Great Artists - DVD 3 (Titan, Bruegel, El Greco)

Titian (1485?-1576)
After the triumph of Renaissance art in Florence and Rome, the movement found a new center, the city of Venice, and a new master, Tiziano Vecellio, known to English speakers as Titian. Titian did more to establish the principles of modern painting than any of his Florentine contemporaries. Unlike the Italian masters that had preceded him, Titian painted for the most part in oil, the medium that came to dominate the production of art from then on. His radical approach to light, color and composition set him apart from those around him and his free brush strokes are more expressive than anything that had come before. His enormous talent was recognized across Europe, and he received commissions to paint portraits of some the most powerful people of the age, including Pope Paul III and the Holy Roman Emperor, the King of Spain, Charles V. Titian's fame spread far and wide, making him perhaps the first truly international artist.
Works featured in this program include The Assumption of the Virgin (1516-18, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice), The Pesaro Altarpiece (1519-26, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice), Bacchus and Ariadne (1523, The National Gallery, London), Portrait of Charles V with Hound (1533, Prado, Madrid), The Venus of Urbino (1538, Uffizi Gallery, Florence) and Diana and Callisto (1556-59, National Gallery, Edinburgh).

Bruegel (1525/30-1569)
Very little is known of the life of Pieter Bruegel the Elder whose enigmatic, humorous, sometimes grotesque paintings remain among the most distinctive examples of Netherlandish art. Though he had travelled to Italy, Bruegel turned his back on the popular Italianate styles of the time and developed traditional Netherlandish genres of painting. In Bruegel's fantastical landscapes it was the common peasant folk that took center stage, often sidelining the saints and members of the holy family, who were the supposed 'subjects' of many of his artworks. His paintings and etchings served as windows into other worlds, illustrating the mountains and rivers of far off lands, a geography that was exotic to the people of the flat Netherlands. Bruegel lived through a period of immense social and religious upheaval, in which the Catholic Habsburgs were determined to crush the growing ranks of Protestant dissenters in the Netherlands. The growth in trade and commerce had a similarly monumental, if less bloody, impact on Bruegel as he was among the first artists to paint almost exclusively for the growing class of merchants and intellectuals. Bruegel's greatness lies in his ability to combine gritty humor with a unique style of political comment, which has since never been equaled.
Works featured in this program include The Netherlandish Proverbs (1559, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), The Triumph Of Death (1562-63, Prado, Madrid), The Hunters In The Snow, Gloomy Day, Return Of The Herd (1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), The Massacre Of The Innocents (1566, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and The Wedding Feast (1567, Kuntshistorisches Museum, Vienna).

El Greco (1541-1614)
The paintings of the artist El Greco are among the most distinctive works of the early modern period. His paintings marked a radical departure from the naturalism and careful modeling of the Renaissance, and as result were ignored for close to 300 years. Domenicos Theotocopolous, dubbed by the Spaniards 'El Greco', was born in the Greek Island of Crete and was trained to paint in the Byzantine style. After spending some time in Venice and Rome, El Greco adopted the Spanish city of Toledo as his home. Throughout the course of his artistic career El Greco's style varied enormously. In Italy, his paintings reflected the bright coloring and the loose brush strokes of the Venetian masters, such as Tintoretto, whilst in Spain the fervor of religious belief and lingering medieval sensibilities added an emotional intensity and deep sense of almost mystical spiritualism to his work. The result was a highly individualistic style of painting. Though criticized by many, El Greco's dramatic style paved the way for the Baroque and later, in the 20th century, contributed to the development of Expressionism.
Works featured in this program include The Purification of the Temple (1568-1570, National Gallery of Art, Washington), The Disrobing of Christ (1577-79, Toledo Cathedral), Martyrdom of St Maurice (1580-82, Nuevos Museos, El Escorial), The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586-88, San Tomé, Toledo) and Laocoon (1610-14, National Gallery, Washington).