The Venus by Titian and the Musical Renaissance

An absolute masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance is on display in Verona to mark the one hundred years since the inauguration of the Castelvecchio Museum (1926-2026).

The exhibition, set up in the Boggian Hall, revolves around the extraordinary Venus with a dog and organist by Titian, one of the most refined and seductive images of 16th-century painting, featuring in an original journey that intertwines art, painted and performed music, and humanistic thought.

In dialogue with Titian's work, two other famous examples of Venetian painting will be exhibited: the Contest of the Muses and the Pierides by Jacopo Tintoretto, from the collections of Castelvecchio, and the famous Self-portrait with spinet from the Uffizi, painted by the master’s daughter, Marietta Robusti, who was a painter and musician.

The exhibition route narrates how, in the height of the Venetian and Veronese Renaissance, music was much more than an accompaniment to court life. It was a language of love, a metaphor for the harmony of the cosmos, a symbol of knowledge and beauty.

A point of great interest in the project arises from the fact that alongside the paintings, the instruments actually depicted in the works will also be exhibited: cornets, Renaissance flutes, books of madrigals, and original manuscripts and prints from the Philharmonic Academy of Verona, the oldest music academy in Europe.