Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In 1972, Gerhard Richter represented West Germany at the Venice Biennale, showcasing one of his most esteemed series of paintings: ’48 Portraits’.
Whilst in Venice, Richter visited the Scuola Grande di San Rocco where he saw Titian’s scintillating ‘Annunciation’, c. 1539. So entranced by the work, he bought a postcard for keepsake. The following year, Richter began to copy the work, not once, not twice, but five times. With each incarnation, Richter’s soft brushstrokes got hazier, the forms of Titian’s canvas descending into a fuzzy near-monochrome of Venetian red.
Learn more about Richter’s ardent commitment to Titian’s canvas — and the impossibility of such a painting for our times — with writer Robert Storr.
#artist #titian #Richter #arthistory
In 1972, Gerhard Richter represented West Germany at the Venice Biennale, showcasing one of his most esteemed series of paintings: ’48 Portraits’.
Whilst in Venice, Richter visited the Scuola Grande di San Rocco where he saw Titian’s scintillating ‘Annunciation’, c. 1539. So entranced by the work, he bought a postcard for keepsake. The following year, Richter began to copy the work, not once, not twice, but five times. With each incarnation, Richter’s soft brushstrokes got hazier, the forms of Titian’s canvas descending into a fuzzy near-monochrome of Venetian red.
Learn more about Richter’s ardent commitment to Titian’s canvas — and the impossibility of such a painting for our times — with writer Robert Storr.
#artist #titian #Richter #arthistory
