Produce Powerful Presentations (Collection)

52. Presentation Advice from Titian: Position, Position, Position

Influential Italian Renaissance artist Titian (1490–1576) painted a portrait of Pope Paul III that established a point-of-view technique used by today’s photographers and cinematographers—a technique that every presenter would do well to heed.

In the portrait on display at the Louvre museum in Paris, the point of view of Titian, the painter—and, therefore, the viewer—is looking up at the pope, emphasizing his high social status. Conversely, the pope is looking down at the painter—and the viewer.

The audio guide to the exhibit calls this position the “sociological role” because the angle reinforces the pope’s exalted position. To prove the point, the guide goes on to describe the ...