Narrative and Interpretative Agency: The Titian Paintings

The bust of the emperor Tiberius

Emperor Tiberius’ bust is now replaced by torches with gold paint, which have flickering light and demonstrate a calm in this painting.  

Facial expression

Christ’s face shows a calm expression. Additionally, his eyes facing downward, reflecting a downtrodden and broken spirit.  

Torsion

Generally, bodies in this painting have more relaxed torsions characterizing lower violence. In particular, Christ’s body displays a more natural twist while the leftmost person’s body though more muscular shows a straighter posture. 

Legs

Here, the right leg of the leftmost standing figure is hidden in darkness, while Christ’s left leg is hidden mainly with a white cloth. However, the leftmost figure’s visible left leg displays a slightly raised ankle, thus showing lower physical exertion.

Space and spatial relations

Here, although there are fewer persons, the scene space appears more crowded with the background elements appearing closer to the foreground. 

Presence and Absence of Persons

Here, there only four persons. The two men holding rods diagonally over Christ’s head retain their positions, while the third man with a partially bald head is also present. Finally, the man striding up the stairs replaces the persons previously in front of the bald man. 

Rod(s)

There only three rods here. The giant men in the background hold the two long rods, while the smaller rod is held by the person walking up the steps.   

Positioning of the rod(s)

The rod held by the figure striding up the stairs seems held in a less aggressive but more subtle manner, like a choirmaster’s rod while the other two rods run diagonally across and over Christ’s head rather than driving towards it.

Elbow: Resting or active

Christ’s elbows have a resting posture here. Additionally, the leftmost figure’s right-hand elbow is detached but actively moving towards Christ’s head.

Conclusion

This painting demonstrates subtle yet significant changes to its character. For instance, replacing Emperor Tiberius’ bust with flickering light depicts greater calm thanks to the absence of an ominous ruler. Additionally, while Christ’s face is calmer, his eyes betray a broken, fatigued spirit. Not to mention, some of the persons’ legs are either primarily or partially hidden from view, and two persons are also absent from the painting. Lastly, the position in which the rods are held shows minimal aggression. Therefore, these changes are considerable enough to constitute a subject transformation.