The Boston Globe surveyed Boston museum directors who overwhelmingly chose Titian’s Europa as Boston’s most important work of art and cited the museum’s El Jaleo by John Singer Sargent and Botticelli’s Madonna of the Eucharist.

Anne Hawley, Norma Jean Calderwood Director tells us why the picture is her favorite at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

"Every time I walk up to this marvelous painting—and I have been doing this now almost daily for over a decade—I see something new. First of all, it is a passionate and transcendent story of love, since it illustrates the mythological tale of the god Zeus seducing a mortal princess, Europa. The work also tells the story of the art of painting: it demonstrates Titian’s supreme capacity of brush, with strokes that range from the most delicate to huge gestures in paint. The colors are sublime, with opalescent creamy whites mingling with saturated reds and pinks, and luminescent blues. Individual details captivate the eye: the female companions of Europa huddle on the shore and gesture wildly towards her. They are rendered in very loose brushwork, while the putto riding the large sea dolphin is so naturally painted that we can see sun dancing on his curly golden locks."