Titian's "Venus with a Mirror" (c. 1555, oil
on canvas) showed that Titian recycled some of his canvases. X-rays reveal that
another painting is underneath "Venus"; the canvas was turned from horizontal
to vertical. The fabric covering Venus was actually a man's coat in the original
painting(22). Titian's surfaces are built up in
layers of pure color. He also plays the different textures against each other.
The light values of Venus also contrasts with the darkness of the fur, furniture,
and background.
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© Annette Milligan 1998