Sacred and Profane Love is an oil painting by Titian, probably painted in 1514, early in his career. The painting is presumed to have been commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, a secretary to the Venetian Council of Ten, whose coat of arms appears on the sarcophagus or fountain, to celebrate his marriage to a young widow, Laura Bagarotto. It perhaps depicts a figure representing the bride dressed in white, sitting beside Cupid and accompanied by the goddess Venus.
Sacred and Profane Love
The clothed figure
The Cupid and part of the relief
Detail of the nude woman
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio, Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian, was an Italian (Venetian) Renaissance painter of Lombard origin, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, 'from Cadore', taken from his native region.
Self-Portrait, c. 1567, now housed in Museo del Prado in Madrid
A Man with a Quilted Sleeve, c. 1509, National Gallery, London
Sacred and Profane Love,1514, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Allegory of Sacred Love (detail of Sacred and Profane Love)