Ph.D. Student in Art History Megan Neely was recently awarded a Summer Research Travel Grant for Doctoral Students. During the summer of 2019, Lind plans to use these funds to travel to both Spain and Italy to see works by Titian discussed in her dissertation

Neely’s dissertation considers how the Venetian artist Titian transformed a political allegory, the Flaying of Marsyas, into an image of self-reflection. Embedded in my investigation is a re-contextualization of some of the artist’s most famous works, the poesie, inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Rather than merely refashioning Ovid’s poetry for the canvas, Titian viewed the author as a model to prove his own intellectual worth. In the Renaissance, the rivalry between poetry and painting was essential to the ongoing struggle to elevate the status of artists, and for Titian, proving himself a poet in painting, assured his fame. 

Neely will be traveling to Madrid where the Museo del Prado houses Titian’s poesie. These paintings, Danäe, Venus and Adonis,and the Furies, represent critical examples of Titian’s invention of a new visual narrative for each myth, making each an expression of his own creativity, rather than mere illustrations of the classical texts. Intended for Philip II of the Spanish Habsburgs, these paintings are essential signposts in her research because of the astonishing freedom Titian was given in their execution, potentially attesting to the recognition Titian’s patrons may have had for his ingenuity. She will additionally be traveling to Venice to see the Pietà that Titian was working on at the end of his life. Both the Marsyas and the Pietà were among the last works the artist painted before his death. Both feature self-portraits of the artist in the guise of important characters, and this, Neely believes, makes them crucial to understanding Titian and what he wished to impart to the next generation of creative minds. 

Megan Neely is a PhD candidate at the Lamar Dodd School of Art where she earned her Master’s degree in 2015. Her Master's thesis addressed issues of political gift giving and copies in Federico Barocci's Aeneas Fleeing Troy. Currently, Neely's research addresses self-portraiture, poetry, and mythological punishment in sixteenth century Venetian art.