Sacred and Profane Love, Titian
Titian·Sacred and Profane Love·c. 1514·Oil on canvas·Galleria Borghese, Rome↓

Titian Italian, c. 1488 – 1576

Sacred and Profane Love, c. 1514

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Two women who look like sisters sit on a carved marble fountain: one richly dressed as a bride, the other nude but for a red cloak, holding up a smoking vessel. A winged boy stirs the water between them. Probably painted for Niccolò Aurelio's wedding, it has carried its title only since 1693, and its meaning is still debated.

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Aurelio's coat of arms is carved on the front of the fountain. Two rabbits, emblems of fertility, sit in the landscape behind the clothed woman.

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