Conference
Rivalries in Venice
Thursday, 5 November 2026Lecture presented by Serge Legat
Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese are the protagonists of this competition between artists. Rivalries between painters have always existed; in Venice, they took on particular significance: Titian’s intense antipathy toward Tintoretto, Veronese supported and protected by Titian…
But rivalry is also a driving force that triggers a beneficial reaction among artists, a healthy emulation, what the art theorist Vasari called in 1568 “noble rivalry.”
Through the variety of subjects (religion, mythology, portraiture, and others), both the artistic characteristics and the temperaments and personalities of the three masters of Venetian painting in the second half of the 16th century emerge and become clearer. They would coexist for more than thirty years. After Titian’s death in 1576, Tintoretto and Veronese would continue to compete for another dozen years.
A rivalry that gave rise to a wealth of masterpieces!
Speaker presentation
Serge Legat is an art historian and lecturer for the national museums. He also holds a degree in law and is a graduate of the prestigious École du Louvre.