A Description of the Works of TitianofCadore, Painter

[c.1487/90-1576]

In the year 1480,* Titian was born in Cadore, a small town onthe River Piave, five miles from the pass through the Alps, tothe Vecelli family, one of the noblest in those parts, and when,at the age of ten, he showed fine wit and a lively mind, he wassent to Venice to the home of an uncle of his, a respected cit-izen, who saw that the boy had a real propensity for the art ofpainting and who placed him with Giovanni Bellini, a skilfuland very famous painter of those times, as we have said,*under whose instruction he applied himself to the art of designand very quickly proved that he had been gifted by Naturewith all those qualities of intelligence and judgement whichare necessary for the art of painting. And because at the timeGiovanni Bellini and the other painters of that region had notstudied ancient works, they frequently, or rather almost ex-clusively, copied everything from life, but with a dry, harsh,and laboured style, and for the time being Titian also learnedthis method. But then, around the year 1507, Giorgione ofCastelfranco, being completely dissatisfied with this method ofpainting, began with a lovely style to give his works moresoftness and greater relief; he nevertheless still made use of liveand natural objects and copied them as best he knew how withcolours, tinting them with the crude and soft colours thatNature displays, without making preliminary drawings sincehe was firmly convinced that painting alone with its colours,and without any other preliminary study of designs on paper,was the truest and best method of working and the true art ofdesign. But Giorgione did not realize that anyone who wishesto organize his compositions and to arrange his inventionsmust first produce them on paper in various different ways

490 TITIAN

in order to see how the entire composition will turn out.Indeed, the idea itself cannot perfectly envision or picture itsinventions unless it opens up and displays its conceptions tothe eyes, which assist it in producing sound judgement, notto mention the fact that the artisan must undertake a seriousstudy of nudes if he wishes to understand them thoroughly,something that cannot be done without sketching them out onpaper, for by always having naked or clothed models beforehim as he paints, a painter becomes a slave, whereas when hehas tested his hand by drawing on paper, he can, in turn, setto work designing and painting with greater ease. And bygaining experience in his art in this way, a painter developsperfect judgement and style, avoiding the labour and effortwith which the artisans we mentioned above executed theirpaintings, not to mention the fact that drawing on paper fillsthe mind with beautiful conceits and teaches the painter toimagine all the objects in Nature without always having tokeep his subject in front of him, or to conceal under the charmof colours his poor knowledge of how to draw, in the wayVenetian painters such as Giorgione, Palma, Pordenone, andothers, who have not visited Rome or seen other completelyperfect works, have done for years.

Therefore, when Titian observed the method and styleof Giorgione, he abandoned the style of Giovanni Bellini,although he had not followed it for long, and drew closer toGiorgione's, imitating his works so well in such a short timethat his paintings were sometimes mistaken and attributed toGiorgione, as we shall explain below. After Titian had grownolder and had gained greater experience and developed goodjudgement, he executed many works in fresco which cannotbe described in order, since they arc scattered around manydifferent locations; it is sufficient to note that they were sogood that many knowledgeable people thought he wouldbecome a very fine painter, as was eventually the case. There-fore, in the beginning when he began to follow the style ofGiorgione and was no more than eighteen years of age, hepainted the portrait of a gentleman friend of his from theBarberigo family that was considered very beautiful, becausethe skin tones resembled those of real flesh and the hairs were

TITIAN 491

so well distinguished one from the other that they could becounted, as could the stitches in a greatcoat of silver-sewn satinthat he painted in the portrait; in short, the painting was sowell considered and so carefully done that if Titian had notwritten his name in the dark background, it -would have beentaken for a painting by Giorgione.* Meanwhile, Giorgionehimself had completed the main fagadc of the Fondaco de'Tedeschi, and through the influence of Barberigo Titian wascommissioned to do some scenes for the same building abovethe Merceria.* After this work, he did a large painting withlife-size figures that is now in the hall of Andrea Loredanowho lives near San Marcuola; in this painting Titian depictedOur Lady's Flight into Egypt,* in the midst of a greatwood with some well-executed landscapes, since he had spentmany months working on such details and had, for this pur-pose, kept some German painters who excelled in landscapesand foliage as guests in his home. In the woods he representeda number of animals drawn from life, which are truly lifelikeand almost seem alive. Afterwards, in the home of MesscrGiovanni d'Anna, a gentleman and Flemish merchant whowas Titian's friend, he painted this man's portrait (whichseems alive) and an Ecce Homo with numerous figures, thatTitian himself and many others considered a very beautifulpainting.* In addition, he did a painting of Our Lady withother life-size figures of men and children, all painted from lifeby using members of the household as models. Then in theyear 1507, when the Emperor Maximilian was waging war onthe Venetians, Titian painted, according to his own account,the angel Raphael, Tobias, and a dog in the church of SanMarziale along with a distant landscape, while in a grove SaintJohn the Baptist is on his knees praying towards heaven, fromthe direction of which comes a radiant light that illuminateshim.* And this work is thought to have been completedbefore Titian began the fagade at the Fondaco de' Tedeschi.Since many gentlemen did not realize that Giorgione was nolonger -working on this fagade nor that Titian -was doingit, after Titian unveiled part of it these men congratulatedGiorgione as friends -would when they ran into him, declaringthat he had acquitted himself better in the fagade towards the

492 TITIAN

Mcrccria than in the one over the Grand Canal. Giorgionewas so offended by this that until Titian had completelyfinished the work and it had become widely known thatTitian had painted that part of it, Giorgione seldom allowedhimself to be seen, and, from that time on, he never wanted tobe in Titian's company or to be his friend.

During the following year, in 1508, Titian published awoodcut of his Triumph of the Faith with countless figures—our first parents, the patriarchs, prophets, sibyls, the HolyInnocents, the martyrs and apostles, and Jesus Christ, all bornein triumph by the four Evangelists and the four Doctors ofthe Church, with the Holy Confessors behind them.* In thiswork, Titian demonstrated boldness, a beautiful style, and theknowledge drawn from experience; and I remember thatwhen Fra Sebastiano del Piombo was discussing this work, hetold me that if Titian had been in Rome during this periodand had seen the works of Michelangelo, those of Raphael,and ancient sculpture, and if he had studied the art of design,he would have created the most stupendous works, given hisfine knowledge of colours; and he added that Titian deservedthe reputation of being the finest and most able imitator ofNature in his use of colour in our time, and that with a founda-tion in the grand art of design, he -would have reached thelevel of Raphael and Buonarroti.

After having gone to Vicenza, Titian painted a fresco ofthe Judgement of Solomon, a beautiful work, under the gal-lery where the public audiences are held; he then returned toVenice and painted the facade of the Grimani palace, -while inthe church of San Antonio in Padua he did some scenes, also infresco, depicting some of the deeds of this saint.* And in thechurch of Santo Spirito, he painted a small panel of the figureof Saint Mark seated in the midst of various saints, whose facesinclude some portraits done from life and executed in oils withthe greatest care; many people believed that this paintingwas by Giorgione.* When the death of Giovanni Bellini leftincomplete a scene in the Hall of the Great Council, whichdepicted Frederick Barbarossa at the doors of the church ofSan Marco, kneeling before Pope Alessandro IV, who isplacing his foot on Barbarossa's neck, Titian completed it,

TITIAN 493

changing many details and including the actual portraits ofmany of his friends as -well as other individuals, and for thisreason the Senate rewarded him with an office in the Fondacode' Tedeschi, which is called the senseria, and which pays threehundred scudi a year; the senators customarily give this officeto the most excellent painter of their city, with the under-standing that from time to time he is obliged to do the portraitof their ruler or doge, when he is elected, for the price of onlyeight scudi, that is paid to him by that official himself; thisportrait is then displayed in a public place in the Palazzo di SanMarco to commemorate the doge.

During the year 1514, Duke Alfonso of Ferrara was havinga small chamber decorated and had commissioned Dosso, apainter from Ferrara, to execute in several compartmentsscenes of Aeneas, of Mars and Venus, and of Vulcan in a cavewith two blacksmiths at the forge, and in that room the Dukealso wanted to have some paintings by Giovanni Bellini, whopainted on another wall a vat of dark red wine surrounded bysome Bacchantes, musicians, satyrs, and other drunken maleand female figures, with a completely naked and very hand-some Silenus riding nearby upon his ass in the midst of peoplewho have their hands full of fruit and grapes; to tell the truth,this painting was coloured and finished with such great carethat it is one of the most beautiful works Giovanni Bellini everdid, even though the style of the clothing has a certain sharp-ness, following the German manner, but this is not surprising,because Bellini had imitated a panel of the Flemish painterAlbrecht Diirer, which at that time had been brought toVenice and placed in the church of San Bartolomeo; thispainting is an unusual work, full of many beautiful figures ex-ecuted in oil. Giovanni Bellini wrote these words on the vatmentioned above: IOANNES BELLINVS VENETVS P 1514.*

Because Bellini was an old man, he had not been able tocomplete the entire project, and, as the finest of all the otherpainters, Titian was sent for, so that he could finish it; sincehe was anxious to gain favour and make himself known, heexecuted with great care the two scenes this room was lack-ing. In the first is a river of dark red wine, surrounded bysingers and musicians, both women and men, who are nearly

494 TITIAN

inebriated, and, along with other figures, a naked womansleeping, who is so beautiful that she seems alive, and on thispainting Titian signed his name.* In the other scene, which isnext to this one and the first to be seen at the entrance, hepainted many cupids and beautiful putti in a variety of poses,which greatly pleased this lord, as did the first painting, butamong all these figures the most beautiful is one of the puttiurinating into a river and looking at himself in the water,while the others are standing around the base of a pedestalshaped like an altar upon which stands a statue of Venusholding a sea-shell in her right hand, and near her arc lovelyfigures of Grace and Beauty, both executed with incrediblecare. In addition, on the door of a wardrobe, Titian paintedthe figure of Christ from the waist up, to whom a Jewishpeasant is displaying Caesar's coin.* This head and the otherpaintings in the room, our best artisans affirm, are the best andmost skilfully executed paintings that Titian ever did, and intruth they are most unusual, and, for this reason, Titiandeserved to be most generously recognized and rewarded bythat ruler, whom he portrayed quite splendidly with his armover a large artillery piece.* He also did a portrait of SignoraLaura,* who later became the duke's -wife, which is astupendous work. And in truth, the gifts of those who toil as aresult of their brilliance have great strength -when they arenurtured by the generosity of princes.

At that time, Titian become friendly with the sublime poetMesser Ludovico Ariosto, who recognized him as a splendidpainter and celebrated him in his Orlando Furioso:

And Titian to whose mastery is dueSuch glory that Urbino shares no more,And Venice shines no brighter, than Cador,*

When Titian later returned to Venice, he painted for thefather-in-law of Giovanni da Castel Bolognese a canvas in oilsof a naked shepherd and a country girl who offers him somepipes to play, along with an extremely beautiful landscape.Today this painting is in Faenza in the home of this sameGiovanni.* Next, in the church of the Minor Friars, called the

TITIAN 495

Ca' Grande, he did a panel for the main altar containing OurLady ascending into heaven, -with the twelve Apostles stand-ing below Her and watching Her ascent, but since this workwas painted on canvas and was perhaps poorly cared for, littleof it can be seen.* In the same church, in the chapel of thePesari family, Titian did a panel showing the Madonna withHer Son in Her arms as well as Saint Peter and Saint George,along with the patrons of the work kneeling all around,painted from life, including the bishop of Paphos and hisbrother, who had just returned from the victory the samebishop had won against the Turks.* For the little church ofSan Niccolo in the same convent, Titian painted a panel con-taining Saint Nicholas, Saint Francis, Saint Catherine, and anude Saint Sebastian depicted from life without employing anyobvious artifice in revealing the beauty of his legs and torso;nothing is shown except what Titian saw in nature, and, as aresult, everything seems imprinted from a living person, it isso fleshy and real, and it is, for all these reasons, consideredvery beautiful, as is a most charming picture of Our Ladywith Her Child in Her Arms, at whom all the previouslymentioned figures are staring. The work on this panel wasdrawn on wood by Titian himself and then engraved andprinted by others.* For the church of San Rocco and after theworks mentioned above, Titian did a painting of Christ withthe Cross on His shoulders, being dragged along with a ropearound His neck by a Jew;* many have believed this figure tobe the work of Giorgione, and today it is held in the highestreverence in Venice, having attracted more scudi in alms thanTitian and Giorgione earned in their entire lifetimes.

After being summoned to Rome by Bembo (who was thensecretary to Pope Leo X and whose portrait Titian had alreadypainted*) so that he could see Rome, Raphael of Urbino, andother painters there, Titian kept putting the trip off from oneday to the next until, in 1520, Leo died and then Raphael too,and, in the end, Titian never went. For the church of SantaMaria Maggiore, Titian did a painting of Saint John theBaptist in the desert among some rocks, with an angel thatseems alive, and there is a small section of landscape in thedistance with some extremely graceful trees on the bank of

L . O . T . A . - 23

496 TITIAN

a river.* He drew living portraits of the Doges Grimani andLoredan, which were considered marvellous works, and notlong after that a portrait of King Francis at the moment of hisdeparture from Italy to return to France; and Titian did anunusually fine portrait of Andrea Gritti in the year of his elec-tion as doge in a painting including Our Lady, Saint Mark,and Saint Andrew, who has the face of this doge; this painting,which is a most astonishing work, is in the Sala del Collegio.*And because, as was previously discussed, it was Titian's dutyto do so, he painted the portraits of other doges, besides thosealready mentioned, who held office at different times: PietroLando, Francesco Donato, Marcantonio Trevisan, and Venier,*but because of his advanced age he was finally relieved of thistask by the two doges who •were brothers of the Priuli family.*

Before the Sack of Rome, the most celebrated poet of ourtimes, Pietro Aretino, had come to live in Venice, and hebecame very close friends with both Titian and Sansovino,which brought Titian great honour as well as certain benefits,for Aretino made him known wherever his pen could reachand especially among important rulers, as •will be explained inthe proper place. Meanwhile, to return to Titian's works, hepainted the panel for the altar of Saint Peter Martyr in thechurch of SS Giovanni e Paolo, making the figure of thisholy martyr larger than life among enormous trees in a wood,•where, having fallen to the ground, he is savagely assaulted bya soldier -who has wounded him in the head in such a way thathis face, as he lies there half alive, shows the horror of death,•while in the figure of another friar who is in flight the terrorand fear of death can be recognized. In the air are two nudeangels coming from a light in heaven which illuminates thisunusually beautiful landscape as •well as the entire work; this isthe most accomplished and celebrated, the greatest and bestconceived and executed of the works that Titian completedduring his whole lifetime.* Having seen this work, DogeGritti, who was always a great friend of Titian (as he was ofSansovino), commissioned him to do a large scene of the routof Ghiaradadda for the Sala del Gran Consiglio, in which hedepicted a battle and the fury of soldiers fighting •while a ter-rible rain falls from the sky; this work, taken entirely from

TITIAN 497

life, is considered the best of all the scenes in this hall, and themost beautiful.* In the same palace, at the foot of a staircase,Titian painted a Madonna in fresco.*

Not long afterwards, he painted a splendid picture of Christsitting at the table with Cleopas and Luke* for a gentlemanof the Contarini family, who thought the work worthy ofpublic display (as it truly was), and as a man lovingly attachedto his native city and the public good, he presented the paint-ing as a gift to the Signoria, and it was kept for a long time inthe doge's apartments, although today it is on public displayand can be seen by anyone over the door in the Salotto d'Oroat the front of the hall of the Council of Ten. At almost thesame time, he painted for the School of Santa Maria dellaCarita a picture of the Virgin climbing up the stairs of theTemple, with heads of all kinds drawn from life; likewise,in the School of San Fantino, he did a small panel of SaintJerome in penitence, which was highly praised by otherartisans, but it was destroyed by the fire two years later alongwith the entire church. It is said that in the year 1530, •whilethe Emperor Charles V was in Bologna, Titian was sum-moned there by Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, through themediation of Pietro Aretino, where he painted a truly beauti-ful portrait of His Majesty in full armour that delighted theemperor so greatly that he made Titian a gift of one thousandscudi, half of which Titian later had to give to the sculptorAlfonso Lombardi, who had made a model for a marble statueof Charles, as will be described in Lombardi's life.*

Having returned to Venice, Titian discovered that manygentlemen had begun to promote Pordenone,* praising highlythe works he did on the ceiling of the Sala de' Pregai and else-where, and they had commissioned him to paint a small panelin the church of San Giovanni Elemosinario so that he couldcompete with Titian, who in the same church a short timebefore had painted this same Saint John the Almoner in abishop's robes.* But no matter how much care Pordenonetook with his panel, he could not equal or even come close toTitian's painting. Titian then painted a very beautiful panel ofthe Annunciation for the church of Santa Maria dcgli Angelion the island of Murano. But since those who commissioned it

49§ TITIAN

did not want to spend the five hundred scudi Titian was askingfor it, the painting was sent, upon Messer Pictro Aretino'ssuggestion, as a gift to the Emperor Charles V, who -was sopleased with it that he gave Titian a present of two thousandscudi, and in the location where this picture was to have beenhung, a painting by Pordenone was put up in its place.* Notmuch time passed before Charles V returned to Bologna withhis army from Hungary in order to confer with Pope ClementVII, and he once again desired to have his portrait done byTitian,* and before leaving Bologna Titian also painted theportrait of the previously mentioned Cardinal Ippolito de'Medici in a Hungarian uniform,* as -well as a smaller picturedepicting the same individual in full armour; both of theseportraits are now in Duke Cosimo's wardrobe. During thesame period, he painted the portrait of the Marquis del Vasto,Alfonso Davalos, as well as that of the previously mentionedPietro Aretino, who later convinced Titian to serve and tobefriend Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and the portraitTitian made of this duke when he travelled to his state seemedto be alive; afterwards he did a portrait of his brother, the car-dinal.* And when these were completed, Titian did twelveextremely beautiful portraits of the twelve Caesars from thewaist upwards for the decoration of one of the rooms ofGiulio Romano, and under each of them Giulio later painted ascene from their lives.*

In his native town of Cadore, Titian did a panel whichcontained Our Lady and Saint Titian the bishop, with a por-trait of Titian himself kneeling.* The year that Pope Paul IIIwent to Bologna and from there to Ferrara, Titian went tocourt and did the pope's portrait, which is a very beautifulwork, and from that one he did another for Cardinal SantaFiore; both of these portraits, for which Titian was very wellpaid by the pope, are in Rome, one in the wardrobe ofCardinal Farnese and the other in the possession of the heirsof Cardinal Santa Fiore. Many copies were later made fromthese and are scattered throughout Italy.* Almost at the sametime, he also painted the portrait of Francesco Maria, Dukeof Urbino, a marvellous work, -which Messer Pietro Aretinocelebrated in a sonnet that begins as follow:

TITIAN 499

When the great Apellcs employed his artTo depict the face and breast of Alexander . . . *

In this same duke's wardrobe, there are two very charmingfemale heads by Titian along with a young recumbent Venusclothed in lovely fabrics and flowers, both beautiful and nicelyfinished, and, besides this, there is a very unusual half-lengthpicture of Saint Mary Magdalene with her hair dishevelled.*Also by Titian, as I said, are portraits of Charles V, KingFrancis as a young man, Duke Guidobaldo II, Pope Sixtus IV,Pope Julius II, Paul III, the old cardinal of Lorraine, andSuleiman, emperor of the Turks, all very beautiful. In thesame wardrobe, in addition to many other works, is a portraitof Hannibal of Carthage engraved in the hollow of an antiquecarnelian and a very beautiful marble head by Donatello.*

In the year 1541, Titian painted for the friars of SantoSpirito in Venice the panel for the main altar, in which hedepicted the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles,representing God in the image of fire and the Holy Spirit as adove. This panel was ruined not long afterwards, and Titianhad to repaint it after lengthy litigation with the friars, andthis second copy is the one which is presently over the altar.*In Brescia, for the church of San Nazaro, Titian did the panelpainting for the main altar in five sections: the middle scenedepicts Jesus Christ arising from the dead surrounded bysome soldiers, with Saint Nazarius, Saint Sebastian, the AngelGabriel, and the annunciation of the Virgin on the sides.* Forthe lower wall in the Duomo of Verona, he painted a panelrepresenting the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven withthe Apostles on the ground below •which is considered the bestamong the modern works in that city.* In the year 1541,Titian executed the full-length, standing portrait of DonDiego di Mendoza, then the ambassador of Charles V toVenice, a very beautiful figure, and with this work Titianbegan what later became the fashion, that is, painting someportraits in full length.* In the same style he did the portrait ofthe Cardinal of Trent as a young man,* and for FrancescoMarcolini he painted a portrait of Messer Pietro Aretino, butthis was not as beautiful as one, also by Titian, that Aretino

5OO TITIAN

himself sent as a gift to Duke Cosimo de' Medici, to whom healso sent a head of Lord Giovanni dc' Medici, the duke'sfather.* This head was painted from a mould belonging toAretino taken from that lord's face when he died in Mantua.Both portraits are in the Lord Duke's wardrobe among manyother extremely noble paintings.

During the same year, while Vasari, as we have mentioned,*lived in Venice for thirteen months to paint a ceiling forGiovanni Cornaro and some other works for the Confratern-ity of Hosiers, Sansovino, who was in charge of the buildingof Santo Spirito, had Vasari draw some cartoons for threelarge paintings for the ceiling so that they could be executed inoil, but after Vasari left Venice, the three paintings were com-missioned to Titian, who completed them very beautifully,having applied himself with great skill to foreshortening thefigures from below upwards. One of them depicts Abrahamsacrificing Isaac, a second David beheading Goliath, and athird Cain killing his brother Abel.* At the same time Titiandid a self-portrait in order to leave behind some remembranceof himself to his sons. And when the year 1546 arrived, Titianwas summoned by Cardinal Farncse and went to Rome,where he found Vasari back from Naples, working on the hallof the cardinal's Chancellery, and after the Cardinal hadintroduced Titian to Vasari, Vasari kindly kept his companyand took him around to see the sights of Rome. And afterTitian had rested for several days, he was given quarters in theBelvedere so that he could set his hand once again to doing afull-length portrait of Pope Paul along with those of CardinalFarnese and Duke Ottavio,* all admirably executed to thegreat satisfaction of those lords, who persuaded Titian topaint, as a gift for the pope, a half-length picture of Christin the form of an Ecce Homo, but this work, either becauseit suffered in comparison to the works of Michelangelo,Raphael, or Caravaggio or for some other reason, did notseem to other painters (although it was certainly a good paint-ing) to possess the excellence typical of many of his other•works, especially the portraits.

One day as Michelangelo and Vasari -were going to seeTitian in the Belvedere, they saw in a painting he had just

TITIAN 5OI

completed a naked woman representing Danae with Jupitertransformed into a golden shower on her lap, and, as is done inthe artisan's presence, they gave it high praise. After leavingTitian, and discussing his method, Buonarroti strongly com-mended him, declaring that he liked his colouring and stylevery much but that it was a pity artisans in Venice did notlearn to draw •well from the beginning and that Venetianpainters did not have a better method of study.

'If Titian', he said, 'had been assisted by art and design asgreatly as he had been by Nature, especially in imitating live sub-jects, no artist could achieve more or paint better, for he pos-sesses a splendid spirit and a most charming and lively style.'

And in fact this is true, for anyone who has not drawn agreat deal and studied selected works, both ancient and mod-ern, cannot succeed through his own experience or improvethe things he copies from life by giving them the grace andperfection that derive from a skill that goes beyond Nature,some of whose parts are normally not beautiful.

Titian finally left Rome, taking many gifts given him bythose lords and, in particular, a benefice with a good incomefor his son Pomponio, and he set out on the road to return toVenice, after his other son Orazio painted a very fine portraitof Messer Batista Ceciliano, an excellent player of the bassviol; Titian also did some other portraits for Duke Guidobaldoof Urbino. And when he reached Florence and saw theunusual -works in that city, he remained no less amazed than hehad been with the works in Rome, and, besides this, he paid avisit to Duke Cosimo, who was at Poggio a Caiano, offeringto paint his portrait, which did not much interest His Excel-lency, perhaps because he did not wish to offend so manynoble artisans in his city and domain.

When Titian arrived in Venice, he completed for the Mar-quis del Vasto an allocution (as they were called) of that lordto his soldiers,* and afterwards he painted the portrait ofCharles V, that of the Catholic king, and many others. Andhaving finished these works, he painted a small panel pictureof the Annunciation* in the church of Santa Maria Nuova inVenice, and then with the assistance of his pupils he executed aLast Supper in the refectory of SS Giovanni e Paolo, while in

SO2 TITIAN

the church of San Salvadore he painted a panel for the mainaltar which contains a transfigured Christ on Mount Tabor, aswell as a picture of Our Lady receiving the Annunciation fromthe Angel* for another altar in the same church. But theselast works, although some good things can be seen in them,are not very highly regarded by him and do not possess theperfection of his other paintings. And because the works ofTitian are countless, especially his portraits, it is almost imposs-ible to recall all of them; therefore, I shall only speak of the mostimportant, without putting them in chronological order, sinceit matters very little which was done first and which later.*

As has already been mentioned, Titian painted the portraitof Charles V several times, and, for that reason, he was finallysummoned to the court, where he executed the portrait thatdepicted the emperor as he was in his last years; Titian's workpleased the invincible emperor so much that once he had methim he never wanted to be painted by other painters, and eachtime Titian painted him, he received a gift of one thousandgold scudi. He was made a knight by His Majesty with anallowance of two hundred scudi, drawn on the treasury ofNaples. When Titian like-wise did the portrait of Philip, Kingof Spain, Charles's own son, he received from him an addi-tional fixed allowance of two hundred scudi, so that with theaddition of these four hundred to the three hundred thatTitian received from the Venetian Signoria through theFondaco de' Tedeschi, Titian enjoys without too much effort afixed provision of some seven hundred scudi every year.

Titian sent the portraits of Charles V and his son KingPhilip to Lord Duke Cosimo, who has them in his wardrobe.He then painted Ferdinando, King of the Romans who laterbecame emperor, along with all of his sons: that is, Maxi-milian (now the emperor) and his brother; he painted QueenMary, and, for the Emperor Charles, the Duke of Saxony,while the duke was in prison.* But what a waste of time allthis is! There has scarcely been a lord of great renown, or aprince or great lady, who has not been painted by Titian, trulya most excellent painter in this regard. As we mentioned, hedid the portrait of Francis I of France; Francesco Sforza, Dukeof Milan; the Marquis of Pescara; Antonio da Leva; Massimiano

TITIAN 503

Stampa; Signer Giovanbatista Castaldo; and countless otherlords. Also, besides those already mentioned, he painted manyother works at different times: in Venice on the orders ofCharles V he painted on a large altarpicce a God in the formof the Trinity; Our Lady is enthroned, the infant Christ hasthe Dove above Him, and a background made of fire repre-sents love, while God the Father is surrounded by burningcherubim; Charles V on one side and the empress on the otherare both enveloped in linen with their hands joined in an act ofprayer amidst numerous saints, following instructions Titianreceived from Caesar [Charles], who at that moment was atthe height of his victories but was beginning to reveal hisintention to retire, as he later did, from the affairs of the worldin order to die as a true Christian, fearing God and concernedfor his own salvation. The emperor told Titian he wanted toplace the picture in the monastery where he was later to endhis life's journey. And because it is a very unusual work, thereis every prospect that it will soon be published in an engrav-ing.* For Queen Mary, Titian also painted a Prometheusbound to Mount Caucasus and being ripped apart by Jupiter'seagle, a Sisyphus in hell carrying a rock, and a Tityus tornapart by the vulture.* And, except for the Prometheus, HerMajesty received all of these, along with a picture of Tantalusof the same size—that is, life-size—and done in oil on canvas.He also did a marvellous painting of Venus and Adonis, show-ing Venus fainting while the young Adonis is about to leaveher, surrounded by some very lifelike dogs.* In a panel of thesame size, he painted Andromeda tied to a rock with Perseus\vho frees her from the sea monster, and no painting couldbe more charming than this one; equally lovely is anotherdepicting Diana, who is standing in a fountain with hernymphs and transforms Actaeon into a stag.* He also painted apicture of Europa, crossing the ocean upon the bull* Thesepaintings are in the possession of the Catholic king, and theyare held most dear because of the vitality Titian gave to hisfigures with colours that made them seem almost alive andvery natural. But it is certainly true that his method of work-ing in these last works is very different from the one heemployed as a young man. While his early works are executed

504 TITIAN

•with a certain finesse and incredible care, and are made to beseen both from close up and from a distance, his last works areexecuted with such large and bold brush-strokes and in suchbroad outlines that they cannot be seen from close up butappear perfect from a distance. And this technique explainswhy many, wishing to imitate Titian in this and to prove theirexpertise, have produced clumsy pictures, and this coniesabout because although many believe them to be executedwithout effort, the truth is very different and these artisans arevery much mistaken, for it is obvious that his paintings arereworked and that he has gone back over them with coloursmany times, making his effort evident. And this technique,carried out in this way, is full of good judgement, beautiful,and stupendous, because it makes the pictures not only seemalive but to have been executed with great skill concealing thelabour. Finally, Titian did a painting three armslcngths highand four wide of Jesus Christ as a young child on Our Lady'slap being adored by the Magi, with a goodly number offigures, each one an armslength high, which is a very charm-ing work, like yet another painting that he himself copiedfrom this one and gave to the old cardinal of Ferrara.*Another very beautiful painting, in which he depicts Christmocked by the Jews, was placed in the church of Santa Mariadelle Grazie in Milan in a chapel.*

For the queen of Portugal, Titian painted a very beautifulpicture of Christ, somewhat smaller than life-size, who isbeing scourged by the Jews at the column.* In Ancona, for themain altar in San Domenico, he did a panel of Christ on thecross, with Our Lady, Saint John, and Saint Dominic at Hisfeet, all very beautiful and executed in this late style of hiswith large brush-strokes, as was previously mentioned. Also,in the church of the Crucicchieri in Venice is a panel paintingby Titian on the altar of San Lorenzo which depicts the mar-tyrdom of the saint and includes a building full of figures witha foreshortened Saint Laurence lying half on the grate over ahuge fire, surrounded by some figures who are lighting it.*And because Titian has imagined a scene at night, he has twoservants holding two torches in their hands which illuminatethe places where the light of the fire, burning brightly and

TITIAN 5O5

intensely under the grate, does not reach. And besides thesedetails, he has imagined a flash of lightning coming downfrom the heavens and cutting through the clouds to overcomethe light from the fire and the torches, shining above the saintand the other main figures; and besides these three sources oflight, the people that he has depicted in the distance in thewindows of the apartment building are surrounded by thelight from their lanterns and candles, and the whole picture is,in short, executed with admirable skill, ingenuity, and goodjudgement. In the church of San Scbastiano on the altar of SanNiccolo is a small panel painting done by Titian of SaintNicholas who seems to be alive, seated upon a chair made tolook like stone with an angel holding his mitre, a work thatthe lawyer, Messer Niccolo Crasso, had him paint.* After this,Titian painted a work to be sent to the Catholic king, adishevelled figure of Saint Mary Magdalene painted down tothe middle of her thighs—that is, with her hair falling aroundher neck down on her shoulders and on her breast, while sheraises her head with her eyes fixed towards the sky, showingremorse in the redness of her eyes and, in her tears, sorrow/ forher sins; this painting would move anyone gazing at it in themost profound manner, and, what is more, although she isextremely beautiful it does not move the viewer to lustfulthoughts but, rather, to pity. When this painting was com-pleted, it pleased Silvio Badoer, a Venetian gentleman, somuch that he gave Titian one hundred scudi to have it, for hewas a man who took the greatest delight in the art of painting;and so Titian was forced to paint another one, no less beauti-ful, to send to the Catholic king.*

Among the portraits Titian did from life is one of aVenetian citizen and a very close friend of his named Sinistri,*and another is of Messer Paolo da Ponte, whose beautifulyoung daughter and a confidante of Titian's, named SignoraGiulia da Ponte, Titian also painted;* likewise he did a portraitof Signora Irene, a very beautiful girl, a woman of letters, amusician, and an initiate of the art of design who died aboutseven years ago and was celebrated by the pens of almost allthe writers of Italy.* He did a portrait of Messer FrancescoFiletto, the orator of happy memory, and in the same painting

5O6 TITIAN

he depicted one of his sons standing in front of him, whoseems alive, and this portrait is in the home of Messer MatteoGiustiniano, a lover of the arts, who commissioned the painterJacopo Bassano to do a painting which is as beautiful as manyother works by this same Bassano scattered about Venice andheld in high esteem,* especially for the details they contain andanimals of all kinds.

On another occasion, Titian did portraits of Bembo, that is,after he was made a cardinal,* and of Fracastoro and CardinalAccolti of Ravenna, which Duke Cosimo has in his wardrobe,and our own Danese, the sculptor, has in his home in Venice aportrait by Titian of a gentleman from the Delfini family.*Also by him are portraits of Messer Niccolo Zeno, Rossa, thewife of the Grand Turk, a girl of sixteen, and Camcria herdaughter, both wearing very beautiful clothes and hair-styles.In the home of Messer Francesco Sonica, a lawyer and closefriend of Titian's, there is a portrait of Messer Francesco him-self by Titian, along with a large painting of Our Lady goingdown into Egypt; she has dismounted from the ass and issitting upon a stone in the road with Saint Joseph nearby, andthe little Saint John is offering the baby Christ some flowersgathered by the hand of an angel from the branches of a treein the middle of this wood filled with animals, while in thedistance the ass stands grazing. This painting, which is stillmost charming, has been placed by this same gentleman in oneof the palaces he has built in Padua near Santa Justina.* In thehome of a gentleman of the Pisani family near San Marco,there is a portrait by Titian of a lady which is an amazingwork. For Monsignor Giovanni della Casa, the Florentine, aman distinguished in our times by birth and by learning,Titian painted a most beautiful portrait of a lady whom thisnobleman loved when he lived in Venice, and for this workTitian deserved to be honoured with this splendid sonnetbeginning:

Titian, now I clearly see in new formsMy idol, who opens her eyes and turns,

and so forth. Recently, this excellent painter sent to theCatholic king a picture of the Last Supper of Christ with the

TITIAN 5O7

Apostles in a frame seven armslengths long that was a -work ofextraordinary beauty.*

Besides all the previously mentioned works and manyothers of lesser value that this man completed and which havebeen omitted for the sake of brevity, Titian has in his housethe following works, sketched out and begun: the martyrdomof Saint Laurence, similar to the one mentioned above, whichhe plans to send to the Catholic king;* a large canvas whichcontains Christ on the cross with the thieves and, below, themen who crucify them, which he is doing for MesserGiovanni d'Anna; and a painting which was begun for DogeGrimani, father of the patriarch of Aquilea.* And for the hallof the Palazzo Grande in Brescia, Titian has begun three largepaintings that will go into the decoration of the ceiling, as •wasmentioned in discussing the lives of Cristofano and one ofhis brothers, both Brescian painters.* Many years ago, Titianbegan for Alfonso, the first Duke of Ferrara, the painting of ayoung woman in the nude who is bowing before Minerva,with another figure by her side, while in the distance Neptuneis in the middle of the sea on his chariot, but because of thedeath of this ruler for whom Titian was painting the workaccording to his fantasy, it was not completed and remainsin Titian's hands. He has also nearly completed but has notput the finishing touches on a painting in which an almostlife-sized figure of Christ appears in the garden to MaryMagdalene as a gardener, as well as another work of similarsize in which the dead Christ is placed in His tomb in the pres-ence of the Madonna and the two Maries, and also among thefine -works in Titian's home is a painting of Our Lady. Inaddition there is, as was mentioned, one of his self-portraits, avery beautiful and lifelike painting completed four years ago,and finally the half-length figure of Saint Paul reading, whoseems very like the man himself, filled with the Holy Spirit.All these works, let me say, Titian has executed, along withmany others that I will ignore in order to avoid being tedious,up to his present age of about seventy-six years.*

Titian was a very healthy man and was as fortunate as anyother artisan of his kind has ever been, for he has receivednothing from the heavens but favour and felicity. His home in

5O8 TITIAN

Venice has been visited by a great many princes, men ofletters, and noblemen -who, in his time, have gone to passsome time in Venice, because, besides being an excellent arti-san, Titian was very kind and well-bred, being possessed ofthe gentlest habits and manners. He had many rivals in Venice,but none of great worth, and he easily surpassed them throughthe excellence of his art and his ability to deal with and tomake himself pleasing to the nobility; he earned a great deal,because his works were always well paid for, but he wouldhave done well in his last years not to have •worked except as apastime to avoid damaging with less skilful works the repu-tation he earned in his best years before his natural gifts hadbegun to decline.

When Vasari, the author of the present history, was inVenice in the year 1566, he went to visit Titian, as a closefriend, and he found him, although extremely advanced inyears, with his brushes in his hand painting, and he took greatpleasure in seeing Titian's works and in discussing themwith him; Titian introduced Vasari to Messer Gian MariaVerdezotti, a Venetian gentleman, a young man full of talent,a friend to Titian, and a reasonably good draughtsman andpainter, as he has demonstrated in some very beautiful land-scapes he has drawn. Verdezotti has two figures painted in oilin two niches—that is, an Apollo and a Diana—by Titian,whom he loves and respects as a father. Thus Titian, whohas decorated Venice, or rather all of Italy and other parts ofthe world, with superb paintings, deserves to be loved andrespected by all artisans and in many ways to be admired andimitated, like those other artisans who have produced and stillare producing works worthy of boundless praise, which willendure as long as the memory of illustrious men.

Although a large number of artisans studied with Titian,not many of them can truly be called his followers, for he didnot teach much, but each one of them learned more or less,according to what they knew how to take from the -worksTitian executed.... *

THE END OF THE LIFE OF TITIAN OF CADORE, PAINTER