Naturalism and the Venetian Poesia

In the essay “Naturalism and the Venetian ‘Poesia’: Grafting, Metaphor, and Embodiment in Giorgione, Titian, and the Campagnolas,” Campbell explains the role of poetic painting, poesia, in Venetian artwork during the 1500s. Titian personally used the term poesia when he “[referred] to paintings he was making for [King Philip II] with subject matter derived from the ancient poets.” Poesia now refers to a type of sixteenth century Venetian painting, which Giorgione and Titian initiated and used within their works. Campbell’s main argument is that poesia is not simply aesthetic or reflective of poetry, but rather “grounded in the process of making – and in making meaning – rather than in an aesthetics of self-sufficiency or self-referentiality.” Like poetry, it is not self-contained; meaning lies outside of the work, within the interpretations of the viewers. He discusses the idea of grafting in poetry and how the same grafting model is utilized in the visual arts. Different images, such as pagan figures and contemporary figures and settings, are juxtaposed to create visual discordance and give an intrinsic meaning to the viewer. Campbell then uses many examples of writing, poetry, engravings, and paintings to explore his argument and the connections between artists during the 1500s.

Campbell examines thirteen Venetian engravings and paintings, as well as an example of early poetry, to illustrate the grafting effect of different imagery sources within a single picture, along with poetic imagery and form used with poesia. Many examples of art that Campbell examines focuses on the nature of the works, such as the juxtaposition of “pagan opposites” in Christian subject matter, the idea of the gaze, juxtaposing two pictorial ...

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... the Durer landscapes seen in Giulio Campagnola’s Saturn. Campbell’s analysis of poesia is a strong illustration of the examination of works in the field of Art History. Art historians obviously study the physical marks and meanings of a piece of work, but also need to critically analyze the influences and historical context of the time period to get a stronger understanding of the artist and his intentions. As a good art historian, Campbell has taken apart the elements of different images and tied in extrinsic factors, like contemporary events and works, to create a bigger picture.

Works Cited

Campbell, Stephen J., “Naturalism and the Venetian Poesia: Grafting, Metaphor and

Embodiment in Giorgione, Titian and the Campagnolas.” In Subject as Aporia in Italian

Renaissance Art eds. Lorenzo Pericolo and Alexander Nagel. Brookfield, VT, Ashgate

Press, 2009.