Titian's 'Poesie' Reunited at Prado in Mythological Exhibition

Six masterpieces by Titian, known as the 'Poesie' and inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, are reunited for the first time at the Museo del Prado in Madrid after a previous display at the National Gallery in London. Commissioned by King Philip II of Spain around the 1550s, the series includes Diana and Actaeon, Diana and Callisto (jointly owned by the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland), The Rape of Europa (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston), Danae (Wellington Collection, London), Perseus and Andromeda (Wallace Collection, London), and Venus and Adonis (Prado). The exhibition, curated by Prado director Miguel Falomir and senior curator Alejandro Vergara, expands beyond the London format by adding 29 works by Veronese, Rubens, Velázquez, Poussin, and others from the permanent collection, exploring mythological painting between the Renaissance and Baroque. The show highlights the evolution of Titian's style from the earlier commissions by Alfonso d'Este (1518-1526) to the freer, more dramatic late works for Philip II. The exhibition runs until July 4, 2021.