Venus of Urbino

     Titian's Venus of Urbino depicts a nude woman reclined on a bed in an unspecified space. Although, nude women posing as "Venus's" is nothing new at this time, her gaze towards the audience is groundbreaking. Venus, being a sensual and amorous being, had been depicted since antiquity as passive or shy in her nudity. In countless representations she is sleeping in a state of luxurious abandon or attempting to cover herself, but to no avail.
     Titian's Venus' directness can be interpreted in several ways. One being that the woman depicted is a prostitute or involved in some scandal. This can be supported by the messy sheets, or her directness in being observed in the nude as if this was a routine moment for her. However, I think it is more likely that the woman being portrayed here is being sympathized with, if not admired by Titian himself.
     The way she is rendered in soft colors that echo her surroundings make her appear harmonious and beautiful rather than profane or guilty of some scandal. The trunks in the background have been identified as marriage trunks. The dog snoozing on the edge of her bed does not look alarmed in any way, but seems comfortable and at peace, signifying that nothing is inherently wrong with this situation. The dog is also known to be a signifier of fidelity.
     It is difficult for us today to understand, even with historical texts, female sexuality of this time in it's entirety. Today equivalent images of nude woman pervade our daily lives in advertisements, film trailers, television shows ect. Today the female figure is often utilized to attach the promise of sex to a product. The difference is the female subjects today, aren't even given the pleasantry of being elevated to a "Venus" status today. If Titain was a misogynist,  he didn't even come close to present day ad designers.

The below Skyy advertisement depicts a devolution, in my opinion, in depicting women since Venus of Urbino. Although these women have more clothes on, they retain no active role in being observed. While Titian's Venus gets to behold her beholder directly and be identified, in part, by her surrounding and expression, these women don't even have a face. While Titian's Venus takes ownership in her space and seems very much a part of it, these women are just bodies as inanimate as the yellow background and the product.

Feast in the house of Levi Video

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/veroneses-feast-in-the-house-of-levi.html

This video does a great job of contextualizing "Feast in the House of Levi" by Veronese.

I particularly enjoyed their discussion of the architecture as "imposing". I didn't think of this before, but now I can see that the architecture is just as distracting from the biblical scene as the numerous figures surrounding Christ. Although Christ is indeed centered within the architecture, there is little to no effort to differentiate this spiritual moment from the rest of the earthy revelry.

I also enjoyed the comparison of this piece to Leonardo's "Last Supper".  Leonardo uses hierarchy of scale and a minimalistic approach to assert Christ as the most important person at the table as well as eliminating anything that isn't necessary to depicting spirituality. While Leonardo depicts a timeless spirituality, Veronese painted the figures in contemporary Venetian clothing. Veronese attempted to bring the this scene into contemporary reality, making it more palatable for real people.

While the church this piece was commissioned for was thoroughly satisfied with the piece, the greater Catholic church was not impressed. Veronese was brought before an Inquisition where officials asked him questions regarding the content of the piece.The apostles are shown serving up their plates and looking around in mortal preoccupation.  Everyone in the piece is distracted, even the animals, who shouldn't be there as per Reformation standards.

During this time it was thought that religious art needed to have a certain piety and spirituality. If anything distracted form that spirituality, it wasn't of service to the church. The officials asked him to remove some figures, namely the dog. Veronese refused and simply changed the name of the piece to "Feast in the House of Levi" This served to appease the Catholic church and preserve Veronese's reputation.