Abstract

Titian's Rape of Europa is a work often touted as the greatest Italian Renaissance painting in an American collection. It is also considered one of Titian's finest works and it's not hard to see why. The painting is rightfully praised for its subtle modulations of luminous colors and its wide array of palpably sensual textures. If this were all there were to the painting, then I would say that its univocal acclaim and pride of place in the canon would be entirely justified. But there is a dark side to this virtuosic display of lustrous colors and shiny textures: the painting, I shall argue, eroticizes and celebrates rape and this is a serious ethical defect. Further, I make the case that this defect diminishes the painting aesthetically. The general point defended here, then, is that an artwork can, in certain cases, be worse off qua work of art precisely because of its ethical flaws. ;I argue for this in two stages. The first part of the dissertation examines Titian's painting and makes the case that it has a particular sort of ethical flaw, namely that it eroticizes and celebrates sexual assault. The second part argues for the aesthetic relevance of this flaw. Taking Hume's analogy between artworks and friends as a point of departure, I show how in certain instances agreement with a work's ethical orientation can be a condition for responding to the work in a way required for its artistic success. In those cases in which artistically important features of a work depend upon the audience's having an unethical response, we have good reason not to respond to the work in the way required to fully understand and appreciate it. The work fails to merit a response that is central to achieving its own artistic aims, and this, I argue, is an aesthetic failure