Saint Anthony 1511

Titian painted this fresco of Saint Anthony sometime in the 16th century, layering pigment directly onto a prepared plaster wall. Working at this scale and with this material meant an entirely different approach to painting than working on canvas. Fresco is a demanding medium, requiring the artist to work quickly while the plaster is still wet, and to plan carefully, as corrections are difficult. Titian would have had to coordinate with plasterers to prepare the wall, and assistants to mix pigments. The result is a surface that is integrated with the architecture itself. Note how the artist employed this method to achieve a unique aesthetic. The subdued palette and soft textures, in contrast to the grandeur of the scene, lend the work a sense of immediacy. And while we may think of Titian primarily as a painter of canvases, this fresco reminds us of his mastery of a more physically demanding, public-facing medium, closely tied to the context of its creation.