The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Six Saints

The Six Saints

c. 1535
(Italian, c. 1500–after 1566)

after Titian

(Italian, c. 1488–1576)
Italy, Venice, 16th century
woodcut
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1965.307
Catalogue raisonné: Mauroner 6
Location: not on view

Description

At first, Titian utilized woodcut as a medium of direct expression. He most probably drew directly on the blocks for The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea and prepared several drawings for each landscape print, carefully perfecting the compositions. After 1530, however, Titian no longer created new designs expressly for graphic reproduction. Rather, prints were a means of circulating pictorial ideals conceived for and executed initially in painting. The Six Saints records, in reverse, the group of saints—Sebastian, Francis, Anthony of Padua, Peter, Nicholas, and Catherine—standing below the vision of the Madonna and Child in Titian's altarpiece for the Venetian church of Saint Nicolo ai Frari. Because the print reproduces only the lower section of the picture, the monumentality of the original conception is diminished, but an image of greater intimacy is gained. Here, Titian changed the figure of Sebastian, whose pose in the original is ungainly. In the print, Sebastian's body is more clearly articulated and, looking heavenward, his face is filled with a stoic pathos.
  • Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
    Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987).
    Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981).
    Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
    Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).
  • {{cite web|title=The Six Saints|url=false|author=Niccolo Boldrini, Titian|year=c. 1535|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1965.307