Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy e le arti dello spazio: Tiziano Vecellio e la natura del colore

The essay will focus on Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), the well-renowned German composer, pianist, and conductor who stayed in Italy from October 1830 to April 1831, and his aesthetic thought, analysed in its relation with Venetian painting, especially Titian’s. Mendelssohn’s specific, innovative critical terminology concerning art and attested by his correspondence (apparently derived from the German literature and the poetry), is specifically examined as a meaningful contribution to the European thought on visual art. Mendelssohn’s specific aesthetic position is also explored from several perspectives, not only in the light of German Idealist theories (Hegel, Hotho, Schleiermacher) – Mendelssohn attended the course on aesthetics held by Hegel during the winter semester 1828-1829 at the University of Berlin – but also highlighting the structural relationship between music, tone and colour, the latter regarded as the historically central interpretative component of Titian’s painting style.