Tiziano Vecellio, one of the most famous Italian painters, was born in Cadore, in the Southern Alps probably around 1487-90. Even though he traveled a lot with his commissions for royal and noble patrons he was based in Venice in the era of the Renaissance.
             As a Venetian, Titian lived in the European capital of the publication of classical studies and had access to mythology. He was regularly surrounded by a circle of erudite friends and was acquainted not only with a number of Ovid's translations of the myths but, more importantly, with their general philosophy. This deep knowledge of Ancient myths is, in my opinion, one of the reasons why he was regarded as one of the great mythological painters.
             In his paintings, compared to analogical paintings by different artists, one can see a story rather than a scene. For example, if we look at Titian's "Diana and Actaeon," one of the six paintings of his most famous group which he referred to as poesie, and compare it to Rembrandt's "Diana Surprised by Actaion," we can clearly see a close-up, people with emotions, thoughts, feelings through painted gestures and expressions. He portraits people as well as objects naturalistically. There are a lot of details, which tell us a whole story, rather than describe just one scene of a myth. We can easily identify Diana, Actaeon, and the nymphs. It is also possible to follow the story in time: three times and three fates of Actaeon within a single scene – him arriving at the goddess's sacred grove, his transformation into the stag and his death, and turning into the constellation Leo.
             To help us better understand the idea of the myths and his interpretation of them, Titian is manipulating natural forms. In "Rape of Europa", for instance, he exaggerates the normal perspectival proportions between the protagonists and the woman on the shore in order to emphasize their spiritual separation. He also makes the water rise from the shoreline to th...