Art critic Marina Khaikina and psychoanalyst Andrey Rossokhin examine one painting and tell us about what they know and what they feel. What for? So that, (not) agreeing with them, we are more clearly aware of our own attitude towards the picture, the plot, the artist and ourselves.
“Three Ages” (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh) – one of the most beautiful works of Titian Vecellio. “We are all born in order to die later” – this topic worried Titian from early youth. In 1512 he dedicated this, one of his first works, to her.
“Life goes on”
Marina Khaikina, art critic: “The plot really seems simple. Three ages of life: sleeping babies, a young man and a girl and an old man, all of them are depicted in an idyllic pastoral landscape. But many details indicate that the content of the picture is more interesting. Here is the look of the young couple. According to the canons of that time, painters depicted men dressed and women naked – with one exception. We are talking about the story of Daphnis and Chloe: the shepherd Daphnis was just painted as a naked dark-haired young man, and Chloe – in a shepherdess outfit with two lutes and a flower garland in her hair. The painting by Titian is clearly connected with this plot. Perhaps we see the love story of Daphnis and Chloe in the foreground. The image of two skulls echoes the image of lovers, but it was no coincidence that Titian placed the figure of an old man with skulls in the background: speaking of the inevitability of death, the artist did not want death to dominate the picture. This is about life and love. And the proof of this is Cupid (he touches the sleeping tree). It links two worlds, earthly and heavenly. A sleeping tree is a metaphor for waiting for love, just like a sleeping child. The small figure of a fisherman in the center of the picture is also symbolic – he is fishing, he is busy with business. Life, no matter what, goes on.”
Read more:
- What does this picture tell me? “Lavender Mist” by Jackson Pollock
“Attraction can destroy”
Andrey Rossokhin, psychoanalyst: “The relationship of the couple in the foreground of the picture seems unusual to me. They are erotic only at first glance. The pose of the young man repeats the pose of the old man, and he looks just as haggard, aloof, as the old man. I see a tree leaning over him, the branch of the tree as if repeating his posture. This reinforces my feeling of breaking and fading of a man. This person is definitely not up to love, unlike a woman full of life and passionate sexual desire. All other characters seemed to freeze, froze. In my opinion, the picture is sad and full of sorrow. In order to understand the reason, it is important to know the history of the canvas. Titian painted it in 1512, and two years earlier, suddenly, in the prime of his life, his friend Giorgione died (1). According to one version, he could not bear the betrayal of his beloved. And this picture seems to me also a farewell to a loved one, the work of grief is reflected here.
“Three Ages” is the story of a sad relationship between two men and women. It is no coincidence that there are two babies, two adults, two skulls. Babies hug each other, they are doing well: there are no gender differences between them and there is no conflict, they are connected. Talking about middle age, Titian, perhaps quite unconsciously to himself, shows that sexual desire can not only give life, but also destroy. The woman seems to be taking away the man’s flute, his music, and together with the flute symbolically takes away his soul and life. But in the end, time will conquer her too. The old man who looks at the two skulls is perhaps the artist himself. It tells the story of a man and a woman, love and betrayal, birth and death.”
1 An outstanding Renaissance artist, musician, mentor of Titian. Died at the age of 35. The face of the young man in the painting is very similar to Giorgione’s self-portrait.
Titian Vecellio (1488 (1490) -1576) – master of the Italian Renaissance, “the king of painters and the painter of kings.” He painted pictures on biblical and mythological subjects, was an excellent portrait painter. Lived in Venice.