How does this artwork elucidate its History?
The Assumption of the Virgin was Titian's first major commission for a church in Venice, and brought his art great public attention.  Although he was at work on a huge commission for the Doge's Palace, which he took until the 1530s to complete, most of his previous works were out of public view in palaces. He painted it in situ in the church (perhaps not actually in the final location), and according to Carlo Ridolfi (1594–1658), had to deal with frequent questions from the friars over the size of the figures, which he explained by saying they were necessary for the painting to register from distance.  Although many painters had by this time moved to paint on canvas, Titian continued to paint his largest works on wood panels until about 1550, even while using canvas for smaller works.  This was painted on a series of 21 wide cedar planks, 3 cm thick, placed horizontally, which can be easily detected when viewing the front of the painting.
Unusually, the public unveiling on 19 May 1518 (a public holiday, chosen to allow a big attendance) was noted by the diarist Marino Sanuto the Younger, though with little detail.  The story recorded over a century later by Ridolfi, that the emperor Charles V's ambassador was present at the unveiling ceremony and asked the Franciscans, who were doubtful about the painting's quality, to buy it, so persuading them that it was worth keeping, does not seem to be true as the ambassador was not in Venice at the time.Nevertheless, there does seem to have been initial hesitation among viewers, if Lodovico Dolce (1508/10–1568), writing some decades later, is to be believed, though his account is rather cast into doubt by his placing the painting several years earlier than it was actually painted. He wrote that "the oafish painters and the foolish masses, who until then had seen nothing but the dead and cold works of Giovanni Bellini, of Gentili, and of Vivarino .... which were without movement or modelling, grossly defamed that picture. Then, as envy cooled and the truth slowly dawned on them, people began to marvel at the new style established in Venice by Titian."
The placement of the painting over an altar attracted candle grease, and even by the time that Vasari saw it some decades later it was dark and hard to see. Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1752 described it as "most terribly dark but nobly painted", despite two new windows having been added at the side in 1650 to give the painting more light.In 1817, it was moved to the Accademia, returning to its original place at the Frari in 1919.  The ceiling of the gallery had to be raised to accommodate it, and at the opening ceremony in 1822, Canova described it as the greatest painting in the world.  Viewing the painting while housed in the Accademia, the young Oscar Wilde remarked that The Assumption was "certainly the best picture in Italy."According to Nicholas Penny, this "must surely have been the painting by Titian that most influenced" Tintoretto, who may have worked briefly in Titian's studio some years later.The painting (as Titian planned for) can only be seen by the public from an unusually distant point, as the apse is roped off.
After investigations into the condition of the painting were undertaken in 2012, it was found that the paint was lifting and flaking in small areas, and that non-original layers (discoloured varnish) and residue from previous treatments should be removed. Additionally, the organ pipes that had been reinstalled directly behind the painting in recent decades were found to cause significant vibrations to some sections of the altarpiece, adding further risk to fragile areas. In 2018, officials from the Ministry of Culture authorized the removal of the organ and conservation of the painting began, funded by the non-profit organization Save Venice Inc., began."Pietro Edwards, director of the Restoration of the Public Pictures of Venice for many years from 1778 and a crucial figure in the history of conservation, popularised the use of mastic as an easily removable varnish and demanded that retouching be restricted to areas of paint loss. Hayes demonstrates that, when it came to the restoration of Titian's Assunta in 1817, these conservative principles were not strictly adhered to. The sky and the 'glory' were broadly varnished and glazed, altering spatial relations, reducing contrasts and rendering Heaven and Earth more unified. The changes Edwards oversaw (some still present on the painting's surface today) shaped later responses to the work and to Titian himself."
apse Titian Venice Charles V cedar Gentili Tintoretto Oscar Wilde altarpiece Lodovico Dolce Accademia Joshua Reynolds Doge's Palace Save Venice Inc. Frari Vivarino Carlo Ridolfi Giovanni Bellini Franciscans Vasari Marino Sanuto the Younger Nicholas Penny