The Age of Titian: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections
August 5 – December 5; Royal Scottish Academy

This year’s festival exhibition from the National Galleries is a “must-see” double-whammy. Visitors’ attention will be torn between 80 luscious Venetian paintings and the gallery’s flash new underground facilities.

Titian – who is said to have lived to the age of 99 – was at the heart of the High Renaissance in 16th century Venice. He was a contemporary of Michelangelo and Raphael, but his love for vivid colours and shimmering effects of light was unprecedented. He is often described as a precursor to Impressionism over 300 years ahead of his time, and was even known to finish off his paintings with his fingers.

Anyone familiar with the five Titian paintings permanently based at The Mound will know that naked nymphs and cherubs are a common sight in the painter’s work. The big, fleshy bodies are dimpled and glowing, against sumptuous red velvet and vivid blue skies.

The gallery’s five Titians will be joined by another eight from Glasgow, London, America, and one from a private collection which has never entered the textbooks: Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. Along with these are works by the painter’s equally famous contemporaries, including Tintoretto, Veronese and Giovanni Bellini.

These are the kinds of paintings that often lurk on the walls of grand stately homes, particularly in Scotland. Venice suffered social and political upheaval in the 19th century, and the failing aristocracy was forced to sell its treasures. Dealers stepped in to exploit the windfall, and three of the most influential of these happened to be Scottish.

Many of the paintings from Scottish collections have since been sold abroad, but they’re back in the country especially for this exhibition, on loan from institutions like the National Gallery of Washington and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Along with 80 paintings, the exhibition will also include 80 drawings and prints, 10 books and manuscripts, and 80 pieces of sculpture and applied art. These objects will include furniture, textiles, and 16th century glass from the famous island of Murano.

The Age of Titian will occupy the same space as last year’s record-breaking Monet show, but the gallery around it has expanded. Work is nearing completion on the £30 million Playfair Project, almost a year ahead of schedule.

It’s not easy to find an extra 20,000 square feet on The Mound, but the National Galleries were sorely in need of it. If they were going to compete as a major international exhibition space, they had to feed their visitors, sell them things, teach them things and generally entertain. Not all of that can happen in amongst one’s Titians, and the outdoor café was never going to be a big hit in sunny Scotland.

The solution is neat. The RSA building is now linked to the National Gallery under the ground. Accessed from Princes Street Gardens, the link will have every facility a visitor could possibly want.

Once oriented in the orientation area, and decloaked at the cloakroom, you can go to the café or to the 120-seat restaurant. If you’ve not spent all your money you can head for the shop – now the biggest in the National Galleries’ empire.

For something a bit more culturally enriching, there’s the lecture theatre, complete with surround-sound cinematic technology, or the seminar room, with its own range of state-of-the-art facilities. Alternatively you could visit the activities room for a spot of sculpture or the e-gallery for a touch-activated tour of the collection.

There’s a good chance, after all of that, you’ll forget what you came for, but then again, Titian is not so easy to forget.

Catrìona Black, 11.07.04