Newly restored Titian's Rape of Europa set to be reunited with accompanying works

Following the most comprehensive painting analysis and conservation treatment the Museum has ever undertaken, Titian’s Rape of Europa is back on display as the centerpiece of the Gardner Museum’s Titian Room. Early next year, as part of a multi-venue exhibition in partnership with the National Gallery, London; the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; and the Museo del Prado, Madrid; the newly restored Europa will be reunited for the first time in more than 300 years with four other paintings from Titian’s poesie series—widely regarded as one of the most important cycles of mythological painting in the history of western art. Commissioned by King Philip II of Spain and painted between 1551 and 1562, Titian’s poesie (“painted poems”) consist of six monumental paintings of mythological episodes inspired by the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Acquired in 1896 by Isabella Stew