In the sixteenth century, Venice was one of the largest and richest cities in Europe, and steady demand for paintings from both local and international clients fostered a climate of exceptional competition and innovation. "Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice" is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artistic rivalry of the three greatest Venetian painters of the sixteenth century: Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese. Although forty years separate the birth of Titian from that of Veronese, the careers of the three painters overlapped for almost four decades, and the eloquent record of their artistic dialogue is most apparent when the powerful canvases each produced are considered side by side. Juxtapositions of two, three, and sometimes four paintings demonstrate how much these three artists were influenced by one another and how they used their paintings as critiques.

Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese together created a body of work that defined a "Venetian style" through loose technique, rich coloring, and often pastoral or sensual subject matter. These elements inspired countless later artists, promoting a Venetian current in painting up to the twentieth century. The exhibition includes approximately sixty paintings from the most important museums in Europe and the United States, as well as pictures that have remained over the years in the settings for which they were painted—churches in Venice.

Watch an NECN-TV segment about the exhibition, featuring Frederick Ilchman, Mrs. Russell W. Baker Assistant Curator of Paintings, and Rhona MacBeth, Eyk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo Conservator of Paintings and Head of Paintings Conservation.