Caïn et Abel

Titian painted this around 1542 for the ceiling of the church of Santo Spirito in Isola, out in the Venetian lagoon, which means it was built to be seen from directly below. That is why Cain and Abel loom and twist the way they do, the killer's raised arm flung against a low, stormy sky. It is the first murder in Genesis, Cain striking down his brother over whose offering God had preferred. Titian made it as one of three violent Old Testament scenes for that ceiling. In 1656 the whole set was moved into the sacristy of Santa Maria della Salute, the great domed church at the mouth of the Grand Canal, where the three still hang overhead.