
by Titian, 1514
Italian artist Titian painted this Sacred and Profane Love around 1514 for Niccolò Aurelio, whose coat of arms appears on the sarcophagus-fountain. Two women sit at opposite ends of a marble basin, one clothed and one nude. Despite centuries of interpretation, scholars still debate which represents sacred love and which profane.
The nude figure may represent divine love (truth needs no clothing) while the dressed woman represents earthly attachment. Or the opposite: nudity as sensuality, clothing as virtue. Cupid stirs the water between them, suggesting love's symbolic power. The Venetian landscape glows with golden light. It remains one of the Borghese Gallery's most celebrated paintings.
Other masterpieces from the Renaissance movement

Sandro Botticelli, 1476
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli, 1485
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Raphael, 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Raphael, 1511
Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Raphael, 1512
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Dresden

El Greco, 1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Leonardo da Vinci, 1500
Private Collection, Unknown
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