vienna, Kunsthistorisches museum; Leda and the Swan (1550-1560) from Florence, Uffizi Galleries. By Palma the Elder: the two magnificent paintings Young Woman in a Blue Dress and Young Woman in a Green Dress (post 1514) and Bathing Nymphs (1525-1528) from the Kunsthistorisches musem. By Veronese: Lucrezia (around 1580-1583), Judith (around 1580), Venus and Adonis (around 1586) from the Kunsthistorisches museum and The Rape of Europa (around 1578), from Venice, Palazzo Ducale.

Other paintings of great expressive power by Paris Bordone, Giovanni Cariani, Bernardino Licinio, Giovan Battista Moroni, Palma il Giovane, Alessandro Bonvicino known as Moretto complete and enrich this fascinating itinerary in the painting of female subjects in sixteenth-century Venice. 

To find out the times, for reservations or further information on the exhibition, consult the website Royal Palace.