Pesaro Madonna

Titian's supreme skill enabled him to disregard all the time-honored rules of composition, and to rely on color to restore the unity which he apparently broke up.  The Pesaro Madonna  must have had and effect  on his contemporaries. It was almost unheard of to move the Holy Virgin out of the center of the picture, and to place the two administering saints - St Francis, who is recognizable by the Stigmata (the wounds of the Cross), and St Peter, who has deposited the key (emblem of his dignity) on the steps of the Virgin's throne - not symmetrically on each side, as Giovanni Bellini had done, but as active participants of a scene.

In this altar-painting, Titian had to revive the tradition of donors' portraits, but did it in an entirely novel way. The picture was intended as a token of thanksgiving for a victory over the Turks by the Venetian nobleman Jacopo Pesaro, and Titian portrayed him kneeling before the Virgin while an armored standard-bearer drags a Turkish prisoner behind him. St Peter and the Virgin look down on him benignly while St Francis, on the other side, draws the attention of the Christ Child to the other members of the Pesaro family, who are kneeling in the corner of the picture. The whole scene seems to take place in an open courtyard, with two giant columns which rise into the clouds where two little angels are playfully engaged in raising the Cross. Titian's contemporaries may well have been amazed at the audacity with which he had dared to upset the old-established rules of composition. They must have expected, at first, to find such a picture lopsided and unbalanced. Actually it is the opposite. The unexpected composition only serves to make it gay and lively without upsetting the harmony of it all. The main reason is the way in which Titian contrived to let light, air and colors unify the scene. The idea of making a mere flag counterbalance the figure of the Holy Virgin would probably have shocked an earlier generation, but this flag, in its rich, warm color, is such a stupendous piece of painting that the venture was a complete success.

This is an altar-painting: oil on canvas, measuring 478 x 266 cm (188 1/8 x 104 3/4 in). It is housed in the  Church of Sta Maria dei Frari, Venice. The painting depicts the Virgin and the Child on the top of a raised platform. The commissioner of the painting, Jacobo Pesaro is shown kneeling before the Virgin and presented to her by Saint Peter. The red banner with papal arms is held by an unknown knight who also holds two Muslim prisoners, probably symbolizing Pesaro’s success as the commander of the papal fleet. At the right is depicted Saint Francis of Assisi who presents five kneeling members of the Pesaro family to baby Jesus. Titian made the painting for Pesaro chapel in the Frari Basilica in Venice where it remains until today.