Assumption of the Virgin

Titian's altarpiece launched the High Renaissance in Venice almost on its own. What got attention wasn't the composition or the scale — it was the red. He used madder lake glazes layered over vermillion and lead-tin yellow to make a saturated, glowing orange-red that no Venetian painter had achieved before. The friars at the Frari hated it and tried to send it back. The Holy Roman Emperor offered to buy it instead. They kept it. Now at the Frari Basilica, Venice @basilicadeifrari