Concert Champetre 1509

Titian painted this oil on canvas, "Concert Champetre," in Venice, probably in the early 16th century. The painting evokes the tradition of pastoral poetry and the elites’ nostalgic fantasies about the countryside. The canvas shows two elegantly dressed men enjoying music in the countryside, accompanied by two nude women, perhaps nymphs or muses. But these figures are highly stylized and they draw on the classical past to reflect the artistic and intellectual values of the Italian Renaissance. The painting would have been made for a private collector, who belonged to the exclusive world of Venetian nobility and humanist scholars. Titian, like other artists of his time, relied on wealthy patrons to support his artistic activity. His paintings reflect their interests and taste. To understand this artwork fully, one must study the social and cultural history of Venice during the Renaissance. Letters, poems, inventories, and other archival documents can reveal the complex relationship between artists, patrons, and the wider society.