Titian: Master of seduction | The Economist: Sexual libertinism was taken for granted so that when “Venice” was painted above a door in other European cities, it usually led to a brothel. There was fierce competition among young painters. Titian responded by becoming the first to use live models and to paint naked women lying down, as with the “Venus of Urbino” (pictured). His art was influenced and enhanced by the city’s palpable atmosphere of excitement.