5 - "Heavenly Love, Earthly Love"
How many commentators suffered to understand the true meaning of Titian's painting, which is listed under the title "Heavenly Love and Earthly Love" (Gallery Borghese in Rome). Now it seems, thanks to Wyckhoff's research, the enigma has been unraveled. A naked woman is Venus, dressed is Medea, whom the goddess persuades to surrender to Jason's love. However, nevertheless, we do not have an illustration for an ancient fairy tale; Titian used the plot as a pretext and created something completely independent and not even remotely resembling a theme. If we already talk about love in front of this picture, then only about earthly love, about love for all nature, for all life as a whole, in which these two beautiful women also have the meaning of parts of the whole, and not "heroines". How many praises have been expressed for the landscape that forms the background of the picture, as if it were not a “landscape” as a whole, not our beautiful land, on which life is so beautiful, on which virgin nature, and the works of people, and a beautiful naked body give so much pleasure, and luxurious outfits, and pastures, lakes, groves, and villages, cities and castles!
The depicted area is shrouded in the twilight of a voluptuous night; - only high on the tower of the castle and in the clouds the white reflection of dawn burns out. A mysterious moment of calm, respite. The human fuss is receding to rest, travelers are hurrying home, and the hour of Venus comes, holding a lamp in her hand to shine in the darkness, the hour of Eros, disturbing the magical reservoir and turning its dark waters into a wonderful potion. The royal girl listens to all the rustles in the grass, to the splash of water, to the rustle of foliage thickened in the fading light, to distant exclamations and singing, and it seems to her that she is being called somewhere, she sees the gods of love comforts, she heeds the vows of future embraces and conception.
"Earthly love and heavenly love" is a painting-type not only of Titian, but of all Venice 76 . Both Titian and Giorgione painted pictures even more juicy, even more beautiful in terms of colors, more free in concept 77 . But nowhere, nevertheless, so many different elements, in which we can see the manifestation of the "taste of Titian", "Venetian taste", are not combined into one whole, as in this picture. And the character of some kind of massiveness, density is especially striking in it. Medea's heavy dress should restrain her impulses, make her movements slow 78 . The naked body of Venus also does not speak of speed, of passion, but reflects a calm nature, alien to rebelliousness. In the composition itself, in this preponderance of one (left) part of the picture over the other, the same tendency to heaviness, to some kind of “materiality”, which was already visible in Giambellino’s later paintings and which, as we have seen, turned into apathetic boredom in Palma, is reflected. . Not a trace remains here of the Padua asceticism, of purely spiritual aspirations, which were still so clearly expressed in the art of the last Vivarini.
In the marble city of the lagoons, whose inhabitants looked to the mainland as to the promised land, dreamed of the expanse of fields, the heady aromas of flowers, fruit trees, and herds of animals as the most seductive in the world, the art in which this " nostalgia for the earth" received the expression of a full-sounding, grandiose poem. The dream of every Venetian was to save up enough money to buy himself an estate on terra ferma, and isn’t this dream expressed in Venetian painting in some kind of sometimes even excessive worship of earthly flesh, in some kind of “enthusiast materialism”? It is possible that in the natives of terra ferma, who permanently settled on the "ship of Venice", this dream was especially strong. After all, the best, fullest, most enthusiastic depiction of this "enjoyment of the earth" was precisely those Venetians who were born among the Alps or on their slopes: Titian, Palma, Giorgione and Bassano.
Notes
76 This painting was probably painted in 1512-1513 by order of Niccolò Aurelio, the great chancellor of the Republic of Venice, whose coat of arms adorns the pool that occupies the middle of the composition.
77 Unfortunately, the painting has suffered over time, and perhaps because of this, it is deprived of that freshness that is inherent in other homogeneous and simultaneous works of the master.
78 If this is really Medea, then the costume anachronism that Titian allowed himself here is striking. What is it - ignorance or something deliberate? The assumption of ignorance is ruled out simply because, without a doubt, an elementary and external acquaintance with the ancient world should have been available to a resident of Venice - at that time one of the main centers of humanism. It can also be assumed that Titian was somewhat unfriendly to the revival of antiquity. Isn't this attitude expressed, for example, in his caricature of the Laocoon with his sons group, discovered in 1506 and depicted by him in the form of convulsively writhing monkeys (we know this drawing by the wood engraving master Boldrini)? Titian also distinguished himself with freedom in relation to the forms of the ancient world in subsequent times, when he began to resort more and more often to subjects from ancient mythology. During his stay in Rome, in 1545, he was delighted with the treasures of art that he studied here (Titian informs Aretin about this in his letters) and even declared to Charles V that he "learns from wonderful antique stones, in order to more worthily portray the victories of the emperor in the East. However, even in the last years of his work, his passion for antiquity did not prevent him from placing a typical Venetian housekeeper next to Danae, next to Antiope to present hunters in modern costumes, next to Venus in Madrid to depict a cavalier in a tunic, collars and with a sword, under the guise of Venus (Hermitage) to present a type of Venetian courtesan, to give a Gothic shield with the coat of arms of the "Holy Empire" into the hands of a soldier at the Holy Sepulcher, to depict Pilate's palace in the form of a building of Palladius; the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the form of those characteristic figures that could be met on a festive day in Piazza, students in Emmaus - in the most philistine costumes, etc., etc. The impressions of the surrounding "living life" were obviously too obscured in Titian impressions gleaned from books and conversations with friends.
Dear friends!
I offer you an "investigation" of Titian's painting "Earthly Love and Heavenly Love".
It was very interesting and exciting to travel through the Titian labyrinths.
A little preface is needed here. I have known this painting by Titian since childhood. From a very early age - I felt it, touched it, absorbed it. Even before I started reading, I was leafing through the art albums that were in our house. And this picture could not pass me by. Two beautiful young women - as a symbol of eternal beauty and immortality against the backdrop of majestic landscapes. So this picture was kept in my memory.
Businessman, writer, screenwriter and collector Oleg Nasobin under the nickname avvakoum dedicated a series of posts to this picture:
http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/410978.html
http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/411595.html
http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/412853.html
http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/950485.html
After reading these posts, I thought: perhaps my picture has its own secret meaning, invisible on the surface, What? I tried to figure it out. And I offer you my thoughts on this matter.
I carefully read the posts of Oleg Nasobin and the comments to them. Some finds and details I took into service. Thanks for them. I would be grateful for all comments, clarifications, additions and objections.
The starting point of my research was the fact that Niccolo Aurelio, secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic, acted as the customer for this painting. The Council of Ten is the governing body of mighty Venice, the pearl of the Adriatic. the customer spoke clearly not on his own behalf, but on behalf of other forces who wished to remain anonymous.
But for the "cover legend" - the picture was ordered by Aurelio as a gift to the bride - the young widow Laura Bogaratto, whom he later married. To strengthen the "legend" on the front wall of the sarcophagus, the coat of arms of Aurelio was depicted. But all this is a "smoke screen", designed to distract from the real meaning of the picture and from the real "customers". It is curious to note that the painting received its name “Earthly Love and Heavenly Love” almost two centuries after its creation.
Obviously, during the life of Titian, the painting was nameless, or only a narrow circle of people knew its real name.
What is the mystery of the picture? What did Titian actually depict? It must be said right away that the great artist was initiated into the intricacies of secret history and secret societies.
Let's turn to the picture itself. What do we see on it?
Two young women - naked and dressed in a magnificent dress - sit on the edge of a water-filled sarcophagus, where Cupid has launched his hand.
A river flows in the background of Heavenly Love.
The river can be interpreted as the underground river Alfios, an allegory of secret "underground legends", a symbol of invisible knowledge transmitted by "initiates" from generation to generation.
And you can interpret the River - as a heavenly teaching. It should be noted that water has long symbolized information, Knowledge.
It can be assumed that the sarcophagus contains water from this sacred river. From the sarcophagus, in turn, a stream of water pours out, feeding the bush depicted in the foreground of the picture. That is, in this case, the sarcophagus is the Source.
What kind of water-Knowledge is concentrated in the sarcophagus?
Let's go to decryption.
There are several hints here. This is the Templar tower behind the back of the "earthly" woman, that is, the teachings of the Templars and the sarcophagus itself. Now we will see that this is precisely the sarcophagus, and not a pool or a fountain, as some commentators of the picture interpret.
Sarcophagus is a carved stone coffin. And if this is a coffin, then whose remains are lying there? And here we have the following "hints". Dish and cupid. Some commentators point out that the angel is catching flowers from the water. But flowers are known to float on the surface of the water, not sink. So what is a child looking for in the water? To answer, just look at the dish. Exactly the same dish is depicted in Titian's Salome with the Head of John the Baptist.
It is interesting to note that Titian has three paintings on this subject.
The first of them was written a year after the creation of "Heavenly Love and Earthly Love". And the food is different. But there is a “hint” in the form of a right hand wrapped in a scarlet cloak. Earthly Love also has a right scarlet sleeve
But in the picture, painted already in 1560, “our” dish is depicted.
It is a curious fact that the painting "Salome" turned out to be "prophetic" in relation to one significant historical event. Since 1649, Titian's Salome has been in the collection of Hampton Court Palace in Great Britain. And in the same year, the English monarch Charles I was beheaded.
And in one more picture, where Salome is depicted, you can also see a dish already familiar to us.
(It can be noted in brackets that a story similar to the one described by Oleg Nasobin in the post is connected with this picture: “Sotheby’s deprived the client of money and sleep” http://avvakoum.livejournal.com/1281815.html
Those who want to get acquainted with the material related to the painting by Titian can follow the link http://thenews.kz/2010/02/25/267486.html).
So, we have established that for some reason, years later, Titian decided to “decipher” the dish he had written earlier and “link” it with the head of John the Baptist.
As you know, according to legend, John the Baptist was the first Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.
This means that the artist symbolically depicted the Priory of Sion; while water (the teaching of the Priory of Sion) in turn becomes a source of nutrition (Knowledge) for the bush. It seems to “give birth” to this bush. At the same time, as I already mentioned, behind the “earthly love” is the Templar tower ...
So, the key to unraveling the picture is the BUSH. What is this bush?
This is a FIVE-PETAL ROSE, a cross (or hybrid) between rose and wild rose. More precisely, the view of the oldest rose - dog rose. As you know, wild rose is the progenitor of roses. 
This five-petalled rose was the magical plant of the Rosicrucians. If you look closely, you can see that the bush itself is “drawn” in the shape of a cross.
This plant, the leaves of the five-petalled rose, were depicted on the symbols of the Rosicrucian Order. 
It is interesting that in the Czech Republic, in which various mystical currents were strong, every year the Feast of the Five-Petal Rose is held in Krumlov. This rose is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of Český Krumlov.
But the significance of the five-petal rose does not end there.
The five-petalled rose is also the Tudor rose,traditional heraldic emblemEngland and Hampshire. It is on the coat of arms of Great Britain and Canada.
And the same five-petal rose is depicted on the Tarot card - the Major Arcana at number 13. Death.
The heraldic five-petalled rose was the symbol of the apprentice master in Masonic teaching.
And the teaching of the Rosicrucians, as you know, became the forerunner of Freemasonry in the form in which it has come down to our time.
If the "investigation" of the picture is carried out further, then the tree behind the angel can be classified as an elm. According to the shape of the crown, the shape of the leaves, the density of the crown. Of course, this is just a guess, but after comparing several photos of elms with the image of a tree in a Titian painting, I fully admit this fact.
Then it can be assumed that the picture depicts a historical event known as “elm felling”, when the Templars broke with the Priory of Sion and the Rosicrucians took the place of the Templars. In any case, many of the details in the picture, which we have already considered, speak precisely about this.
But back to our ladies.
The "earthly" lady holds in her hand a flower of a five-petalled rose. The flower is in her hand, but her hand is in a glove, and she still does not feel the flower with her skin, that is, there is a barrier between her and the Teaching of the Rosicrucians. Disputes are caused by the object at hand of Earthly Love. Some say it's a bowl, others say it's a mandolin. Although it is possible that Titian deliberately “encrypted” the bowl. If he wanted to depict the mandolin in such a way that there would be no "space" for other interpretations, he would have done it. But for some reason, an unambiguous interpretation of the object at hand of Earthly Love is difficult. Thus, Titian "hints" to us about the cup.
In this case, the following analogies are easily drawn, firstly, with the Grail, and secondly, the bowls were used in the rituals of the Rosicrucians. The object in the hand of Heavenly Love can be defined as an incense burner, which was also used in the ritual ceremonies of the Rosicrucians.
Earthly love looks into the eyes of the viewer, and earthly love - at her red shoe (or golden-red), more precisely - the tip of the shoe. Once upon a time, I read that red shoes are a symbol of the goddess Isis, a symbol of the initiate. If we go further, we can draw an analogy with the papal red shoes. Also a symbol of "high dedication."
So, with a high degree of probability, we can say that “with” this picture there was an initiation into members of the Rosicrucian Order. There was an initiation process. And it is also likely that this process included the rite of kissing the tip of a red shoe. The two ladies are similar to each other, they are "connected" by the sarcophagus and are equally close to the viewer. They have two legs for two, since the leg of "heavenly love" is hidden from the viewer's eyes, and the second leg symbolizes the tip of a red shoe. We can say that in such an encrypted form the main postulate of Hermeticism is concluded: "what is above, then below, what is below, then above." That is, the heavenly is reflected in the earthly, and the earthly - in the heavenly.
This picture wanted to buy one of the Rothschilds. But his offer was rejected. The symbol of the secret mysteries remains in Italy. In Rome. The city where the Vatican is located is one of the world's control centers.
There are still questions. Is it possible to identify earthly Love with Salome, and earthly Love with Mary Magdalene (although her hair is not loose, as in canonical images)?
Or is there a reference to the Sixth Arcana of the Tarot - Lovers ...
Not all the mysteries of Titian have yet been solved, which means that new discoveries and finds await us...
I will be grateful for all clarifications, additions and comments.
For several centuries, Titian's painting was considered only an allegory. However, the artist wrote something else: he deliberately mixed symbols with specific details. After all, the goal was not at all abstract - to smooth out the scandal in the secular circles of Venice.
Painting "Heavenly Love and Earthly Love". Oil on canvas, 118 x 278 cm
Year of creation: about 1514. Now kept in Rome in the Borghese Gallery.
The name “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” was given to the painting by early Titian in 1693. Based on this, the women depicted on it with identical faces were identified by art historians with two hypostases of the goddess of love, known to the intellectuals of the Renaissance from the works of ancient philosophers. However, for the first time the name of the masterpiece of Titian was mentioned in 1613 as "Beauty embellished and unadorned." It is not known how the artist himself or the customer called the canvas.
Only in the 20th century did researchers pay attention to the abundance of wedding symbols and the coat of arms of the Venetian family on the canvas. They concluded that the owner of the coat of arms, Secretary of the Council of Ten Nicolò Aurelio, commissioned the painting from Titian on the occasion of his marriage in 1514 to Laura Bagarotto, a young widow from Padua. As the Venetian chronicler of that time, Marin Sanudo, noted, this wedding was “discussed everywhere” - the newlywed had a too difficult past.
In 1509, at the height of the military conflict between the Venetian Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, Laura's first husband, the Padua aristocrat Francesco Borromeo, took the emperor's side. Padua was subject to Venice, because Borromeo was arrested and probably executed by the Council of Ten as a traitor. Many of Laura's relatives ended up in prison and exile. Her father, Bertuccio Bagarotto, a university professor, was hanged in front of his wife and children on the same charge, which in his case was unjust.
The permission for the marriage of a high-ranking Venetian official with the widow and daughter of state criminals was discussed by a commission headed by the doge, and it was received. The previously confiscated rich dowry to Laura was returned through the efforts of the groom the day before the wedding. The painting, commissioned from the most prestigious and by no means cheap artist of Venice, was probably supposed to add respectability to the marriage in the eyes of fellow citizens. 
1. Bride. According to art historian Rona Goffin, this is hardly a portrait of Laura Bagarotto, because then the naked lady was painted from her, which in those days would have damaged the reputation of a decent woman. This is an idealized image of the newlywed.
2. Dress. As shown by radiographic analysis, Titian first wrote it in red. However, at the top of the list of Laura's dowry was a wedding dress made of white satin, and Rona Goffin believed that the artist decided to depict this particular dress. A belt, a symbol of marital fidelity, and gloves are also attributes of a wedding dress: grooms gave these things for betrothal as a sign of seriousness of intentions.
3. Wreath. Evergreen myrtle is a plant of Venus, symbolizing love and fidelity. Wreaths woven from it were an attribute of weddings in ancient Rome.
4. Bowl. As Rona Goffin wrote, in such vessels, grooms traditionally presented wedding gifts to Venetian brides.
5. Rabbits. The symbol of fertility next to the figure of the bride is a wish for the newlyweds to have numerous offspring.
6. Nude. According to most researchers, including the Italian Renaissance art expert Federico Zeri and the British art specialist Titian Charles Hope, this is the goddess Venus. They are so similar to the newlywed, because in ancient poetry the bride was often compared with the goddess of love. Venus blesses the earthly woman for marriage.
7. Landscape. According to Dzeri, two contrasting symbols associated with marriage are shown behind the backs of the characters: the uphill road is the difficult path of prudence and unbreakable fidelity, the plain is bodily pleasures in marriage.
8. Cupid. The son of Venus, the winged god of love is here the mediator between the goddess and the bride.
9. Fountain. It bears the coat of arms of the Aurelio family. According to the art historian Walter Friedländer, this is the tomb of Adonis, beloved of Venus, described in the 15th-century novel Hypnerotomachia Poliphila, a sarcophagus (a symbol of death) from which water (a symbol of life) flows. The marble relief depicts the beating of Adonis by a jealous Mars: according to the novel, the young man died at the hands of the god of war. This is not only an indication of the tragically ended love of the goddess, but also a reminder of the sad past of Laura Bagarotto.
10. Lamp. The ancient lamp in the hand of Venus, according to Federico Zeri, symbolizes the flame of divine, sublime love.
Painter Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)
Between 1474 and 1490 - was born in the city of Pieve di Cadore, which since 1420 was part of the Venetian Republic, in a noble family.
Around 1500 - moved to Venice to study fine arts.
1517 - received from the Venetian authorities the position of an intermediary in the supply of salt, which, according to researchers, indicates his status as the official painter of the republic.
1525 - married Cecilia Soldano, from whom by that time he already had two sons.
1530 - widowed, wife died after the birth of her daughter Lavinia.
1551–1562 - created "Poems", a series of paintings based on Ovid's "Metamorphoses"
1576 - died in his workshop, buried in the Venetian church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
Titian considered one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance. The artist was not yet thirty years old when he was recognized as the best in Venice. One of his most famous paintings is "Heavenly Love and Earthly Love" ( Amor Sacro and Amor Profano). It is fraught with many hidden symbols and signs, which art historians are still struggling to decipher.
Having written a masterpiece, Titian left it without a title. In the Borghese Gallery in Rome, where the painting has been housed since the beginning of the 17th century, it had several titles: "Beauty Embellished and Unadorned" (1613), "Three Types of Love" (1650), "Divine and Secular Women" (1700), and finally, “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” (1792).
Due to the fact that the author left his painting without a title, art historians have several versions of who is depicted on the canvas. According to one of them, the picture is an allegory for two types of love: vulgar (a naked beauty) and heavenly (a dressed woman). Both are sitting by the fountain, and Cupid is an intermediary between them.
Most researchers are of the opinion that this canvas should have been a wedding gift from the secretary of the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic, Nicolo Aurelio and Laura Bagarotto. One of the indirect confirmations of this version is the coat of arms of Aurelio, which can be seen on the front wall of the sarcophagus.
In addition, the picture is filled with wedding symbols. One of the heroines is dressed in a white dress, her head is crowned with a myrtle wreath (a sign of love and fidelity). The girl is also wearing a belt and gloves (symbols also associated with the wedding). In the background, you can see rabbits, implying future offspring.
The background on which women are depicted is also fraught with symbols: a dark mountain road is fidelity and prudence, and a bright plain means bodily entertainment.
The well in the form of a sarcophagus does not quite fit into the picture. In addition, it depicts the ancient scene of the beating of Adonis by the god of war Mars. Researchers are inclined to believe that this is a kind of reference to the injured reputation of the bride Laura Bagarotto. Her first husband, during the war between the Venetian Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, took the side of the enemy. He was sentenced to death as a traitor. The same fate befell Laura's father. So the plot on the sarcophagus could well be a reminder of her past.
Not only Titian filled his canvases with hidden symbols. In the painting of another Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli
