self-portrait by Titian
Pietro Aretino by Titian ….. Aretino was one of Titian’s closest friends and most passionate of admirers…. The poet took it upon himself to present the maestro’s work, in glorified terms, to the world… it was Aretino who originally applied the term “Pittore Divino” to Titian….. He wrote, “Titian in his supreme excellence is not just divine, as the world takes him to be, but absolutely godlike and without equal—-like a man who backs up the liveliness of his coloring with the consummation of draftsmanship in such a way that his creations look as though they were not painted, but real.”
Titian’s first portrait of aretino
MIchalangelo used Aretino as a model to paint the figure that is holding the flayed skin that is his self-portrait in The Last Judgment.
self-portrait by Titian
Pietro Aretino was not only known as a poet, playwright, satirist and author whose work had immense influence on contemporary art and politics……. but he is also credited with inventing modern literate pornography……
Thomas Eakins in his Philadelphia studio
Walt Whitman in Camden, New Jersey….. photographed by Thomas Eakins
Thomas Eakins
oil study for Walt Whitman portrait by Thomas Eakins