Sacred Prostitute

Titian Red

Nigel Bruce

Jul 31, 2023 • 1 min read

Titian: "Madonna and Child" (1510), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"Titian red" refers to the red hair in Titian's paintings such as the one above of the Virgin Mary (1510) and the one below of Mary Magdalene (1532-33). The confessional, prayerful pose below was one he adopted a number of times for the Magdalene, as the examples below attest. Titian may have acquired his red earth pigments from a quarry outside Venice; his reds are more of a brownish orange, like henna, rather than a red.

Titian-Mary-Magdalene — Palazzo Pitti, Florence

These more modest later paintings shown below are from around 1565.

Titian-Penitent-Magdalen — Titian: Getty Museum in Los Angeles

The red hair extended to non-religious figures as well. This is Woman with a Mirror (1515).