The ''Madonna of the Rabbit'' (French: ''Vierge au lapin'') is an oil painting by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

, dated to 1530 and now held in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It is signed "Ticianus f." and is named after the white rabbit held in Mary's left hand. The rabbit is a symbol of fertility and – due to its whiteness – of Mary's purity and the mystery of the Incarnation, and is also a symbol of her virginity; female rabbits and hares can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first, resulting in them being able to give birth seemingly without having been impregnated.Lumpkin, Susan; John Seidensticker (2011). ''Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide''. JHU Press. . p. 122.

History

Records show that Federico Gonzaga commissioned three paintings from Titian in 1529. One of these can, with some security, be identified with the ''Madonna of the Rabbit''. The painting's small format shows that it was intended for private devotion. The painting also contains echoes of the artist's personal circumstances at the time; on 6 August 1530 his wife Cecilia died giving birth to their third child, Lavinia, who was then entrusted to Titian's sister Orsa (just as the

Christ Child The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12. The four canonical gospels, a ...

in the painting is entrusted into another woman's hands, in this case

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, wh ...

). He was mourning and melancholic until at least October that year, as is shown in the letters sent to

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

by the ambassador Benedetto Agnello. The work was acquired with the rest of the Gonzaga collection in 1627 by

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

and on his execution sold at auction. It was acquired in 1665 by

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

and

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

Description and style

Catherine is dressed as a maid of honour and is shown with her traditional attribute of a broken wheel at her feet. She and Mary are sitting in a meadow beside a fruit basket which contains apples representing

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

and grapes representing the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

and the redemption of sins. In the background a shepherd looks on – a motif drawn from Giorgione and perhaps intended as a portrait of Federico Gonzaga, since an X-ray shows that the initial composition had Mary turning her eyes towards the shepherd, or of the artist, since the shepherd appears sad and aloof like the mourning Titian. In the foreground, the wildflowers evoke the idyllic ''

locus amoenus ''Locus amoenus'' (Latin for "pleasant place") is a literary topos involving an idealized place of safety or comfort. A ''locus amoenus'' is usually a beautiful, shady lawn or open woodland, or a group of idyllic islands, sometimes with conno ...

'' in classical poetry and the Arcadian landscape, which is also found in works like the ''

Pastoral Concert The ''Pastoral Concert'' or ''Le Concert Champêtre'' is an oil painting of c. 1509 attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Titian. It was previously attributed to his fellow Venetian and contemporary Giorgione. It is now in the Musée du ...

'' or the '' Baccanali'' series of

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. The sensitive landscape painting is also notable, with orange stripes over a blue twilit sky, typical of Titian's highly mature phase.

Bibliography

* Francesco Valcanover, ''L'opera completa di Tiziano'', Rizzoli, Milano 1969. * Stefano Zuffi, ''Tiziano'', Mondadori Arte, Milano 2008.

External links

Catalogue page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madonna of the Rabbit 1530 paintings Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Titian Paintings in the Louvre by Italian artists Rabbits and hares in art category:Gonzaga art collection

History

Description and style

See also

Bibliography

External links