Titian created the 1514 painting Sacred and Profane Love, a major work of the Venetian Renaissance.
The painting shows two women beside a fountain or sarcophagus in a landscape. One is richly dressed, while the other is nude and associated with a small flame. A winged Cupid stirs the water between them. The contrast has inspired many interpretations involving earthly and divine love, marriage, beauty, or moral allegory.
The work was commissioned for the wedding of Niccolò Aurelio and Laura Bagarotto. Its title was not supplied by Titian and became established much later, so the exact meaning of the figures remains uncertain. Art historians have proposed several readings rather than one universally proven explanation.
The painting is housed in Rome’s Galleria Borghese. Titian was a leading Venetian colorist whose long career extended from the early sixteenth century into the age of the late Renaissance.