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The Source of Titian's Rape of EuropaAuthor(s): Donald Stone Jr.Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Mar., 1972), pp. 47-49Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3048932

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The Source of Titian's Rapeof Europa*DonaldStone, r.

Arthur Pope was so convinced that Titian drew his inspira-tion for the Rape of Europa (Fig. i) from the Metamorphosesthat he reproduced Ovid's text at the beginning of his study"as a proper introduction to the picture."l However, tojuxtapose Ovid and Titian is to accentuate the large num-ber of elements in the painting which are absent from Ovid'saccount. The final scene described in the Metamorphosesincludes only Europa and the bull: "The god little by littleedges away from the dry land, and sets his borrowed hoofsin the shallow water; then he goes further out and soon is infull flight with his prize on the open ocean. She trembleswith fear and looks back at the receding shore, holding fasta horn with one hand and resting the other on the creature'sback. And her fluttering garments stream behind her in thewind."2 There is no allusion here to the women on theshore, the dolphin, the arrows, the Cupid on the dolphinand the mountains which Titian chose to include in hismasterpiece.Others have sensed the insufficiency of Ovid's text toexplain paintings of Europa. In his attempt to identify thesource of diverse elements in Maarten de Vos's work on thissubject, B. H. M. Mutsaers found himself obliged to proposeMoschus as the origin of Europa's billowing scarf, of theputti, Lucianus, and of the temple in the background,Nigidius Figulus.3 Erwin Panofsky has summarily rejectedMutsaers's proposal as having any implications for Titian,asserting that Titian's picture "does not presuppose his ac-quaintance with such more recondite authors as Moschus."4Panofsky (page 165) is content to explain the presence inTitian of the mountains, the women, the dolphin, and theCupid by noting that these elements were present in otherrepresentations of the scene, for example Bernard Salomon'swoodcut in the Metamorphosed'Ovide figure'e of I557 andDiirer's Rape of Europa. The pictures in question do containthese features but, like Ovid, each has some components ofTitian's picture without presenting them all. There is nodolphin, no Cupid in Salomon; there are no mountains inDurer (and Europa's crouched position on the bull issignificantly different from the woman Titian painted). Allof these elements, however, are contained in the descriptionof a painting of the rape of Europa in Achilles Tatius's

* I am indebted to Glen Bowersock, Naomi Miller and especially to theDirector of the Gardner Museum for their help in preparing thispaper.1 Arthur Pope, Titian's Rape of Europa, Cambridge, Mass., HarvardUniversity Press, I960, 15.2 Ibid., 2. The translation is that of Frank Justus Miller (Cambridge,1916).3 B. H. M. Mutsaers, "Literaire Bronnen voor Maarten de Vos' Ont-voering van Europa," AlbumDiscipulorumProf. Dr. J. G. Van Gelder,Utrecht, Haentijins Dekker and Gumbert, 1963, 63-65.

novel of Leucippe and Clitophon and I should like to pro-pose here that Titian's painting was inspired - on manylevels - by Achilles Tatius.

By referring to Moschus as a "recondite" author, Panof-sky appears to doubt that Titian would have been led inany way to read a work like Achilles' novel. Yet, it is pos-sible to show not only that a vernacular text of Achilles'novel was available to Titian at the time he began the Rapeof Europa, but also that interest in this novel was somewhatparticular to Titian's Venice.The first vernacular translation of Achilles Tatius wasdone in Italian and printed in Venice in I546. Although itreproduces only Books v-vIIi (and, therefore, not the des-cription of Europa which opens the novel), this translationhas value for us because the author proves to be none otherthan Lodovico Dolce - the same Venetian who in 1538 haddedicated a paraphrase of Juvenal's Sixth Satire to Titian5and who in I557 would publish a Dialogo dellapittura whichdevotes several pages to Titian's life and works. After Dolcehad expended such effort with the novel, it is difficult tobelieve that he was indifferent to the second vernaculartranslation of Achilles' novel which appeared in Venicealso, in 1550, the work of Francesc' Angelo Coccio.6 It con-tains the complete text of the novel and is the work Ibelieve Titian read or was shown by his friend Dolce.

Here is the pertinent passage from Coccio's translation,printed some four years before Titian is thought to havebegun the Europa.7 I have italicized the elements whichreappear in Titian's painting:JVella estremitc del prato, doue la terra arriuaua al mare,

I'artefcehaueuadipintealcunedonzelle, il cui sembiante most-raua & letitia & timore, & haueuano la testa cinta dighirlande, & le chiome sparse sopra gli homeri, & legambe tutte nude & discoperte, si la parte di sopra, chee tenuta ascosa dalla uesta; si ancho la parte da basso, chesuol esser coperta dalle scarpe: percioche con la cintura sihaueano alzate le uesti insino al ginocchio. pallide neluolto, le guancie ristrette, gli occhi uolti uerso il mare, labocca alquanto aperta, quasi per la paura douesseromandar fuori la uoce. le mani estendeuanoquasi uerso l toro.entrauano nella estremita del mare tanto auanti, quanto

4 Erwin Panofsky, Problems n Titian, New York, New York UniversityPress, I969, I65.5 See J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, The Life and Timesof Titian,2nd ed., London, i88I, 427.6 Achille Tatio/Alessandrino/Dell'Amoreldi Leucippe et di Clitophontelnuouamenteradotto/dallainguagreca [colophon on fol. II4V] II Fine/degliotto libri/D'Achille Tatio Alessandrino,/tradottier/Francesc'AngeloCoccio/daIano,/Et nvovamentetampati/da/Pieroet Fratelli de Nicoline/da Sabio/In'enetia/MDL. I quote the Houghton Library copy *OGC Ac46. Ei55I.7 Panofsky believes the work was begun "shortly after 1554" (ProblemsnTitian, I65).

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i Titian, Rapeof Europa.Boston,Isabella Stewart GardnerMuseum(photo: Museum)

l'onda auanzaua un poco soprala parte dinanzi del piede.pareuache uolesseroorrerel toro,ma per rispetto del maretemessero di proceder piu auanti. il color dell'acquamarina ra di due sorti: dallaparteuerso erraera alquantorosseggiante & azurro, & in quellauerso l pelagoui eradipintaa spuma, scogli,& le onde. scoglierano leuati oprala terra. a spumaaceua d'ogn'intornoiacheggiarli scogli.leondegonfiate 'inalzauano,& poi rotteintornod i scogli sirisolueuanon ispuma.Nel mezzo del mare era dipinto iltoro portato dalle onde. et doue la sua gamba piegatas'inalzaua; l'onda ascendeua in alto a guisa di montagna.sopragli homeriuoi sedeuaa giouane,noncomehuomoiedeacaualloma in lato: hauendonella destraparte accomandatiamendue piedi, con la sinistramanotenendol corno,nellaguisa che il caualcatore suol regger il freno, & in uero cheil toro, quasi co'l freno fussegouernato, era riuolto piu inquella parte, che dalla mano era tirata. II bustodelcorpoddllagiouane nsinoalle parti uergognosera copertodi unabianchissimaamiscia. a indi le parti inferioridel corpo dauna ueste di porpora erano ricoperte, lefattezze dellequalisopra a detta uesteappariuano:'ombilico rofondo,l uentredisteso, i fianchi ristretti, & quel ristrettoperuenuto n acutezzasi allargaua. Le mammelle erano dal petto alquantorileuate, & la sopraposta cintola stringeua insieme lemammelle, & la camiscia, laquale era specchio del suocorpo. le mani amendue erano distese, l'una al corno, &l'altra alla coda: & da ogni lato con amendue teneua

sospesoil uelo sopra la testa, sparso intornod gli homeri, & ilsenodel uelogonfiandosiper tuttosi allargaua. & questoaueniuaper il uentofattoui dal dipintore.Ella sedeuasoprail toroa guisadi nauesolcanteil mare, quasousandoil suo uelo in uecedi uela.intorno al toro saltauano i delphini,scherzauano gli Amori,& potria dire, che ui fussero ancho dipinti i lor mouimenti.Amorepicciolo fanciullo tiraua il toro, haueua le ali tese, dalato gli pendeua la pharetra,teneua il fuoco, & era riuoltoquasi uerso Gioue, & rideua, quasi schernendolo, che persua cagione era diuenuto toro (fols. I -2v).Except for the transfer of Cupid's arrows from a quiver to

putti flying overhead, the disappearance of the purple"ueste," a restationing of Cupid, and a reduction of thenumerous dolphins to one dolphin and one fish, the scene isTitian's: here are the women on the shore with outstretchedhands, the varying colors of the sea, the cliffs rising from theland and whitened by mist, a Cupid, arrows, Europa'sbillowing scarf,8 and her white garment, not extendingbeyond the "parti uergognose," and transparent enough toreveal her navel and large thighs. Even Achilles' carefulaccount of her position on the back of the bull - not with aleg on each side but with her feet on the bull's right side andher left hand on his horn - is reproduced by Titian.To learn that the painting possesses such a source, thatTitian did not necessarily bring together in his own waydisparate elements from other portrayals of Europa, mustheighten as well as circumscribe our evaluation of the

8 Achilles Tatius's description of the scarf and the playful dolphinssuggests that he was very familiar with Moschus's earlier account.

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THE SOURCE OF TITIAN S 'EUROPA'' 49

imitator's talent. On one hand, Achilles' detailed descrip-tion of Europa's position on the bull makes unnecessarySmart's contention that Titian combined the Metamorphosesand the Fasti when painting Europa; but, on the other,nothing here contradicts Smart's further contention thatTitian's arrangement of Europa's arms and the shadow overher face constitute a remarkable adaptation of the ToroFarnese.9Similarly, if in the light of Achilles, we cannot quiteagree with Panofsky's view (page I65) that the changingcolor of the water is one way in which the painting "remainsoriginal," the colors used for the water are not those givenby Achilles Tatius and their interplay with the rest of thecanvas is particular to Titian.It is also not insignificant that Titian suppressed certainfeatures of the Greek text. The tradition of 'c`Kpaats(translating pictures into prose) represents only one facet ofthe stylistic affectation that creates a constant tension be-tween drama and preciosity in the Greek novel. While thegestures of the women left behind give a tragic tone to thescene, the gamboling dolphins, the feet "accomandati"undercut the soberness of the event. Titian suppressed thedolphins as he suppressed the opening of Achilles' descrip-tion of the meadow from which the bull had fled. A com-parison of Titian's work with those of Durer and Vos, whichpeople the scene lavishly, also points up the starkness anddrama of Titian's composition. If Mutsaers's sources provetoo "recondite" for some art historians, it is nonetheless truethat the great detail and the mievreriein Vos resemble acertain strain of late Greek writing. At the same time, Titianhas kept the smiling Cupid of Achilles and in this figure liesa final aspect of Achilles' influence.Achilles Tatius opens his novel with this painting becauseit makes the narrator marvel at the fact that sky, earth, andsea obey a small child. He is overheard by a young manwho, to prove love's sway, then begins the story of Leucippeand Clitophon. Even if Titian did not place Cupid in frontof the bull, I find it hard to escape concluding that Cupid'spresence in the Rape of Europa parallels in meaning the roleof the "picciolo fanciullo" in Achilles and must be seen assomewhat more than "a comedy echo of the pose and actionof Europa" (Pope, page I8). In a recent article, MauriceShapiro suggests that Titian's treatment of the theme oflove's triumph over god and woman is set within a studiedrepresentation of such emotions as fear, joy, and desire,which Shapiro relates to Stoicism.10 If he is correct, theneven at this final turning, we find Achilles' text to have beenonly the important beginning of a process whose end belongsentirely to Titian.

Harvard University

9 See Alastair Smart, "Titian and the Toro Farnese," Apollo, June, 1967,420-31.10 "Titian's Rape of Europa," Gazette des Beaux Arts, LXXVII, 1971, 109-16.