The Kunsthistorisches Museum, the museum of art history in Vienna, which has the second largest collection of works by Titian in the world - after the Prado Museum in Madrid - has taken a closer look at one of his paintings : a
Salvator Mundi
entitled
Christ in the Globe.
According to the institution, the author is none other than Titian (1488-1576), one of the greatest portrait painters of the Venetian school.
Wishing to determine the attribution of this painting, the museum has already undertaken several researches which have confirmed it in this direction.
But faced with the work of magnitude, he calls for donations.
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This research around the painting is being carried out by experts and researchers from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, in close collaboration with the Fund for Scientific Research (FWF).
As part of this project, several canvases from the Austrian institution, including
Christ on the Globe
, were subjected to X-rays and infrared rays, scanners and X-rays.
The results of the first analyzes led to
“instructive” discoveries,
according to the journal
Point of view 25,
created by the museum since 2012.
After years of painstaking research, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna claims that its “Salvator Mundi” could be an authentic Titian.
KHM Museum Association
Researchers have unearthed a drawing hidden under the canvas currently attributed to Titian, which depicts
The Virgin and Child
.
A process similar to other works by the painter, which
“highlights his typical working method, such as moving figures and changing their poses
”.
This discovery allowed researchers to review the date of creation of the canvas.
“Until now, the painting was dated around 1530, but these new discoveries indicate that it was painted earlier, likely in the 1520s,”
the museum statement said.
This painting would therefore have been made some twenty years before the other famous
Salvator Mundi,
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
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Prior interventions make attribution difficult
Research also showed that the canvas underwent several restorations, which made the
"original painting"
difficult to identify.
Over time, the painting of
Christ at the Globe
would have flattened due to the many retouchings, thus modifying the DNA of the painter, since the colors and the luminosity were changed.
X-rays identified some areas of pigment loss, including Christ's face and hair.
The Viennese institution calls for donations for the
"removal of these retouchings"
, in order to lead research towards
"more clarity"
and provide additional information to
"establish the authorship of Titian
".
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Salvator Mundi
For scholars,
Christ on the Globe
breaks with the traditional figure of the other
Salvator Mundi
.
Christ appears from the front, draped in red and blue, holding a glass globe in one of his hands, referring to the Earth.
Unlike the other depictions, there is no sign of the Catholic cross on the painting.
And "
the right hand of Christ is not raised in a sign of blessing",
specifies the museum
.
The painter also added a gold cloth on Christ's right shoulder, on which appears an inscription written in Hebrew, making
"reference to an as yet unidentified Christian patron"
.
According to the museum, the painting then offers
"a new religious interpretation
», which he attributes for the moment to Titian, pending the continuation of scientific research.