Pastoral Concert

The painting portrays three young people on a lawn, playing music together. Next to them, a standing woman is pouring water from a marble basin. The women are naked apart from their drapery, fallen to their legs; the two men are dressed in contemporary 16th century Venetian costume. In a vast, pastoral background, there is a shepherd and a landscape. As is usual with early Venetian paintings, there are no drawings that are clearly associated with this painting, but some figure drawings may have been used as sources for individual figures. These probably come from the circle of Giorgione, as does the painter. Interpretation It has been suggested that the painting may be a commentary on the paragone, the scholarly debate during the Renaissance that tried to determine either painting or sculpture as the superior art form. Venice was one of the artistic epicenters of the paragone between the concepts disegno and colorito, with the latter being a hallmark of Venetian Art. Another theory is that this painting's subject is an allegorical interpretation of Theocritus's poem about Daphnis, a shepherd thought to be the pastoral poetry founder. Philipp Fehl references this poem in his theory on the identity of the women in the paintings. Theocritus describes Arcadia as the land that the Greek god Pan originates. Arcadia was imagined as a "paradise" by Jacopo Sannazaro in his 15th-century pastoral poem Arcadia, popular around Venice and the surrounding city-states. It is suggested that the nymphs create Arcadia around them, making Arcadia a spiritual state of existence that one establishes. Philipp Fehl also proposes that this painting symbolizes Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, an extremely popular epic poem in the early 16th century. One of Ariosto's most famous patrons was Ippolito d'Este and his older sister, Isabella d'Este, the possible patron of this painting. Julia Marianne Koos's theory suggests that the painting is an allegory for the discourse of love. In the Italian Renaissance, it was believed that nature was a "mirror of the lover's soul and an idyllic place of refuge". This specific painting's allegory on love's discourse was believed to be originating from Pietro Bembo's poetic musing on desire, such as his poem The Asolani. The concept of "desire" depicted in art was a heated debate in the 16th century, as seen in writings such as Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della pittura. Art Historian Ross Kilpatrick suggests that two ancient literature texts, Horace's Epistles and Propertius's Elegy, were the significant pieces of inspiration behind this painting. ==Identity of figures==

A leading theory on the women's identities in the painting was put forth by Phillipp Fehl in 1957, postulating that the women are Nymphs, minor ancient Greek goddesses, and not human. He stipulates that the nymphs have been lured out of the woods toward the music being created by the men in the pastoral. Fehl also maintains that these nymph women are invisible to the men in the painting but are visible to us, the viewer. Also according to Fehl, the closest poetic work that matches this painting is William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (obviously, entirely unknown to Titian, as it was written much later) . He uses this passage from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' to support his theory of the nymphs being invisible to human eyes: "But who comes here? I am invisible, And I will overhear their conference."The use of nymphs from Ancient Greek mythology is common for Italian Renaissance paintings due to the deep appreciation for the antiquity of Greek and Rome, a common aspect of Renaissance Humanism. Elhanian Motzkin identifies the nude female figure on the left as Inspiration and the right to be Euterpe, the Greek muse of music. In addition to identifying the female figures, Motzkin also put forth the identity of the men. Building off of the original theories of Phillipp Fehl, Motzkin identifies the men as Apollo and Paris, with Apollo teaching Paris how to play the lute. He also posits that the formerly unidentified herdsman in the far right background is Paris' adoptive father. The latter raised him after being abandoned by his parents Priam and Hecuba. There are multiple uncertain issues in this painting, the most prominent being the female figure's inclusion on the left pouring water out of a clear jug into a well. Ross Kilpatrick theorized that while the identity of the woman on the left is unknown, the artist's inspiration may derive from Horace's Epistles, which places Horace in the Bandusian Spring's basin, a mystical body of water that also shows up in Propertius's work. The concept of a "mystical spring" presents itself in Epistles, referencing the Greek Muse Calliope. The town of the Sabine Villa included in Horace's Epistles 2.2 has a freshwater spring from which Calliope gathers water. In Horace's poem, the town itself has a fountain with the inscription: "Bandusian Spring, more gleaming than glass." Kirkpatrick suggests that this could be the inspiration for the inclusion of the figure pouring water. ==Attribution==

The attribution of this painting has long been the subject of debate. The artist was formerly believed to have been Giorgione. Later painting analysis suggested Titian, initially a follower of Giorgione, was its creator. There is no documentation demonstrating attribution. Christiane Joost Gaugier suggested Giorgione began the painting, but he died in 1511 before finishing the painting. He believes that Titian, Giorgione's protégé, completed the painting in honor of his departed mentor. Gaugier states that the lutenist in red on the left symbolizes a youthful Giorgione who is in the midst of teaching the rustic man the lute, a man understood to be a young Titian. Gaugier understands this painting as an allegory for the mentor – protégé relationship the two artists shared. Titian's painting The Adrians is used by Phillip Fehl to show the use of symbolic detail by Titian to credit this painting to Titian. Alfonso, I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, commissioned The Andrians, Isabella d'Este brother. Titian's connection to the House of Este family's patronage is seen as evidence of Titian being the creator of this painting. suggests that the author of the painting is Domenico Mancini, a contemporary painter and follower of Giorgione and Titian. Mancini's Lendinara Cathedral altarpiece is stylistically similar to Pastoral Concert, as well as his Madonna with Saints Francis and Roch. The latter painting is dated 1511, very close to the timeline of completion for this painting. As Hope observed, Pastoral Concert itself has not been cleaned. It is impossible to tell if the painting could be Mancini's without proper restoration. As an artist, Mancini was known to borrow elements and mimic the style of certain Italian Masters. His painting Madonna with Saints Francis and Roch takes significant cues from Giovanni Bellini's San Zaccaria Altarpiece. ==Provenance==

The painting does not seem to have been well-known until the 18th century. The Gonzaga family, the lords of Mantua, an Italian city-state, owned the work. The painting was later sold to Charles I of England in about 1627, possibly acquired through Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, a close friend and courtier in Charles I's court. The painting was later owned in 1736 to Madame de Montespan's son, Duc d' Antin and his collection at the Palace of Versailles. After 1792, the painting was transferred from the French royal art collection to the Louvre Museum during the French Revolution. It remains in their collection to this day. Copies of this painting were widely available, mostly in Holland, and reproductions frequently were found in the Dutch Art Market in Amsterdam. ==Cultural influence==

'', Édouard Manet, 1862–1863 The Dutch artist Jan de Bisschop copied Pastoral Concert for an engraving as part of his traditional practice copying the Italian Renaissance masters' art. The three seated figures in the painting were cut and pasted into the sleeve of the 1983 Electric Light Orchestra album Secret Messages. ==See also==