In 1516, Titian arrived at the Duke of d'Este in Ferrara, where he completed a painting depicting Christ with a coin. It is known as the Caesar's Dinarium. It depicts a well-known passage from the Gospel in which Christ uttered his famous dictum: “Give Caesarean to Caesar, and God to God.”
Writing history
The Caesar coin depicted is not only the basis of the composition, but also explained the purpose of this painting: “Caesar's Dinar” Titian wrote to decorate the cabinet in the office of Duke Alfonso I D'Este (1476-1534), where his collection of ancient coins was stored.
The picture was painted in oil on a wooden panel. While Titian performed a number of similar works in the second decade of the sixteenth century, images of a similar format with figures drawn in half height were almost always executed on canvas. However, for a number of practical reasons, work that became an addition to furniture or part of it was usually written on wood. Thus, we can assume that from the very beginning the image should have been part of the interior of the office.
Interpretation of the plot
Many scholars see Titian's Caesar's Dinar as a demonstration of the tension between church and civil jurisdictions that supposedly bothered the Duke Alfonso during the creation of this work. The emphasis of scientists on the supposed political and propaganda function of this work appeared already during the post-reformation period, although such a view was not relevant in the cultural environment during the life of the artist.
Researchers of the Renaissance art after the Reformation see Chapter 22 of the Gospel of Matthew as a proclamation on fiscal policy and the separation of powers between church and state.
Before the Reformation, this text was considered as an appeal not to something external, but rather to the internal: the stated history considered the soul of the reader as a kind of currency, invariably marked by the image and likeness of God.
The pre-modern version of this gospel passage reads from the political to the spiritual. Titian's painting is already being examined in the light of this standard of interpretation of the biblical text. The emergence of this way of thinking demonstrated the redistribution of the exegetical tradition of interpreting chapter 22 of the Gospel of Matthew, offering a radically new understanding of the interaction with objects that the picture masks. The picture indicates the connection between the spiritual and the material in human nature, while the coin here appears as a diverse object.
Features
In Titian’s painting “Caesar's Dinarium” there is a signature of TICIANVS F. along the collar of the white kamitsia (shirt) worn by the Pharisee, and her autograph status was never questioned. The composition is one of the best for the artist: Vasari, the Italian painter and writer who became the founder of art history, described the head of Christ as amazing and grandiose. Its beauty is enhanced by the contrast of the marbled complexion with the weathered skin of the Pharisee. The physiognomic features that distinguish Christ may be taken from a tradition that began with an emerald medallion with his image, which was transferred to Pope Alexander VI. This image was often found in print, and Titian certainly knew him.
Composition analysis
In the description of “Caesar's Dinarium” by Titian, the extreme contraction of the space of the painted scene attracts attention. It was used by the artist to achieve maximum physical proximity. In the picture, the Pharisee is approaching Christ because of his left shoulder. This is a strange compositional solution. Together with the close-up format, the interaction of the two characters gives the impression of a truncated composition: a person looking at it can imagine that Jesus spoke with other Pharisees outside the left edge of the composition.
At the request of Jesus, a bearded man in white, who was previously excluded from the conversation and was behind Christ, attracts attention and offers a handful of coins. Thus, the shoulders of the son of God are oriented towards other Pharisees outside the frame, while his head is tilted to the right of the viewer, creating the effect of movement. The figure of Jesus performs a connecting function in the composition, filling the gap between the lone Pharisee, pictured to the left of his shoulder, and many others whose presence is only implied.
In the correct forms of the heads one can feel the author’s proximity to the manner in which his teacher Giovanni Bellini wrote. In Titian Vecellio's painting “Caesar's Dinar”, everything is subordinated to concentration, the tension of the form depicting the story of the Pharisee, who was trying to provoke Christ. To the question of the Pharisee, is it right that the emperor is paid taxes or not, Jesus asked to show a coin and, pointing to the minted portrait of the emperor on the one hand, and the image of God on the other, said: “Give Caesar Caesarean and God be with God.” Titian reduced the whole plot to a confrontation between two goals and two hands, two characters who had nothing in common with each other.
The plot is unique
Despite the fact that this story is found in several Gospels, nevertheless it is actually absent in the tradition of Christian images, with the exception of a few selected handwritten illustrations. The painting of Titian is usually considered the first independent image, relating to the twenty-second chapter from Matthew in Renaissance art. Indeed, the rarity of the display subject has led to some confusion. Vasari, describing the picture, calls it "Christ with a coin." Early modern Spanish sources used the Latin name Numisma Census (tax money).
Giorgio Vasari considered this painting the most excellent of all that Titian has ever painted.