Akademik

(1514; Rome, Galleria Borghese)

   The Sacred and Profane Love is an allegorical painting rendered by Titian that relates compositionally to the Fête Champetre (c. 1510; Louvre, Paris) by Giorgione, his teacher. Until recently, the work was interpreted solely as a Neoplatonic allegory of the superiority of sacred over profane love, with both women representing Venus—the one nude denoting pure celestial love and her clothed counterpart earthly sexuality. Scholarship on gender issues has revealed the implications offered by certain elements Titian included, which has led to the conclusion that the work was commissioned to celebrate a marriage. The coat of arms of Niccoló Aurelio, vice-chancellor of the Venetian Republic, on the sarcophagus by the two women identifies him as the groom, while the heraldry on the plate directly above it is that of his bride, Laura Bagarotto. Also, the clothed Venus wears the traditional Venetian white satin wedding gown with red sleeves and belt. Her loose hair and myrtles were part of the wedding attire, while the vessel she holds is a wedding casket used to collect monetary gifts. The rabbits that dot the distant landscape are symbols of fertility and the hope for children, crucial to a society where the high child mortality rate sometimes precluded the continuation of the family.