iGalleria Borghese · Villa Borghese / Pinciano
Titian. Dialogues between the Sacred and the Profane
Dossier exhibition setting Titian's Annunciation, on loan from Treviso Cathedral, beside the Titians in the Borghese collection, for the 450th anniversary of his death.
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For centuries, later paint along the bottom of this altarpiece hid Titian's name. Infrared imaging found it, a conservator removed the overpaint, and there it was: "Titianus pinxit MDXX", with a line naming the canon who paid for it, Broccardo Malchiostro. He is still in the picture, kneeling small in the centre.
The Annunciation is on loan from Treviso Cathedral while Pordenone's frescoes in its chapel are restored, and it hangs in the Borghese's Titian room beside Sacred and Profane Love. You face a Virgin who turns toward you on a chequered church floor while Gabriel comes up behind her, then look across at the two women by the fountain. In a city where half the church facades wear scaffolding, for once a restoration sent a Titian your way.
It is a dossier show built around one loan, so it fits inside a normal two-hour Borghese slot. Booking is mandatory: €16 plus a €2 reservation fee, and prices can rise during exhibitions. Open Tuesday to Sunday, last entry 17:45.
Look for
The Virgin up front
Titian reverses the usual Annunciation: the Virgin stands in the foreground and turns toward you, while Gabriel comes up behind her along a diagonal, pushed by light.
The kneeling patron
Look for Broccardo Malchiostro, the canon who paid for the altarpiece, kneeling small at the centre of the chequered church floor, far behind the Virgin.
The recovered signature
At the bottom of the panel, uncovered in the recent restoration, an inscription names Malchiostro and carries Titian's signature and date, Titianus pinxit MDXX.
Sacred and Profane Love
Two near-identical women, one dressed and one nude holding a lamp, sit either side of an ancient carved sarcophagus used as a fountain, with Cupid trailing his hand in the water.
The coats of arms
On the front of the fountain, look for Niccolò Aurelio's arms beside his wife's: the patron's heraldry the show sets against Malchiostro's in the Treviso altarpiece.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want a big exhibition: this is one loaned altarpiece hung among the Borghese's own Titians.
With kids
Under-18s go in free but still need a booked ticket. Children under 5 skip the €2 reservation fee, but must be booked too.
Also at Galleria Borghese
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Image credits
9
- Titian. Dialogues between the Sacred and the ProfaneCourtesy of Galleria Borghese
- States of Uncertain DomesticitiesCourtesy of Museo Carlo Bilotti
- Marina Bindella. CosmografieCourtesy of Museo Carlo Bilotti
- One, Five, Twelve. Eighty Years of Premio StregaMACRO, Rome
- Galleria BorgheseAlessio Damato, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo Carlo BilottiKrzysztof Golik / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- MACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of RomeAlbarubescens, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- La Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM)Daderot via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Galleria Continua Romarandreu, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0