Mapping Emulation: Titan and Rubens

FALL 2015 RESEARCH INCUBATION AWARDEES 

Jodi Cranston (History of Art and Architecture)

The proposed website, “Mapping Titian” (www.mappingtitian.org) aimed to function as an archive and as an interpretative and teaching site by documenting and mapping one of the most fundamental concerns of the discipline of Art History: the interrelationship between an artwork and its changing historical context.  Focusing on the paintings executed by the Venetian Renaissance artist, Titian (ca. 1488-1576), this site created a searchable provenance index of his attributed pictures (totaling over 500 paintings) and used geographic and non-geographic maps to interpret an historical network of artists, collectors, art dealers, travelers, and patrons through the movement of these objects.

Users are able to customize their experience of the website by specifying the parameters of their search interests and by having the opportunity to create their own maps, as well as export user-selected bibliographies, related documents, and provenance entries.  The goal for the project was to create a tool from which new research, discoveries, and experiences can be inspired, guided, and shared.  A secondary and important result of the project was the development of a mapping platform that could be leveraged by future users, including art institutions that could visualize the provenance of any artwork or group of artworks.  Most museum websites currently share only minimal, if any, information regarding the provenance of an object, and could incorporate with this platform a mapping function as a way to teach users about the “life” of a specific artwork.  Museums now contribute to a mapping website that could crowd-source information about individual artworks.