Tiziano (c.1488-1576)
Bravo (The Bravo)
c.1515–1520
Oil on canvas, 77 × 66.5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Titian intensifies the close-up half-figure action picture developed by his teacher Giorgione into concentrated drama. The three-quarter portrait of the vine-leafed protagonist contrasts with the shadowed profile of “Bravo” (Italian: “henchman on behalf of a lord”) drawing a dagger. The scene has not yet been satisfactorily interpreted: Perhaps it shows Gaius Lusius’ attack on Trebonius, in which Trebonius draws his sword to kill the attacker – or the capture of Bacchus by Pentheus’ followers. (KHM)