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TITIAN :
HIS LIFE AM' TI.\IE.S.
TITIAN'S DAUGHTER.
Beklin Museum.
[Frontispiece.
[See p. 139, Vol. II.
TITIAN
HIS LIFE AND TIMES
wmt
bOME ACCOrXT OF Ills l-AMiLV,
CHIEFLY FROM NEW AND UXPDBLISUED UECORDS.
ny
J. A. cKowi: AM. c. r,. cavalcasellk,
AtmioBs or niB *' iiuroRr or rAi5mxu im >ortu italv."
IN TW(> VOLUMES.— VOJ.. II.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS / -, ^
3 ^•
LONDON :
JULUN MULLAY, ALIiEMAJiLE^STRE^. . -—
1877. r [ , . I
\Ri'jlU <<J' TranaUUion i^rvixi.}
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I
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. v> ^1
LONDOIf :
BHADBUET, AGNKW, & CO., PBINTEBS, WniTEFBIABS.
CONTEXTS.
CHAT'IKK I.
PAGI
Rivalry of Titian and Pordcnnnc. — Pordenone decorates the Public
Library, and Titian lust-s his Rn>kcr'« Patent. — Pordenone is
onlcrcil to comjK'te with Titian in the IHiblic Palace, and Titian
paints the " Rattle of Cadore." — History of that Picture. — Site of
the Rattle. — Prints by Fontana and Rurjikmair ; Rul)ons' Drawinp.
and Copy at Florence. — Titian in contnu^t with Da Vinci and
Raphael. — Drawinpff of ffre^ " Ralfic 61 I'adorc." — 1'ort raits of
fJpor^e Cornaro. Savorpnano, and others. — Death of the Duke of
L'rbinu and Andrea Oritti. — Portrait of Doj^e I^ndo. — Sultan
Soliraan. — Titian's jirivnf** Affairs. — He tries to visit Florence and
Rome.— He Tafls.— ' ' liiH_Lampoone£a. — Del Vasto fn^*-'«
a Canonry to Titian ■< !-ni.- ine " Allo<-ufion." — Portrait of ncmbo.
— Death of Pordenone. — Titian repiins his Hnikcr'n Patent. —
" Angel and Tobit," and " Presentation ia the Temple." — From
Jacopo Rellini to Paolo Veroneae 1
CHAPTER II.
North-cast of Venice. — Titian's House iu Riri Grande ; his Home
Life; his Children. — Portraits. — Death of the Duke of Mantua. —
Portraits of Mendozza and Martincnpo. — Charles the Fifth and
Titian at Milan; the "Allocution." and the " Nativity."— Titian
receives a Pension on the Milan Treasury. — His quarrel with the
Monks of San Spirito. — Carnival anil the (V>ni|>any of the Calza. —
Aretino sends for Vasari, who receives employment at Venice. —
Portraits of Catherine Cornaro and Doge Lando. — Portraits of
Titian l)y himself ; fif Titian and Zuccato ; of Titian and I>avinia.
— Votive Picture of the Doge. — The Strozzi, and Titian's likeness
of R. Strozzi's daughter. — Ceilings of San S|>irito. — " Descent of
the Holy Spirit." — Titian compared with liiphael and Michacl-
angelo, — Visit to Cadore, — Alessandro Vitclli
VI
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
PAOE
Titian and the Famese Family. — Portrait of Kannccio Farnese. — Offer
of a Benefice and proposals of service to Titian. — History and
policy of the Farnese Princes. — Cardinal Alessandro. — Titian
accepts the invitation of the Farnese. — Visits Ferrara, Bologna,
and Buss^. — He refuses an offer of the Piombo. — His Portraits of
Paul III., Pier Luigi, and Alessandro Famese. — Family of Danna,
and the great " Ecce Homo " at Vienna. — The Assunta of Verona. —
Renewed correspondence with Cardinal Farnese. — Letter of Titian
to Michaelangelo. — Altar-piece of Jloganzuolo. — Portraits of the
Empress, and Duke and Duchess of Urbino. — Court of Urbino,
and Sperone's Dialogues. — Portraits of Daniel Barbaro, Morosini,
8perone, and Axetino.- — Titian's relations with Guidubaldo II. —
Guidubaldo opposes Titian's Journey to Rome, which is favoured
by Girolamo Quirini. — Guidubaldo gives Titian escort to Rome.
— Meeting of Titian with Sebastian del Piombo, Vasari, and
Michaelangelo. — Jealousy of Roman Artists. — Pictures executed
at Rome : Danae. — Contrast between Titian and Correggio, and
Titian and Buonarroti. — Titian and the Antique. — Portraits of
Paul III., Ottavio, and Alessandro Farnese 75
CHAPTER IV.
Sansovino meets with a mishap at Venice. — His imprisonment. — He is
liberated by Titian's interest. — Negotiations for the Benefice of
Colle.— Doge Donato succeeds Doge Lando, and allows Titian to
remain at Rome. — Portraits executed for the Duke of Urbino. —
Titian's return to Venice. — He visits Florence, and paints again
the Portrait of Pier Luigi Farnese. — Portraits of Doge Donato,
Giovanni de' Medici, and Lavinia. — Cardinal Farnese visits
Venice. — Marriage of Guidubaldo II. — Marriage of Orazio Ve-
celli. — Titian askes for the Piombo, and receives the promise of it.
— Altar-piece of Serravalle. — Titian and Raphael. — The Cartoons,
and especially the " Miraculous Draught." — " Venus and Adonis,"
— " Disciples at Emmaus." — " Recumbent Venus and Cupid " at
Florence. — " Venus and the Organ-player " at Madrid. — Replicas
and Copies.— The " Ecce Homo " at Madrid 127
CHAPTER V.
The Pope and the Emperor. — Titian has to choose between them : gives
up the Seals of the Piombo, and goes to Court at Augsburg. — He
visits Cardinal Madruzzi at Ceneda. — Augsburg, the Fuggers. —
Titian's reception by Charles the Fifth. — His pension on Milan
doubled. — He promises a likeness of the Emperor to the Governor
of Milan. — Sketch of Charles the Fifth, and how he rode at Miihl-
berg with Maurice of Saxony and Alva. — His Court at Augsburg.
CONTEXTS. vii
PAGE
— King Ferdinand. — The Granvelles, John Frederick of Saxony,
and other Princes and Princesses portrayed by Titian. — Like-
nesses : of Charles as he ro^le at MUhlberg ; as he sat at Augsburg ;
of the captive Elector, with and without Armour ; of Chancellor
and Cardinal Granvclle. and Cardinal Jladnizzi. — The '' Prome-
theus and Sisyphus." — Likeness of King Ferdinand and his Infant
Children. — Titian returns to Venice ; proceeds to Milan, where he
meets Alva and the Prince of Spain. — Portrait of Alva and his
Secretary.— Replicas of Charles the Fifth's Portrait for Canlinal
Famcse and Francesco Gonzaga. — Betrothal of Lavinia. — Death of
Paul the Thinl. — Plans for the Succefision of Philip of Spain. —
Charles the F'ifth again sends for Titian to p.iint the LikcnesvS of
his presumptive Heir. — Projectetl Picture of the '* Trinity." — Close
Relations of Titian with the Emperor, and surprise caused by it. —
Mclanchthnn. — Court of the captive Elector. — Cranach paints
Titian's Likcne.s,s. — Philip of Spain sits to Titian. — Numerous
Portraits are the result 1G2
CHAPTER VI.
Alleged reception of Titian ))y the Doge in Council. — His suspension
from the Sanseria, and resumption of that Office. — Life at Venice.
— Portrait of Legate Rcccadelli. — Pictures for the Prince of Spain ;
" Queen of Persia," LandscajK;, and "St. Margaret." — Of Titian's
I^andscapes in general. — Prints and Drawings. — '* St. Margaret " at
Madrid. — Rumours of Titian's Death. — He reports himself alive to
the P^niperor. — Tlie " Grieving Virgin." the " Trinity," and " Christ
ai)peariiig to the Magdalen." — Portmit of Doge Trevisani. — Varga.s
and Thomas Granvelle. — " Daniie," for Philip of Spain, and
Replicas of the same. — Titian and Philip. — Tlie "Venus and
Adonis." — Philip and Pom])onio. — " Virgin of Medole." — Portrait of
Doge Venier. — Votive Picture of Doge Trevisani and '• The Fede."
— ^larriage of I>avinia. — Titian sends to Philip the " Perseus and
Andionioda." — Decoration of the Library at Venice. — Paolo
Veronese. — The "Baptist" of Santa Maria Maggiore. — Death of
Aretino. — Titian. Ferr.inte Gonzaga and the Milan Pension. —
" Entombment," sent to Philip and lost '2\i
CHArTEll VII.
Standard of San Bernardino. — Philip and St. Lawrence. — " Martyrdom
of St. Lawrence" in the Gcsuiti at Venice. — Girolamo di Titiano.
— Lorenzo Massolo ; his Widow and Titian. — Parody on the
" Laocoon," "Christ Crowned with Thorns" at the Louvre. —
Portraits. — Death of Charles the Fifth. — Titian and Coxic. — The
" Grieving Virgin." — Philip at Ghent orders Titian's Pensions to
be paid. — Orazio at Milan is nearly murdered by Leone LeonL —
Titian begins the " Diana and Acta:on," and " Diana and Calisto."
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
— Philip the Second orders an " Entombment." — Titian, Philip,
and Apelles. — The " Girl in Yellow." — Description of the " Diana
and Actfeon," " Calisto," " Entombment," and replicas.— Figure of
" Wisdom " at Venice. — Death of Francesco Vecelli. — Altar-piece
of Pieve 258
CHAPTER VIII.
Paolo and Giulia da Ponte, Irene and Emilia of Spilimberg. — Their
Portraits. — The Cornaro Family at Alnwick. — "Epiphany" at
Madrid, and numerous Replicas of the same. — Victories of Caesar.
— Magdalens. — "Venus of Pardo." — "Christ in the Garden." —
Titian and Correggio. — The '■ Europa " at Cobham. — Titian begins
the " Last Supper." — " Crucifixion " at ^ncona. — " St. Francis
receiving the Stigmata," at Ascoli.— Mosaics and Mosaists. —
Titian's Cartoons designed by Orazio Vecelli. — Nicholas Crasso. —
His Altarpiece of " St. Nicholas " by Titian. — " St. Jerome " at
the Brera. — " Venus with the Mirror." — Loss of Titian's Venetian
Pictures by Fire. — " The Last Supper " at Venice and the Escorial.
— Portrait of the Queen of the Romans. — Commission for the
"Martyrdom of St. Lawrence." — Titian visits Brescia. — Titian,
A. Perez, and Philip the Second. — Canvases of Brescia Town
Hall. — "The Last Supper" at the Escorial.— Its Mutilation.—
Titian and the Milanese Treasury. — The " Transfiguration," the
"Annunciation," and "St. James of Compostella." — Titian employs
Cort and Boldrini as Engravers. — Vasari's Visit to Venice. — Pic-
tures at that time in Titian's House. — Allegories. — Titian joins the
Florentine Academy 300
CHAPTER IX.
Titian is taxed for his Income. — His Relations with Picture Dealers
and Collectors. — Strada the Antiquary. — Final Correspondence
vnth Urbino and the Farnese. — Frescos at Pieve di Cadore. — The
" Nativity." — " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence " at the Escorial. —
Canvases of the Town Hall at Brescia, and Quarrel as to the
Payment for them.— The second " Christ of the Tribute Money."
— Death of Sansovino.— " Lucretia and Tarquin." — " Battle of
Lepanto," and Pictures illustrative of that Encounter. — Titian's
Allegory of Lepanto.—" Christ Derided " at Munich.— Exalted
Visitors at Biri Grande. — Titian's List of Pictures.— His last Letter
to Philip the Second.— The Plague at Venice,— Titian's last
Masterpiece, — His Death. — Titian's Pictures : Genuine, Uncertified,
and Missing 364
APPENDIX 497
LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS TO VOL. IL
TITIA>'s DAUOHTEU Frontitpieet
rAClK
BATTLE OF CADORE 11
TIIK rUESENTATION IX THE TEMTLE 31
CHRIST AT EMMAl'S lo,i
CHARLES THE FIFTH OX THE FIELD OF MUHLLEUO . . . 17>S
PROMETHEUS LS7
DANAE 229
CHRIST IN THE PRETORIA^ COURT 2(}j
JUPITER AND ANTIOTE 317
TITIAX: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
\
^
CHAITKII I.
Rivaliy of Titian and ronlonone. — Pordcnono docoratos tho Public
Libruiy, and Titian loses his r>rokor's Patent. — Pordonono is
ordered to compete •with Titian in tho Public Palace, and Titian
paints tho " Battle of Cadoro." — Ilistorj' of that Picture. — Site of
tho Battle.— Prints by Fontana and Burj^kniair ; Ilubens" Drawinpr,
and <'opy at Florence. — Titian in contract vrith Da Vinci and
Baphacl. I )rawings of tho ''Battle of Cadore." — Portraits of
George Coniaro, Savorgnano, and others. — Death of the l>uko of
Urbino and .\ndroa Tfritti. — Portrait of Doge Lando. — Sultan
Soliinan. — Titian's j)rivate Affairs. — lie tries to visit l-'lorcnce
and Rome. — lie fails. Ai-etino and his Lampooners. — Del Vasto
gives a Canonry to Titian's son. — The " Allocution." — Portrait of
Bembo. Death of Pordenone. — Titian regains his Broker's Patent.
— "Angel and Tobit," and "Presentation in tho Temple."— From
Jacopo r>ellini to Paolo Veronese.
Titian'.s life and times have been traced from lii.s
first landing at Venice to the days when he eomjiletel y
established his independence. The eminence of his
position was now so fully rccogni.sed that he had
nothing apparently to fear from any sort of competi-
tion ; yet it is a fact that he only held his own by
great and constant exertion, and he never once was
free from stronr; and even dancrerous rivalrv. A
versatile craftsman, it would have been <litli('ult to
find a single artist who could p;iint a picture oi' a
portrait with more ta.stc or .skill than himself. JUit
vol,. II. . J / D
2 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
there were branches of his profession in which he
probably confessed his o^Yn inferiority, and we cannot
be sure that he would not have been able to name, at
least, one Venetian who surpassed him in the practice
of fresco. There Avere moments too when he would
have admitted that there was a limit to the extension
of his business as a painter, a limit at once defined by
his own powers of production and the ability of a
wealthy public to absorb the produce of his pencil at
the price which he felt inclined to put upon it. Again
he would have to choose between the sources of
income derivable from composed pieces or likenesses.
At the period with which we are now concerned he
neglected composition to some extent as being less
profitable than portraits, and this gave him a certain
one-sidedness which did not escape general observation.
The Venetian public seeing that in five years he had
not brought out more than three or four pictures,
whilst his portraits or portrait canvasses nearly
reached the number of forty, grew impatient of his
exclusiveness. The sjovernment which had besouofht
him in vain to complete one subject at least for the
Council Hall looked round for a cheaper, more pliant,
and more accommodatino; artist. Gritti, the Doofe,
whose countenance and support had been Titian's
mainstay, grew old or wearied of defending him ; and
the result was the coming of Pordenone.
Pordenone had spent most of his life as a monu-
mental drauo-htsman. Scarce a town or a villao-e in
Friuli could be named in which he had not covered an
aisle, a chancel, or a choir with frescoes. In Venice
CiLVP. I.] TITLVN AXD PORDEXONE.
itself lie had decorated the whole of one church and
the cloisters of another with compositions celebrated
for the talent with which they were executed. But
his settlement in the capital had long been deferred,
because the freedom of a wanderinir life or the charms
of a country residence had always had more attrac-
tions for him than the conlinement of a city. Perhaps
also Pordenone was ill siitisfied to hold rank after
Titian, to whom he succumbctl in l.")-27; still less
pleased after 153:3 t<> think that he wiis socially
inferior to his rival, who had risen to the atatus oi ii
count of the Roman Empire. lUit after I'rlS Porde-
none's fame had greatly increased. It extended far
beyund tin; alpine regions which surrounded his home
— to Mantua, Cremona, and Genoa. It was no longer
based exclusively on skill in fresco painting, but on
solid a((piir(nnents in every branch of art. Socially
the gap which lay between hini and Titian had been
filled by a patent of nobility purclnised or begged from
the king of Hungary. Besides this, Pordenone's
residence in the hills had been made intolerable by a
family feud, and — last not least — \'enice, as a miu'ket
for artistic })roduction, had accpiired an importance
hitherto unforeseen. During a i)criod of comparative
quiet, that portion «»f the public receipts which the
government of Venice was authorized to expend on
the preservation of state buildings had been allowed
to accumulate. It was asserted in a minute of Decem-
ber, 1033, that the sum set apart for the keep and
repair of the public palace had risen to 7000 ducats,
though, two years before, 1700 ducats had been spent
TITLVN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
in rebuildiug the library called in after years the Sala
del Scrutinio or Sala d'Oro.'" Lookino- round for
artists to adorn this large and noble hall, which lay ot
right angles to that of Great Council, the sages had to
determine whether they should employ the facile hand
of Bonifacio or Paris Bordone, or trust to the un-
certain promises of Titian. At the critical moment
Pordenone made his appearance at Venice ; and his
services were instantly accepted. The library had
been restored architecturally by Serlio and Sansovino
under the superintendence of Antonio Scarpagnini,
builder of the Fondaco de' Tedeschi.t All these artists
were friends of Titian, and, we may believe, hostile to
Pordenone, yet they were compelled to witness the
favour extended to Titian's rival. Scarpagnini, when
ordered to pay ten ducats to Pordenone for preparing
the decoration of the library ceiling, declined to per-
form the duty. The Council of Ten respected the
feeling which dictated his conduct, l:)ut not the less
continued to patronize the painter of their choice. J
The library was so fiiv advanced in March, 1.537, that
the Council of Ten entered a special minute on the
journals to mark its approval of Pordenone's work.
Not satisfied with this negative rebuff, it determined
also to promote Pordenone at Titian's expense, and on
the 23rd of June it issued the folio winsj hard and
significant decree :
* Lorenzi, u. s. pp. 204 & 213.
t Compare Serlio's own state-
ment in "Eegole geuerali di ar-
chitettura," fol. Yen. Iu37, lib.
4, c. xi. p. Ixx, witli Lorenzi, u. s.
pp. 194 & 213.
X See the details of these trans-
actions in Lorenzi, u. s. p. 213.
CiLvr. I.] TITIAN LOSES THE SxVXSEEIA. 5
" Since December, IjIG, Titian has been in posses-
sion of a broker's patent, with a salary varying from
118 to 120 ducats a year, on condition that he shall
paint the canvas of the land hght on the side of the
Hall of Great Council looking out on the Grand
Canal. Since tliat time he has held his patent and
drawn his salary without performing his promise. It
is proper that this state of things should cease, and
accordingly Titian is called upon to refund all that he
has received for the time in whirh he has done no
work."*
Preparations wcri- then made to install rordcuone
as a rival t<> Vorelli ; and on the 22nd of November,
1538, an order was issued appointing Giovanni An-
tonio da l^ordenoue to paint the picture between the
pilasters six and seven in the Hall of Great Council —
the space next to that reserved to Titian's.t These
proceedings of the council, however severe they may
have appeared to the person most concerned, were not
without immediate effect. They induced Titian to
thuik at once of his promise, and four months after
the issue of the decree against him Aretino wrote the
letter of November 9, 1537, already quoted in these
pages, ill which, after describing the picture of the
Annunciation sent to the Empress, he spoke with
emphatic praise of that which his friend was painting
in the Palace of St. Mark.|
The state of irritation in which Titian was placed
* Seo untea, and Lorenzi, p. ■ X Ai-etino to Titian, Nov. !),
219. I 1537, in Lottero di M. 1'. Aro-
t Loronzi, p. 223. | tino, i. p. ISO.
6 TITLIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
by the rivalry of Pordenone and the displeasure of the
council may be easily conceived. We can fancy his
despair at being asked to refund the unattainable sum
of 1800 ducats, and obliged to remain, if but tem-
porarily, deprived of his annual salary. We can
picture to ourselves Pordenone, who was no stranger
to the settlement of quarrels by arms, believing that
he too mio'ht be wavlaid and killed, if not on his
defence, and he niio-ht think it fortunate that the
patent of nobility which he had recently acquired
should entitle him to wear the sword that would
allow him to pink his antagonist. But nothing in
Titian's conduct, then or after, appears to have justi-
fied his adversary's precautions. Titian redressed the
wrong which he had inflicted on himself by diligently
completing the battle-piece, which Vasari declared to
have been the finest and best that was ever placed in
the Hall.* Though a tardy atonement, it was the
fittest that he could make ; and we contemplate,
even now, with a sigh the loss which the destruction
of this composition inflicted on the Arts. In copies,
drawings, and a print which have casually been pre-
served, we gain a fair knowledge of the groups which
Titian threw upon his canvas, but no notion of the
splendid execution which Sansovino attempted to
describe in the following words :
" With surprising industry and art Titian repre-
sented the Battle of Spoleto in Umbria, where — conspi-
cuous above all others — a captain, awake on a sudden
* Yasari, xiii. 29.
Chap. I.] CADOEE JlSD SPULETO.
to the noise of a fight, was armed Ijy a page. Ou the
front of liis breastplate there shone with ineredible
reality the lights and reflections of arms and the
clothes of the page. There was a horse of extreme
beauty and a youth [a girl] rising from the depth of a
ditch to its banks, in whose face the utmost terror
wiis depicted. And beneath this piece there was no
inscription." *
It is to be borne in mind that all the pictures in
the Council Hall had inscriptions, and that the
absence of such an appendage to Titian's work must
have had a cause. Beneath tlie fresco which Titian
covered, there stood as far back as 14l'5 a sentence
which i>roved that it was meant to commemorate an
Imperial victory :
" UEES SPOLETANA (iUE SOLA TAPE FAVEBAT OBSE^SA
ET VlCTiE AB IMl'KlLVTOllE DELETUK.'t
Why, the public might have asked, was this sen-
tence now omitted ?
Doge Gritti had always been known as a partisan of
France. He probably asked Titian to produce a pic-
ture which should prefigure the capture of Spoleto,
but illustrate an action won by Venice against tlie
Kaiser; and Titian doubtless chose the battle of
Cadorc as one which, on account of his knowledge of
the locality, he could paint better than any other. It
was not desirable to offend the partisans of the
Emperor, who ruled the destinies of Italy by too open
* Sansovino, Ven. Descr., p. ;i:i7. t Lorenzi, «. a. p. Gl.
/
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
an exliibition of Venetian pride.* Titian tlierefore
veiled the composition discreetly : lie displayed in his
composition the banner of the Empire, and the cogni-
sance of the Cornari, rather than the winged lion of
St. Mark; he dressed oMaximilian's soldiers in the
garb of Eomans, and refrained from giving prominence
to the characteristic troops of the Republic. The dis-
tance which simulated the Castle of Spoleto was
really the crag of Cadore. The battle thus remained
to the initiated a symbol of Venetian heroism and
success, whilst it might still appear to the ignorant a
victory without political meaning. Presuming all
this to be true, it is amusing to register the reticences
and assumptions of contemporary writers. Ridolfi,
having no precautions to observe, revealed the purpose
of the artist.t Critics of the time were more wary.
A^enetian chronicles only spoke of the "land fight."
Dolce curtly talked of " the battle ; '"' | and Sansovino
affected to believe that Titian represented " the cap-
ture of Spoleto." § Vasari, deceived by the banter of
the Venetians, was alone in the belief that the Signors
had published a brilliant record of their own humilia-
tion ; and he wrote, in apparent good faith, that
Titian's picture represented the " rout of Chiara-
* It was a moot i^oint whether Paruta, Storia Veueta, torn. iii.
Venice ia 1537 should exchange
the alliance of the Emperor for
that of France, and the matter
was seriously discussed in that
year in the Venetian senate. See
of Storici Yen. 1718, lib. yiii. p.
669.
t Eidolfi, Marav. i. 214.
X Lorenzi, p. 219 ; Dolce, Dia-
logo, 27, 67.
a speech by Marcantonio Cor- } § Sansoyino, Yen. Descr. p.
naro, in favour of Charles, in 327.
Chap. I.] BATTLE OF CADOEE. 9
dadda," * thus substituting the action which Alviano
lost for that which Alviano won. It was reserved to
Ticozzi's defective historical insight to assign to Titian
two l)attles instead of one.+ If, after this, we still
should doubt, an old canvas at Florence and a print
by Fontana would show that Titian meant to paint
the field of Tai, where the troops of ^laxiniilian were
overthrown in sicfht of the Castle of C'adore. And
thus the master, who owed his knighthood and pen-
sions to Charles the Fifth, is seen witliout compunction
recording the defeat of Charles' predecessor, and, as
Aretino says, doing honour to tlic " Signoi*s."
Vasari describes the contest truly as a mclce of
soldiers in a storm of rain, but he adds that Titian
took the whole scene from life, which we can scarcely
interpret to mean that the painter was present at the
fight. We should rather think that the landscapes and
the figures were se[>aratcly drawn from nature, and
this again would confirm, if confirmation were needed,
the story of IJidolfi. ikit Titian, as we shall see,
was not so foolish as to depict one episode of a
celebrated encounter. He was too well acquainted
with the locality and history, not to be aware that its
varied incidents could scarcely be seen from a single
point. r>ut he thought a painter might take the
liberty of composing the subject so as to show the
whole action at once, and we shall presently see how
he succeeded. Shortly stated, the main features of
the battle are these. Cadore and its castle havinix
* Vasaii, xiii..p. 28. t Ticozzi, Vecelli, pp. 54, 114.
10 TITLiX: HIS Lli^E AXD TIMES. [Chap. I.
fallen into the hauds of the Emperor's generals,
Gii'olamo Savorgnauo was ordered to close the upper
passes, Alviano to occupy the lower defiles of the
valley of the Piave, and Cornaro the provveditore gave
his consent to the scheme. Ahiano then concerted
measures with his colleagues, and surprised the
passage of the Boite at Yena,s. Having posted his
troops in Yalle, and on the ground that stretches from
Valle to Monte Zucco, he sent a detachment round to
his left to seize Xebbiii, with orders to fall on the
flank of the Imperialists as they advanced from
Cadore. lu these positions Alviano awaited the
enemy's attack. The chroniclers of the fight say that
the Emperor's force was allowed to fling back the
outlying troops of the Venetians. But '" near a small
torrent," " at the fii'st house of Valle," Alviano turned
and took the oflensive. This is the moment depicted
on Titian's foresTound.
It has been supposed by the writer of a charming
notice of the battle-field, that an arched brido;e
spanning " the torrent " in Titian's pictm^e is that still
existing over the Boite near Venas, which by an
artistic licence is made a leadino- featm^e in the com-
position," but this is probably a mistake, as may
presently be shown.
Titian's original canvas perished in the fire of 1577,
but a complete view of the whole composition may be
obtained from the contemporary print by Fontana.
Its colours and shadows are found in the mutilated
* Cadore, by Josiah Gilbert, u. s. p, 182.
# ^ .1; =1^=5,
O
fa
PL,
o
Q
Chap. I.] FONTANA'S PEINT. 11
copy at Florence, its admirable detail iu a drawing by
Eubens. A stream with steep and rocky banks, forms
the centre of the foreQ;round. To the risjht, half seen
above the edge of the picture, a general, bare-headed,
but armed in steel, stands resting his hand on a long-
cane, whilst his page in a slashed dress ties his
rihoulder-laces. Close in rear of tliese personages a
field-piece stands unlimbered, and a girl, who seems
to have crossed the water, struggles up with terror
<lepicted in her face from the depths below. On the
hi<T^her around to the ri^ht, tlic Venetian knights
with flying pennons and tlie ( ornaro Ix^nner — three
lions passant — unfurled, moves into action ; two
drummers l)eating, one trumpeter sounding a charge.
A irroom with dilHcultv holds the o-enerals led-horse.
Across a light stone bridge which spans the banks of
the stream, the head files of the Venetian an-ay have
charged in twos, and an.' still charging the Germans,
whose cavalry and men-at-anns are falling together in
the melee. Two Venetian knights are galloping across
the bridge, six others are on the left bank cutting down
the enemy who resists with obstinacy yet with loss. The
left-hand corner of tlie picture is tilled by the figure
of an Imperialist soldier, whose horse is stumbling-
down the bank of the stream, whilst his rider is
thrown sideways from the saddle, to wdiich liis legs
still cling with spasmodic energy. His sword is in
his hand, but his left arm is thrown up convulsively,
the head forced back by the shock of the lance
piercing the ribs ; and the reins fly loosely in the air
us horse and man are hurled to destruction. In
12 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
Eubens' drawino' the marvellous foreshortenina; of this
figure, the outline of the forms in their tension and agony,
are admirable ; equally so those of a soldier behind, who
stands with his blade ready to defend himself, and
presents a brawny back and arms to the spectator.
Admirable, too, in this drawing is the knight who has
just crossed the bridge, and tearing on at full gallop,
stoops to his opponent, who falls headlong into the
river. The left bank is strewn rioht down to the
water with the bodies of the dead and dvino- whilst
through the arch one sees a soldier trying to climb the
face of a perpendicular rock. In the field of Tai beyond
are two distinct bodies of troops, one in motion
nearest to the bridgre, another in reserve at the foot of
a spur, which gradually rises to form the crag on
which the castle of Cadore is built. Deep ravines on
the right and left part the crag from the surrounding
hills, and flames and smoke are darting from a house,
and from the more distant battlements of the fortress.
AVe can fix with tolerable certainty the spot upon
which Titian made his sketch of the foreground for
the " Battle of Cadore." The road which leads from
Valle to Tai crosses the beds of two torrents which
take their rise in the neighbouring mountains. These
two torrents fall into one bed, south of the road, and
taking the name of Ruseco, run between very steep
banks to the Boite. The old road from Valle to
Perarolo crosses the Buseco over a wooden covered
bridge, which spans a chasm of some depth ; and here
we may think Titian imagined the arch of stone
which is a conspicuous feature of his picture. From
Cn.vp. I.] THE EUSECO. 13
the bank to the iwht of the stream one can see the
bridge, and the precipices over wliich it is built, the
side of jMonte Ziicco, and the road to Perarolo.
Behind the bridge the " Pian di Tai," the very field
on which the action was ultimately won. Eisiug from
the Pian di Tai, the spurs are cleft to form the range
of San Dionisio, in rear of which the peak of Antelao
soars. To the left, on a lieight, is Valle. Titian
having chosen the bridge on the Euseco as the point,
" near the torrent at the first liouse of Valle," wliere
the first onset was made, takes the licence of io^normo;
the natural background of Tai, but substitutes for it
that of tlie crac: of Cadore, as it mi<dit l)e seen from
other points of the battle-field. He paints the action
in its various pliases and general character, as if all
its parts were visible from one spot. He keeps
enough of the reality t<> enable a Cadorine to
recooTiise the action, but not enough to cidirrhten
those whom tlie Venetian ijovernment miuht wish to
convince that the scene was the liill of Spoleto. The
deception is kept up by ingenious arrangements of
detail. The Emperor's troops, we saw, are dressed as
Ptoman soldiers ; tlieir banners are those of the
empu'e. The troops on the other side are not under
the wino;ed lion of St. Mark, but under a banner
Avhicli bears the tlu-ee passant lions of the Cornari.
No snow conceals the land, no dolomites are visible.
There are no signs of the Stradiots, the nimble cavalry
of the Venetians."" I'lic prominent forces of Venice
* '!
Thej' were easily recognized by their cylinder hats.
14 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Cmvp. I,
are all in armour, tlieir infantry is thrown back into
the middle distance. We noted tliat Eidolfi boldly
called tlie fight by its real name. Fontana's print
always has borne the title of "Titian's Battle of
Cadore." Bnrgkmair designed a woodcut for the
romance of the " Weiss Kunig," in which he repre-
sented, long before Titian, the action of Pian di Tai.
It is curious to observe how closely the landscape
resembles that which adorned the public palace of
Venice. Havino- nothino- to conceal, Buro-kmair
CO ' O
shows the Stradiots tilting at the Germans. The
win2:ed lion of St. Mark is the standard of Venice.
Cadore crag is in the middle of the background.
The castle crowns the hill, under the flag of the
empire ; and fire has not singed its walls. The
torrent and bridge are not component j^arts of the
picture, but the general lie of the ground and rocks is
that of Fontana's print.
We noted, besides the print, a copy of Titian's
picture at Florence. This is a sketch on canvas,
repeating on a small scale part of the master's com-
position. Rubens' drawing of the principal group is
preserved in the All^ertina at Vienna, and was
probably copied from the original registered in the
great Fleming's collection, as "a draught of horses b}'
Titian." "' The copy is but a transcript in Rubens'
style of outlines by a still greater artist, but we may
yet discern in it the truth, correctness, and energetic
desio;n of Titian. It enables us to admire the com-
* See Eubens' inventory in Sainsbuiy, u. s. p. 236.
Chap. I.] COPY OF THE BATTLE OF CADOEE. 15
binecl perfection of appropriate grouping and indi-
vidual action, carried to surprising completeness in the
splendid figure of the falling horse and rnan in the
left foreground, in which the "weight and power con-
centrated in the foreshortenings of the " Peter Martyr ''
are apparent, allied to more searching contour. Here
we recognise a force akni to that of Michael Augelo,
conjoined with that realistic boldness which Tintoretto
so often, yet so vainly, strove to emulate. Strange
that the same artist who preserved the group of
Lionardo's " Battle of Anghiari '' should also have
rescued from total loss one group of the "Battle of
Cadore." Stranire that in l)oth fraomeuts we should
finel tlic weapons and dress of the Eoman age —
matters familiar indeed to Titian, who was studying
the antique at this time to realise his portraits of the
Caesars, but striking in Lionardo as contrasting with
his tender delineations of JMadonnas, deep-meaning
in their sublime serenity ;iiid eternal smile. In
Fontana's print we olxsers^e Titian's surprising art as
a composer, his rare skill in depicting the stern
reality and varied expression of a hand-to-hand
conflict. His cleverness in detail is only ecjualled by
the grandeur of his conception in the spring and
motion of horses. Looking at this noble display as a
whole, we are struck by its relation to the " Battle of
Constantine" at the Vatican, which, though carried
out by Giulio Romano, was designed by Baphael. AVe
concede to Sanzio more simplicity of arrangement, a
more measured distribution, more studied outline,
greater elegance in figures and drapery. But Titian
16
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TILCES. [Chap. I.
is second to none in fancy and appropriate action,
whilst lie is more naturally true and convincing by
reason of his colour and massive balance of light and
shade. Of this last quality we have evidence in the
copy at the Uffizi, which has long been considered a
sketch by Titian himself, — a copy which, in spite of
its imperfections and hasty execution, still preserves
the tints as well as the lights and shades of the
original picture.''"
We should think this canvas a copy, not alone
because it is drawn and painted without the mastery
of Titian, but because its details are not those of a
preliminary sketch, and because it comprises a part
only of Titian's composition. So great a master
would never have thrust back the prominent figures
of the general and his page to the edge of the canvas,
nor confined himself to the indication of the trumpeter
and drummers, and leading files of the Venetian
array. He would have given to his sketch the grand
lines w^hich distinguish Fontana's print. A copyist,
without feeling for the laws of composition, might,
arui probably did mutilate the master's design for
some purpose of his own. The same mutilation and
* Uffizi, No. 609. Small sketcli
on canyas, four feet square, omit-
ting no less than one entire figure
of a knight on hoi'seback, and
eight others in rear of it ; all
forming part of the Venetian
troop on the right side of Titian's
composition, as shown in Fon-
tana's print. We may note some
of the coloui's in the Uffizi co])j.
The page is in red ; the groom, in
yellow, leads a white horse. The
standard of the troops in the
middle ground is striped in red
and white. The trumpeter wears
a red dress. The horse of the
foremost rider on the bridge is
white ; the banner of the empire
white, embroidered with a black
eagle.
Chap. I.]
DRAWINGS OF THE BATTLE.
17
similar defects mark a drawino; wliicli the late Dr.
Wellesley, Principal of New Inu Hall at Oxford,
fondly assigned to Titian ; and we might conclude
that drawing and canvas were the labour of one pair
of hands, but that some details, such as a Stradiot in
the left side of the former, arc not to be found in the
latter."-' There is but one artist in the pictorial
annals of Venice whose name is mentioned in con-
nection with a copy of the "Battle of Cadore." Ridolfi
states that Leonardo Corona, who studied the works
of all the great Venetians, copied the masterpiece in
the Hall of Great Council, and sold it tg his colleague,
Aliense, who sent it to Verona, where it passed for an
original, t It would be rash to infer that this copy
was used for the production of Fontana's print. We
arc unfortunately ignorant of every detail respecting
the life of an engraver of whom but one plate is
known to exist.
Italian historians were fond of attributino: the
victory of Cadore to Giorgio Cornaro, the provveditore,
whom the Venetian government appointed to control
Alviano in the exercise of supreme command. Titian
appears to have given pictorial expression to this feel-
ing, which Ridolfi refused to countenance.^ Not only
* This drawing passed through,
the Lawrence and Esdailo Col-
lections, and now belongs to Mr.
Gilbert, who purchased it at Dr.
Wellesley's sale, together with a
study for the horse and falling
rider, assigned to Titian, but ob-
Tiously by some other draughts-
man. Compare Gilbert's Cadore,
VOL. II.
pp. 185, ISG.
t Eidolfi, Marav. ii. p. 289,
The same author, however, af-
firms: "Di questa istoria molte
copio si sono vedute, ma scarsa-
meute rappresentano la bellezza
dell' originale." (Marav. i. 215.)
X Ridolfi, Mar. i. 225.
/
18
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ciixp. I.
the banner is that of Cornaro, but the general,
whose laces the page is t}dng in the foreground of the
battle, is another man than Alviano. Some years
after this brave soldier died, a monument was erected
to bis memory in the church of San Stefano at Venice,
and the quaint ugliness of his ungainly form was thus
handed down to posterity. In stature short and stout,
his head was disfigured by unpleasant pinguiclity, his
nose was mutilated by scars, his hair was long and
parted in the middle, falling in limp masses over the
shoulders, and his chin and lip Avere free from every
trace of beard. In Titian's battle the general is bearded,
and his head is covered with a short shock of curly
bair. His person is tall and stately, his features
handsome and manly, all distinctly pointing to Giorgio
Cornaro, of whom a contemporary panegyrist said : —
" Quam enim decora forma fuit ; quanta oris maj es-
tate ! qua totius corporis pulchritudine/' *
Nor is it to be forgotten that a portrait of Titian's
best time exists which bears some trace of a likeness
to the general of " the battle," and on the back of the
canvas are the words : — " Georgius Cornelius frater
Catterinse Cipri et Hierlisalem Reginte." Titian
had numerous opportunities of meeting Giorgio
Cornaro, who lived till 1527, and played an important
part in Venetian politics. His form was conspicuous
in the canvas which Titian first painted for the Hall
of Great Council. It is probable that the portrait, to
* " CaroLL Cappellii in funere
Georgii Cornelii Catharinre Cypri
Eegince fratris Oratio ; " in Au-
gustini Yalerii opusculum, &c.,
4to, Patav. 1719, p. 223.
Chap. I.] GIOEGIO COENAEO. 19
which allusion has been made, was executed aliout
1522, when Cornaro was sixty-eight years old, but
that the painter reproduced the features of an earlier
time,'" for which he had ample facility from his long
and untiring practice.
AVe cannot otherwise explain the conflicting evidence
of style, which shows that the portrait was executed
about 1522, of an age which proves that the man de-
picted is not more than fifty years old ; of an inscrip-
tion which tells that the person portrayed is Giorgio
Cornaro. Titian never j^roduccd a finer picture than
that which now adorns the gallery of Castle Howard.
Cornaro stands as large as life at a window, and liis
frame is seen to the hips. His head, three-quarters to
the right, is raised in a quick and natural way, and
his fine manly features are enframed in short chestnut
hair, and a well-trimmed beard of the same colour.
On his o;loved left hand a falcon Avithout a hood is
resting, of which he is grasping the breast. He looks
at the bird, which is still chained to his finger, as if
preparing to fly it ; a sword hangs to his waist, which
is bound with a crimson sash ; a fur collar falls over a
brown hunting coat, and a large white liver-spotted
hound shows his head above the parapet. There is no
.sign of a touch in this beautiful work, which is modelled
witii all the richness of tone and smoothness of surface
* Comaro's panegj'rist says he
succeeded his father at the age
of twenty-five. Marco Cornaro,
Giprgio's father, was buried on
the Gth of September, 1479. See
Caroli Cappellii Oratio, n. s. p.
ni8, and I'etri Contareni in Fu-
nere, Marci Cornelii Oratio, lb
p. 202.
c 2
20
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
which distinguish polished flesh. The attitude is
natural, the complexion is warm and embrowned by
sun ; and every part is blended with the utmost
finish without producing want of flexibility.'''
Tradition points to another general who commanded
in the Cadorine war as one of Titian's sitters, and
Girolamo Savorgnano, who had this honour, deserved
to be portrayed by so great a master, if only for the
grandeur of the figure which he presents in the annals
of Venetian diplomacy and war. Yet a portrait of
" Savorgnano," which adorns the Bankes Collection, is
not certainly that of Girolamo, who died in Friuli on the
30th of March, 1529 ; and were it even so, can hardly
have been executed as early as 1537. It represents a
man of sixty, in a dark green pelisse, with a fur collar
and sleeves, and a red stole falling across the breast
from the left shoulder. The right hand grasps the
stole, whilst the left rests on a table and lightly holds
a glove. The whole form, detached in gloomy warmth
on a licrht brown OTound, is striking for the grave
dignity of its bearing and the energy of its attitude
and expression. The face is open, its shape regular,
the features are well cut, and fairly set ofi" by short
curly hair, and a close trimmed beard. It is hard to
believe that Titian should have painted a likeness of
* This beautiful piece lias been
transferred to a new canvas, on
wbich the old inscription above
given was copied. There are
traces of stippling here and there
in the flesh. On the brown back-
ground we read, " Titiax7S F."
A copy of this picture was for-
merly owned by Signer Talentino
Benfatto of Venice. See the
addenda to Zanotto's Guida of
1863. The original at Castle
Howard was engraved, 1811, by
Skelton.
Chap. I.]
GIEOLAATO SAVORGXANO.
21
this boldness, — bold in touch and modellinir — bold in
glance, and thoroughly natural in attitude ; without
the presence of a model. Whilst if he produced this
work, — as we should think he did — after 1537, and
meant to depict Girolamo Savorgnano, he must have
trusted to memory or to some earlier likeness.*
If we judge of the size of the "Battle of Cadore" by
that of the Hall in which it was placed, we must con-
clude that it was a picture of great compass, with the
principal figures as large as life. If in November,
1537, Titian was at work in the palace, as Aretino
assertSjtit is not probable that he ceased to work there
before the folio winnj Midsummer. But in .June and
during the latter half of the year he had time to
attend to commissions from other patrons besides the
angry and obdurate signors of Venice. Having sent
the first emperor — Augustus — in April, 1537, to
Mantua, he had been able to finish three more in the
middle of the following September ; but then he
paused and surrendered every hour of his time to the
Council of Ten. J In June, 1538, he found leisure to
do his friend San so vino a service. The Cadorines
had been quarrelling with the municipality of Belluno
as to boundaries, and the Doge, to whom they had
appealed, had refused to delivei' judgment Ijcfore
seeing a sketch of the ground. At Titian's request
* This also is a half-length, of
lifo size, on canvas, not without
injury from wear and re-touching.
It once belonged to the Mares-
calchi Collection at Bologna.
t See antea, p. 9.
X See antea, i. pp. 422 and f^,^
and two letters of Benedetto
Agnello to the Duke of J»Iantua,
in Appendix.
22
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
the Syndic of Caclore and Girolamo Ciani took
San so vino throiigli the woods of the Toanella, which
skirted the BeUimese limits, and his sketch of the
country was sent to Venice and decided the case in
favour of Cadore.*
About the same time Titian painted the hkeness —
still preserved in the Berlin Museum — of Giovanni
Moro, a Avell-known captain in the Venetian fleet,
who was appointed to a high command in the Duke
of Urbino's armada. Moro had made his name illus-
trious in the wars of Venice with the Duke of Fcrrara.
He had been envoy to Charles the Fifth, and " Prov-
veditore Generale " in Candia. He was now on the
eve of returning to the island, where he was killed in
a riot in 1539. Titian has preserved to us the
features of a soldier who appears in long hair and
beard, with a red scarf across his arm and the baton
of his rank in his hand. The channelled breast-plate
and scolloped shoulder-pieces are cleverly rendered ;
but time has done some injury to the surfaces, which
are in part abraded and scaled away or injured by
restoring.!
* Ciani, Storia, u. s., ii. 255-6.
t This canvas, No. 161 in the
Berlin Museum, is 2 ft. 7| in.
high, by 2 ft. 2 in. The figure is
bareheaded, and seen to the belt.
As late as 1873 the surface of the
picture was such as to suggest
grave doubts as to the authorship
of Titian ; the flesh tints being
crude and uniform, the beard and
hair repainted, and the breast
and shoulders lost in darkness.
In white letters, on a very dark
gi'ound, the following modern
inscription was to be read: —
lOAIWES MAVRVS
GENERALIS MARIS
IMPERATOR
MDXXXVIII.
In 1874 the canvas was regene-
rated by Pettenkofer's process,
when much of the richness of the
original tones reappeared. The
Chap. I.]
"THE GR.\:S"D TUEK."
23
In August, 1538, Federico Gonzaga ^vrote to
Benedetto Agnello, his agent at Venice, that he
intended to visit his marquisate of Montferrat, and
for that purpose would proceed to Casale in the
following September. It was his wish that Titian
should be informed of this and instructed to come
with the remaining " Emperors " to ]\lantua. If, he
added, Titian was not ready, he should still be asked
to come, on the understaudiuii; that the " Ca3sars "
should be sent at least for the Duke's return. Titian
promised Agnello to devote all his time to his duty ;
but in view of further commissions said he had made
a portrait of the Grand Turk from a medal, and he
would repeat it in proper form if His Excellency
pleased. Federico replied that he would take all that
Titian sent him, the "Emperors" first, the "Grand
Turk" after. The latter, Agnello wrote on the 18th
of September, was already finished ; the " Emperors "
would be delayed because the Duke of Urbino had
asked Titian to accompany him to Pesaro.* Francesco
Maria, it is well to recall, had fallen ill in the midst
of his warlike preparations, and had hoped to recover
by changing his residence from Venice to Pesaro.
The poison which killed him worked with no less
effect at Pesaro than at Venice, and on the 20th of
inscription was thon found to
have been written over the old
one, the letters of which wore in
black. Abraded parts were left
as they were. Holes made by
scaling in the forehead, back-
ground, and armour, were re-
paired. The hands still remain
unsatisfactory. For details of
Moro's career, Cicogna, Isc. Yen.
vi. 590.
* See the correspondence of the
Duke of Mantua and his agents in
Appendix.
24
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
October the Duke of Urbino died after weeks of
protracted agony. About two months later, on the
28tli of December, the Doge, Andrea Gritti, died also,
having attained to the great age of 83. He was
succeeded on the 8th of January, 1539, by Pietro
Lando, for whom Titian at once painted a portrait for
the Hall of Great Council.* It is with regret that
we look back to the annals of a time so fruitful in
great and important creations of Titian's brush. AVe
saw that none, or at the best but one, of the "Caesars"
was preserved. The portraits of the great Soliman,
one of which belonged to the Duke of Urbino, and
that of the Doge Lando, are all lost.t
Amono;st the cares with which Titian was sur-
rounded at this period we should notice not only
those caused by the displeasure of the Venetian
government, and the rivalry of Pordenone, but others
more petty, but not less irksome. Though his claims
on the Emperor's bounty had been satisfied by an
assignment of dues on the Neapolitan treasury, and
the Duke of Mantua had given him the benefice of
Medole, he had not yet received any money from the
first, and the second had been burdened with an
annuity. In April, 1537, Titian asked the Duke to
relieve him of this annuity, and in September, 1539,
he complained that the annuitant pestered him with
tte proofs in Lorenzi
For this portrait Titian
as usual twenty-five
* See
(p. 259).
received
ducats.
t The former is noted in the
Mantuan inventory of 1627 : Ei-
tratto di SeHm re dei Turchi.
Darco. Pitt. Mant. ii. p. 167. The
original from which it was done
Vasari saw in the collection of
the Roveres' at Urbino. It has
also been lost. (See Vas. xiii. 32.)
Chap. I.] PEOPOSED JOUENEY TO FLOEEXCE. 25
letters which prevented him from working."^' But
the Duke had not done anything for his relief, and
the plague of letu^^'s continued. Conversely Titian
bombarded the treasury of Naples with letters, making
demands similar to those which he found distressing:
to himself " I have no money," said Titian to
Agnello, "to pay this annuitant." "We have no
money to send to Titian," was the reply of the
Neapolitans. Yet Titian left no stone unturned to
soften the rigour of the Imperial agents, and Aretino,
in his name, moved " Heaven and earth " for months
to the same purpose. In a characteristic epistle he
promised Ottaviano de' Medici, in July, lo31), that
Titian should go over to Florence and 2)aint the like-
nesses of himself, the Duke and Duchess, and the
Princess Mary, if he would only use his interest in
the painter's favour.t
Writintc on the followinfr dav to Leone Aretino at
Rome, he complained of tlu; lukcwarmness of the
Pope, who delayed to send for Titian, wliose genius
was destined to leave "eternal memories of the
princes of the house of Farnese." | All in vain.
Frequently as Titian had been asked to Rome, he had
always refused. Now that Aretino wanted him to be
asked, no one would attend to his wishes. There
was something too in the agency of Titian's applica-
tions which possil)ly ensured their failure. Aretino
• Soo Appendix, vol. i., and
Appendix to this volume.
t Aretino to Ottaviano de' Mo-
tero di M. 1*. Arct", ii. 84\ & Ho.
X Aretino to Leone Aretino,
Venice, July 11, 1539, in Lottero
dici, Venice, July 10, lo39, in Let- i di M. P. A., ii. p. SG.
26 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
was in trouble. His malignant tongue and pen had
offended the Duke of Mantua and other potent person-
ages, and satirists, almost equal to himself in shame-
less \irulence, were lampooning him without mercy.
To the sonnets of Berni there came superadded
those of Franco of Benevento, whose hand never
tired till he had written more than five hundred
couplets. It was the more grievous for "the scourge"
that he should be thus attacked, because Franco was
a parasite of his own. He had taken the man in, a
stranger, shoeless and starving, had clothed, fed, and
lodged him, and used his services as a secretary.
Titian too had recommended him to Benedetto
Agnello, and now the venomous serpent turned and
bit his benefactors.* One day he met Titian in the
street and thrust his cap into his pocket to avoid
doffing it when the painter passed ; t then he wrote a
sonnet in which he praised Titian for painting Aretino,
and thus immortalizing the concentrated infamy of an
entu'e age : —
" Datevi buona voglia, Tiziano,
E deir aver ritratto 1' Aretino
Pentir non vi deggiate ....
Non manco lodi ve ne saran date
Di quanta avete in simile soggetto :
Anzi d' assai piu, quanto rinchiuso aggiate
Nello spacio d'un piccolo quadretto
Tutta I'infamia della nostra etate." J
Aretino replied to these lampoons with abusive
letters, which he printed, and which obtained a much
* Aretino to Lodovico Dolce,
Yenice, Oct. 7, 1539, in Letteie
di M. P. Ai-etino, ii. 98, 99.
t Ibid.
X Mazuchelli, Vita di P. Are-
tino, «. s., p. 141.
.Chap. I.]
POMPOXIO GETS A CAXONEY.
wider circulation than the manuscript effusions of his
adversaries ; and Titian recouped his losses at Medole
and Naples under the favour of the Marquis del Vasto.
Davalos had been sent to Venice to attend the
installation of the Doge Pietro Lando.* He had been
with Titian, and commissioned him to paint a picture
of himself in the act of addressins; his soldiers. Titian
then confided his grievances to the patron whose
recent appointment to the government of Milan had
made him quite a power in the Italian states, and
Davalos promised every sort of support. In October,
1539, Don Lope de Soria, who had just been super-
seded in the office of ambassador to Charles the Fifth
at Venice, Ijy Don Diego de Mendozza, passed through
Milan, and wrote to Titian to ask him to visit the
marquis and his wife, and to tell him that his son
Pomponio had been invested with a new canonry.t
At the same time Antonio Anselmi, a friend of Bembo,
whose promotion to a cardinal's hat had just been
made, wrote to his friend Agostino Lando, at Bembo's
instigation, to recommend him to Titian. Agostino, a
relative of the Doge, agent and afterwards murderer
of Pier' Luigi Farnese of Parma, sat to the painter ;
and Aretino, when thanking the nobleman for a
present of anchovies and fruit in November, 1539,
was able to congratulate him on Titian's success in
* Aretino to the Emperor,
Venice, Dec. 25, 1539, Lettere di
M. P. A. ii. 108^
t Liruti, Memorie dei letterati
del Friuli, ii. p. 288, in Ticozzi,
Yecelli, note to p. 113; and Are-
tino to Don Lope di Soria, Venice,
Feb. 1, 1540, in Lcttore di M. P.
Aretino, ii. 11G\ Eidolfi (i. 238)
errs in affirming that the cauonry
was given by Charles V.
28
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. L^'h^p. I.
portraying liis features.* Bembo, on his part, asked
Titian for another likeness, and writing to Girolamo
Quirini at the close of May, 1540, begged him to
thank the master for his second portrait, which he had
meant to pay for, but was willing to accept as a
present, seeing that he would be able to repay the
kindness by some appropriate favour. t Finally, the
Venetian government having lost the services of
Pordenone, who had died suddenly at Ferrara, in
December, 1538, relented of its severity and re-
instated Titian in his broker's patent on the 28th of
August, 1539. J
Titian's likeness of Bembo as a cardinal has been
preserved. It now adorns one of the rooms of the
Barberini Palace at Eome, and represents the Venetian
statesman in a grand and noble fashion. The gaunt
and bony head is lively and energetic, the flesh warm
and flushed. Though powerful in form, it represents
an aged man ; but one who lightly bears the seventy
years that have passed over his features. The glance
is animated, and the eyes look firmly out from a face
turned three-quarters to the left. The right hand,
half pointing, half gesticulating, appears to enforce
the words that — we might think — had just issued
* Antonio Anselmi to Agostino
Landi at Venice, Padua, April 27,
1539 ; and the same to the same,
Padua, May 2, 15:59, in Eonchini,
DeUo Eelazioni di Tiziano coi
Farnesi, 4°, Modena, 1864, note
top. 1. ; also Aretino to Agostino
Landi, Venice, Nov, 15, 1539, in
Lettere di AI. P. Aretino, ii. 104.
The portrait of Landi "was taken
to !Milan, and is not now to be
traced. See also Eonchini's Let-
tere di TJomini illustri, u. s., i.
127, 133.
t Bembo to Girolamo Quirini,
Eome, May 30, 1540, in P. Bembo,
Opere, vol. vi. p. 316.
X Lorenzi, u. s., p. 276.
Chap. I.] THE "ANGEL AND TOBIT." 29
from the lips. The high forehead is partly concealed
by the red hat, the white beard square-trimmed, and
the white collar and sleeve relieved on the red silk of
the cardinal's habit. Notwithstanding a dark and
cold background, injured by restoring, the figure
stands out fairly before us, and modern daubs on the
forehead and face hardly prevent us from observing
the quick sway of the brush as it laid in the parts,
and modelled them in a deep bed of pigment*
But Titian's energy and great creative power are not
fairly illustrated by this — the sole surviving relic of
numerous pictures noted by the letter-writers of the
time. Several masterpieces, of which contemporary
annalists say little or nothing, are worthy of more
prolonged attention ; and amongst these we should
particularly note the " Angel and Tobit " of San
Marciliano at Venice, and the " Presentation in the
Temple," at the Venice Academy.
In the "Angel and Tobit" of San Marciliano, the art
which Titian displays is equal to that which excited
the envy of Pordenone in the Almsgiver of San
Giovanni Elemosinario. The grace and liveliness of
the angel, Avho steps forward like a Roman Victory,
borne by his green-toned wings, are enhanced by the
gorgeousness of a red tunic bound by a girdle to his
hips, and falling in beautiful folds to the ground.
The right arm outstretched, the hand with a vase are
fine. It would seem as if the vase was the subject of
* This picture, No. 35 in the
2nd. Eoom, is on canvas; the
^gure of life size, seen to the
elbows. It is mentioned by Ya-
sari, xiii. p. 43.
30
TITIAN": HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.u-. L
Tobit's thoughts, as he walks and looks up whilst he
puts forth his right hand in wondering awe. The warm
brown dress, the white sleeve and yellow leggings
harmonize with the reds of the angel's tunic, the
green of his wings, and the blues of the sky behind.
No figures Avere ever more beautifully coupled. One
sees that, though moving from right to left towards
the foreground, they are on the point of turning to
their right, the inception of this movement being
indicated in part by themselves, in part by the white
spotted dog in front of them, who sidles very
markedly to the left. St. John the Baptist kneels at
the foot of a tree with a cross resting against his
shoulder. His glance is directed to the heavens,
where a ray of sun pierces the clouds, to descend and
illumine a beautiful expanse of landscape. To form
of a masculine and powerful type Titian adds appro-
priate expression and gesture, and action and motion
of grand boldness and freedom. The bed of pigment
is heavy and thick, but of malleable stuff. Largo
flakes of light are pitted against equally large masses
of gloom, and blended with them in masterly fusion.
The shadow is thrown with broad sweeps of a brush
of stiff bristle and solid size, and it seems as if no
time had been lost in subtle glazino-s, when effect
could be won by direct but moderate and temperate
strokes.*
* This canvas is engraved in
the Collections of Patina and
Lovisa. Vasari's assertion that
it was executed before 1508 is
clearly erroneous. The figures
are as large as life, and the canvas
now hangs on its old altar to the '
left of the church portal, after
If
ill \f$, 'H^.
.3
a
Oh
H
H
!^-
O
H
-rj
H
w
PS
a
Chap. I.] " PEESENTATION IN THE TE^IPLE."
31
The "PresentatioD in the Temple," originally designed
for the brotherhood of Santa Maria della Carita, covered
the whole side of a room in the so-called " Albergo,"
now used for the exhibition of works of the old
masters at Venice. In this room, which is contiguous
to the modern hall in which Titian's " Assunta " is
displayed, there were two doors for which allowance
was made in Titian's canvas ; and twenty-five feet —
the lenc^th of the wall — is now the leno-th of the
picture. When this vast canvas was removed from
its place, the gaps of the doors were filled in with
new linen, and painted up to the tone of the original,
giving rise to the quaint deformity of a simulated
opening in the flank of the steps leading up to the
Temple, and a production of the figures in the left
foreground — a boy, a senator giving alms, a beggar
woman and two nobles. Strips of new stufi" were
sewn on above and below, and in addition to various
patches of restoring, the whole was toned up, or
" tuned " to the great detriment of the picture. Not-
withstanding these drawbacks and in spite of the
fact that the light is no longer that which the painter
contemplated, the genius of Titian triumphs over all
difficulties, and the "Presentation in the Temple " is
the finest and most complete creation of Venetian
art, since the " Peter Martyr " and the " Madonna di
Casa" Pesaro.
having been a long time in the
sacristy. Compare Yas. xiii. 21 ;
Sansovino, Yen. Desc. 146 ; Bos-
chini, Miniere S. di Canarregio,
p. 53; Zanetti, Tit. Yen. 146.
Old varnish and the effects of
time contribute to give a dark
aspect to this piece. An old copy
of it is (No. 234) in the Dresden
Museum.
32 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I.
It was not to be expected that Titian should go
deeper into the period from which he derived his
gospel subject than other artists of his time. An
ardent admirer of his genius has noticed the propriety
with which he adorned a background with a portico
of Corinthian pillars, because Herod's palace was
decorated with a similar appendage. He might with
equal truth have justified the country of Bethlehem
transformed into Cadorine hills, Venice substituted
for Jerusalem, and Pharisees replaced by Venetian
senators. It was in the nature of Titian to represent
a subject like this as a domestic pageant of his own
time, and seen in this light, it is exceedingly touching
and surprisingly beautiful. Mary in a dress of celestial
blue ascends the steps of the temple in a halo of
radiance. She pauses on the first landing place, and
o^athers her skirts, to ascend to the second. The flioht
is in profile before us. At the top of it the high
priest in Jewish garments, yellow tunic, blue under-
coat and sleeves and white robe, looks down at the
girl with serene and kindly gravity, a priest in
cardinal's robes at his side, a menial in black behind
him, and a young acolyte in red and yellow holding
the book of prayer. At the bottom, there are people
looking up, some of them leaning on the edge of the
steps, others about to ascend, — Anna, with a matron
in company ; Joachim turning to address a friend.
Curious people press forward to witness the scene, and
a child baits a little dog with a cake. Behind and
to the left and with grave solemnity, some dignitaries
are moving. One in red robe of state with a black
Chap. I.] PALATIAL AECHITECTUEE. 33
velvet stole across his slioulder is supposed to repre-
sent Paolo de' Francesclii, at this time grand-chancellor
of Venice.* The noble in black to whom he speaks
is Lazzaro Crasso. Two senators follow, whilst a third
still further back gives alms to a poor mother with a
child in her arms. In front of the ojloom that lies on
the profile of steps an old Avoman sits with a basket
of eggs and a couple of fowls at her feet, her head and
frame swathed in a white hood, which carries the
light of the picture into the foreground. In a corner
to the right an antique torso receives a reflex of the
light that darts more fully on the hag close by. It
seems to be the orif^inal model of the soldiers that
rode in the battle of Cadore, or the Emperors that
hung in the halls of the palace of Mantua. t
Uniting the majestic lines of a composition perfect
in the balance of its masses with an effect unsurpassed
in its contrasts of light and shade, the genius of the
master has laid the scene in palatial architecture of
grand simplicity. On one side a house and colonnade
on square pillars, with a slender pyramid behind it,
on the other a palace and portico of coloured marbles
in front of an edifice richly patterned in diapered
bricks. From the windows and balconies the
spectators look do^^■n upon the ceremony or con-
verse with the groups below. With instinctive tact
* There was a portrait of the
Chancellor, Paolo de' Franceschi,
in the Vidman Collection, which
Eidolfi (Maiav. i. 2G2) assigned
to Titian.
VOL. II.
t This torso filled the unoc-
cupied corner of the picture to the
right of the door, the framework
of which broke through the base
of the picture.
34 ■ TITIAX : HIS LIPE AND TIMES. [CuAr. I.
the whole of these are kept in focus by appropriate
gradations of light, which enable Titian to give the
highest prominence to the Virgin, though she is neces-
sarily smaller than any other person present. The
brio-ht radiance round her fades as it recedes to the
more remote groups in the picture, the forms of which
are cast into deeper gloom in proportion as they are
more distant from the halo. The senator who gives
alms is darkly seen under the shade of the colonnade,
from which he seems to have emerged. In every one
of these gradations the heads preserve the portrait
character peculiar to Titian, yet each of the figures
is varied as to sex, age, and condition ; each in his
sphere has a decided type, and all are diverse in form,
in movement, and gesture. To the monumental
dignity of the groups and architecture the distance
perfectly corresponds. We admire the wonderful
expressiveness of the painter's mountain lines. The
boulder to the left, with its scanty vegetation and
sparse trees, rises darkly behind the jiyramid. A low
hummock rests dimly in rear, whilst a gleam flits over
remoter crags, crested with ruins of castles ; and the
dark heath of the hill beyond — with the smoke issuing
from a moss-fire — relieves the blue cones of dolomites
that are wreathed as it were in the mist which curls
into and mingles with the clouded sky. The, splendid
contrast of palaces and Alps tells of the master who
was born at Cadore, yet lived at Venice.
The harmony of the colours is so true and ringing,
and the chords are so subtle, that the e3^e takes in the
scene as if it were one of natural richness, unconscious
Chap. I.j BELLIXI TO PAUL VERONESE.
35
•of the means by which that richness is attained.
Ideals of form created by combinations of perfect
shapes and outlines with select pro[)ortions, may strike
us in the Greeks and Florentines. Here the picture
is built u[) ill colours, the landscape is not a syml)ol,
but scenic ; and the men and ])alaces and hills are
■seen livinf; or life-like in sun and shade and air. In
this gorgeous yet masculine and robust realism Titian
.shows his gi'eat originality, and claims to be the
noblest representative of the \'enctian school of
•colour.'"
Ifardly a century has ex] tired since Venetian })aint-
ing rose out of the slough of liyzantine tradition, yet
now it stands in its zenith. Ivei-ruitiuo- its streiifrth
from Jarupo Delliiii, who lirought the laws of per-
spective from Tuscany, the scliools of tlie Rinlto
expand witli help from Paduau sources, and master
the antiipie as taught by Donatello ;iiid ^^antegna.
They found the monumentjd but realistic style which
Oentile Bellini developi'(l in his "Procession of the.
* The measure of this canvas,
No. 487, at thn Vcuice Acadeni}',
is m. 3.7o high by 7.80, but of
tho height 10 cent, above and
10 below are now. Tho person
who mado these and other addi-
tions, as well as restorations noted
in tho text, was a painter of this
century, named Sobastiano Siinti.
(Zanotto, Pinac. Yenot.) Besides
tho patches described above, thero
are damaging retouches in tho
landscaj)o and skj*, in a figure at
a window to the left, in figures on
tho balcony, and a soldier holding
a halbert. Tho face of .St. Anna,
and tho dress of tho old woman
in tho foreground, are both new.
Zanotti (Pitt. Yen. p. loo) stiites
that tho pirfuro was cleaned and
tho sky injured in his time (ISth
century) ; compare Vas. xiii. p.
2!> ; Sansovino, Yon. desc. p. 20(5 ;
Piidolfi, Mar. i. 198; and Boschini,
Minicre, S. di D. Duro. p. .'jO.
Engi-aved in Lovisa ; photograph
by Naya.
36 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. I,
Eelic/' and C'arpaccio displayed in liis " Ursula Legend."^
They seize and acquire tlie secrets of colour by means
of Antonello ; and their chief masters, Giovanni
Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian, adding a story to the
pictorial edifice, bring it at last to that perfection
which we witness in the '' Presentation in the Temple."
Looking back a hundred years, we find Jacopo Bellini's
conception of this subject altogether monumental.
The long flight of steps, the portico of the temple^^
Mary on the first lauding, her parents behind her, a
castellated mansion in the distance, are all to be found
in the sketch book of 1430. Titian inherits the
framework, and fills it in. He takes up and assimi-
lates what his predecessors have garnered. He goes
back to nature and the antique, and with a gTand
creative power sets his seal on Venetian art for ever.
AVhat Paris Bordone or Paul Veronese can do on the
lines which their master laid down is clear when we
look at the Doge and fisherman of the first and the
monumental palaces in the compositions of the latter.
In a later form of Titian's progress — that which marks
the ceiling pieces of San Spirito — we trace the source
of Tintoretto's darino;. All inherit somethino; from
Titian, but none are able to surpass him.
CIlAriEE II.
North-east of Venice. — Titian's IIouso in Biri Grande ; his Homo
Life ; his f'hilflien. — Portraits.— l)eath of the Duke of ^funtua. —
Portraits of Mondozza and ^lartinengo. — Charles the Tilth and
Titian at Milan ; the " AUocution," and the " Nativity."— Titian
receives a Pension on the Milan Treasury. — His quarrel •with the
Monks of San Spirito. — Carnival and the Company '>f tho Calza.
— Ai-etino sends for Vasari, who receives tinjdoymcnt at Venice.
— Portraits of Catherine Coraaro and Doge Lando — Portraits of
Titian by himself; of Titian and Zuccato ; of Titian and Laviuia.
— Votive Picture of the Doge.— The Strozzi, and Titian's likeness
of K. Strozzi'.s daughter. — Ceilings of San .Spirito. — "Descent of
the Holy Spirit." — Titian com])ared with Eaphacl and Michafil-
nngelo. — Visit to Cadore. — Alessandro Vitclli.
Foil many years subsequent l«.) tlic settlement of
Titian in Venice, the north-eastern limit of the city
was sparsely built over, and the [)lea.sure-seekers, mIio
rowed in their gondolas to the villas of ^lurano, issued
from the more intricate canals by 8ant' Apostoli, San
Canciano or San Giovanni c Paolo, to find themselves
skirt iiiLf a shore on which iiiven fields were varied with
patches of morass and garden enclosures. The long
and dreary wharves, which now go by the name of
the Fondamenta uuova, were not in existence, and
persons living beyond Santa jMaria de' Miracoli might
be looked upon as country residents rather than towns-
people. There was much to attract the lover of tlic
picturesque, in a, dwelling on the northern outskirts of
the city. There was the free bank of the lagoon, with
38 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II,
a view towards Murano ; at right angles to which
the hills of Ceneda rose beyond the lowland of
]\Iestre, and showed through their gaps the Alps of
Cadore. Here too w^as fresh vegetation, herbage, and
trees, something quite different from the palace fringe
of the grand canal, or the gloomy shade of the narrow
Avater-courses intersecting the populous quarters. The
house at San Samuele, which Titian inhabited from
1516 to 1530, was in the heart of Venice ; close to-
the grand canal, and equally distant from San Marco,
or the Eialto bridge.
In 1531, Titian left San Samuele to settle in the-
north-eastern fields, and thus exchano-ed the town for
a suburban residence. The lease of his new dwelling,
which still exists, is dated September the 1st, 1531, and
describes it as situate in the contrada or parish of
San Canciano, in Biri.'" When built, in 1527, by the
patrician, Alvise Polani, the Casa Grande, as it was
then called, stood somewhat back from the banks of
the lagoon, upon w^hicli its open gardens were laid
out. The basements were let to various tenants,
having; their own access to these holdino;s, whilst the
upper story, composed of one large apartment and
several smaller ones, was entered liy a terraced lodge,
to which there was an ascent from the garden by a
flight of steps. From the garden the view extended
to Murano and the hills of Ceneda, between which, on
favourable days, the peaks of Antelao, the tutelary
dolomite of the Cadorines, mioht be seen ag-ainst the
* See for this and the following facts, Cadorin, Dello Amore, pp. 83-7.
CuAP. II.] THE HOUSE IX BIEI GEAXDE. 39
morning sk}-. AVe can funcy sucli a garden and such
a house having peculiar attractions for Titian, who
woukl find there constant memories of his native Alps,
rural surroundings, and complete freedom from the
noise of traffic. After several renewals of his lease,
Titian hired the whole of the Casa Grande in 153G,
and in 1549 acfpiired the title to the land, which he
inclosed. It is not unlikely that }>revious to 1531
he was acquainted with the site, which had not been
much built on during the first years of the sixteenth
century. IJidolfi says that the distance in the picture
of " Peter ;^hlrtyr " represented the Ceneda hills as
seen from liiri, and Zanetti asserts that he saw the
roun<l leaved trees of the same picture in the court-
yard of Titian's house ; * but of this little that is
certain has been handed down. W c only know that
in course of years Titian greatly cmbellisho<l the place
and decorated the irarden on the water's edoe and
that it M'as the resort at times of \-ery good company.
On the 1st of August, 1540, Priscianese, a well known
Latinist, who came t<j Venice to publish a grammar,
was received by Titian, who asked Aretino and »San-
sovino, and Jacopo Nardi, the historian of Florence, to
meet him. A letter ajtpeudud l)y Priscianese to the
first edition of his grammar in 1540, thus describes
the author's impressions : —
* Zanotti, Pitt. Ton. p. IGO, stored; tho frescos of Corona, on
and Eidolti, Mur. i. '2\[). Zanotto
(Giiida di Yenozia of 18()3) says
in the Aihhinhi at tho close of his
vohimo : "Tho house of Titian
tho outer wall having been white-
washed, and the tree in the neigh-
bouring garden which figures in
tho 'i'eter Martyr,' having boo n
was quite lately barbarously re- uprooted."'
40 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
" I was invited on tlie day of the calends of August
to celebrate that sort of Bacchanalian feast Avhich, I
know not why, is called ferrare Agosto — though there
was much disputing about this in the evening — in a
pleasant garden belonging to Messer Tiziano Vecellio,
an excellent painter as every one knows, and a person
really fitted to season by his courtesies any distinguished
entertainment. There were assembled with the said
M. Tiziano, as like desires like, some of the most
celebrated characters that are now in this city, and of
ours chiefly M. Pietro Aretino, a new miracle of nature,
and next to him as great an imitator of nature with
the chisel as the master of the feast is with his pencil,
Messer Jacopo Tatti, called il Sansovino, and M. Jacopo
Nardi, and I ; so that I made the fourth amidst so
much wisdom. Here, before the tables were set out,
because the sun, in spite of the shade, still made his
heat much felt, we spent the time in looking at the
lively figures in the excellent pictures, of which the
house was full, and in discussing the real beauty and
charm of the garden with singular pleasure and note
of admiration of all of us. It is situated in the ex-
treme part of Venice, upon the sea, and from it one
sees the pretty little island of ]\Iurano, and other
beautiful places. This part of the sea, as soon as the
sun went do^^m, swarmed with gondolas, adorned with
beautiful women, and resounded with the varied har-
mony and music of voices and instruments, which till
midnight accompanied our delightful supper.
" But to return to the garden. It was so well laid
out and so beautiful, and consequently so much
Chap. II.] TITL^" .\ND THE HUMANISTS.
41
praised, that tlie resemblance wliicli it offered to the
delicious retreat of St. Agata, refreshed my memory
and my ^\'ish to see you ; and it was hard for me,
dearest friends, during the greater part of the evening
to realize whether I was at Eome or at Venice. In
the meanwhile came the hour for supper, which was
no less beautiful and well arranged than copious and
well provided. Besides the most delicate viands and
precious wines, there were all those pleasures and
amusements that are suited to the season, the guests
and the feast. Having just arrived at the fruit, your
letters came, and because in praising the Latin lan-
guage the Tuscan was reproved, Aretino became
exceedingly angry, and, if he had not been prevented,
he would have indited one of the most cruel invec-
tives in the world, calling out furiously for paper and
inkstand, though he did not fail to do a good deal in
words. Finally the supper ended most gaily." '■'
Whatever the relations of the humanists with
Titian may have been in the earlier part of the
century, it is clear that those which existed now were
cordial and honourable to the painter. The story of
* The letter, printed in full in
Ticozzi (Vecelli, note to p. 79), is
in Prisciancse's " Gramatica La-
tiua," of wliicli there is a copy in
the library of San Marco, with
the following imprint: " Stam-
pato in Yonezia per Bartolommeo
Zanctti nel mcso di Agosto
ilDXL." (Compare Boltrame's Ti-
ziano Vecellio, p. 64.) Aretino,
in a letter of Nov. 28, 1.340, to
Priscianese at Eome, gives him
news of the successful introduc-
tion of his grammar into some
Venetian schools. (Lettero di M.
P. A. ii. p. 173"^.) Jacopo Nardi,
who was one of Titian's guests,
dedicated his translation of Livy
to tho Marquis of Yasto, and
Aretino congratulates him on tho
publication of the book in 154.5.
See Lett, di M. P. A. i. p. 1S7 ;
and ii. p. 'J(J8.
42
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
Priscianese's visit to Titian recalls an episode which
illustrates a brilliant and in some respects celebrated
circle at Eome, It enables us to contrast the social
disposition of the greatest of Venetian masters with
the solitary habits of J\Iichaelangelo Buonarroti. Pris-
cianese's letter is addressed to Lodovico Becci and
Luigi del Eiccio, and introduces us to the company
immortalised in the Dialoo-ues of Donato Gianotti.
Del Pticcio, a poet who frec[uently corrected and often
transcribed Michaelangelo's sonnets, is walking in
company with Antonio Petrco, and meets Buonarroti
coming out of the Capitol in Donato' s company. The
latter appeals to the sculptor as a "Dantist " to settle
a dispute as to the time spent by Dante in visiting
the infernal regions and purgatory. A debate ensues
in which ]Michaelano;olo disclaims the knowledire re-
quired to answer so intricate a question, but shows,
his profound study of early Florentine literature.
The hour grows late, and del Eiccio proposes an
adjournment to dinner and a fresh meeting at supper
in the rooms of Priscianese. Michaelangelo asks, is
this the man whom he has heard commended for
writing in Tuscan the rules of Latin grammar ; and
del Eiccio answers in the affirmative, pressing the
sculptor to join the party. Buonarroti refuses, on the
plea that society is a burden involving a loss of power
which is better employed in creating original works.*
* See " De' Giorni che Dante
consumo nel cercare 1' Inferno,"
(Src. Dialogo di Messer Donato
Gianotti, republished at Florence
in 13j9; or extracts from the
Dialogue in Cesare Guasti's-
"Eime di M. Buonarroti," 4to,
Florence, 1863, pp. xxvii. xxxi.
Chap. II.]
IXSIDE BIRI GEAXDE.
r.i
The pletosant amenities of convi^-ial meetings Tvhieh
seem a pastime and a relief to Titian, are In-anded by
]\IicliaelanQ;elo as a mistake : and two artists of the
liiglicst genius at opposite ends of the peninsula are
found to stand at opposite poles of thought and of
feeling. In one respect Priscianese's letter excites
surprise. He ought, we should think, to have kuo\\'n
and settled the dispute as to the Bacchanals of Fcrrare
Ai^osto, which arc but the Christian substitute for the
Ferifc Augusta), celebrated since the fall of Pa2;anism
as the festival of the chains of St. Peter, in the church
of San Pietro in Vinculis, at Rome. Even now the
1st of August is familiar to the Romans as the feast
oi" '' Ferrarc Ai>osto." *
Those who should wi.sli to visit the house of Titian
in our day will find considerable, if not insurmount-
able difficulties in their wa}'. Some years ago it was
still shown to the public, and was minutely examined
by the authors of these pages, though even then it was
impossible to recognise the original distribution of the
apartments, subdivided and whitewashed for modern
l»ur])oses. Put now the garden-staircase and loggia
are thrown down, and the dwelling, which was once
isolated, is gradually disappearing into the dull uni-
formity of a row.+ ]\Ir. Gilbert, in his charming
• Compare Gregorovius' Oes-
chichto dcr Stadt Rom., 'Jnd ed.
8vo, Stuttgardt, 18^)9, vol. i., notes
to p. 206.
t On entering the door in the
loggia, to which there was, as
stated, an ascent by a flight of
steps from the garden, there was
another staircase to ascend, lead-
ing to the upper story first in-
habited by Titian. The principal
room, which was of very large
size, was subdivided at the north
end into several small chambers.
44
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
book on Cadore, has justly remarked " tliat after
giving a gondolier a deal of trouble to find that part
of the parish of San Canciano called Biri, and still
more that part of Biri called 'Campo Tiziano/ the
traveller will only discover a narrow court lined by
small new-looking houses on one side and closed at
the end bv a o-arden door bearinsf the number 5,526.
Let any one," adds Mr. Gilbert, " enter there who can.
But if he cannot, let him subsidise a friendly artisan
in one of the tall houses overlookino- the o-arden wall.
The view from this man's window will discover that
probably nothing that was familiar to the eye of the
great painter is now visible, excepting the stone cor-
nice, which, running round the house and continued
all the length of the row of houses, shows that it was.
formerly one habitation, the upper story of which
formed the roomy studio of Titian. Since his time,"
Mr. Gilbert continues, " the prospect that once ex-
tended far over sea and land has been hopelessly
blocked out by a pile of buildings, of which our
artisan's dwelling is one, erected between the garden
and the shore, if not covering great part of the garden
itself, which must, from the descriptions, have been
rather extensive, and once certainly reached to the
water's edo-e." *
There is no view towards Murano
except through, the lane called
Calle Colombina. The way to
Titian's house from the church of
San Canciano is through the
" Calle Widman " to the " Campo
Eotto."
* Cadore, or Titian's country,
u. s. pp. 3-5 ; and compare, for the
various leases of Titian's house,
Cadorin, Dello Amore, u. s. pp.
83, and foU^'. Mr. Gilbert re-
publishes Cadorin' s drawing of
Titian's house, as it existed in 1 833.
Chap. II.] EMB.YXKMEXT OF M^XICE. 45
The truth is, that many changes occnrrcd in Venice
after 1540, which contributed to alter the topography
of the north-eastern suburl.)s of the city ; and under
the influence of these changes, the waters of the higoous
receded from Titian's garden as the sea withdrew from
Pisa and Puavenna. The banks were originally cut up
into creeks of vaiying depths, and the approaches by
land were insecure, and these Qvih outweighed the
charms which struck Priscianese. Tn \r)-iC, Cristo-
foro Sabbadini, a friend of Sansovino, j)roposed to the
Senate to embank the whole of the land from Santa
Giustina in the south-east, to Sant' Alvise on the
north-west. But the scheme was so vast tliat it met
with serious opposition, and even when reduced !•>
more modest dimensions, and confined to the region
between San Francesco d.Ha \'iL,nia, and the Creek or
Sacco della Misericordia, it failed to find support.
Ill 1,388, however, the water baibfl', Oirolamo Pighetti,
suff^^ested to the Senate to undertake the embankment
from a point between Santa Giustina and San Fran-
cesco, to the church of Santa Catherina ; and this
project was approved by a pul)lic decree of Feljruary,
1589. Several sections of the quay were finished
before 159:^. Most of the creeks were filled uj> suc-
cessively. A roadway was made along the waterside.
Houses lined the roadway, and thus Titian's dwelling,
the chief attraction of which had been its garden and
its view, was gi-adually enclosed, and lost most of its
charms.* Yet it remained for many years a favourite
* M.S. records in the archives of Venice, collated in a MS. at
Cadoro by the Abate Cadorin.
4G
TITLiX: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Cil^p. IT.
haunt of artists. After its sale in 1581, by Pomponio,
the worthless son of a great father, it was let to
Francesco Bassano, who put an end to his life by
throwiu,^ himself from the upper windows in a fit of
frenzy.""' Leonardo Corona subsequently lived and
died there ;t and it is not without interest to note
that Bassano was the man who repainted the " Battle
of Cadore," on the ceiling of the Hall of Great Council
at Venice, and Corona who copied Titian's original
composition for that subject. ;j;
To the glimpse of Titian's leisure hours which
Priscianese affords, we add another from a letter
written by Aretino to the canon in posse, Pomponio
Vecelli. In 1530 Titian had taken his sister Orsa
to live with him. In the years that followed, his
children, Pomponio, Orazio, and Lavinia, grew apace,
and tlie letter which Aretino wrote on the 2Gth of
November, 1537, shows how these children shared the
luxury with wliich their father had surrounded liis
home. " Pomponio Monsignorino ! " Aretino says,
"your father Titian has given me the compliments
which you sent me. . . . and in order to show you
my libcralit}^, I send a thousand in return, on con-
dition that you give the least of them to your pretty
* July 2S, 1591. (See Yerci.
Pitt. Bassanese, 8vo, Ven. 1775,
p. 157.
t Eidolfi, Maraviglie, ii. 297.
+ Leonardo Corona also painted
the outer walls of the house in
fresco, but his work has disap-
peared. Inside the house there
were paintings on canvas, attri-
buted to Titian, which represented
a frieze of cupids. They were
whitewashed and then sold by
one of the tenants at the beginning
of the present century. See Ca-
dorin, Dello Amore, «. s. p. 32.
Chap. II.] TITIAX BUYS AN ORG.\A'. 47
little brother Orazio, wlio forgot to let mo know what
he thinks of the diftcrence between this world and the
next. ... It is time that you should return from the
country, where there is no school. ... So (.'ome home,
and now that you are twelve years old, you shall write
.some exercises in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin,
that will astonish the doctors, as the pictures astonish
the artists of Italy which are painted by Messer your
father. So no more, but keep yourself warm and in
good appetite."*
" Monsignorino," we shall see, became fonder of
pleasure than Greek, and instead of astonishing the
doctors, shocked an indulgent world by the vices of a
spendthrift cloaked by llie <lre.ss of a priest. But
Orazio was put by his father to the easel, and lived
with his sister Lavinia to lie a solace and support of
Titian's old age.
To the luxurious surroundinL:s which made the
painter's abode so lemarkablc, an organ was added in
Ajtril, l."^40. The "canny" Titian was not a man to
l)uy such an instrument with ready money ; he pro-
posed to Alessandro "da gli ( )rgani," to exchange the
instrument for a portrait of himself, and he punctually
peiformed his j»art of the contract.*^ Another portrait
of the time is that of Vincenzo Gapello, appointiMl in
ir)40 to high command in the \'enetian fleet, whose
figure, encased in burnished armour, loni: fidorned the
collection of the Ruzzini family.:]:
* Lcttcre di 'M. V. A. i. :!(».>.
+ 1.j4i), April 7, Iroui V<uic'o.
gani, Lettaro di M. P. A. ii. 1 10',
aud IlidolG, Murav. i. L'OJ.
Arotino to Alessandro da gli Or- ' ( 1540, Doc. L'5, Aretiuo to
48 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IL
In contrast with it, a likeness of Elizabeth Quirini
displayed the features of a plump and youthful dame,
sister to Girolamo, patriarch of Venice, dear to Bembo
for her brother's sake, and celebrated in the sonnets of
Giovanni della Casa. All that remains of that cele-
brated picture is the copper plate of Jos. Canale,
representing the lady in a rich dress of silks, and lace
with fair hair curled into short locks over a hin^h and
vaulted forehead.*
But the most honourable commission with wLich
Titian was entrusted in this year, was that of painting
Federico Gonzaga and his wife for Otto Henry, Count
Palatine of the Ehine and Duke of Bavaria. Federico
and the Count corresponded in Latin — that being the
only language which they both understood ; and we
still possess the letter which the Mantuan prince
addressed in June, 1540, to his German colleague.
" Meam et uxoris mepe imagines curabo fieri manu
Titiani pictoris Ex"" cjui Venetiis moratur, ut quani
simillimas eas habere possit." t
Molino, with a sonnet in praise
of Capello's portrait, Lett, di
M. P. A. ii. 190 ; Eidolfi, Marav.
i. 16L
* The portrait of Elizabeth
Quirini as engraved by Canale, is
turned f to the right. Her hair
is plaited and curled ; her silk
bodice laced over a very full
form ; the bosom covered with
lace in square patterns ; the puff
sleeves are of stuff trimmed with
silk. Eound the neck a collar of
pearls ; in the right hand a pair
of gloves. The plate is inscribed,
ELISAB. QVIE. A PEJECLAR. YIRI&
CELEBRATA, MDLX. Titiano Ve-
cellio da Cad. pinxit ; Jos. Canale,
del. and scul. The original was.
in the Collection of Giovanni
della Casa in 1544. (See Bembo to
Girolamo Quirini, Aug. 3, 1544,
in Bembo, Op. u. s. vi. p. 339 ; or
in Eottari's Eaccolta, 5, 213.)
Delia Casa's sonnet to it, begin-
ning, "Benvegg'io, Tiziano, in
forme nuove," is reprinted in,
Ticozzi's VecelLi, u. s. 143. See
also Vasari, xiii. 43.
t Copied from the original.
Chap. H.] DEATH OF FEDERICO GOXZAGA. 49
In November tlie Duke of Bavaria sent to remind
the Mantuan court of these portraits, but in the mean-
while Federico Gonzasja had been carried off, leavinor
the Mantuan possessions to his son Francesco.
It is impossible to look back upon the life of this
prince without perceiving that he did more than any
other to foster the arts and keep up the dignity of the
artists of his time. He wdll always be remembered
as the patron of Giulio Romano, Titian, and a host of
minor craftsmen. The galleries which he formed, the
palaces which he adorned, WTre second to none but
those of Florence and Rome. Nor is it to be credited
that Titian would ever have gained the protection of
Charles the Fifth but for his countenance and intro-
duction. Titian was grateful to him fur his steady
patronage and his generous recpiital of pictorial
labours, and when Federico was buried in the last
days of June, the painter went to Mantua to attend
the Duke's funeral and pay court to his successor."'
Hardly a year had elapsed since Don Diego de
JMcndozza succeeded Don Lope de Soria at Venice ;
yet he had already sat to Titian ; and Arctino, with
becoming zeal, had penned a sonnet in which he
praised the talent of the limner, and sang of the old
head on younj]: shoulders which distino:uished the hifrh-
dated Juno 17, in tho Archives of
Mantua, bj' Canon linighiroUi,
* In a letter dated Venice,
Nov. 20, to the Marquis of Vasto,
Aretino excuses Titian's delay in
Jinidhiug tho picture of tho " Al- [ zagas took place.
VOL. II. K
locution" (the Marquis addressini;
his soldiers), by his necessary ab-
sence at Mantua (Lett, di M. P.
A. ii. IGo''). But he does not say
■when Titian's visit to tho Gou
50
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
born Spaniard. Mendozza Avas by connection and
office a man of considerable influence. He followed
the fasliion set by bis master in patronizing Titian,
and was tlie first nobleman who received Vasari on his
arrival at Venice.* His wealth was impartially spent
on art and the fair sex ; and the lady of his devotion,
also portrayed by Titian, had the fortune to be sung
by Aretino in the lines :
" Furtivamente Titiano et amore
Presi a gara i pennelli, e le quadreUa
Duo essempi han' fatto cV una Donna bella
E sacrati al Mendozza aureo Signore
Ond' egli altier di si divin favore
Per seguir' cotal Dea, come sua Stella ;
Con cerimonie apaxtenenti a quella,
L' una in camera tien, 1' altro nel core."t
Vasari describes Titian's Mendozza as a full-length
of the greatest perfection.! But nothing is known of
it now, except that it shared the fate of its companion,
the lady of Mendozza's afiections. An attempt to
connect it with a full-length under Titian's name at
the Pitti deserves but little commendation, since if it
were proved that this imperfect production was once
a fine creation of Titian, it would also prove that
modern restorers can utterly destroy the masterpieces
of a great painter. §
* Yas. (i. 20) tells how Men-
dozza gave him 200 ducats for two
pictures painted from Michael
Angelo's cartoons.
t Lettere di M. P. Aret", u. s.,
ii. 314.
J Vas. xiii. 33.
§ Pitti, No. 215, canvas, full
length, of life size. The figure is
that of a man of forty, in black
silk vest, short cloak, and hose ;
the right hand on the hip, the
left holding the cloak. In the
background of the room is a bas-
relief. The head is totally re-
painted, the rest ill preserved.
Chap, n.]
THE ^LLLOCUTIOX.
jl
Having taken his usual autumnal trip to Cadore,
during which he appointed his kinsman Yincenzo
Vecelli to the office of a notary,^ Titian settled down
to work for the winter at Venice, and began labouring
seriously at the " Allocution " for the ^larcpiis of
Vasto. He had promised that picture early in the
previous year, Ijut had only made a large sketch of it
when the marquis wrote to complain of the painter's
delays. Aretino too had promised to write the life of
St. Catherine for tlie marchioness, but hnd not done it.
Excusing his procrastination on the score of private
disappointments, Aretino, in November, penned a
letter to Davalos, explaining that Titian's want of
punctuality was due to an unforeseen visit to ]\[antua.
But he had ah-eady made up for lost time by drawing
in Del Vasto and his soldiers with a figure of the boy
Francesco Ferrante holding his father's plumed helmet.
The likeness, he went on to say, was already admirable,
the armour dazzling in its reflections, the boy like
Phoebus at the side of jMars.t But all this was mere
word painting. The picture was not nearly so far
advanced as Aretino said ; and in December, whilst
sending, on his own account, the life of St. Catherine
and a bronze statue of the saint by Sansovino, "the
To 8ay that the execution recalls
Cesare Vecellio or Schiavone, is
equivalent to sayinp: that the
picture is not by Titian. Yet
some bits, such as the hand on
the hip and the bas-relief, are
almost good enough for Titian.
• Memoria di alcuno persone
da Tiziano create notai; MS.
Jacobi of Cadore. Yincenzo Ye-
celli was enrolled as a notary by
order of the Council of Cadore
on the 15th of September, 1540.
t Aretino to Del Yasto, Yenice,
Nov. 20, 1540, in Lett, di M. P.
Aretino, li. p. 1G5.
E 2
52
TITLiX: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. U.
Scourge" also despatched Titian's original sketch in
order to silence Del Vasto's complaints.* In February,
1541, we find Titian negotiating with Girolamo
Martinengo of Brescia, and promising to paint that
nobleman's portrait if he would but send a complete
suit of armour to fio;ure in the " Allocution. "t The
picture was doubtless finished soon after, for when
exhibited at Milan it made quite a sensation amongst
the crowds which Davalos invited to see it.| Its
despatch to Spain, and subsequent transfer to the
Alcazar of Madrid, remain unexplained ; unexplained,
likewise, the existence of a similar picture in the
Mantuan collection which passed into the gallery
formed at Whitehall by Charles the First. § Even the
sketch has disappeared, though it may still perhaps be
identified as that which Charles the First purchased
during his visit to Spain. || Unhappily the Spanish
edition of the picture which adorned the Alcazar in
the reign of Philip the Fourth (1621), was irretrievably
injured by fire and subjected to repainting ; and it is
only with considerable difiiculty that we discover a
touch of Titian's brush. Still the composition is clear.
* Aretino to Del Vasto, Venice,
Dec. 22, 1540 ; and the same to
Sansovino, Venice, January 13,
1541, in Lett, di M. P. Aret°, ii.
pp. 189—191.
t Aretino to Capitan' Palazzo,
Venice, Eeb. 15, 1541, in Lett, di
M. P. A. ii. 193\
X Marcolini to Aretino, in Let-
tere a M. P. A., vol. ii., extr. in
Ticozzi's Vecelli, p. 122.
§ Bathoe's Cat., u. s., p. 96.
The marquis here called Vaugona
may be Guido Eangone. The
canvas measured 7 ft. 4 in. by
5 ft. 5 in. higb.
II Bathoe's Catalogue registers
tbis as follows : " Done by Titian,
the picture of the Marquis Guasto,
containing five half figures so big
as the life which the king bought
out of an ' Almonedo,' " wbich
means, that the picture was pur-
chased at an auction.
Chap. H.]
CH.1ELES V. AT MILAX.
53
The marquis stands on a low plintli in burnislied and
damasked armour. Witli one hand he holds the baton,
with the other he gesticulates as he speaks to a
company of halberdiers on the ground to the right.
A red mantle falls from his shoulders, his cropped hair
and beard arc Ijlack. Near him his son Francesco
stands in a gi'cen coat and buskins, and liolds his
father's plumed helmet. But for the daubs on the
faces we might perhaps recognize Aretino, who is
descril^ed l)y a contemporary as a spectator under the
garb of a soldier.* The likeness of del Vasto and his
son is lost under copious rctouches.t Titian's reward
is said to have been an annual pension of fifty scudi
on one of his patron's estates.^ Titian had good
reasons for showing zeal in del \*asto's behalf, since it
was rumoured that the emperor was coming to revisit
the peninsuhi and inspect his possessions in Italy.
After ineffectual neijcjtiation, Charles the Fifth had
failed to obtain from the French king the cession of
his claims on IMilan. Xot even Burgundy and the
Netherlands which the Emperor tendered in exchange
ha<l been found sufficient to tempt Francis the First.
Ecpially vain had been the effort to settle religious
differences in the diet of llatisbon. Charles had spent
the spring and summer of 1541 in these negotiations,
and now he was bent on seeing; how matters stood in
Lombardy, resolved to meet the Pope, and prepare
• MarcoHni to Aretino, n. s.
t The picture is numbered 471
in the Mudiid Museum. It is on
canvas, m. 2.23 high, by l.GJ.
Sec Don Pedro do Madrazo's Ca-
talogue.
t Ridolfi, Marav. i. 223.
54
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
the fleet Avhicb, lie fondly hoped, would compensate
the loss of Pesth to the Turks by the capture of
Algiers. In August he was met in the name of Paul
the Third at Peschiera by Ottavio Farnese. Though
travelling without state, and as Giustiniani remarks,
concealing the majesty of the Empire under the shade
of a bad hat and threadbare clothes,* his reception at
Milan was regal, and he made a solemn entry into the
old capital of the Sforzas with Granvelle and Gaspar
Contarini at his side, and accompanied by Davalos,
the Prince of Salerno, Lope de Soria, Davila, and the
crowd of imperial captains, councillors, and secre-
taries.! Aretino had hoped that he would be asked
to join the solemnity, but having fallen into some
temporary disfavour, and being compelled, much
against his will, to remain at Venice, he had the more
reason for wishing that Titian should witness it, and
soothe in his intercourse with the Emperor and his
officials any difficulties that might have arisen.
Aretino judiciously heralded Titian's coming by
letters to some of Charles's generals and secretaries.
To the prince of Salerno, who was about to command
a division in Algiers, he wrote that Titian would ask
him to sit " for an outline of his figure." To Lope de
Soria, " that he had asked Titian to do him reverence
in his name."J Davalos was propitiated by the
* Pietro Giustiniani, Hist. Ye-
netiane, 4to, Yen. 1576, lib. 13,
p. 271.
t Albicante, Trattato dell' In-
trar a Milano di Carlo Y., 4to,
Milan, 1541, in Cicogna, Isc.
Yen. iv. 665.
X Aretino to the Prince of Sa-
lerno, Yenice, Aug. 13, 1541 ;
and Aretino to Lope de Soria,
Yenice, Aug. 14, 1541, in Lettere
di M. P. Aretino, ii. 222^ & 223'.
.Chap. II.] TITIAN AT COUET IN MILAN.
55
" Allocution " which, we may think, Titian took with
him to Milan, and Gian' Battista Torniello was
gladdened with the sight of a " Nativity," which for
many subsequent years formed the chief ornament of
the chapel of St. Joseph in the cathedral of Novarra.*
Titian for his part had occasion to paint new portraits
and urge his claims on the Emperor's treasury. He
received from Charles the Fifth a patent granting him
an annuity of 100 ducats payable out of the Milanese
treasury.! The length of his stay at jNIilan has not
been ascertained, nor has any detail of his daily
avocations l^een preserved. At home at Venice in the
following October, we find him enjoying the usual
round of quiet dissipation attendant on mirthful
company and fine suppers, the triumvirate, into which
Marcolini the bookseller had entered, being turned into
a club called the " Academy," where a small but jovial
set of " compeers " met either in the rooms at Biri,
or in Aretino's palace on the Grand Canal. | In
the workshop at Biri, there was to be seen, before the
• Torniello had been dissatis-
fied with a "Nativity" which
Titiau had doue for him. He had
seut it back, and Ai*etino wrote to
him on the (Jth of August, 1541,
that "Titiau had repainted the
tavolu, iuto which ho had intro-
duced the protector of his (Tor-
niello's) birthplace (St. Gauden-
gius of Novarra) in armour, and
two angels in place of cherubs."
(Compare Lett, di M. P. A. ii.
308'.) The picture was placed on
the high altar of San Giuseppe,
iu the Uuomo of Novarra, where
it was seen and described by Lo-
mazzo. (Idea del Tempio, p. 141.)
It is not now to bo found.
t This patent has not been
preserved, but is recited in a later
one, to which reference will bo
niad(^ jxjstea ; but see Gaye, Car-
teggio, ii. 369.
X See Leone Aretino to P. Ai'C-
tino, Genoa, 23rd of March, 1541,
in Lett, a M. P. Aret", i. 357 ;
and Aretino to Pigna, Oct. 11,
1541, in Lettere di M. P. Ai", li.
244.
56 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
winter closed, a large altarpiece of the " Descent of the
Holy Spirit," ordered by the canons of San Spirito in
Isola, the same religious community which had
employed Titian years before, but was now desirous
of more modern masterpieces suited to the splendour
of a new church rebuilt by Sansovino.* AVhen the
canons were invited to inspect this altarpiece, they
protested their unwillingness to take it, and a quarrel
began, which we shall see expanding to large propor-
tions, till the influence of the Farnese princes put an
end to it.
Carnival time was now approaching, and the gay
patricians of the company of the Calza, led by the
irrepressible humour of Aretino, planned a grand
" apparato " or show, to conclude with the perform-
ance of Aretino's new comedy, called the " Talanta."
It is characteristic of the peculiar form which art had
assumed at Venice, that the pieces required for scenes
and show were not entrusted to Venetian painters,
and the members of the Calza deputed Aretino to
engage artists for this purpose in Tuscany. Aretino
naturally thought of patronising one of the craftsmen
of his native town, and in this way Vasari first
made acquaintance with the city of the lagoons. t A
couple of pages in his autobiography give a descrip-
tion of the work which he executed for the carnival
company ; but the public was informed of the artist's
name by a dialogue in the " Talanta," in which the
* Yasari, xiii. 33; Sansovino, I t Yas. i. 20, xi. 9, and xiii
Yen. Des. 229. 34.
Chap. II.]
VASAEI AT VENICE.
57
princijial character was ingeniously made to puff all
the friends of the dramatist in a single sentence.
" I am told, am informed, and have seen it written,
says Messer Vergolo, that Messer Giorgio d'Arczzo,
who is hardly thirty-five, has painted a scene and an
apparato, which those clever spirits, Titian and
Sansovino, greatly admire." "*
But Vasari's success was not limited to the perish-
able canvases of a puhlic show or of theatrical scenes.
Since the days of the exhibition of the "Battle of
Cadore " in the Hall of Great Council, Titian had
kept up his connection with the Cornaro family. He
had even been painting as Yasari came, or had caused
one of his journeymen to paint, a portrait of Catherine
Cornaro, the dead Queen uf Cyprus, in the garb of a
saint, which numberless artists were afterwards to
copy and multiply. He gave the young Aretine an
introduction to Giovanni Cornaro ; and it was doubt-
less not ^vithout his countenance that Sansovino pro-
cured for him the order to decorate San Spirito in
Isola.t
* La Talanta commedia di M.
1'. Aretino comiio^ta a pctizione
de' magnifici signori sompitorni,
0 recitata dalle lor proprie mag-
nificonze con mirabil supoibia di
ai)parato. Yincgia per E. Marco-
lini, 1542, act i. sc. 3.
t The palace of Giovanni Cor-
naro at San Benedetto, now
Corner- Spiuelli, on the Grand
Canal, was that in which Vasari
laboured, and there ho designed
the ornament of a ceiling. The
canons of Sau Spirito in Isola,
wished him to paint the ceiling
canvases, which were afterwards
executed by Titian (Vas. xiii. 34).
Uidolfi (Maraviglie, i. 198) states
that this portrait of Catherine
( "oriiaro was often copied. The
finest example ascribed to Titian is
that exhibited at the Uflizi in EIo-
reucc (No. (348, half-longth of life
size on canvas), where the queen
is represented standing turned
three-quarters to the left, her oj'cs
to the right, her left hand in the
grasp of her right. A crown of
58
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. 11.
Titian meanwhile had been enterinsf on new and
O
onerous engagements. In May, 1542, he received an
gold, studded -witli pearls, forms
the edging to a turban of silk.
A jewelled brooch is fastened at
the bosom to a red silk bodice,
the sleeves of which are puffed
with green damask. Over this a
rich surcoat falls, the border of
which is strewed with pearls. The
face and form are full, plump,
and youthful, but finely moulded
and of graceful shape; and the
attitude is nobly kept and ren-
dered. But the treatment is cold
and empty, notwithstanding that
some traits of Titianesque exe-
cution are apparent in it. The
painter in Titian's school of whom
we are most reminded, is Marco
di Tiziano, yet on the back of the
canvas, and re- copied, according
to records in the secret archive of
the Pitti on July 8, 1773, are
the words : ' ' titdvni op vs axxo
1542." The dress and minutite
are all retouched in the lights ;
at the queen's elbow is the wheel,
romid her head on a brown back-
ground, the nimbus of St. Cathe-
rine. Photograph by Braun.
The same person, turbaned and
standing in a room with an open
window to the left, is fairly de-
scribed as C. Cornaro, by Titian,
in the Holford Collection. But
the treatment is feebler here than
at the Ufiizi. The same person
again, without a head-dress, and
holding a garland of flowers, is
ascribed to Titian in the collection
of the Duke of Wellington in
London. It is a copy of life size
on canvas, by some imitator of
Titian. " The Queen of Cyprus,"
as St. Catherine, with the palm
and wheel, was exhibited under
Titian's name as the property of
Earl Brownlow, at the Academy,
in 1875.
Unlike any of these pieces, and
doubtless erroneously called Ca-
therine Cornaro, is a portrait of a
lady, more than half length, in
possession of Signer Francesco
Pdccardi, Via Borgo Pignolo at
Bergamo ; a canvas which, when
in the Casa Yincenzo Martinengo
Colleoni at Brescia, was engraved
in the line series of Sala. The
person represented is a portly
woman in a red dress, whose
chestnut hair is gathered up into
a striped bag. She stands full
front at the side of a marble
plinth, on the face of which her
own profile is carved in relief.
Iler left hand is raised to rest on
the slab, the right hanging list-
less at her side. The regular
features of a broad, good hu-
moured, and pinguid counte-
nance, are quite the reverse of
queenly. The homely di-ess is
well set and draped, and the whole
j^iece recalls in its general aspect
the period when Titian strove with
Giorgione for a place in Yenetian
art. But the canvas is now too
much injured to warrant a posi-
tive opinion. The hair is new,
the eyes and flesh are mostly
daubed over, and there is much
modern colour to conceal what
may in past times have been the
work of Titian.
€nAP. n.] TITIAN TOETILVYS HIMSELF.
59
advance of teu ducats to begin the votive picture of
the Doge Lando, which was to be placed in the Sala
d'Oro.* On the 5th of June he received a sum
exactly similar, as an earnest that he would furnisli to
Domenico Giustiniani an altarpiece for the high altar
of the Church of Serravalle.t lu the intervals
devoted to labours of a lighter kind he painted the
portrait of himself, which he purposed to leave as a
reminiscence to his children.
Of the numerous portraits which might claim to
be that produced ]>}' the painter for his descendants,
history unhap])ily gives insuthcicnt account. Kecords
show that a likeness of Titian, registered as an heir-
loom of the Vecelli of Cadorc, was stolen in 1 733, and
purchased in a mysterious and unaccountable way
for the "Duke of Florence." licspoctable Cadorines,
who visited the Tuscan cai)ital, declared that the
picture exhibited in the gallery of the UfKzi was the
heirloom in <piestion, and recent historians have
repeated the tale without testing its truth. J The
fact appears to be that there were several portraits of
Titian not unlike each other, which passed through
the hands of dealers out of Italy ; that one came into
Rubens' possession, v^ whilst another changed owners
obscurely, until it reached the gallery of M. Solly,
Avliose treasures now form the Museum of Berlin,
• Tho document is in Lorenzi,
«. «., p. '2'6').
t Soo Appendix.
\ Compare the correspondence
of 1733 in Ticozzi's Vecelli, pp.
303-7, with tho anuotators of
Vasari, xiii. p. 34.
§ In Rubens' Inventory (1(J40)
•we find " tho pictuio of Titian
himseLfe, made by himsell'e."
(Saiusbury, u. s., p. 23G.)
60
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
The evidence which affirms that the Duke of Florence
purchased the stolen portrait of Titian in 1733, may
be unimpeachable, yet we must assume that the
portrait, so stolen, was never exhibited at Florence,
since the Titian now at the Uffizi was bought at
Antwerp in 1677, and publicly displayed a short time
after.*
The earliest likeness, or rather that which gives
Titian the greatest apparent youth, is that of the
Belvedere at Vienna. But this is so altered by
repainting as now to deny the hand of the master.!
Next in point of age, and executed with surprising
skill, is that of Berlin, where Titian, with his own
hand, has rapidly sketched his manly form, encased
in a closely-buttoned doublet, of changing stuff,
showing red lake shadows and lights of laky white.
His shoulders are covered by a wide pelisse of dark
brown cloth, with a collar of brown musk, giving free
play to arms sheathed in silvery damask. A broad
* See the correspondence of the
Grand Duke Cosimo the Third
and Francis Schilders, February
to September, 1666 — 1677, in
Gualandi's Nuova Eaccolta di
Lettere, §vo, Bologna, 1845, ii.
pp. 306-316.
t This picture, a bust on wood,
1 ft. 7 in. high, by 1 ft. 4 in., is
No. 48, Eoom II., 1st Floor, of
Italian Schools in the Belvedere
Collection. The face is turned to
the right, the head covered with
a black skull-cap ; the fur pelisse,
and knight's chain, are similar to
those in other portraits of Titian.
The flesh parts are altogether re-
painted, and show at present no
trace of Titian's hand. The only
part which might do this is the
shirt collar, but this is too little
to go by. A copy of this portrait,
by Teniers, is at Blenheim. There
is an engraving by L. Vorster-
man, in the Teniers Gallery, and
another in Haas's Galerie de
Yienne. It is a question whether
this may not be the ' ' portrait of
Titian by himself" which be-
longed to the Antiquarian Strada
at Venice in 1567. See Stock-
bauer's Kunstbestrebungen am
Bayrischen Hofe, in Quellen-
schriften, u. s., viii. p. 43.
Chap. H.] PORTRAIT OF TITLiN— BERLIN. 61
white shirt collar and a black skull-cap relieve the
grand Llock of a finely chiselled face, decorated with
beard and moustache of dubious grey. The hands
are as full of life as the movement and the frame.
One of them rests with fini^ers outstretched on the
green cloth of a table, the other on the knee. Tlie
face is seen at three-quarters to the right, divided into
perfect proportions, the forehead high, the brow bold
and projectinrr, tlic nose of fine cut, shooting, arched
from a powerful bjuse, that parts a pair of penetrant
eyes of admirable^ regularity ; round the neck are two
twists of the chain, which imlicates the painters
knightly r;ink. AVliat distinguishes the liead from
the rest of the picture is its finished modelbng. The
sleeves are a mere rubbing of silver grey, the hands
a scumble of umber. One can see that the man who
painted the picture was of a tough fil)r(', and
eminently fitted to represent himself in the form in
which he is made to appear. The eye and action
reveal the same headlong fire and overllow of spirit
that characterised iNIichaelangelo ; and as we picture
to ourselves tlie s(.'ul[)tor hammering out tlie chips
with dust and din, so we picture to ourselves Titian
dashing off this likeness of himself, expressing his
meaning, here with a rubbed pigment, there with an
indication of outline, now witli a dash of colour,
making out the shape in ligliter or darker tone of red
and black on the neutral stretcli of the ground, then
with a touch, leaving a little hill of light sparkling as
a diamond iu the eyes and finger tips. Uut having
done this, a more sober, laborious mood supervenes ;
62
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
tlie face is kneaded and modelled into shape, and
finished in a russet key.*
From this masterly piece, which time has unhappily
injured, there can be no doubt the likeness of the.
Uffizi — whoever painted it — was taken. In the main
the features are the same as those of Berlin. The
hands alone differ ; but the distinctive quality of the
Florentine example is its finish. The black skull-ca23
of the study is exchanged for one of a deep but gayer
blue. The knight's chain, with the double eagle
pendent from it, is fully made out. The left hand,
holding a pallet, is well shaped and finely detached,
the dress complete. Yet the surfaces have been
abraded or changed to such an extent by time and
repainting that one can hardly decide whether the
picture was executed by Titian or Marco Vecelli.t
Many years later, perhaps in 1562, when — Vasari
says — Titian again took a likeness of himself, the
noble portrait of the Madrid Museum was brought to
* This canvas, a half length on
a brown i-ubbed ground, was in a
very bad state till regenerated in
April, 1874, by the Pettenkofer
process. It is now very bright,
but one still sees where it suffered
abrasion. The canvas is No. 16^3
in the Berlin Museum, 3 ft. 2 in.
high by 2 ft. 5 in. Injured by
rubbing off of its final glazes, it
shows a " pentimento " at the
right ear, and the flesh looks
somewhat more monotonous than
we expect to find it in a perfect
Titian. From a passage in Maier's
Imitazione pittorica, 8vo, Venice,
1818, p. 333, we gather that this
picture once belonged to Ci-
cognara.
+ No. 384 in the Uffizi ; this
canvas only shows Titian to the
waist. There are strong marks
of abrasion in various parts, and
particularly on the forehead,
where also there are heavy re-
touches. Large spots of new
colour disfigure the pelisse and
arm to the right. The whole
surface is dulled by modern tint-
ing. Engraved by Agostino Ca-
racci.
CiLVP. II.] PORTE.UT OP TITL\N— MADETD.
G3
perfection, in which we see the artist hoary with ao-e,
yet still lithe and erect, and, as ever, noble in bearino-.
The features have grown thin and cornered ; the beard
and hair are whiter than the linen of the collar, but
the vigour of the old man's frame is still apparent in
the hawk's eye which glistens from out of tlie hollow
orbit, overshadowed by its silver-streak u[ brow ; and
the black skull-cap marks a contrast not only witli
the hair on tlie temples, but witli flosli fidl of pul.sant
life. Here Titian is almost in profile to the left, but
wears the time-honoured collar, doublet, and pelisse.
In the right hand he holds a brush, the emblem of
his art. The featur(\s aj>pear to have gained in
dignity what they liavc lost in youth ; and the face,
though it is retouched here and tliere, is full of
character, and dolineated with all th(> mastery and
delicacy of gradations of whidi Titian's pencil was
capable.*
Once or twice again we find the likeness repeated
in a "St. Matthew" at the Salute, or as adjuncts to
larger compositions, in the '' Madonna " of Pieve, or
the " Pietil " of the Venice Academy, which is the last
* This portrait, a life-sizod
bust on canvas, M. 0-S6 h. by
0.65, is No. 477 in tho Madrid
Museum, and as early as tho
reign of Philip tho Fourth of Spain
(1G'21 — 65), hung in tho Alcazar.
It is not frco from retouching.
Photograph hy Tianrent. In 1 oVI
Alphonse Fran<;ois engraved it
from, a replica (? copy), at that
time in possession of M. Chaix
d'Est-Ange, in Paris. Yasari says
(xiii. p. Hi) that Titian painted
his own likeness about tlio timo
when hn executed tho ceiling of
tho Saluto (1543). Ho adds (xiii.
44) that ho painted his own like-
ness, " as boforo stated," in 1.362,
leaving us in doubt as to whether
Titian produced one or two like-
nesses. Two seems moro pro-
bable than ono.
64
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
creation of the master's hand. Other artists immor-
talized this painter also, Paul Veronese in the
" Marriage of Cana " at the Louvre, Palma Giovine in
the ceiling of the Oratory of San Fantino ; but there
are numerous pictures in addition which represent the
master in converse with a friend, and these are every-
where assumed to he by Titian. There may have
been originals from which they were taken. In no
case are they genuine, nor is it even certain that the
persons represented are correctly designated. In a
canvas at Cobham Hall, the well-known form of
Titian is accompanied by that of a bearded man
called Francesco Zuccato.* In a canvas at Windsor
Castle, of which there is also a replica at Cobham
Hall, we find him in company of a senator miscalled
Aretino. It is natural to guess at the names of men
known to have been familar with Titian, and the
guess may be justified as regards Zuccato. The so-
called Aretino at Windsor is the counterpart of "A
Senator " by Titian in the collection of Lord Elcho, a
fine delineation of a man of grave aspect, whose
glance is not less spirited because coupled with a
bony shape, dry flesh, and sparse hair and beard of
pepper and salt quality. Titian here threw the whole
* The canvas at Cobham Hall,
called " Titian, and Zuccato," re-
presents the painter at a table,
with a bearded man speaking to
him. The so-called Zuccato is on
the right side of the picture, lay-
ing his right hand on Titian's
shoulder. Titian rests his right
hand on the green cloth of a
table, and holds a sheet of paper.
Judging of the painter from the
thin pigments and rapid decision
of brush work, one might guess
him to be Tintoretto, or an imi-
tator of Tintoretto. Hasty hand-
ling, neglected form, and un-
transparent colour, are not cha-
racteristic of Titian.
Chai'. n.]
PRINTS OF TITL\.X.
65
energy of his talent into the balance to produce with
freedom a life-like presentation ; but the model Avas
not Aretino, whose flesh and fat never abandoned him
at any period of his existence.*
Of one portrait noted by historians we have no
present knowledge. It belonged to the Renier collec-
tion in the 17th century, and represented Titian
drawing with one hand on a portfoho, and a pencil in
the other : in the backccround the Venus of ]\[edici.
The description eijually suits the picture and an
engraving by Giovanni Bello, for which Aretino wrote
a sonnet in 1550.t It gives a less characteristic view
of Titian thun the later print of Odoardo Fialetti, or
that miscalled " Titian and his Mistress," in which
the grey-bearded artist is shown laying his hand on
the waist of his daughter, a copper-plate which
* The canvas at Windsor Castlo
is stated to havo been in the col-
lections of Charles I. and James II.
It represents Titian in his pelisse
turned to the ri{»ht, and a bearded
man to the right showing Titian
a sheet of paper. This man (who
is now siipposed to bo the Chan-
cellor Francoschi) is di'essed in
red, is bare-headed, and wears the
stole of a Venetian senator. Both
men are of life size, and seen to
the waist. Thoy coincido with
Ridolfi's description of figures in
a picture in the collection of Do-
mouico Ruzziiii at Venice, repre-
senting, as Ridolfi affirmed (Ma-
rav. i. '201), Titian and Francesco
del Mosaico (Zuccato). But here
the execution is that of a painter
VOL. It.
of the 17th century, whoso stylo
recalls Odoardo Fialetti. Seo
Bathoo's Catalogue, u. s., where
the picture is numbered 11. The
counterpart of this canvas at
Cobhara Hall is also a work of
the 17 th century.
Lord Elcho's portrait, a life-
size bust, in rod vest and stole,
bears remnants of an inscription
which has become illegible from
abrasion.
t Sansoviuo, Ven. Desc, p.
377 ; Campori, Cataloghi, pp. 4-lL',
4-1.3 ; and Lettore di M. 1'. Are-
tino, V. 288. — In the Canonici
Collection at Ferrara in 1632,
there was a " portrait of Titian,"
a drawing from Titian's own hand.
(Campori, Cataloghi, p. 12G.)
66
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
probably dates after 1555, when Lavinia Vecelli was
married to Cornelio Sarciuelli.*
Portraits of himself were not more tlian Titian's
pastime. His serious labours Avere the votive picture
in honour of Doge Lando, for which payments were
registered as late as May 31, 1543 ; jDortraits of
Eanuccio Farnese, and the dauo-hter of Eoberto
Strozzi ; and — eminent as works of mark in the
master's career — the ceiling canvases of the church of
San Spirito.
The votive picture of Doge Lando perished in the
fire of 1577, and no description of it survives. t
It is still doubtful whether the portrait of Eanuccio
Farnese was preserved. That of the daughter of
Eoberto Strozzi now adorns the palace at Florence,
Avhich the Strozzi at the period of which we are
treating were precluded from inhabiting. Filippo
Strozzi is remembered in Florentine history as the
great party chieftain Avho went into exile Avith those
of his countrymen who refused to acknowledge Ales-
sandro de' Medici. He led the o-allant but ill-fated
band of patriots which strove, in 1537, to ^^I'event the
accession of Duke Cosimo. He took his own life in
prison Avhen informed that Charles the Fifth had given
him up to the vengeance of the Medici. His sons
Piero and Leo fought with the French for Italian
supremacy, whilst Eoberto spent his life partly at
Venice, partly in France and at Eome, consuming
* See postea. Odoardo Fia-
letti's print is attached as a fron-
tispiece to Titianello's anonymous
Life of Titian.
t The records are in Lorenzi,
«. s., pp. 235, 238— 24L
Chap. II.] D'AUGHTER OF EGBERT STRGZZI.
some of tliG wealth of " the richest family "' in Italv in
patronising painters and men of letters. * His daughter
was a mere child when she sat to Titian ; but the
picture which he produced is one of the most spark-
ling displays of youth that ever was executed by any
artist, not excepting those which came from the hands
of such portraitists as Kubens or Van Dyke. The
child is ten years old, and stands at the edge of a
console, on which hor fiiithful lapdog rests. Her left
hand is on the silken l>ack of the favourite. Her right
holds a fran-ment of the cake which both have been
munching. Both, as if they had been interrupted,
turn tlieir heads to look straightway out <>f the pic-
ture— a movement seized on the instant from nature.
It is a handsome child, with a chubby face and arms,
and a profusion of short curly auburn hair; — a child
dressed with all thr richness ])ecoming an heiress of
the Strozzi, in a frock and slippei-s of wliitc satin,
girdled with a jewelled belt, the end of which is a
jewelled tassel, the neck clasped by a necklace of
pearls supporting a pendant. The whole of the re-
splendent little apparition relieved in light against the
russet sides of the room, and in silver grey against the
casement, through wliicji we sec a stretch of landscape,
a lake and swans, a Inllowy range of hills covering the
• Francesco Sansovino dedi-
cated to Roberto Strozzi his trans-
lation of Berosus, for which Ro-
berto made him a present of a
gold cup, which he left by will to
his widow. See Cicogna, Isc. Yen.
iv. 39. Strozzi was also well
known to Michaolangelo, and ne-
gotiated with him for an eques-
trian statue of Henry II. of
France, in the name of Catherine
de' Medici. See Catherine to Gui-
ducci, Oct. J5()0, in Gayo, Cartcg-
iii. 40.
F 2
08
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. U.
bases of more distant mountains, and a clear sky be-
decked with spare cloud. The panelled console against
which she leans is carved at the side with two little
figures of dancing Cupids, and the rich brown of the
wood is made richer by a fall of red damask hanging.
One can see that Titian had leisure to watch the girl,
and seized her characteristic features, which he gave
back with Avonderful breadth of handling, yet depicted
with delicacy and roundness equally marvellous. The
flesh is solid and pulpy, the balance of light and
shadow as true as it is surprising in the subtlety of its
shades and tonic values, its harmonies of tints rich,
sweet, and ringing; and over all is a sheen of the
utmost brilliance. Well might Aretino, as he saw
this wondrous piece of brightness, exclaim : " If I were
a painter I should die of despair . . . but certain it is
that Titian's pencil has waited on Titian's old age to
perform its miracles."*
Equal in technical skill, but superior to the Strozzi
heirloom as embodying higher laws of the pictorial
craft, the ceiling canvases of San Spirito, to which we
may add the four Evangelists and the four Doctors,
and the later " Descent of the Holy Spirit," executed
* Aretino to Titian, from Ve-
nice, July 6, 1542, in Lett, di M.
P. Aret", ii. p. 288\ The picture
is on canvas ; the figure of life
size. On a tablet high up on the
wall to the left we read, annor x.
MDXLii, and on the edge of the
console to the right, titianvs f.
Old varnish covers and partly
conceals the beauty of this pic-
ture, which is retouched on the
girl's forehead and elsewhere ;
but the surface generally is well
preserved. At the beginning of
the present century the portrait
was in the palace of Duke Strozzi
at Eome. (Bottari, Eaccolta, vol.
iii. p. 107.) It was engraved by
Dom. Cunego at Home in 1770.
Chap. H.]
CEILINGS OF SAX SPIEITO.
69
for the same church, remain to us as representative
examples of the development of Venetian art in the
midclle of the sixteenth century. All these pictures
are striking, either as individual displays of thought
or as compositions. All are remarkable for boldness
of conception and handling ; none more so than the
ceiliug-pieccs, which convey a sense of distance as
between the spectator and the ol)ject delineated quite
beyond anything hitherto attempted by A'cnetian
artists. AVhere Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac,
and is stopped by the angel, the whole group is fore-
shortened, as if the scene were presented on an
eminence to which we necessarily look up. But
Titian is too clever to foreshorten the group without
foreshortening the ground ; and this he indicates by a
perspective view of a mound oii which Abraham's
altar stands, the projection <^f which partly conceals
tlic patriarcli's legs, hides all l)iit tho head of an ass,
and leaves an interlace of lines to be seen upon the
blue of the sky. Poised in this space the angel checks
with lightning speed the stroke that is about to fall
on Isaac. The full swing of the blow is, as it were,
magnetically arrested ; and Abraham turns shar^tly,
nay, angrily, towards the messenger of heaven, his
hand still lying heavy on the head of Isaac, bound and
kneeling on the altar. The breeze blows freshly the
while over the range and throws the drapery into
picturesque surges.*
* A largo drawing, pen and
Bepia, in theAlbei'tina at Vienna,
is supposed to bo the original
sketch for this picture. It is not
70 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. II.
Cain, in a scant dress of hides, tramples with
tremendous force on the hip of Abel, who falls with
outstretched arms as the murderer wields the clul3
over the stumbling form. The daring of the fore-
shortening is greater than the power to realize it.
But a sense of herculean strength and concentrated
muscular force is conveyed. Though strained and in
many ways incorrect, the group is still imposing, be-
cause where the contour is false and articulations are
loosely rendered, the defects lie hid under magic
effects of colour, and light and shade, and such life
and motion are displayed that one thinks not the
artist but the being he depicts is in fault. But not a
little of the magic of this piece is due to the subtle
way in which a smoke of livid shades is driven to
leeward of the altar on which Abel's sacrifice is
burning.*
The prostrate form of Goliath in the third ceiling-
canvas looks gigantic as it lies in death on the
sloping crest seen here again from below. David,
slightly further back, in his green sliepherd's tunic
gathers himself together, lifts his arms in thanks-
giving ; and the sky seems to open and shed its light
on him as he strains with his whole beina; towards
heaven. The body lies headless but grandiose in its
strength, an inert mass disposed with consummate
skill ; the head hard by, and near it the giant's sword
stuck into the earth. The whole scene is illumined
original. Engraved by J. M<^
Mitellus, 16G9, and Lefebre, G.
Y. Haecbt and Gottf. Saiter.
* Engraved by Jos. M'= Mi-
tellus, 1669, by Lefebre, and re-
versed by Gottf. Saiter.
Chap. H.] DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 71
weirdly by the opeuiug in the sky, the rays from,
which do not pierce the gloom on the horizon.*
Though painted after 1543, and in place of an older
canvas which the canons of San Spirito had refused ;
though executed at a time when Titian's pencil was
wielded with more fiicility than in 1542, the
*' Descent of the Holy Spirit " is less interesting than
the "Cain," the "David," or the "Sacrifice," because
it is tamer in .subject, and has suffered more from
time and repainting. The " Marys " and " The
Twelve " are in a vaulted room, the panellings of which
are radiant from the light shed by the dove that hovers
over the scene, and the cloven tongues of fire that rest
on the heads of the elect. In the centre the Virgin
with strongly marked gesture gives thanks, the Apostles
iind otliers round her displaying their feelings with
demonstrative eagerness in various ways, kneeling,
sittinec, or standincj. In no earlier work of tlie master
is the impression more fully conveyed, that nature has
been caught in a quick and instant manner and trans-
ferred to the canvas with sweeps of pastose pigment,
and broad stretches of lioht and shade. No contours
are seen. Everything finds its limit without an outline,
by help of rich and unctuous tone, rare modelling, and
subtlest gradations of colour. Bold, free, and expres-
sive, with the boldness and freedom whicli Tintoretto
and Schiavone admired and envied ; the handling
betokens a mastery altogether unsurpassable.t In
• Engraved by Jos. "M" Mi- I t A composition much in tho
toUus, 10(3!), by Lcfobre, and re- spirit of this at tho Saluto is
vursod by Oottf. Saiter. ' diawn in pen and sepia ou a
72
TITIAN: HIS LIEE AND TII^IES. [Chap. II.
their more limited sphere again, the "Four Doctors'
and "Four Evangelists" are worthy comj)lements of a
series which would be remarkable at any time and in
any place. Models, or imitations of objects, are no
longer in Cjuestion. Titian is an independent creator,
whose art realizes beino;s instinct with a life and
individuality of their own. His figures are not cast
in the supernatural mould of those of Michaelangelo,
at the Sixtine, they are not shaped in his sculptural
way, or foreshortened in his preternatural manner.
They have not the elegance of Eaphael, nor the con-
ventional grace of Correggio, but they are built up as
it were of flesh and blood, and illumined with a magic
effect of light and shade and colour which differs from
all else that was realised elsewhere by selection, outline,
and chiaroscuro. They form pictures peculiar to
Titian, and pregnant with his — and only his — grand
and natural originality.*
sheet ascribed to Titian in tte
Museum of Florence, but the exe-
cution is obviously more modern
than that of Titian. The pictui-e
is engraved by N. R. Cochin.
* Compare Scanelli (Micro-
cosmo, 216), who places Titian
here above Michaelangelo; Va-
sari (xiii. 34), "who calls the ceiling
pieces " bellissime ; " and Eidolfi
(Marav. i. 227-8). The " Cain,"
the " Abraham," and " David,"
are now in the ceiling of the great
Sacristy of the Church of the
Salute ; the doctors and evange-
lists in the ceiling of the choir
behind the high altar, St. Mat-
thew being a portrait of Titian
himself with a brush in his hand.
The descent of the Holy Spirit on
the altar of chapel 4 is greatly
damaged, especially in the upper
part, by repainting. That it was
executed after all the others in
the church is clear from the style.
In the ceiling-pieces, which are
large rectangular canvases, the
figures are above life size. In
the sacrifice of Abraham, the
patriarch is dressed in an orange
tunic and green mantle, the angel
in yellow and violet, Isaac in
lake. The angel's left foot is in-
jured. In the "David and
Goliath," the giant lies with his
shoulders to the spectator, in a
Chap. H.]
TITLiN LITIGATES.
73
Writing ill 1.5-44, to CardiDal Farnese, Titian alludes
with some pride to the canvases of San Spirito, and
claims in the following letter countenance and pro-
tection.
TITIAN TO CVEDINAL FAKNESE.
" I have an action pending Ijefore the Legate* here
against the brothers of San Spirito, of whom I hear
that they mean to tire me out by delays. Their
purpose is to obtain a commission or brief, l)y which
my cause shall be transferred to aiiotlur judge, who
is their friend. I beg your Keverend Lordship, in
remembrance of my services, and in view of the
importance of the case, to give i\[onsignor Guidiccione
to understand that he may not pass any tiling contrary
to me, Init trust to the goodness and sufficiency of
]\[ousignor the Legate, so that the brothers shall not
have it in their power to ill-use me, and create delays
contrary- to duty and justice ; the matter being public
at Venice, where everyone knows that tliese brethren
are old and certain debtors to me for my works.
" Your llev** and IIP Lordship's servant,
" From Venice, December 11, 1544. " TlTIANO."t
Titian was either himself litimous in his old aue, or
he had to do with litigious people. A ducal letter of
April 20, 1042, exists, in which execution is issued in
"brown tonod panoply ; David is
in yellow and green. The whole
canvas is much injured, especially
in tho upper part. But all the
compositions are damaged more
or less by old varuishes, which
have dimmed and dulled tho
colours, and taken away their
freshness.
• Tho legate was Titian's friend,
Giovanni deUa Oasa.
t From the original in Eon-
chini's llelazioni, u. s., note to
p. G.
74
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Cn.VP. II.
his name against one Giovanni Battista Spinelli, who
had been cast in an action for debt, and ordered to
pay him forty-eight ducats, and five grossi, and costs
of ten hre and some soldi.'"' Sharp in the recovery of
his dues, Titian was equally clever in directing his
w^orldly affairs, and lapng out his money at interest.
A contract of March 11, 1542, determines the sale of
a share in a mill at Ansogne of Cadore, the seller
being Vincenzio Vecelli, the buyers Titian and Fran-
cesco Yecelli.t The corn stores of Cadore were low
in 1542. Titian obtained a concession of import from
Ceneda and other places ; and stored the Cadorine
Jbiidachi with grain, for which he received payment
in acknowledsfments of interest-bearins; debt from the
community of Cadore. |
As he came down from his native hills at the close
of autumn, he met at Conegliano Alessandro Vitelli,
the gaoler of Filippo Strozzi, the servant of the Medici,
now a general of the king of the Romans, retm-ning
from the Turkish war in Hungary. The condottiere
sent greetings through Titian to Aretino, who sent in
return a letter not less laudatory nor less full of
incense than one written a few months before to Piero
Strozzi. Titian, who shortly before had painted the
daughter of Roberto Strozzi, is now put forward as
eager to portray the hereditary foe of the Strozzi
family. §
* M. S. Jacobi of Cadore.
t Ibid. J Ciani, «. s., ii. 271.
§ Aretino to Alessandro Vi-
telli, from Venice, Dec. 1542, in
Lettere di M. P. Aretino, iii. 20 ;
and Aretino to Pietro Strozzi,
from Venice, March 11, 1542.
Ibid. ii. 252''.
CHAPTER III.
Titian and tho Farncso Family. — Portrait of Ranuccio Famesc. —
OfFt.T of a IJoneiico and jnoposals of senice to Titian. — History
and policy of the Furneso Princes. — Cardinal Alessandro. — Titian
accepts the invitation of tho Famese. — Visits Ferrara, Bologna,
and Bussc. — IIo refuses an offer of tho Piombo. — His Portraits of
Paul III., I'icr Luigi, and Alossandro Faniosc. — Family of Danna,
and tho great Kcco Homo at Vienna. — Tho Assunta of ^'o^ona. —
Eenewod coiTespondcnco with Cardinal Famese. — Letter of Titian
to Michaolantr'-'io..— Altar-picco of lioganzuolo. — Portraits of tho
Empress, and I'uko and Dnchoss of Urhino. — Court of P'rbino,
and >>porone'.s Dialogues. — Portraits of Danitd Barbaro, Morosini,
Sperono, and .f\jotino. — Titian's relations w-ith Guidubaldo il. —
Guidubaldo oppo.ses Titian's Journey to Eomo, which is favoured
by Girolamo (iuirini. — Guidubaldo gives Titian escort to liomo.
— Meetiiig_ui Xiliau wiLh SnhnAt.iini del Piombo, Vasari. and
Micliaelangelc — Jealousy of Poman Artists. — Picturesexocuted
~at Piorae : i)anae. — Contrast between ITtiaiT and Corrcggio, and
Titian and I'.uonarroti.^^^^iiniau find t^Anli^iUO.-r-Port raits of
Paul 111., Uttavio, and .iUessandro Famese.
Ranuccio Farnese, whose portrait Titian painted
in 1.142, was the third son of Pier Luigi, the natural
child of Paul the Third. l*i<r Luigi married,
at the age of sixteen, Gerolima Orsini, daughter of
Luigi, Count of Pitigliano, and l>y her liad live
rhildren : — Alessandro, born October 7th, 1520,
made a cardinal in 1534 ; Vittoria, married June
4th, 1547, to Guidubaldo, the second Duke of
Urbino ; Ottavio, married to ]\hirgaret, a child of
Charles the Fiftli, and widow of Alessandro de'
]\ledici ; Orazio, married in 1547, to Diana, natural
76
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
daughter of Henry tlie Third of France ; and
Eanuccio, born 1531, Archbishop of Naples in 1544,
and Cardinal in 1545. Though Raniiccio was but a
boy when he first came to Venice, he was already
prior in commendam of St. John of the Templars,
and being a youth of parts, was sent through a course
of classics at the University of Padua. His departure
from Rome was duly announced by Cardinal Bembo
to his friends the Quirinis ; * and he was guided or
accompanied at Venice by Marco Grimani, patriarch
of Acj[uileia, Andrea Cornaro, Bishop of Brescia ; and
Gian-Francesco Leoni, the humanist who belonged to
the Academy of " Virtu " founded at Rome by Claudio
Tolomei. Bembo and Quirini — it is probable — in-
duced Ranuccio to visit Titian, who thus acquired the
patronage of the powerful house of Farnese.t Ra-
nuccio's likeness was finished about midsummer of
1542, and was thou2;ht the more admirable because
the young " prior " had not been able to give the
painter long or frequent sittings.t We might plausibly
assume, since no trace of such a work has been found
in the inventories of Parma and Naples, that the like-
ness was cast away at an early period, and hopelessly
lost; yet if we should venture on a conjecture, it
may be that Ranuccio's features have been handed
down to us in the portrait of a " young Jesuit,'^
now preserved in the Gallery of Vienna. This curious
picture represents a boy in a dark silk dress, with one
* Card. Bembo to Lisbetta Qui-
rini, from Eome, Aug. 27, 1541,
in Bembo. Oi^. vol. viii. p. 132.
Girolamo Quirini was at this time
patriarch of Venice. .
t Eoncbini Eelazioni, u. s. p. 2,
Chat. III.] POETRAIT OF EAXUCCIO FARXESE. 77
hand on his breast, and the other holding a glove and
a couple of aiTows. The head is raised, the eye
turned towards heaven ; and the impression created
is that of a childish ecstasy, produced by causes to
which the fiinire itself skives no clue. On close exami-
nation it appears that very little of Titian's work,
except some parts about the ear and cheek of the boy,
has been preserved ; a large piece has been added to
the left side of the canvas, and the hand and arrows
look like modern repaints. Some mysterious agency
has thus apparently changed the original form of the
piece. By a fortunate combination of circumstances the
key to the mysteiy has been furnished in a curious and
unforeseen manner. The " young Jesuit" of Vienna
reappears without the arrows in a picture of the
Berlin Musemn, where he is seen standing at a table,
on which some ])ooks arc Ivinn", and the cause of his
ecstasy is explained by tlie attitude and gesture of a
bearded man near him, who points with the fore
finijer of his riirht hand towards heaven. We have
tlius at Vienna the fragment of a composition of
which the whole is disi)layed in a copy at Berlin. If
we find a second fragment to match the first, the
mystery is cleared up. But tlie second fragment
exists. The li<iure of the Ijcarded man hanir.s in the
o o
Gallery of Vienna, under the name of " St. James the
Elder, by Titian ; " and as in the one case a hand
and arrow have been introduced to deceive the specta-
tor, so in the other the hand which should merely
point to heaven is made to grasp a stafl'. We may
presume that before these two fragments were parted
78 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.\p. III.
they represented Eanuccio Farnese taking a lesson
from his preceptor Leoni.*
The patriarch of Acjuileia, Cornaro, and Leoni were
all so pleased with the work that they gave Titian
a formal invitation to the papal court, which they
renewed with pressing insistence in the following
September. Knowing that the painter was hard to
move, but aware that he was accessible to offers of
church preferment for his son, Leoni set the only bait
which he tliouf>-ht Titian would be likelv to take, and
tendered the interest of the house of Farnese to obtain
for Pomponio a new benefice. Titian eagerly caught
the proffered morsel, and even went so far as to
induce Leoni to believe he would take service with
Cardinal Alessandro.t
* The two canvases at Vienna
—"The Young Jesuit," No. 30,
in the 2nd room, 1st floor, Italian
Schools; " St. James the Elder,"
No. IS, in the same room — were
both of the same size, but have
been changed by patching and
piecing. The Jesuit in profile to
the left, is patched at the left side ;
St. James at three-quarters to the
right, is patched at the base and
right side. The first is 2 ft. 9Hd.
by 2 ft. 1 in.; the second, 2 ft.
8 in. by 1 ft. lOi in. Both are
rubbed down, weather-beaten,
discoloured, and, in many parts,
repaiuted ; but bits here and there
reveal the hand of Titian. St.
James shows traces of a nimbus
of rays in the background about
the head. He wears a red vest
and a dark pelisse, with a collar
originally of fur. The black silk
of the Jesuit's dress is relieved at
the neck bj'- a linen collar. A
copy of the St. James, by Teniers,
is at Blenheim. The figure itself,
engraved by L. Vorstermann, is
in the Teniers' Gallery. The Je-
suit is engraved as ' ' St. Louis of
Gonzaga," by J. Troyon. Photo-
graph by Miethke and Wawra.
The picture at Berlin, No. 170
of the Catalogue, is a canvas 2 ft.
9 in. high by 3 ft. 4 in., bought
at the sale of the Solly Collection,
attributed to Bernardino Porde-
none, and much repainted. Be-
hind the boy is the sky, seen
through a square opening, in
which the bough and large leaves
of a tree are seen. The painter
seems to be Cesare Vecellio.
t Seepostea.
Chap. Ill] POLICY OF THE FAEXESE PEINCES. 79
None of tlie Popes of the IGtli century are free
from the charge of nepotism, and when nepotism of
the worst form is in question the name of Alexander
the Sixtli naturally suggests itself. But Paul the
Third was hardly less remarkahle in this respect than
Rodrifjo Borcria, His eldest son Pier Luicfi, thouuh
guilty of many crimes, was endowed successively with
the duchies of Castro, Parma, and Piacenza, Pier
Luigi's sons Alessandro and Pianuccio, and his
nephew Guid'-Ascanio Sforza, were all made cardinals
at fourteen, and Ottavio, who married early tlie
widow of Alessandro de' ]\Icdici, would have been
invested with the duchy of Milan, l)ut that Ferrando
Gonzaixa, who hated the Farneses, and Dic^i]:;© ^len-
dozza, who disliked tliem, dissuaded Charles the
Fifth from taking so dangerous a step. At the very
time when Ranuccio was sitting to Titian at Venice,
the eddies of politics had brought the family policy of
the Farnese princes to the surface. The old struggles
of France and Austria had been renewed, and the
adverse and irreconcilable claims of Protestants and
Catholics had become a subject of grave and states-
manlike meditation. Charles the Fifth liaviuo- failed
ill his expedition aijainst Algiers in 1541, had also
suffered a check from the Turks at Pcsth in 1.342.
In the spring of 1543 he was in the perilous posi-
tion of linving to repel a French and Turkisli inva-
sion of Italy, without being sure of adequate support
from the Pope. Paul tlie Third, a trimmer at this
time, had one grandson at the Emperor's court, another
in the camp of the French king. He was watching.
80 TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
catlike, for an occasion to aggrandize his house. His
policy as Pope, was to favour Francis the First, who
was distant, and not pledged to the Protestants. But
he would have sacrificed his policy had it been
necessary to the promotion of his children, and on this
point he was prepared to negociate.
His anxiety to meet the Emperor was as great as
the Emperor's wish to meet him ; and he left Eome
early in April for Piacenza, that he might be near
Charles, who was coming from Spain, and intended to
land at Geneva ; on the 1 5 th of April, Paul went to
Casteir Arquato on a visit to his daughter Constanza,
whose son Guid'-Ascanio he had raised to the purple.
From thence he rode to Brescello, where, on the 22nd,
he found barges to float him down to Ferrara. Here
he stayed but a short time, returning quickly to
Bologna, from whence he dispatched Pier Luigi to
Genoa to meet Charles the Fifth. But Charles was in
an ill-humour, grumbled at Paul's trimming, refused
to proceed to Bologna, and proposed to meet the Pope
at Parma. A secret intimation was, in the meanwhile,
given that a large sum of money might induce the
Emperor to transfer the Duchy of Milan to Ottavio
Farnese, and on this basis Paul determined to treat.
Ottavio, on the one hand, was ordered to Pavia to
meet his wife, Margaret of Austria ; Pier Luigi was
sent out of the way to Castro, whilst the Pope, leaving
Bologna, proceeded to Parma, and made his entry into
that city with twenty-one cardinals and an equal
number of bisho|)s on the 15th of June. The
Emperor on that day lay at Cremona. On the 20th
Chap, in.] CAEDIN^iL FAENESE. SI
Paul rode to Busseto, and there he was joined by
Charles on the 21st. The whole suite of Pope and
Kaiser lodged in the narrow castello governed by
Girolamo Pallavicini. Granvelle as usual presided at
the negociations. He proposed to cede ^lilan to
Ottavio Farnese for 300,000 scudi, on condition that
Charles should keep the castles of ]\Iihin and Cre-
mona. After five days' haggling the potentates failed
to agree. The Pope turned his face to the South, and
Charles, in dudgeon, passed on towards Ocrmaiiv.*
In the period wliich elapsed between the arrival of
Paul tlic Third at Ferrara and Busseto, and his depar-
ture from Bologna, Titian was tlie miest of Cardinal
Farnese.
Of the wcaltli and splendour of tliis young and
influential prelate when he resided at Bomc, we have
a notion fi-om "N^asari, who states that, on numerous
occasions, lie went to look at the illustrious Cardinal
Farnese sui)})ing, attended by IMolza, Annibal Caro,
Messer Gandoltb, ]\Iesser Claud io Tolomei, Messer
Romolo Amaseo, Giovio, and other literary and gal-
lant sjentlemen who formed his court. t It was at one
of these suppers that the Cardinal asked Vasari to
sketch the lives of the painters which Giovio, Caro,
and others were to write. To him Leoni addressed
himself in matters relatino; to Titian as follows :
• For tho facts in the text, con-
sult the general histories of tho
period : Ranko's Deutsche Ge-
schichte, vol. iv. ; and AlTo's Life
of Pier' Luigi Farnese, edited by
VOL. II.
Pompeo Litta, Svo, Milan, 1S21,
pp. 4<5-o().
t Vasari : His own Life, i. -9,
30.
82
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Cmvp. HI.
LEONI TO CAEDINAL EAENESE.
" Titian was prevented by some interruption [from
continuing a discourse as to liis visit to the Farneses],
and as I had to leave Venice on the following morning,
he begged I would visit him on my return and resume
the subject, upon which he ^\T.shed to enter fully.
Now, in so far as I can form an opinion, I think from
the words that were used between us, he would resolve
to come and take service in the house of your Eeverend
and Illustrious Lordship ; and I think, too, he would
trust entirely to your courtesy and liberality, if you
should acknowledge his talents and labours by the
promotion of his son. It has not been in my power
to \dsit Venice since, and I thought it good to give
your Lordship notice that this man is to be had, if you
A\'ish to engage him. Titian, besides being clever,
seemed to us all mild, tractable, and easy to deal with,
which is worthy of note in respect of such exceptional
men as he is.
" Septemher 22, 1542 " * [probably from Padua].
An invitation to join the Farneses in their progress
from Eome was issued to the painter early in April,
1543. Aretino wrote to Cosimo de" Medici on the
10th that the Pope had sent for Titian.t Agostino
Mosti saw him on the 22nd at the festivities of Paul's
entrance into Ferrara.;]; He accompanied the Court to
* Erom tbe original in Eon-
chini, Eelazione, ?f. s., p. 2.
t Aretino to Cosimo I., April
10, 1543. Gaj-e Carteggio, ii. 311.
X "In Piazza (at Eerrara) tro-
vammo nno infinito numero di
gente ... da Venezia ne bo cono-
sciuto una gran parte, non pur
Chap. HI.] TITLiN REFUSES THE PIOMBO.
S3
Biisseto, where Charles the Fifth gave him a likeness
from which he was to paint a portrait of the Empress.*
He then went on to Boloo-na, where he stayed till
the middle of July. As usual the marvellous resem-
blance and beauty of his portraits were the subject of
every conversation. Aretino had been sent with a
deputation of the Signoria to greet the Sovereign on
his aiTival at Verona. He first wrote a piteous letter
to Titian, bewailing: his hard fate at beino- forced to
exchange the repose of a gondola for the jolt of a horse,
urging Titian to rid himself of " the priests'' and come
home to Venice, which he, for his part, would never
leave again, f He subsequently wrote in lietter spirits,
charmed l)y tlie Em})eror's reception, who condescended
to shake hands ^vit]l him, allowed him to ride at his
side, andi)raised the pictures of Titian. | " Fama," he
further ol)served, "took pleasure in publishing the
miracle which the painter had performed in producing
the Pope's portrait, though fame still valued at a
higher figure his generosity in rejecting the Pope's
off'er of the Piombo." ^ The truth is that whilst
Cardinal Farnese was Imino- Titian with a benefice
Mcssor Tiziano, ma infiniti altri."
Mosti in Citadella. Notizie, u. s.,
p. 599.
* Aretino to Monteso, from Ve-
rona, July, 1543, in Lettere di M.
P. Aret", iii. 36^. A fresco repre-
senting Charles V. and Paul III.
meeting was jiainted on the front
of a house at Busseto, and tradi-
tion assigned this work to Titian.
It has pei-it-hed. Compare Pel-
trame's Titian, it. s., pp. 45 and 65,
and P. Vitali, Pittui'o di Busseto.
Busseto, l.siO.
t Aretino to Titian, Jul}', 15-13,
from Verona, in Lettere di M. P.
Aretino, iii. 350.
t Aretino to Montese, July,
1543, from A'erona. lb. ib. p. 'M".
§ Aretino to Titian, July, 1543,
from Verona. Ib. ib., p. 36.
G 2
84 TITIAN: HIS LITE AND TIMK-S. [Ciiav. HI.
which it appeared was not witliiii liis gift, the Pope
lia<l also proposed to bestow (»n liiiu an i>thie at Rome
wliieh had hni^ sinee l)oen conferred on another. At
the death ui' Fra Mariau<», the court fool of Leo thi'
T(Mith, tlic "seal of the papal hulls" had been given
to Sel)afttian Luciani for life, on condition that he
slundd i)ay a yearly pension of SO ducats to Giovanni
(la I'dine.* The olfer nia«h' to Titian involvt'il nothing
less than that he should deprive two artist friends of
their iivehhood. ijr naturally revolted against the
]ir.)}»i).siiion and refused to entertain it. But he was
th.- nioro eager to secure the l)enefice, which was held
l)y an archbishop certain to receive ample compcns;i-
tion from ('anlinal Farnese. The sinecure of \vhi<-h
so much had been said, and so much wjis still to be
written, was th»^ abl)ey of San Tietro in ('(jlle, in the
diocese of Ceneda. already held /// commcndam by
Giulio Sertorio, abbot of Nonantola and archbishop of
San Severina. The archbishop, when pressed to give
up his interest in this abbey, had sent his brother
Antonio ^laria to represent him at liologna; and with
him Farnese had come to terms which he afterwards
urged on Sertorio by letter ; but before it was possible
that an answer in this missive should come, the
Cardinal suddenly felt the first symptoms of an attack
of fever, and hurriedly left Bologna, A^-ithout notice to
Titian. Bernardino ^[atiei, the Cardinal's secretar}-,
paid a visit to the painter to communicate this unwel-
■• Maniago, Storia delle belle .Viti Friulane, 8vo, Udine, 1823,
2nd od., p. 35u.
Chap. III.] BENEl ith ui* t\)LLE. 86
come intellijjcncc, but acUled consolation bv aftirminjr
— what lie knew to be false — that Monsignor .lulio
had alnady connrnted to transfer the Wnefiee of Colle.
On his ntum to Venice, Titian trave vent to his
fe- in a letter to the Canlinal «lat««l the 12 7th of
July, 154:J, in whieh he Siiid "that the sudden tle-
pnrture of bis Eminence had caused him to spend a
Kid nifjht, which would have been followed by a lia«l
day and a worse year (' Mnhnno,' an untranslatable
pun) if MatVt'i had not eonio next nv : to say that
Mon»i*;nor Julio had i or pn>mis<Hl to sentl the
cession of the l»onefirr."* I'..;: niontli>« d an«l no
nrw< of the cession came, and Titian had ample leisuni
i.. ^-tjnder over tlie vicissitudes of fortune which caused
him to undertake lonjj and wfar\*inu joumep, to exe-
cute the most jMiwrrful of his works f»»r nt) pn»fit what-
ever. Ills first ' !iad l>een that of the Pojh', his
secimd that of I'li-r' LuIl: I'-th were then ]»ainte<l
tofjether on a canvas whieh hits not iK-tn pn\Hrrved.t
These were followed by a replica of the Pojn^ for Car-
dinal 8antafiore, and a likeness of Cardinal Famese.J
* ThoMtcr infiilLwithaiitato. . . ritmno il Ftp*; olio fu opom
ment of tho facU in tho text, i«t boIlUnitna : o dn iiuollo, un altro
in Uonrhiui'a IlolaziuDO, ii. 4.. pp. . al ' 'i
3--*. ■•■ '"•■ '■ •-'»
t " I'aul III.inacrim«onchnir, Tapa' xni. p.
bis foot on a ro<l vtool rcwtint? on I 31
a Ii««\ "t. To • " It/Juno . . nvcndo pruiia n-
ri'>r 1 ' • ..... l»„pft I'no! ' S. ^*.
•with i: i lUiiwi, 0 ;.« TO-
OQo han«l on bin haunch." Far- ' inunorar.iono di (|u<'llo ui^ d'alcuni
ni'no . 'ri. Rac- ultri ch© avpva fatti al Cnnliiial.'
ooUa li- ' >: .'•'. Farnc«e od a Santa Fiorn" (Ih. x.
X Am to t) in, as uniml, 171).
is conimdictor}-, i. r.— " Tir-iano |
88 TITIAN: niS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
AVlien we contemplate tlie wondrous finish of the
first of these pictures as it hangs, perfectly preserved,
in the museum of Naples, when we study the skilful
handling of the second as it stands in the rooms
of the royal palace of the same sunny city, w^e
can understand the master's chagrin. These were
simply the Lest and most remarkable creations of
a period in which all that Titian did was grand and
imposing.
The pontift^'s likeness is that of a strong man, gaunt
and dry from age. His lean arm swells out from a
narrow wrist to a bony hand, which in turn branches
off into fingers portentously spare but apparently
capable of a hard and disagreeable grip. His head
looks oblong from the close crop of its short grey hair,
and the length of its square deep hanging beard. A
forehead high and endless, a nose both long and slender,
expanding to a flat drooping bulb with flabby nostrils
overhanging the mouth, an eye peculiarly small and
bleary, a large and thin-lipped mouth, display the
character of Paul Farnese as that of a fox whose
wariness could seldom be at fault. The heiojht of his
frame, its size and sinew, still give him an imposing-
air, to which Titian has added by drapery admirable
in its account of the under forms, splendid in the
contrasts of its reds in velvet chair and silken stole
and rochet, and subtle in the delicacy of its lawn
whites. One hand is on the knee, another on the arm
of the chair, the face in full front view, the body
slightly turned to the right and relieved against a
brown background. The quality of life and pulsation
Chap. III.] PORTRAIT OF PAUL THE THIRD.
81
SO often conveyed in Titian's pictures is liere in its
liigliest development. It is life senile in the relaxation
of the eyelids and the red humours showing at the eye
corners, life of slow current in the projecting veins
which run along the backs of the hands or beneath
the flesh on the bony projections of f:ice and wrists,
but flashinc;' out irresistibly through the eyeballs.
Both face and hands are models of execution, models
of balance of light and shade and harmonious broken
tones. Here and there with the butt end of the
l)rush a notch has been stiiick into the hii^-h liohts of
flesh and hair, but that is the only trace of technical
trick that human ingenuity can detect. Never, it is
clear, since the days of the " Christ of the Tribute
ISToney," had Titian more imperiously felt the necessity
of finisliincr and modellinn; ; never was he more
successful in combinini:; the detail of a Fleminir with
the softness of Bellini or the polish of Antonello,
combining them all with breadth of plane, freedom of
touch, and transparence of shadow peculiarly his
own.'"'
Was he thinking, when he produced a masterpiece
thus instinct with life and motion, of Michaelangclo
who was to see and criticise his work at Home ? Did
he remember the illustrious dead, the noble Kaphael
whose grandest creation had been a portrait of Leo ?
Did it strike him that he had painted countless doges,
• This picture is of lifo-size to
the knees, and on canvas. It is
numbered 8 in the Corroggio
Saloon of the Naples Museum,
and is in perfect preservation.
We find it in the Parmese in-
ventory of 1680 (Cumpori, u. s.,
Raccolta de' Cataloghi, p. 233).
88
TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
clukes, and senators and statesmen, and never a Pope
before, that it behoved him to do his best for a
potentate whose palaces were filled with the marvels
of the Revival 1 Had not Clement the Seventh heard
of him at Bologna and left him unheeded ; """ and
should he not endeavour to Avring praise from
Paul the Third ? After the picture was finished
it was varnished and set to dry on the terrace
of Titian's lodging, and the passing crowd stopped
to look and doffed their hats as they thought to a
living Pope.t
With greater speed but not less skill Titian painted
Pier' Luigi Farnese, the worthy son of an astute and
unscrupulous father. But as Titian depicts him, tlie
Duke of Castro looks more grandly base and possessed
of less than his father's share of that cunnino- which
he required to keep his person from the daggers of his
foes. Though given to every form of vice, his striking-
presence was not marred at this time by any lurking
sickness. Caro, his confidential agent and adviser,
says he was then in better looks and spirits than he
had ever known before.J His figure stands out
grandly in front of a pillar and a fall of green drapery.
His flesh is smooth and oily, his nose long and of
meandering curve, but in the main aquiline, his short
hair and copious beard deeply black, his eyebrows full
* A portrait of Clement "VTI.
ascribed to Titian in the Bridge-
water Collection is not original,
but recalls the style of the dis-
ciples of Schiavone and Tintoretto.
t Yasari to Benedetto (? Varcbi)
Bottari, Eaccolta, i. p. 57.
J Annl. Caro to Claudio Tolo-
mei, from Castro, July, 1J43, in
Lettere familiari del Comnien-
datore A. Caro, Syo, Yen. 1574.
Yol. i., p. 167.
Chap. III.] LIKENESS OF CAEDIXAL FAEXESE.
89
and sharply pencilled, bis eyes close to each other,
large, treacherous, and of jet ; his lips sensual and
blood-red. A black velvet tO(|ue with gold buttons
and a white feather, a tippet of brown fur over a
slashed silver silk damask doublet, furs at the wrist,
the ducal staff to rest the riirht hand, the left on a
sword. All this is blocked out with sweep of bmsh
and swift lightness of touch, making up a picture
surprising for the ease with which it is thrown oil, and
full of the most wonderful accidents of surface.*
At the Naples Museum Cardinal Alessandro in his
robes and cap, holding a glove in his right hand, looks
tame when compared witli his splemlid fatlnr. His
face is youthful ; his hair of chestnut colour ; his beard
downy ; a violet curtain fiiUs in the background, over
a wall of brownish tint. The tamencss is doubtless
due to time, abrasion and neglect, from which the
canvas has sulfered almost irretrievable injury. So
bad indeed is the preservation, so dry the pigment,
that we fail to reco[rnise the hand of Titian. t The
same Cardinal, a bust turned to the right, in the
Corsini palace at Tiome, is still more difficult to judge
* This picture, in the Palazzo
Realo at Naples, is described in
the Farncso inventory of in.SO
(C'ampori, Cat. u. s., p. 230). It is
on panel to the knees, largo as
life, and well preserved.
t Naples Museum, No. IS,
Knee piece, on canvas, of life-
eizo. On the back we find the
seal of the Farnosc, a lily in vrax,
and the words : C.[ardiual] S.
AlfOLO. This picture would gain
much if stretched on a new can-
vas. It is registered in the Panna.
inventory of 1(580 (Cump. Cat.,
V. s., p. 230). Another portrait in
the same inventory has not been
traced, — Cardinal S. Angolo, cap
on head and gluvfs in his left
hand, and his right hand in
shadow (Camp. Catal. p. 234).
90
TITLiN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. III.
of, thougli bits of it miglit point to the autliorsliip of
Titian.""''
Vasari observes that the portrait of Paul the
Third, of which a replica was made for Cardinal
Guidascanio Santafiore, was preserved in Eome, and
that both original and replica were frequently copied.
We naturally infer from this statement that the replica
differed from the original at Naples, and it is to he
presumed that this was so, because the portraits of
Paul the Third, exhibited under Titian's name in
numerous English and continental galleries, are mostly
in two forms ; one of which shows the Pope bare-
headed with his left hand on the arm of his chair, and
his right hand on his knee ; the other Avith the red
cap on the head, and the right hand at least on the
arm of the chair. The finest example in the second
form is that of the Barbario-o collection now at Peters-
burg, where both hands are on the arms of the ponti-
fical seat; but Titian in this instance worked hurriedly,
and was probably helped l^y assistants, and the result
is an aged look in the Pope.f Those in the second
* The bust of Cardinal Famese
in the Corsini Gallery at Eome,
represents the prelate in his cap
and robes in front of a green cur-
tain, of life-size, and on panel.
Of the original little more is seen
than in the half shades of the fore-
head, part of the neck and ear, and
ueighboiuing cheek. The eyes, the
bair, the dress, and ground, are
all repainted. The older frag-
ments suggest the handling of
Titian. There is a print of this
portrait by Girolamo Eossi.
t This is a canvas, with the
Pope seen to the knees, numbered
101 in the Gallery of the Hermit-
age, and in size 3 ft. 8 in. English
h. by 2 ft. 11| in. The colours
are slightly dimmed by time and
old varnish, and partial retouch-
ing is not to j)ass unobserved, ex.
gr. in the neck and left hand.
But, besides, a piece has been
added to the canvas on the right
side of the picture.
CiiAP. III.] EErLICAS OF PAUL THE THIED.
91
form are eitlier copies or injured to such an extent
that an opinion on them would not be justified.
They are to be found in the catalogues of the North-
wick, Pitti and Spada collections, at the Belvedere in
A^ienna, in the Aluseum of Turin, or in the Castle of
Alnwick."
Not till he returned to his home in Liri was it in
Titian's power to attend to more lucrative commissions
than those which he had carried out for the Farnese.
No doubt there was less honour to be had by working
• Tho Northwick example,
^vhich chauged hand-s at the sale
ot that collection, was a counter-
part of tho bare-headed original
at Nai)les ; it was so much ro-
2)ainted that it was (Hflicult to
decide whether Titian was tho
painter or one of his i)upils (No.
iSTO of Lord Ninthwick'a Cata-
logue).
Tho I'itti copy (No. li'JT), as-
cribed to Paris Pordone, is a re-
production of that of Najiles by a
l)ainter of thu ITth century.
Tho Spada copy is not by a
Venetian, but by an artist of the
Italian Schools of tho 18th cen-
tury.
That of tho Turin Mu»eum (No.
129), formerly aseribod to Titian
and now thrown back into tho
.school, is in tho manner of a lato
disciple of the last Passanos.
A more faithful imitation, on a
small scale (half Pfe-size) and on
})anel, is that of Ixnd Northum-
berland at Alnwick, originally iu
the Cammuccini and Altieri Col-
lections at Pome.
Other varieties are a knee-piece,
; No. 24 in tho Museum of Naples,
' in which the right baud of tho
I Pope is closed over a i)niior, and
j a landscape is seen through a
j window to tho right. This canvas
I ai)pears to have been one of tho
i Parmeso heirlooms, and is regis-
tered as an oiiginal Titian in the
Inventoiy of Parma of 1680. It
is greatly damaged ; but if we
judge from a iragment of tho left
hand on the arm of tho chair'
which has escaj)ed injury, tho
jKutrait may have been originally
Titian's.
At tho Belvedere of Vienna tho
Pope is represented sitting, with
his right hand on tho arm of his
seat, lie wears the purple cap,
and his left arm hangs to his
knees. This, however, is a Vene-
tian canvas, of a jieriod subse(iuent
to Titian's death (jihotograph by
Miethke and Wawra).
One of the copies above noted
may be that registered in tho
Parntso inventory as done by
Gatti (Soiaro), Campori, Eaccolta
de' Cataloghi, u. s., p. 291.
92
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. in.
for mercliants or provincial nobles than for Eoman
prelates, but for less labour a liiglier reward was-
probably secured. Early in the year 1529, Ferdinand,
King of Bohemia, raised to the rank of a noble ]\Iartin
van der Hanna, a citizen of Brussels, whose money-
bags had done good service in the cause of Charles the
Fifth. Martin settled shortly after at Venice, called
himself D'Anna, and bought the palace of the Talenti,
at the ferry of San Benedetto on the Grand Canal.
Here he engaged Pordenone to paint the walls of his
dwelling inside and out.'"' Here he resided with his
sons Giovanni and Daniel, who followed their father's
business of general merchants. In 1543, Giovanni
d'Anna became the friend and compare, as w^ell as the
patron of Titian, and Titian completed for him the
great " Ecce Homo "t which hangs in the gallery of
Vienna. AVhen Henry the Third passed through
Venice on his way to Paris in 1574, he saw this mas-
terpiece in the house of the d'Annas, and offered eight
hundred ducats for it.J But when Sir Henry Wotton
was English envoy at Venice, in 1G20, he bought the
canvas for the Duke of Buckingham ; and a few years
later that superb favourite refused £7000 for it
from Thomas, Earl of Arundel. To the wealth and
splendour of the days of James, the troublous time
* Yasari, ix. 36 ; Sansovino,
Ven. desc. 212; Dolce, Dialogo,
62; Cicogna, Isc. Ven., iii. 198.
This palace is now called Palazzo
Martinengo. There are fragments
of Pordenone's frescos on the
canal front.
t Vasari, xiii. 20. Titian also
painted Giovanni's portrait ; and,
later still, he composed for him.
a crucifixion. lb. ib., xiii. 43.
Both pictures are missing.
X Anonimo, ed. Morelli, p. 89.
ciLvi'. in.]
ECCE UOMO" AT \TENNA.
93
of the Eevolution succeeded. The sou of the mur-
dered Villiers was ghid to sell by auction the gallery
of his father, glad to get as many hundreds for
the " Ecce Homo " from Canon Hillewerve of Ant-
werp, as Buckingham had refused thousands to
Arundel. Archduke Leo^iold bought the picture from
the canon for his brother the Em}>eror Ferdinand the
Third. It came to Prague, and was taken from
thence, in 1GS8, to Vienna Ijy the Emperor Charles
the Sixtl).*
In this large canvas, which measures little less tlian
twelve feet by eiglit, Titian again transforms a gos-
pel sul)ject into a modern episode ; merging religious
feelinc,^ into familiar realism, and transformini:: the
.sublime sacrifice of Clirist into a display of ordinary
suffering. ( )n the same general lines as the " Presenta-
tion in tlic Temple "the composition is set partly on
steps leading down from a palace, and partly in the
square fronting the i>alace. On tlie top of tlic steps,
and before the door, the Saviour is presented to the
people. The gaoler behind looks on as Pilate, in llie
semblance of Aretino, points to the Captive, and asks
the crowd, "What evil hath he done?" The chief priests,
the elders and multitude, are shouting, " f^et liim l)e
cruciiied." Two of the number stride up the steps to
claim the victim, otliers slicnv their arms and hands
above the press, two guards advance with halberds, in
* " Advciti.scmout" to tho Ca-
taloguo of tho Collection of Georgo
Villiers, Duko of Buckingham, by
Brian Fairfax, Svo, London, Ba-
thoo, ITSJ; Krairt, Hist. Krit.
Catalog., u. 8., p. 3.S.
94 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. HI.
rear of them a young mother grasps the shoulders of a
boy who clings to her in terror. A prelate in red
robes moves gravely on. A standard-bearer waves his
colours, and two horsemen — a Turk, the counterfeit of
Sultan Soliman, in a white turban, and a knight in
steel armour — bring up the rear. To the left, at the
foot of the steps, a man in working dress chides his
barkinsf dosf, and a reclininsj soldier sets his hand on
his shield as he turns to look up at the Saviour. The
whole scene is laid in the open air, in front of a
palace of solid and dungeon -like appearance, yet
finely decorated with statues ; and it is surprising
how Titian, in this confined space and with only
twenty-seven figures, efiectively realises the idea of a
multitude.
Though handled with great freedom and facility,
and coloured with richly contrasted tones, this picture
betrays more than Titian's habitual neglect of contour,
whilst it displays less of his usual elevation of charac-
ter. The palet is varied in tint, the brush stroke solid
and broad. The shades of colour are strong and
decided, and a pleasing warmth of brown spreads
evenly over the canvas, but effect produced by dark
bituminous shadow reminds us of habits peculiar in
after years to Schiavone and Tintoretto ; and it is
scarcely to be doubted that whilst Titian was enjoying
the society and the flattering attentions of the papal
court, his ablest assistants were laboriously employed in
the workshop at home. To this distribution of labour
we perhaps owe the comparative insignificance of the
finfure of Christ, ^^'hose shape is as mean as His bear-
Chap. HI.]
ARETIXO AS ril^VTE.
95
ing is humble ; to the same cause also, the violent
plebeian action of some of the crowd, which differs so
greatly from the devotional calm impressed on the
" Presentation in the Temple." But even with these
defects such a picture naturally appealed to the feel-
ings of the Venetian i»ulilic, not merely because it
illustrated Scripture in a striking way, Init because it
gave a cpuiint and startling prominence to some noted
individuals of the time. It must have been amusinor
to those who knew Arctino to see him represented in
the garb of Pilate, though Aretino himself might have
wished that his face had shown somewhat less of the
vulgar litentiousncss habitually impressed on his
features. It was natural again tliat Soliman, whose
likeness Titian ha<l so often taken from medals, should
be numbered amongst those who asked for the blood
of Christ. Strange is the tradition which described
the armed rider at Soliman's side iis an e<]uestrian
portrait of Charles the Fifth, equally strange that the
features of this rider should be those of Alfonso of
Este.*
• Eidolfi, ^[araviglic, i. '2'2o,
properly described tbo I'ilate as a
portrait of Aretino, and the tur-
banod Turk as Soliman. Tho
knight, whom he calls Charles V.,
is not in tho least liko that
monarch. Tho picture in tho
Belvedere at Vienna, is No. 1!>
in the 2nd room of the 1st floor.
It is on canvas, with figures as
largo, or nearly as large, as lil'e.
On a scroll ot jjuper at tho foot of
tho steps we read :
a
EQ\'E3
CE3.
F
lo43.
Tho bituminous pigment used
in the colours contributed greatly
to mako tho canvas dark as it
now is. Besides this, the surface
has been unequallj' cleaned, was
much retouched in various places,
96
TITIAN: HIS LITE AND TIMES. [Chap. ni.
About tlie time of tlie completion of a picture thus
fitted to rouse the envy and admiration of Paolo
Veronese, Titian probably finished the " Ascension of
the Yirofin" which now hang-s in the Cathedral of
Yerona. Without the majestic grandeur of the
Assunta of the Frari, this fine composition is striking
for its masterly combination of light and shade and
harmonious colours with realistic form and action.
Mysterious gloom lies on the Virgin's face as she sits
in a corona of lio-ht on the clouds above the tomb.
The very inception of thankful feeling is shown in
the movement of the hands which rise to join each
other in prayer. Serene joy marks the features
looking down at the apostles. A fine contrast is
produced by the standing St. Peter on the left, and
the kneeling apostle to the right of the canvas ; a
contrast equally fine by the luotion of the two men
who look down into the sepulchre whilst their com-
panions glance upwards at the radiant apparition in the
sky. St. Thomas in the middle of the background has
cauo'lit the Viroin's o-irdle as it fell from heaven. The
system of dark shading which marks the " Ecce Homo"
and is at present somewliat out of
focus in consequence. What re-
minds us here of Schiavone is the
scumbled bituminous tone and the
realism of the forms, and an evi-
dent vulgarity in action. A fine
photograph from the original was
published by Miethke and Wa-wra.
Hollar engraved the j^iece in 1650.
A copy of this piece hangs high
up in the sacristy of the church of
San Gaetano at Padua, and bears
an inscription similar to the above,
except that the date is 1574. The
colours are much dimmed, and
the canvas hangs so high that the
question of originalitj^ must, for
the present, remain undecided.
The same subject by Titian is
noted in a picture once in the
Correr Palace, near Santa Fosca
of Yenice, by Boschini. Pref. to
the Eicche Miniere.
CiiAi'. III.] TITLiX WRITES TO MICIL^JELAXGELO. 97
recurs auaiu, and shows to some advanta2[e in uuiou
with a bold free touch and sweep of brush. But
there is more concentration in the composition, more
character in the faces, a finer cast of di-apery and
greater dignity than in the picture of the Dannas.*
Meanwhile Titian and the Academy, with Aretiuo
at its head, were setting levers in motion to stii' the
Farncses into some acknowledmnent of the ser\'ices
rendered by Titian at Bologna and Busse. In Marcli
the painter himself, at Aretino's dictation, penned a
letter to the Cardinal's secretary ^latlei, to urge the
nature of his claims. " The fame of the great
Alexander, he wrote, was as wide as the world, ex-
cluding all other themes of praise or conversation.
To hear this praise was like a return of youth, and
not less refreshiniT than it would be to luar that his
Eminence had kept the vow made by the holy
clemency of the Pope in respect of the benefice."t
Eanuccio Farncse, no less diligently canvassed in
the same direction, was made to address his brother
in A}>ril as follows :
• Rossi (Gius. Mar.) in the
Nuovu GuiJa di Verona (Svo,
Verona, 18,34, p. 2o), states that
the " Assumption " was placed on
an altar onco belonging to the Ve-
ronese family of Cartolari, but
afterwards rebuilt on a design of
Sansovino for tho family of Ni-
chesola. This is confirmed by
Ridolfi, Marav., i. 229. The can-
vas is arched at top. Its fore-
ground figures are largo as life.
It was carried to France at the
close of last century, and was
VOL. II.
subsequently returned. Ilcavj'
layers of varnish and some re-
touches disfigure the surface,
which has lost much of its fresh-
ness in consequence. There aio
line engravings of this piece by
Gaotano Zancon and C. Normand.
It was copied by Ridolfi for an
altar in a chmx'h at Roveredo
(Ridolfi, Marav., i. 229).
t Titian to Malfei, from Venice,
March 20, 1J44, in Ronchiui, Re-
lazioui, u. s. p. 5.
98
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
" I came to Venice to thank tlie Siornoria for oivino-
me quiet possession of the Abbey of Eosazzo ; and
there I received a visit from M°. Ticiano Avho begged
I would ask your R*^. L^. to hasten the grant of the
benefice for his son. Titian being a most estimable
person, I beg to recommend him most earnestly. I
leave to morrow for Padua."'"'
Mindful of the hio;h favour in which Michaelano;elo
stood with Paul the Third, for whom he had painted
the " Last Judgment," Titian also wrote in April to
the great Florentine asking him as a brother of the
craft to favour his suit at Rome ; t and this letter was
seconded by one from Aretino to the same master,
telling him of the honours received from the Emperor
at Verona, praising the " Last Judgment " at the
Sixtine, which he had not seen, and — commino-lino;
dulce cum utile — bes^o-ins; for drawin&s, which ho
valued more than all the cups and chains of princes.J
To Carlo Gualteruzzi, a friend and translator of Bembo,
and secretary to Ottavio Farnese, communications of
a similar character were made in June, when Aretino
suggested an appeal to Bembo to use his influence
with Michaelangelo.§ In November, finally Aretino
sent a personal and most flattering missive to Ottavio
Farnese, II and in order to keep in view the talents
* Eanuccio to Cardinal Ear-
nese, Venice, April 25, 1544. lb.
ib. ib.
t Aretino to Buonarroti, from
Venice, April 1544, in Lettere di
M. P. A. iii. 45-G.
X Ib. ib. ib.
§ Aretino to Carlo Gualteruzzi,
Venice, June, 1544, in Lett, di
M. P. A. iii. 51; and compare
Sansovino, Ven. Descritta, p. 597.
II The same to Ottavio Earnese,
CiL^. III.] ^VEETIXO DESCEIBES A EEGATTA. 99
of the painter whose interests were thus persistently
put forward, he puLlished a note to Titian, in which
he shows a true feeling for the sublime in nature and
art :
"Having dined, contrary to my habit, alone, or
rather in company of the cpiartan fever which robs me
of all taste for the yood thino;s of the table, I looked
out of my window and watched the countless passing
boats, and amongst them the gondolas manned by
celebrated oarsmen racino; with each other on the
Grand Canal. I saw the crowd that thronged the
bridge of Itialto and the liiva to witness the race,
and as it slowly dispersed 1 glanced at a sky which
since the davs of the creation wa>; never more
splendidly graced with lights an<l shadows. The
air v/as such as an artist would like to depict who
grieved that he was not Titian. The stonework of
the houses, though solid, seemed artificial, the atmo-
sphere varied from clear to leaden. The clouds above
the roofs merged into a distance of smuky grey, the
nearest blazing hke suns, more distant ones glowing
as molten lead dissolvinc;- at last into horizontal
streaks, now greenish blue, now l»luish green, cutting
the palaces as they cut them in the landscapes of
Vecelli. And as I watched the scene I exclaimed
more than once, ' 0 Titian, where art thou, and why
not here to realize this scene ? ' " *
Venice, Nov., 151 1, in Lett, di
W!. P. A. iii. 68.
• Thia is a free paraphrase of
Aretino's letter, dated Venice,
May, loi-i, in Lettero di M. P. A.
iii. !•. 48.
100 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IH.
Where Titian was at this moment is uncertain,
perhaps far away on a trip to his native mountains,
perhaps lingering on the borders of the Alpine land,
near the canonry of Colle, which he was claiming for
Pomponio. Early in the year he signed a contract
with the people of Castel Eoganzuolo, whose church
l)elonged to Colle by Ceneda, to paint an altar-piece
in three parts, and deliver it in the following Sep-
tember for 200 ducats ; and there is every reason to
believe that he performed his part of the agreement.
He was indeed much more punctual with the delivery
of his work than the churchwardens with the settle-
ment of their dues ; for in 1546 it was arranged that
the debt should be cancelled by instalments, the people
of Castel Eoganzuolo undertook to pay an annual sum
on account for eight years in kind, and furnish the
stones and the labour for the building of a cottage,
planned by Titian on the neighbouring slope of Manza.
" Fortunate Titian," says Josiali Gilbert, " to possess
a resort like this, which no Venice garden could rival
in attraction. A mile or two of high road and as
much of a winding lane through hedges of acacia, once
brought me from Ceneda to Castel Eoganzuolo, a poor
and scattered village at the foot of a bare knoll. To
one edge of this clung a forlorn looking little church,
and a few yards off, upon an out-cropping rock, stood
its attendant tower. But wdiat a view ! An expiring
thunderstorm was moaning along the terraces of Alpine
hills, rising into mist and blackness on the north ; but
under a ragged canopy of cloud, the distant Julian
Alps stood out in opal clearness, and a flood of golden
Chap, m.] ALT.VE-PIECE OF EOGAXZUOLO.
101
light was poured over the j^kiiu, which spread bound-
less beneath the eye — east and west, and south, a sea
of verdure, whose purple distance might have been the
sea itself, as the shining campaniles, dotting it all
over, might have been the sails of innumeral>le ships.
One of the most distant, due south, was pointed out
as that of St. ^Faik's. . . .
" Inside the little church (the key of which must be
oljtained frr)m the canonica a short distance oft) a
single glance at the altar-piece sliowed that if Titiiin's
hand had l)een there much of liis work liad been
coarsely painted over, and mucli liad perished."*
The truth is, the people of Koganzuolo wlio com-
missioned the picture of Titian in l.")44 also ordered
and obtained a churcli standard from his son Uiazio
in 1575, and there is some c^round for thinkinc: that
the first was disposed of or lost, whilst the second
was set up in its place. Orazio's contract sti^iulated
that the standard should comprise a figure of St. Peter
on one side, and St. Paul on the other. St. Peter and
St. Paul are the two saints on the side canvases of the
composite altar-piece now in the church of Ptoganzuolo.
They arc painted in (,)razio's well known style, whilst
the central Virgin and Child is a coarse production in
the fourth-rate manner (jf Fiumicclli, or Peccanisio of
Treviso.t
* Gilbert's Cadore, n. s. pp. 29-
31.
t For records concerning Ti-
tian's and Orazio's dealings with
the men of C'astol lloganzuolo, sco
Appendix. The canvases, with
their lifo-sizo figures, are in a
stately gilt screen, with pilasters
and pediment and basu. 8t. Peter
stands to the right, hokling the
keys and reading from a book.
St. I'aul holds a volume iu lus
102
TITLVN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. III.
During 1544, and the greater part of 1545, Titian's
efforts to obtain a reward for his services to the
Farnese princes were altogether fruitless. But this
neglect was due, not so much to meanness or avarice,
as to the vicissitudes of politics. The Pope and his
clan were much too busy with temporal cares, and the
cardinal was too frequently away on distant missions to
think of the claims of a painter so far away from Eome
as Titian was. Francis the First had sent an army
into Italy in spring, and won the battle of Cerisole,
giving a death wound there to Titian's old patron del
Vasto. Charles the Fifth had put an end to cam-
paigning in Italy by invading France, and Cardinal
Alessandro had been actinoj as leo;ate at the tail of
the contending armies. After the peace of Crespi,
signed by Charles and Francis in September, Titian's
hope of deriving advantage from the papal connexion
may have increased. He certainly showed no distrust
of it when he wrote in December to engage the
left hand and points downward
with the sword in his right. The
Virgin stands at the side of an
ornamented plinth, on which she
supports the naked form of Christ.
At her feet is a lemon and a basket
of flowers. Each of the three can-
vases is arched at top. The tech-
nical treatment of the saints is
Titianesque, but Titianesque only
in the form of Titian's pupils, and
especially of Orazio in his old age ;
and this is easily observable, in
spite of the fading of the colours,
the scaling of the flesh tints, and
a general dimness of surface. The
pigments are thin, yet opaque in
tone ; drawing, modelling, and
light and shade are all too feeble
for Titian. The Virgin is less
skilfully handled than the saints,
being heavy and squat in shape,
and strained in movement. The
colours are sharp, and the touch
rapid and loose. Besides the dam-
age done by time, we may notice
the scaling of the blue mantle,
which is changed to green. If
Orazio's standard should not have
been used to make up the altar-
piece it has disappeared.
Chap, in.] POETE.UTS OF THE EilPEESS.
103
Carclinal's interest iu his quarrel with the canons of
San Spirito.*
Pending results at the court of the Pope, it would
have been impolitic to neglect the older and more
certain patronage of Charles ; and early in October
Titian wrote a letter all his own, and free from the
turgid style of .-Vi-etino, to tell the Emperor that he
had finished two portraits of the deceased Empress
Isabella.
TITIAX TO THE EMPEROE.
" Youii Cesarean Majesty,
" I consigned to Sefior Don Diew di ]\Ieu-
<loza, the two portraits of the most Serene Empress, in
whicli I have used all the diligence of which I was
capable. I sliould have liked to take tliem to your
Majesty in jierson, l)Ut that my age and the length
of the journey forbade such a course. I beg your
iMajesty to send me word of the faults or failings
which I may have made, and return the pictures that
I may correct them. Your ^lajesty will not j'cnnit
anyone else to lay hand on them. For the rest I
refer to what S°' Don Diego will say respecting my
affairs, and T embrace tlie feet and hands of your
INFajesty, to whose grace I beg most humljly to be
recommended.
" Your ^Majesty's most humble and constant servant,
" TiTIANO.
" To Ilia Cjesarean Majesty, tho Emi^eror my Scuor."
" frow Venice, Oct. 5, 1544. "t
* Seo (tntia.
t This letter, copied iu tho Ar-
chives of Simanras by Mr. Bor-
geuroth, bears tho dato of 1545
104
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
The messenger who took this letter no doubt
carried another, which Aretino piibHshed for the
benefit of his contemporaries, referring at length to the
points which Titian had left to Charles' ambassador.
It was the old complaint breaking out afresh. Nine
years had elapsed since Titian had received a grant to
import corn from Naples, and nothing had come of it ;
months had gone by, and the pension on Milan re-
mained unpaid.* The portraits were sent to Brussels,
where they remained till Charles the Fifth's final re-
tirement into Spain,t when they were taken to Yuste,
and registered in the inventory drawn up after the
Emperor's death. The first perished, the last still
hangs in the museum of Madrid. |
The original of these portraits is supposed to have
been b}^ a Fleming, but Titian, as usual, is careful not
to betray the absence of his model. The Empress
had been dead some time when he painted her like-
ness. Yet no one would think that she had not sat
(see Bergenrotli MS. in the Bri-
tish Museum) ; but it is clear that
it "was written in 1544, because
Ai-etino sent a letter to Charles
the Fifth in October of the latter
year, to say that Titian's portrait
of Isabella was finished (Lettere
di M. P. A. iii. p. 77), and be-
cause Titian in October, 1545,
was not at Yenice, but in Eome.
The original letter will be found
in Appendix.
* Aretino' s letter to the Em-
peror, antea, forwarded under
cover to the Venetian envoy
in Charles the Fifth's camp,
Bernardo Navagero.
t ^^ Item. La resemblance de
I'Empereur et de I'lmperatrice
faict sur toille par Tisiane.
' ' Item. La resemblance de I'lm-
peratrice faict sur toille par Ti-
siane."— Inventory of Aug. 1556,
in Gachard, Eetraite et Mort de
Charles V., 8vo, Brux., Gand, et
Leipzig, 1855, vol. ii. p. 93.
% Stirling, Cloister Life of
Charles Y. Both canvases were
copied by Eubens at Madrid in
1605. See Sainsbury's Papers,
«. s., pp. 3 & 237.
Ch.U'. III.] POETE^UTS OF THE EMPRESS.
105
for it. She rests on a chair near a window, in front
of a rich fall of brocade. Her red hair is strewed
with pearls, her neck bound by a pearl necklace,
supporting a pendant of emeralds and mines. The
bodice is red velvet, the sleeves lined with crimson
satin, slashed and looped with jewels, the habit-shirt
and puffed foresleeve muslin with gold fillets. The
left hand holds a book, and through the window is a
view of a mountain landscape. The picture was never
sent back for correction, llcudering gravely, even
sadly, the features of a woman turned of twenty-four,
it remained very dear to Charles tlu*- Fifth, who took it
to Yuste, and asked to see it as he lay on his death-
l)ed.*
During tliis and most of the following years Titian
was chiefly occupied with portraits. Just about this
time, the most distinguished resort of men eminent in
politics, literature, and art, was the palace of the Duke
of Urbino at Venice, where Guidubahhi and his wife
Julia Yarana frequently held court, when public business
or the vicissitudes of the seasons failed to keep them
at Pesaru. Here the Duke was fond of assembling his
friends and such persons as might help to further
his pui^pose of acquiring supreme command of the
* This picture, numbered 485
in the Madrid Museum, is on
canvas, m. 1.17 h. by 0.98. In
1582 it wa.'! in the palace of Pardo,
in IGSO in the iVlcazar of Madrid.
See D. Pedro do Madrazo'a Cata-
logue, in which it is suggested
that the original from which
Titian painted was by Anthony
Moro, probably a baseless con-
jecture. See Mignet's Charies V.,
8vo, Paris, 1854, 2nd cd. p. 412.
An engraving by I), do Jodo re-
presents the empress with her
right hand on a table, and flowers
in her loft.
106
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. III.
Venetian forces. Here the essayist Sperone was sure
to be found in company of tlie Emperor's envoy,
Mendozza, the Duke's agent, Gian-Jacomo Lionardi,
Trissino, Aretino, Bernardo Navagero, Marcantonio
and Domenico Morosini, Daniel Barbaro, Federico
Badoer, and Domenico Venier, all of whom paid court
to the lord and lady of the mansion. The whole of
the company may be found in colloquy in Sperone's
dialogue of Fortune, where the Duke hears his guests
discuss the failure of Charles the Fifth before Algiers,*
and as in Castiglione's "Cortigiano," the most excellent
painter, adored by patron and clients, is Eaphael, so
here the popular idol is Titian. On one occasion,
Avlien the dialogue is confined to Tullia, Bernardo
Tasso, Niccolo Gratia, and j\lolza, and the theme is
all-absorbing " Love," Tullia talks very loftily of the
world "as an image of God created by Nature," and
with some contempt contrasts that " image " with the
portraits of painters, which give of man's life but the
outer skin. " You are unjust to Titian," cries Tasso
enthusiastically, "No," exclaims Tullia, "I hold Titian
to be not a painter — his creations not art, but his
works to be miracles, and I think that his pigments
must be composed of that wonderful herb which made
Glaucus a god when he j)9'rtook of it ; since his
portraits make upon me the impression of something
divine, and as Heaven is the paradise of the soul, so
God has transfused into Titian's colours the paradise
of our bodies, "t
* Dialoghi del Sig. Speron Spe-
rone, 8vo, Yen. 1596, p. 510.
t Sperone, Dialogo d'Amore,
8vo, Aldus, Yen. 1512, pp. 21, 25.
CjIAP. III.]
SPEROXE'S DLVLOGUES.
107
Of all the j)ersons wlio figure in these dialogues,
five at least were portrayed by Titiau in 1545, after
an obscurer sitter, a friend of Priscianese, called
Alessandro Corvino, had been introduced and des-
2\atched.'"' In February the portrait of Daniel Bar-
))aro M'as sent to Bishop Jovius, ^vllom Charles the
Fifth habitually called his liar, whilst Titian called
him his compared Though not as yet appointed
envoy to Edward the Sixth, nor patriarch of Aquilcia,
Barljaro was a doctor in the faculty of Arts at Padun,
and a patron of Titian i»reparatory to acting ^lecienas
to Palladio, Vittoria and Paolo Veronese.
A likeness of Guidubaldo the Second, completed in
jVIarch, was followed later in the year by one of Julia
Varana ; whilst that of ^larcantonio Morosini was deli-
vered in July, j It is not quite certain whether a similar
canvas representing Speronc was done at this time.§
* Arctino to Priscianeso, Ve-
nice, Feb. 1.j4o, in Lcttero di M.
P. A. iii. 97\— f)S.
t Aiotino to Giovio at Eomo,
Ven., Fob. 1.545, Lett, di M. P.
A. iii. p. 104. A portrait of Da-
niel Barbaro, restinj,' his hand on
a book, was in tho cuUoction of
Hans Van Ulfel, at Antwerp, in
Ilidolfi's time. (8co Maraviglio, i.
p. 259.) It corresponds altoge-
ther with a portrait cngravod
by UoUar, inscribed: "Titianus
pinxit. Hollar fecit, KHO.— lii-
tratto di Monsignor doUa Casa. —
Front face of a man with short
hair and long beard, with tho
fingers of his left hand on a
Look."
+ Arotino to tho Duke of Ur-
biuo, Venice, March, 1545. Tho
same to the Duchess of Urbino,
Venice, Oct. 1545. Tho same to
Marcantouio Morosini, Venice,
July, 1545 ; in Lettero di M. P.
Aretino, iii. 114, lOS, and 101.
The portraitof Guidubaldo passed,
with other heirlooms, to Florence
in 1031, but is now missing. See
Chiavacci's I'itti Catalogue of
1.S.59, p. '245.
§ Sporone's likeness was seen
by Ividolfi at Padua, in possession
of a canon Conti ; on a cover over
the picture a child was painted
playing with a lion. See also a
fragment of a letter from Sperono
in Ticozzi, Vecelli, u.s., note to
108
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
But we measure the labour wliich still awaits the
student of Titian's works when we note that of all
these portraits none can be traced or identified. One
and one only remains to tell of the master's industry
in these days, and that is the picture in which Titian
immortahzed the features of the now bloated Aretino.
In a letter acknowledging the receipt of the "Barbaro,"
Jovius had asked for a sketch of Aretino. His friend
replied that he would give him a copy of the " terrible
marvel," just brought to completion by Titian/'' A
few months later the painter sent the canvas home ;
and Aretino despatched it to the Duke of Florence with
a sarcastic letter, saying that the satins, velvets, and
brocades would perhaps have been better if Titian had
received a few more scudi for working them out.t In
a similar strain he wrote to Titian himself, then absent
at Kome, upbraiding him for having left his portrait a
sketch instead of a finished picture ;;!: and yet, when
we look at the masterpiece as it hangs in the museum
of the Pitti at Florence, it strikes us as a marvel of
finish. In the " Ecce Homo " at Vienna, where
p. 223. But consult also Bartoli
Pitture, &e., di Eovigo, Svo, Ven.
1793, p. 164, who describes ia the
bishop's palace a portrait of
Sperone, "aged 22, by Titian."
But Bartoli adds that Sperone
holds in his hand the book of his
Dialogues, and these Sperone only
began to write at the age of
thirty. (See Sperone, Apologia
dei Dialoghi, in Dialoghi, u. s.,
p. 521.) _
* Giovio to Aretino, from
Eome, March 11, loio, in Bot-
tari's Raccolta, 5, 230 ; and Are-
tino to Giovio, Yenice, April,
1545, in Lettere di M. P. A. iii.
121.
t Compare Gaye, Carteggio, ii.
331, 345-7; and Aretino to the
Duke of Florence, Oct. 1545, in
Lett, di M. P. A. iii. 238.
J Aretino to Titian, from Ye-
nice, Oct. 1545, Lett, di M. P. A.
iii. 236.
Chap, in.] POETEAIT OF .lEETIXO. 109
Aretino acts the part of Pilate, the features are low
and the expression common. At the Pitti, the face
seems diseng-aged from an atmosphere of corruption,
and — as far as such a thing is possible — appears
idealized and ennobled. (,)f short stature originally
and of great strength, Aretino still looks lusty, though
beginning to age There is power in the solid arch of
the brow, power in the scantling of the forehead. Fire
is in the large dark eye, and something that tells of
strength too in the pepper and salt of the hair and
streaks of grey in the full, well-furnished beard. The
model ha.s not lost his characteristic cunninir and
O
audacity ; the tyi:)e of the blusterer and bully is not
completely effaced, nor has the natural etlrontery of
the scribe entirely disappeared ; but the worst points are
cleverly toned down, and more prominence is given to
an air of .sharpness than to mere bloat and fat. What
Aretino calls a hozzo is a miracle of modellini]: in solid
impast of rich coloured pigments. There is no trace
here of ipiartan fever, no sallow toning of flesh, but,
on the contrary, a ruddy flush of health, and some-
thing of that warmth and depth of tinge which we find
rccurrincj in Picmbrandt. The livid shades beneath the
eyes tell not so much of dissipation as of a bilious and
irascible temper. Freedom and spirit are shown alike
in the motion and colours of a head slightly raised and
turned to the right, anil in the action of the body, one
arm of which is behind the back, the right across the
breast, as the gloved hand gi'asps and holds together
the stuff pelisse which covers a brown doublet. Con-
spicuous is the chain of knighthood thrown l)rightly
110
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. m.
across the cliest.''' Cosiino uever tlianked Aretino for
this portrait, which reminded him of unpleasant rela-
tions said to have existed between his own father and
his secretary. To the repeated and perfectly insolent
letters of Aretino, he answered at last with the present
of money, which was all that Aretino cared for.t
The Duke of Urbino, at whose com't Titian found
encouragement in these years was not the richest,
though he was certainly the most profuse in his
expenditm-e of all the north Italian princes. He Avas
a soldier who never led large armies in the field, nor
fouo^ht a o;eneral action. As commander of the Yene-
tian forces after 1545, he found no opportunity to
signalize his powers. As chief in succession of the
troops of the Church and Philip the Second, his
duties remained administrative rather than active in a
military sense. His reign was remarkable, too, for
disturbances caused by arbitrary taxation; and he put
down those disturbances with an iron hand, and spent
the money he obtained right regally. But he was a
man of taste, with literary and artistic sympathies,
and peculiarly fitted to play the part of Mecsenas to
a man of the genius of Titian, at a time when peace
had been restored to Italy and a great part of Europe.
* The portrait, on a dark brown
ground, is numbered 54 at the
Pitti. The figure is seen to the
waist, is of Kfe size, on canvas,
and W€ll preserved. Photograph
by Alinari. Of other portraits
supposed to represent Aretino
something was said (see ardta,
p. 319}. Another portrait, with a
forged inscription, at Dresden
shall be noted at its proper time
and place. A fine engraving of
the Pitti portrait reversed, is by
P. Petrucci and T. Yer Cruys,
who also engraved a portrait of a
younger man, under the name
of Aretino.
t Gaye, u. s., ii. 345-7.
Chap. III.] CILYRLES Y. AND THE FAEXESE. Ill
The causes favourable to the exercise of a generous
patronage by a small chieftain of the rank of Guidu-
baldo, were, however, as potent at the court of the
Pope and Charles the Fifth as at the court of Pesaro ;
and we shall find an eager competition taking place
between these unequal but rival powers as to who
should monopolize the services of Titian.
Charles the Fifth, who had settled his differences
with France, and sitrncd a truce with the Moslems,
had also negotiated a league with tlie Farnese princes
to put down the Protestants, and the first result of
this leairuc had been a o-eneral council, which met with
great solemnity at Trent, in December, 1545. The
Pope was triumphant, lie had just made Pier Luigi
Duke of Parma and Piacenza against the Emperor's
will. His grandson Ottavio was expecting an heir
from his wife, the daughter of the Emperor. Cardinal
Alessandro no longer required to lead the wandering
life of an itinerant envoy. Most of the Famese
family was in Rome, and concentrated — socially
speaking — in the Palace of Belvedere. No wonder,
under these circumstances, that whilst the Duke of
Urbino was strivino- to secure the talents of Titian for
himself, the Farnese should have renewed their efforts
to attract him to Pvome. It is doubtful whether the
painter would have had courage, after so many dis-
appointments, to accept the invitation, in the face of
determined opposition from Guidubaldo, had not
Girolamo Quirini urged upon him the advantages of
such a step at this particular juncture. It was to him
no doubt that Titian was indebted for an arrangement
112
TITL\J^: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IH.
by "vvliicli the Duke of Urbino contented himself with
a temporary stay of his favourite master at Pesaro, and
allowed him to proceed from thence to Eome, on
condition that once in the capital he should not forget
the commissions for which he had pledged himself.*
Under this arrangement, Guidubaldo took Titian
under his own personal protection at Venice, in
September, 1545, caused him to journey with Orazio,
now his assistant, in the ducal suite through Ferrara to
Pesaro, and after a stay in that city, gave him an
escort through the whole of the Papal States to
Eome.t Never had a painter since the days of
Apelles been treated more royally. " Titian," says
Aretino writing to Guidubaldo in October, " bids me
adore the Duke of Urbino, whose princely kindness
was never equalled by any sovereign, and he bids me
do this in gratitude for the escort of seven riders, the
payment of his journey, the company on the road, the
caresses, honours, and presents, the hospitality of a
palace which he was bid to treat as his own."J " Your
Titian, or rather our Titian," Bembo writes to Girolamo
Quirini from Eome, " is here, and he tells me that he
is under great obligation to you for having been the
main cause of his coming hither, and encouraging him
by the kindest words to make the trip, of which he is
more contented than he can say. He has already
* Bembo to Quirini, from Eome,
Oct. 10, 1545, in Opere, w. s.,
vol. vi. p. 316; Vasari, xiii. 36.
t Ibid. Also Aretino to Mo-
danese, from Venice, in Oct. ; and
Aretino to Duke Guidubaldo,
same place and date, in Lettere
di M. P. A. iii. 217 & 223.
X Aretino to Guidubaldo, t(. s.
CiiAT. III.] PAUL III. WELCOMES TITLiN. 113
seen so many fine antiques that he is filled with
wonder, and glad that he came. The Duke of Urbino
was most kind, taking him personally as far as Pesaro,
and sending him from thence with horse and company,
so as he confesses to be greatly bounden to him.""'
Not only did Bembo receive Titian cordially, but
Paul the Third gave him a friendly welcome,! and
Cardinal Farnese deputed Vasari to act as his guide to
the artistic treasures of the city, and then gave him
rooms in the Belvedere Palace, whore he had easy
access to the Pope and his family, whose portraits he
was now to ])aint.;|: \'asari doubtless took him first
into the galleries of antiijues, of which he very soon
made particular use. He showed him the tapestries
of Raphael, from which sketches were probably made
on the spol.^ JIc went with him to the Farnesina,
where Titian would scarcely believe that the mono-
chromes of Peruzzi were not carved in stone rather
than painted in moiiochrome.|| He visited the Stanzc
of the Vatican in company of Sebastian del Piombo,
who blushed to confess that he was the " barbarian
who had dared to restore the frescoes of Ra|)hael."*i
Full of enthusiasm at his reception by Bembo and
the Pope, he wrote to Arctiuo regretting that he had
not come to Pome twenty years before, giving his
friend occasion to remind him that caresses were the
* Bembo to Quirini, u. s.
t Aretiuo to Bembo, from Ve-
nice, Oct. luio; Arctiuo to Titian,
from Venice, Oct. 1.54.5, in Lcttcro
diM. P. A., iii. 220 & 236.
J Vasari, xiii. 34.
§ See the proof of this, poatea,
in an altar-piece at Sorravalle.
II Vas. viii. 223.
IT Dolce Lialogo, a. s., p. 9.
VOL. II. I
114 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Cilvp. in.
current coin of the Farnese. " I long for your return,"
continued Aretino in reply, " that I may hear what
you think of the antiques, and how far you consider
them to surpass the works of Michaelangelo. I want
to know how far Buonarroti approaches or surpasses
Kaphael as a painter ; and wish to talk with you of
Bramante's 'Church of St. Peter,' and the master-
pieces of other architects and sculptors. Bear in mind
the methods of each of the famous painters, parti-
cularly that of Fra Bastiano and Perino del Vaga;
look at every intaglio of Bucino. Contrast the figures
of Jacopo Sansovino with those of men who pretend
to rival him, and remember not to lose yourself in
contemplation of the ' Last Judgment,' at the Sixtine,
lest you should be kept all the ^^anter from the
company of Sansovino and myself."*
How little did Aretino really know of Titian if he
thought he could now learn anything from Sebastian
del Piombo or Perino del Vaga. From cartoons or
casts of statues by Michaelangelo at Venice he might
in earlier days have derived some notions of the pecu-'
liar way in which nature and the models of earlier
generations of artists should be consulted for the
attainment of a monumental ideal. Now that Titian's
practice and method had set hard into a shape from
which they could never again escape, comparisons of
the antique and Buonarroti would necessarily have
little eflfect on the further expansion of his style. Not
that Titian's mind was closed at this time to all
* Aretino to Titian, u. s., Lettere di M". P. A., iii. 236.
Chap. HI.] TITL^JN^'S AET AX.ILYZED. 115
improving influences. We shall presently see that old
as he was he still showed readiness to assimilate the
good that he found in the antique or in ^liehael-
aiifjelo : but it was idle to think with Micliaelan2;elo
that, had he leamt to draw better in his youth, and
added to the gifts which he possessed by nature the
further mft of correct desisjn, he would have been a
paragon ;* ielle to suppose, as Del Piombo affected to
believe, that had Titian come to Rome when he
pulilished the " Triumph of Faith,'' and then studied
the works of ^lichaelangelo and Raphael together with
antique statues, he would have produced master-
pieces. ■*" Titian himself was well aware of the danger
of mere imitation, and we saw he once told Variras,
the Spanish envoy, that he purposely avoided the
styles of Raphael and ]\Iichaelangelo because he was
ambitious of hiirher distinction than that of a clever
imitator.^ It is hardly necessary to add that the
education which he had received was one that enaliled
him to produce acknowledged masterpieces ; and it is
quite impossible that the study which Alichaelangelo
and Del Piombo reo-retted to have found neo-lected
should have made Titian greater. AVe look in vain
throuirhout the annals of art for a man who combined
all the excellencies discernable singly in Lionardo and
Raphael, or in Michaelangelo, Correggio, and Titian.
To paint like Titian required Titian's peculiar talents
and means ; it required that colour should be made a
* Vasari, xiii. 35.
t lb. 21.
X Vicus, De studiorum ratione,
jf. s. p. 109; and see antea, vol. i.
p. 329.
I 2
UG
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. IH.
speciality. To draw and render form chastened and
select as that of the Florentines demanded an educa-
tion of another kind, which should make colour
subordinate to design. Light and shade, as pitted
against each other by Correggio, were only attainable
by one who gave himself exclusively to their produc-
tion. There never was a genius more universal than
Eaphael, or one more fitted by nature to coml)ine all
the highest and best elements of art, yet Raphael is
not a colourist. Del Piombo, who came to Rome with
the impress of Venice in his manner, gradually lost
his originality in a grand but palpable imitation of
Raphael and Michaelangelo. His opinion was trans-
planted to Venice with that of Buonarroti and set up
as a text over the door of Tintoretto, but it failed to
produce the expected ideal ; and it would have been
utterly vain to hope that colour after the Venetian
fashion or design in the grandiose style of the classics
and Tuscans could amaloamate: the base and elements
of both beiog altogether different and incapable of
assimilation. The trial was finally made by the
eclectics of the school of Bologna, and every tyro
knows with what result.
That Titian himself thought he might have gained
something from an earlier visit to Rome is obvious
from his correspondence ; that he afterwards confessed
to have improved by his stay there in 1545 and 1546,
is clear from a confession made by himself to the
painter Leoni;* but it is a moot point whether he
* Giovanni Battista Leoni to
Francesco Montemezzano, Eome,
August 6. 1589
I recollect
hearing Messer Titian say, when
Chap. III.] MICH.IELAXGELO ^^SITS TITLVX. 117
would have acquired more in 1525 than in 1545 ;
and all that a genius of his class could obtain from a
stay in the capital was enlarged experience, and that
sort of superiority which a travelled man has over one
who has not travelled.
If Titian, however, could not hope to procure more
solid advantages from a residence at Rome than en-
larged experience, he niiglit expect that some material
improvement of his social position would result from
the patronage of the Pope and liis friends : and there
is evidence that some of the artists who were best
employed at the Vatican became very jealous of him
on tliat account. IVrint^ del Va<ja, whom Arctino
had asked Titian to study, trend »lcil at tin- very
prospect of I'itian's stay, not because he feared com-
petition as a fresco painter, but l)ecausc he feared he
niiifht lose the decoration of the Kina;'s I fall at tlie
Vatican," and \'a-ari, or Sebastian it may be, nourished
secretly some sentiments of a similar kind. They
were too clever, however, to display these feelings,
wliilst .Michaelangelo, who in by-gone times had
praised the portraits of the great Venetian master,
was eivil eiiouuh to itav liini a visit in his rooms of
Belvedere.t
The first picture to wliich Vasari refers as a work of
Titian at itonie is the likeness of i'aul the Third,
I visited his house in my child-
hood to learn something of paint-
ing, that ho had greatly improved
his works after having been at
liome." Seo Lottere familiaro di
G. P,. Leoni, 8vo, Yen. 1600,
p. \b, in Bottari, Raccolta, u. ■>•.
V. 11. .').3.
* Vasari, x. 171.
t lb. xiii. 3.J.
118 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Cn.vp. III.
with Cardinal Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese, " exe-
cuted with great skill, and entirely to the satisfaction
of those concerned."* The canvas which contains
these three personages was left to the very last un-
finished, and we may think that the cause of this
mishap lay in the dislike of the Pope to sit. Though
the palace of the Belvedere had been chosen as Titian's
habitation because it was likely to facilitate his inter-
course with the pontiff, Paul was too old, too aihng,
and too peevish to visit the painter's room frequently.
Titian fiDished the heads of Cardinal Alessandro and
Ottavio Farnese carefully, he left that of the Pope
incomplete. But in his leisure hours he produced
other works, which were quite as important as this,
eome unhappily destroyed, others fortunately pre-
served. Amongst the former is a likeness of the
Pope in company of his son. Pier Luigi; " Margaret of
Austria," with a white veil on her head and a double
necklace of pearls ; t " Clelia Farnese," the Cardinal's
illegitimate daughter ; a Venus, ordered by Ottavio
Farnese ; a Magdalen, and an " Ecce Homo," con-
sidered at the time below the master's mark.| The
canvases which remain to show the imjDress of Rome
on Titian's mind are the Pope with his grandsons, of
* Yasari, xiii. 35.
+ Campori, Farnese Inventory
in Eaccolta de' Cataloghi, pp. 208,
227, 234, 237. The picture of the
Pope and his son is thus de-
scribed: "Paul III. in a red
■p'elvet chair, his feet on a red
stool fi'iuged with gold, standing
on a Levantine carpet ; to the
right the Seren" Pier Luigi, full
length standing, in black, em-
broidered with gold, with a sword,
and a hand on his haunch : by
Titian."
t Vas. xiii. 35; Eidolfi, i. 231.
CuAP. III.] DAXAE AT XAPLES. 119
which mention has been made, and "Danae receiviusr
the Golden Rain," both in the museum of Naples.
It seems curious that the Farneses should have
employed Titian to illustrate the fable of Jupiter and
Danae. When he began that composition, the Council
of Trent was on the eve of meeting to put do^vn
corru})tion, simony, and protestantism. But Titian
we saw had failed in the " Ecce Homo," his incon-
stant sitters would not always attend, and Ottavio
Farnese, a layman, a man of the world, and son-in-
law to tlie Emperor, did woX disapjjrove of sensualism
if it was veiled with delicacy and clad in peerless
forms.
Ill Titian's version of the subject we find liim
triui)ii)liing over ever)- difiiculty of art, and marking
— at sixty-eiglit — a progivss in the development of
his style. Danae lies on a couch scantily covered
with a veil, tlie upper part of her form raised on
snow-wliite cushions. A nmslin sheet partially con-
ceals the red silk of a drapery falling in graceful folds
from the sides of an alcove. In the gloom 1)ehind,
made gloomier liy the livid cloud, from which the
golden rain is falling, a pillar rears its shaft on a
dark grey plinth, cutting strongly on the pure blue
of a bright and sunny sky, and a distance of hills and
trees bathed in liaze. Cupid, a full grown boy in
beautiful movement, glides away to the right, with
outstretched wings and a gesture of surprise, looking
curiously as he goes at the dropping of the pieces,
and holding with a steady grasp his unstrung bow.
The light, which scarcely illumines the features of
120 TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.'^. HI.
the maid, whose forehead lies under the shade of the
cloud, strikes brightly on her frame and arm, and
especially on the hand. A bracelet glistens on her
wrist, a ring on one of the fingers that play with
the muslin sheet. The glow of day seems to fade
as it rests on the boy, and is quenched in the dark-
ness behind ; but the gradations are so delicate as
to escape detection, and even the mass of projected
shadow is mild and warm, Avhilst blended tones are
spread in gentle waves over the canvas. Such per-
fectly balanced chiaroscuro, modelling so finished,
such admirably painted flesh, are hardly to be found
again ; yet looking into the picture closely we see
how spacious breadths of light are massed on the
prominent places and illumined with decisive touches
of still lighter quality, whilst pearly half tints of great ;
tenderness, and transparent strata of a deeper value,
are broken and rejoined by rubbings and glazings
Avith a skill quite incomparable.
It was some sixteen years before this time that
Correo-o;io, accordins: to a current tradition, had
composed the "Danae," which was to pass into the
collection of Charles the Fifth. "Was Titian acquainted
with this masterpiece, which had gone through the
hands of Federico Gonzaga ? Could he foresee that the
creator of it would be accounted the most ideal of
those artists who concealed sensualism under perfect
loveliness of female shape ? No doubt the " Danae "
of Correggio strikes us even now as a splendid solution
of the diflicult problem of balancing light and shade
in exquisitely blended proportions ; as a delicate display
Chap. HI.]
LEDA AXD DAX-iE.
121
of silver-toned flesh ; as a picture of the greatest
Lricrhtness executed with the utmost sensitiveness of
feeling. But it pales when compared with the " Danae "
of Titian, in which similar alhirements, and an equally
subtle application of the laws of chiaroscuro are com-
bined with colour not to be surpassed, and a grand
breadth of form recalling the preternatural strength of
Michaelana;clo.
Buonarroti also had tried to illustrate one of the
pagan legends. Though it was never carried out pic-
torially by himself, the Leda had been painted from
his cartoon by Pontormo and other Florentines. To
this wonderful creation pe<-uliar character had been
given by perfect shap(3 in every part, united to
scientific accuracy of rendering in the framework and
contours. It was, so to speak, the triumph of the
plastic over the pictorial element of colour. Titian
could not vie with the <zreat Florentine in modelled
accuracy or ])urity of outline, Init the charm which
]Michaelan2;elo disdained, the tints for which he had
no eyes, were added by Titian to his picture, and
enabled him to realize what no one finds in ]\Iichael-
angelo, that is, nature in flesh and blood.
Vecelli's })leasure at sight of antiques with which he
was previously unacquainted, was described by Bembo.
We can fancy the interest with which he looked at the
Cupid " of Praxiteles," of whicli tliere were replicas in
the galleries of the Vatican.* l[e noted the move-
• This Cupid, in tho Vatican
Collection (Mus. Chiaramonti),
stands winged, with his two arms
raiwod, as if he had just used his
l)ow. llo looks as it wcro in tho
direction of the arrow which lie
122
TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. HI.
ment of the god, who seems to look out after dis-
charging his arrow. With a power of assimilation
which is truly marvellous, he mastered the laws of
motion illustrated in the statue, divined the classic
method of interpreting form, committed to memory its
grand disposal of lines, and reproduced them in his
own peculiar way in the boy at the feet of Danae. He
did this by reversing the action of the legs and frame,
and altering the turn of the head, and thus produced
somethino; orioinal that reminds us of the Greeks.
And so Titian, verging on seventy, went on adding to
the store gathered during a long and industrious life,
and, never satisfied, never still, but always novel, he
preserved an unflagging energy and power, which
enabled him to live and to work till he nearly com-
pleted a century of existence.*
has shot. A replica is in the
Museum of the Oai)itol.
* The " Danae," now No. 5 in
the Correggio Saloon of the Naples
Museum, was painted for Ottavio
Earnese (Eidolfi, Marav. i. 231).
It was in the Farnese Collection
till after 1680. (Campori, Eac-
colta de' Cataloghi, p. 212.) Its
size is 2 brae. 2^ oncie h., by 3 b.
1| o. The whole pictui'e has been
unevenly cleaned, and in many
parts retouched ; it is out of focus
in consequence. But these are
old injuries, as the surface is still
covered with old and yellow var-
nish. The parts retouched are
the head of Danae, in those por-
tions which lie under the shadow
of the cloud, the hair having lost
its shape, and the shadows of
Cupid, which are weakened by
stippling. See the engraving by
Strange.
A replica called " Danae, with
a boy, by Titian," is catalogued
in an inventoiy of pictures be-
longing to Prince Pio of Savoy,
at Rome, in 1776. (Citadella,
Notizie, k,. s., p. 556.)
Copies of the picture were fre-
quently made, one of which, by
Erancesco Quattro Case, was in
the Earnese Collection (Campori,
Cataloghi, p. 280) in 1680.
Of extant reproductions the
following are to be noted :
Nostitz Collection at Prague. —
Under the name of Paul Veronese
we have here a cold and not un-
injured work on canvas, executed
with care, but feebly, and appa-
Chap. III.] PAUL III. AND IHS GRAXDSOX,
123
During the days "which Titian spent in carrying out
this picture, the Farnese princes were deep in secret
intrigiies for the promotion of their dynastic interests.
As it often hnp})ens in families whose members are
jealous and unscrupulous, there was no love lost
between the relatives. Pier Luifri had been made
Duke of Parma and Piaccnza in Ausiaist, 1545.
Ottavio, ]\Iargaret his wife, and Charles the Fifth,
were the more disgusted at his success, as the Emperor
had instructed Andelot, his envoy at Piome, to urge
the claims of his son-indaw with the greatest persis-
tence. But Paul rebuked the selfishness of the son
who envied his father's elevation, and both he and
Luigi were satisfied that Charles would accept the
apjtointment, wlicn made, in remembrance of the
dangers that miiiht accrue from a bnaeh with the
Pope at the opening of a general council, and on the
eve of <i war with the protestants of Germany. Little
did Paul or the Duke know liow deei)ly Charles would
resent the trick, and how terrible his revenge would
be. He dissembled, but never acknowledged the title
rent) J' by a stranger who studied
Youetiiin masterpiocos after Ti-
tian's time.
Dudlcij House. — This is smaller
than the foregoing, by an artist
of tho Venetian School in its
(loclino. Tho background hero is
all dark.
]'e»icf Aradcmi/, No. 317. — Here
is a copy, with varieties, assigned
to Contaiini.
A fourth rp]iroduction is that
■whirh formerly belonged to Lord
Northwick.
Wo shall seo that tho subject
was repeated in later yearj b}'
Titian, and multii)lied exces-
sively.
A *' sketch for a larger picture
in tho Naples Museum," assigned
to Titian, in tho collection of Sii'
Richard Wallace, No. 31(5 of
Bothnal Green Exhibition, is not,
as it purports to be, executed
before, but after Titian's great
original, and is clearly not by
Titian.
124 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.\p. III.
of Pier Lnis^i, and lie even fororot that Ottavio liad
acquired his father's discarded dignity, and insulted
the Duke of Parma by calling him, in public dispatches,
Duke of Castro.
In Titian's portraits of the Pope, the Cardinal, and
Ottavio, some of the passions roused by these events
aj)pear distinctly reflected. Paul, in his arm-chair in
one of the rooms of the Vatican, sits deep and bent as
an old man of eighty would necessarily sit whose frame
is w^orn by anger and care. His body is turned to
the left ; the red cap is pressed down over his fore-
head so as to touch the brows, and the red cape is
buttoned closely down the breast, whilst both it and
the white silk robe that falls to the toes of his red-
slippered feet are lined with fur. On the red cloth of
the table upon Avhieh the right hand rests, an hour-
glass symbolizes the shortness of even a pontifi''s life.
At the back of the chair, and A\'ith one hand on the
ball of it, Cardinal Farnese, in robes and cap of ofiice,
stands musing as he looks at the spectator. To the
right, and more in front, Ottavio comes in bareheaded,
and obsecjuiously bowing, a black-plumed hat in his
gloved hand, his fingers on the sheath of a rapier.
Doublet, mantle, and slashed sleeves are coloured in
various shades of brown. His sleeves are worn over
long tight hose ; and behind him a curtain of orange
stuff hangs in grand festoons. At his grandson's
approach, and notwithstanding the humility of his
obeisance, the Pope turns his head w^itli a quick and
irritcible motion, and grasps with force the arm of his
chair as he looks round sharply, even angrily, to chide.
CiLvr. m.] PAUL III. AND HIS GRAXDSOX. 125
Thoiigli sketchy, Paul's features are all life, the glance
is penetrant, the motion rapid. The ear is a mere
stroke of paint, the beard blocked in with grey. The
cap is a rubbing of crimson, like the rochet on which
the lights are thrown in wliite dashes, whilst the darks
are thick with lake, and the right hand is indicated
with clear flake on the brin-ht undertone of tlie table-
cloth. The Cardinal's face, more modefled and
finished, is turned to the right, and full of freshness,
the nose, the eyes, and mouth admirable in regularity,
the beard and hair dark chestnut. Ottavio, tall, thin,
almost cringing, is in profile, with thick cropped luiir
of brownish hue, and a slight moustache. His nose is
slightly hooked, his chin small and bare. The body
and legs are mere spl;i.shcs of paint, the rapier a line or
two of pigment. " White, red, and black, these are
all the colours that a painter needs;" but, as Titian,
according to a tradition still jjreserved, was heard to
say, " one must know how to use them ;" and in this
the master's power lay. Nothing can be more simple
than the means, but what mastery they show in the
application. Singidarly good as a composition, the
group is varied with such skill, the movements are so
natural and instantaneous, the life in the sitters is so
cleverly concentrated in a single moment, that the effect
is overpowering ; and it is prol)ably impossible to point
out a finer set of contrasts than those produced by the
measured bend of Uttavi(j, the instant turn of the
Pope, and the steady calm of the Cardinal. One can
fancy Paul surprised at the coming of Ottavio, charo-ino-
him with intriguing against his father, Alessandro
126
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. III.
looking on at the lesson ; and it may be that Titian
was a witness of the scene, whilst the cleverness with
which he reproduced it afterwards irritated the chief
actor, and caused the canvas to be set aside, and left
incomplete. As it is, we have a rare opportunity of
observing how Titian worked, how easy he could feel
in competing with Michaelangelo or Del Piomlio, how
well Venetian art could repose on its own laurels, with
what facility grand form could be allied to rich and
vivid colour. Laid on first with broad sweeps of brush
in the thinnest of shades, the surfaces appear to have
been worked over and coloured more highly with
successive layers of pigment of similar quality, and
modelled in the process to a delicate finish. The
shadows were struck in with the same power as they
were struck out in chips in the statues of Michael-
angelo. The accessories were all j^repared in well-
marked tints, subject to toning down by glazing,
smirch, or scumble. White in light, dark in shadow,
indicate forms, the whole blended into harmony by
transparents, broken at last by flat masses of high
liofht, and concrete touch.*
* This picture, on canvas, is
No. 17 in the Grand Saloon of the
Naples Museum. It is noted in
the Farnese inventory (Campori,
Eaccolta de' Cataloghi, p. 237) as
an "ahbozzo." The figui'es are
fuU length and of life size. The
colours are scaling in several
places; and there are repainted
bits in the left eye and forehead,
and the white robe of the pontiff,
as well as in the gloved right
hand and legs of Ottavio. A
small copy on canvas, in the
Academy of San Luca, passes
erroneously for an original sketch.
It was bequeathed to the Academy
by the painter Pellegrini, and is
an old Venetian picture, in which
the parts left unfinished in Titian's
original are cleverly completed by
a more modern hand.
CHAPTER lY.
Sanaovino meets with a mishap at Venice. — Uis imprisonment. — lie
is liberated by Titian's interest. — Negotiations for the Benefice of
CoUo. — Dogo Douato succeeds Doge Lando, and allows Titian to
remain at Rome. — Portraits executed for tho Duke of Urbino. —
Titian's return to Venice. — He visits Florence, and paints again
the Portrait of Pier Luigi Famese. — Portraits of Doge Donate,
Giovanni de' Medici, and Lavinia. — Cardinal Fanieso visits
Venice. — !^^aITiago of Giudubaldo II. — Marriage of Ora>;i<> Ve-
celli. — Titian a.sks for the I'iombo, and receives tho promise of it.
— Altar-pieco of Serravallf. — Ti^inn^iul 1?npli;v^l — Th" Cartoons,
and especially tho "Miraculous Draught." — " Vonus and Adonis."
— Disciples at Emmaus. — " Pecunil)ont V<'nus and Cupid" at
Florence. — "Vonus and tho Organ-player " at Madrid. — Replicas
and Copies. — Tho " Ecco Homo" at Madrid.
Whilst Titian Ava.s enjoying honour.s and hard
work at Ptome, San.sovino was meeting with serious
misfortune at Venice. Being architect of St. Mark,
Sansovino had for some time been emrafi^ed in erecting;
the library hi w hich it was propo.sed to deposit the
books bequeathed to the State l)y Petrarch and
Cardinal Pcssarion. Tlie CTcat hall of this buildinc^,
which still lines the Piazzetta and Grand Canal, had
been greatly advanced in autumn, and arched over in
winter. On the 18th of December, 1545, it fell in
with a crash, burying in the ruins the money of the
republic and the fame of the builder.* Sansovino
• Temenza's Sansovino, ». «. p. 30.
128
TITL4K: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IY.
had scarcely heard of the disaster when he was arrested
and imprisoned on a charge of culpable negligence.
Ai^etino wrote to Titian in despair at this mishap,
which deprived his friend of liberty, and threatened
his very existence.* The utmost efiforts were made
by Bembo, Mendozza, and Aretino himself to mitigate
the blow ; t but Titian's interest appears to have been
most efficacious. J Francesco Donato, an old and
tried friend of the "Academy," had just succeeded
Pietro Lando as Doge,§ he had been sitting to Titian
as Titian started for Eome ; other friends were members
of the Council of Ten. By a judicious use of this
interest Sansovino was liberated, and a few months
later reinstated, the fine of a thousand pieces in which
he was mulcted having been remitted. ||
Francesco Donato might have required the instant
return of Titian from Eome, where it was not possible
that he could perform the duty of taking a ducal
portrait, but being favourably inclined to the master,
he merely sent a greeting and compliments by Aretino.
It was of good omen, the latter thought, that Titian
should not have finished " Donato as a Senator." It
was clearly preordained that he should represent him
in a diadem. Titian sent his respects to the Doge in
* Aretino to Titian, in Lettere,
n. s. iii. 360.
t Temenza, p. 31 ; Bembo to
Sansovino, Eome, Oct. 23, 1546,
in Bembo, Op. ix. 488.
X Beltrame {u. s. p. 46) says
tbat it was entirely due to Titian
tbat Sansovino was released. His
statement apparently rests on
public records ; but, unhappily,
tbey are not quoted,
§ No. 8, 1545, Doge Lando
died.
II Aretino to Sansovino, Let-
tere, iv. 157.
Chap. IV.]
BEXEFICE OF COLLE.
129
December, and the Dosje returned the compliment in
January ^vithout imperiously commanding the painter's
presence.*
Thus encouraged to prolong his absence, Titian con-
tinued liis labours for the Farnese, and urged with his
usual persistence the claim of his son to the benefice
of CoUe. Scrtnrio, AbVxjt of Nonantolo, liad long
since, as we observed, consented to cede the abbey for
a consideration; but bcliind Sertorio there were two
powerful persons with jealous interests to conciliate,
and Cardiiiiil Farn(\sr, tliough he had the will had
not as yet fouml tlie way to satisfy these persons.
hi May, l.")4i!, the Abbot wrote to Farnese to say that
whilst his Eminenrc was asking for the benefice for
Titian, the l)uk(^ of Ferrara and Cardinal Salviati
were covctiiiLL it fn- some of their friends. " He
(Sertorio) would be well content to accept compensa-
tion, but lie could not part with the sinecure without
the consent of Ferrara and Salviati. "t So the days
went by and the liciiefiee was not obtained, and Titian
was forced to leave the papal court without the solid
advantages wliidi he had expected to reap.|
In his leisure hours he had found time to complete
several portraits for the Duke of Urbino.§ These he
doubtless sent direct to their destination, his own road
* Aretino to Titian, Lettere iii.
son, '.i'29.
t Soo tho letter in Ronoliini's
Eolazioni di Tiziano coi I'^arnesi,
«. s. p. 6.
X Vasari and Ridolfi both
thought that Titian now got a
VOL. It.
benefice, and Ridolfi even speaka
of a bishoprick ; but this is au
error. See postea, and cnmi)aro
Vas. ::iiii. 36, and liidolfi, M.ira-
Yiglio, i. 233.
§ Vasari, xiii. 36.
130 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TniES. [Cilvp. IV.
lying through Florence, where he wished to make
further acquaintance with the niaster23ieces of Tuscan
art. On the 12th of June, 154G, Aretino wrote to
Duke Cosimo to say that if Titian came to visit him
he slioukl at least say that he had seen the likeness of
Aretino.* The Duke hardly vouchsafed to answer
this appeal. He received Titian about mid-June at
Poo-orio a Caiano, and refused to sit to him, mindful
DO '
perhaps of the claims of Florentine artists to commis-
sions of this sort, possibly disinclined to admire a
style so diflferent from that of Pontormo, Bronzino, and
Allori.t Titian consoled himself by looking round
the churches and palaces of Florence, and admiring
their contents.| After a short stay he proceeded to
Venice, taking, it may be, on his way Piacenza, where
Pier Luigi Farnese was vainly striving to consolidate
his vacillating throne. Historians tell us that this
prince, previous to his death by violence in 1547, was
so reduced in body by disease that he looked like a
walking corpse.§ In this form, and lean from sick-
ness, we find him represented in a picture at Naples
ascribed to Titian. Injured as this ca.nvas appears to
have been by time, neglect, and ill-treatment, it still
looks as if it might have been executed by the great
Venetian to whom it is assigned, and if this be so there
are but two hypotheses that will bear to be stated
respecting it. Pier Luigi w^as not at Rome during
the time of Titian's stay. The portrait was therefore
* Gaye Carteggio, ii. p. 351.
f Yas., xiii. 36.
X lb. ib.
§ Aflfo., V. s. p. 193.
€hap. rv\] POETEAIT OF THE DUKE OF PAE^LV. 131
painted from a sketch taken at Piacenza, or from a
sketch sent to Titian at Venice. The characteristic
feature is the leanness of the Duke, who stands bare-
headed in aniiour, witli a (higger in one hand and a
baton in the other, near a helmeted soklier whose arm
supports the standard of Parma. One sees that the
features arc those depicted three years earlier at
Bologna ; but that care has worn the flesh of the face
down to the bone. The hollows of the temples, cheeks,
and eyes, are marked ; the eye has lost its fire, tli<'
lip its colour. I besides, the surface is worn to a raw
dryness of substance wherever it is not covered with
new paint or lost iu abrasions. Another year was to
pa.ss, and then Pier Luigi was to fall before the daggers
of assassins suborned by Charles the Fiftli and his
ij-cneral PY^rrantc Gonza^ca.*
111 Ills old haunts at \'enice, Titian found no change
to notice. Aretino as usual kept open house on the
Grand Ganal. Sansovino had recovered from his
misfortunes, and was makinn; a new ceiling- to the
hall of the librar}'. The Papal Legate Giovanni della
Casa, a close adherent of the Farnese, and an old
friend of ]-)embo and the Quirinis, welcomed the
painter to his palace, and there Titian was soon asked
to meet Count CVsare Boschetti, and Galeazzo Paleotti,
relatives of Sertorio, Abbot of Nonantola.
• This picture, No. 33 in the Titian (Campori, Raccolta de' Ca-
Muscura of NaploH, is on canvas, | taloghi, p. 233). Tho standard in
of life size, and seen to tho waist.
It is reffistored in the Farnese
tho soldier's hand is of a reddish
yellow; the ground behind dark
inventory' of 1680 as an original brown.
132 TITIAX: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. W.
TITIAN TO CARDINAL FAENESE AT EOME.
" On reaching Venice, I found Galeazzo Paleotti in
the house of the Eio-ht Keverend the Lesrate, who
spoke of the benefice of Ceneda as reported to him by
the Archbishop of Santa Severina ; and as your
Eminence, he said, had heard by his letters and those
of the Archbishop. All that remains to be done, now
that matters are in train, is to keep the thing going,
and obtain from Cardinal Salviati and the Duke of
Ferrara the licence Avhich Monsignor requires. The
Archbishop willingly gives way to your Eminence's
pleasure, whom I now beg to provide for his Eeve-
rence's satisfaction. And so I hope to enjoy content-
ment in old age, and obtain for the rest of my life
wherewithal to work upon and toil in your Lordship's
service without further thought of care.
"From Venice, June 19, 1546
" *
AVhen the painter wrote tliis letter he seemed
clearly under the impression that sooner or later he
would enter the household of Farnese. But as
regards the benefice and his chance of getting it, he
was wide of the mark. At home and at ease in
Eome, the Cardinal mio-ht have w^orked with eff'ect on
the Duke of Ferrara and his colleague Salviati ; l^ut
he was no longer at home, or if so, no longer at
ease. Charles the Fifth had broken with the Pro-
testant princes. The Pope and his allies had entered
into a leagiie with the Emperor. Ottavio Farnese
* See the original letter in Eonchini, Eelazioni, u. s. p. 8.
Chap. IY.] PORTILUT OF DOGE DOXATO. 133
was raising Italian troops to pass the Alps into the
valley of the Dauube, and Alessaudro was preparing
to cross into Germany as legate. It was obvious that
under these circumstances the patronage of the Farnese
princes must dwindle to nutliing, anel Titian looked
round for other supporters.
Now no doubt he composed afresh the " Descent of
the Holy Spirit " for the canons of San Spirito, now
lie began the altar^iiece of Serravalle, produced for
Aretino the long-desired picture of Giovanni dc'
Medici,* and took sittings from the Doge for his
official likeness.
Francesco Duuato was specially pleased, we may
think, to be portrayed by the linnd of Titian, but his
portrait wits not preserved. ■*■
The profile of Giovanni de' Medici, after hanging
for some years in the palace of Aretino, was presented
to Duke Cosimo, and is now exliibited in the gallery
of the Uffizi.J
We may remember that wlien Aretino, late in 1526,
was called upon to tend the couch of his master at
iMantua, the young but already celebrated leader of
the " black bands " was suHering from a gunshot
wound which made an operation necessary. Amputa-
tion of the shattered limb took place, and of this the
wounded man died. As Giovanni lay dead on his
* Aretino to Duke Cosimo, , i. 2G;J) uotes a second portrait of
Dec. 30, 154G, in Bottari, Rac- ' Dogo Donato in the Procuratio at
tolta, iii. 67. Venice, which is also missing.
t The payment in Lorenzi, X Aretino to Cosimo, Bottari,
u, 8. p. 2o9. The canvas perished
by fire in 1577. But Ridolfi (Mar.
Eaccolta, i. 67.
134 TITMN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
bed, Aretiuo sent for Giiilio Koniano, and had a cast
taken of the chieftain's face.* This cast was sub-
sequently lent to numerous artists, and amongst
others, to Titian, who now revived with its assistance
the form of the " Condottiere.''t Like many earlier
pieces produced under similar conditions, this looks as
if it had been done from life. The chieftain stands,
beardless, in profile to the left, and is seen to the
waist in armour, with his hand on a helmet on which
the blow of a sword is apparent. A red hanging acts
as a foil to the cold surface of the canvas, as well as to
a face of regular shape, with lineaments indicative of
strength and determined purpose ; and the bold freedom
with which the flesh is painted is only equalled by the
skill with which the polish of the breastplate is repre-
sented. With difficulty we note that the warm flesh
tones are more blended and more uniformly rounded
than they might have been had the Medici been
sitting to Titian. But this impression is almost
obliterated Avhen we look at the studied reflexes of
the panoj^ly, which were certainly copied with un-
exampled fidelity from nature.^
In quiet hours, when undisturbed by any but purely
artistic considerations, Titian threw more soul and feel-
ing into his work, and this is more particularly true
* Aretino to Anichini, Lettere
iii. 82.
t The same to Sansovino and
the Uffizi, gives the likeness of
Giovanni de' Medici to the waist.
The figure is life size. An en--
Parasio, Lettere iii. 137, and v. i graving of it is in the '' Galleria
170. { di Firenze."
t This canvas, now No. 614 at
Chap. IY.] LAYIXLV VECELLI. 135
of a contemporary portrait in tlic Dresden Museum,
the features of wliicli are apparently those of Lavinia
Vecelli. Scanelli, the author of the Microcosmo, has
preserved the sul^stance of a letter in which Titian
announced to Alfonso of Ferrara the despatch of a
picture "representing the person dearest to him in
all the world." He then describes "the figure of a
young girl, of life size, gracefully walking with her
face at three quarters, and looking out brightly as
she waves her ian — the time, a summer afternoon,
when the girl, one might think, was courted by her
exalted lover.''^ The portrait admired by Scanelli
is no doubt that of the young girl in white at the
Dresden Museum. l^>ut it would be a mistake to
suppose that thi.s lovely m;iid was painted iov Alfonso,
a fortiori n mistake to believe that she was the mistress
of a prince who died in l.")34, nor can we believe that
Titian portrayed the person dearest to tln' didvc, since
it is apparent that he meant to immortalize the face
and form of his own daughter. We shall presently
see that he often painted Lavinia, whose real name
was curiously changed to Cornelia by writers of a
later acce.t Thoui^h unfortunate in his eldest son
Pomponio, who disgraced the priest's cassock and
squandered his father's means in debauchery, Titian
was happy in the affection of two children worthy of
his love, Orazio, who act^ompanicd him to Rome and
gave numerous proofs of pictorial skill, and Lavinia,
a beauty who married Cornel io Sarcinelli of Serravalle
* Microcosmo, u. a. p. 222. f Eidolfi, Mar. i. 2j3, 259,
136 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IY.
in 1555. Eiclolfi refers to Lavinia when lie describes
'■' a maiden carrying a basket of fruit," by Titian, in
possession of Niccolo Crasso, and " a girl holding a
basin with two melons," by the same hand, in the
collection of Giovanni d' Uifel of Antwerp. Of both
he writes, "that they were said to represent the
painter's daughter Cornelia."'"' We remember the
adventures of Covos with the lady in waiting of
Countess Pepoli, and pardon the error A^'hicll con-
founded the maid of BoloQ-na with that of Biri
Grande. The girl with the fruit is still preserved
in the Museum of Berlin, and is probably that Avhich
was claimed as a portrait of Lavinia by Argentina
Rangone in 1549. There were relations of friendship
between the Raugones and Titian in that year, and
Argentina proposed to the painter to take one of her
dependents as an apprentice into his workshop at
Venice. In the letter which she wrote upon this
matter she refers to Lavinia's portrait, which she begs
Titian to complete ; and we can easily fancy that the
master instantly attended to the wish of a lady who
was godmother to one of his children. t The counter-
parts of the canvas at Berlin are the portrait of a
lass w^ith a casket in Lord Cowper's collection, and
"Salome" in the gallery of Madrid, both of which
display with more or less resemblance the features of
the girl at the Dresden Museum.
Titian at eighty-two wrote to Philip the Second
begging him to accept the portrait of a lady whom
* lb. ib. t The lettei' is in Gaye's Carteggio, u. s. ii. p. 375.
Chat. IV.]
LAVIXIA ^YITII THE FAX.
137
he described as "absolute mistress of liis soul,"* but
Garcia Hernandez, the Spanish Secretaiy at Venice,^
explains in another letter that the mistress of Titian's
soul is " a fanciful representation of a Turkish or
Persian girl/'t Yet what Titian described so fondly
to the Duke and to the King may have been the face
of Lavinia, in the first case portrayed from nature,
in the second idealized to suit tlie fancy of Phili}).
Scanelli, it is more than probable, erred m stating that
Titian wrote to Alfonso, when it is obvious that the
mv\ with the leaf-fan at Dresden is a creation of the
time when Titian returned from Jiome. From the
first stroke to the last this beautiful piece is the work
of the master, and there is nul an iueli of il in which
his hand is not to be traced. His is the brilhant flesh
brought up to a rosy carnation ]>y wondrous kneading
of copious pigment, his the contours formed by texture
and not defined by outline ; his again the mixtunj of
sharp and bhuivd touches, the delicate modelling in
dazzling light ; the soft glazing, cherry lip, and spark-
ling eye. Such a charming vision as this was well
fitted to twine itself round a fiither's heart.
Lavinia's hair is yellow and strewed with pearls,
showing a pretty wave and irrepressible curls in
stray locks on the forehead. Earrings, a necklace of
pearls, glitter with grey reflexions (»ii a skin incom-
parably fair. The gauze on the shoulders is light as
air, and contrasts with the stiff richness of a white
• Titian to Philip II., Sept. 22,
155n, in Appendix.
t Garcia Ilernandc/ to rbilij)
II., Aug. y, 1059, in AppondLx.
138
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
damask-silk dress and skirt, the folds of wliicli heave
^and sink in shalloAV projections and depressions,
touched in tender scales of yellow or ashen white.
The left hand, with its bracelet of pearls, hangs grace-
fully as it tucks up the train of the gown, whilst the
right is raised no higher than the waist, to wave the
stiff plaited leaf of a palmetto fan. Without any
methodical strapping or adjustment of shape, — nay
with something formless in the stiff span and lacing
of the bodice, — the figure is the very reverse of supple,
and yet it moves with grace, shows youth and life
and smiling contentment, and a striking grandeur of
carriage, combined with ladylike modesty.*
When the master, in more advanced years, painted
the well-known picture of which Van Dyke made an
etching — a picture in Avhich the lady's interesting-
situation and Titian's gesture, as well as the death's
head in the left foreground, suggest philosophical
reflections as to the contrast between life and death ;
when Titian, we say, was producing a master-piece, of
which but a copy has been preserved, he presented
anew, it may be thought, the form of his daughter.
* This portrait came, with the
rest of the Dresden pictures, from
Modena, and is an heirloom of the
Estes. On canvas, 0 ft. 8 in. h.
by 3 ft. 1 in., it was transferred
to a new cloth in 1827, and looks
fairly preserved. The brown
ground is darker on the left than
on the right side. Photograph by
the Photographic Co., engraved by
Basan. A free copy on canvas,
ascribed to Titian, is No. 21 in
the Cassel Mus. But the features
are not the same as those of the
Dresden canvas, and the hand is
not that of Titian, though the
copyist may have been an Italian.
Moi'e Flemish in type is a copy
by Eubens in the Museum of
Vienna. A study for the original
at Dresden, in black and red
chalk, is in the Albertina Collec-
tion at Vienna.
Chap. IV.] LAVIXIA WITH FRUIT. 139
whose face, with slight modifications, is no other than
that of the Dresden portrait ; whose figure is that of'
Lavinia gTown to be a matron, but still youthful in
features, and of extreme beauty.* Subsequent repeti-
tions of the same pei-son as a girl bearing fruit and
flowers, or as Salome raisino; on hiMi the head of the
Baptist, merely sensed to fix a type which, whether it
issued from Titian's own hands or those of his disciples,
preserved always the aspect <if youth.
As depicted in the broad manner characteristic of
Titian aljout ISoO, Lavinia, at Berlin, is full-grown
but of roljust shape, dressed in yellowish flowered silk
with slashed sleeves, a cliiselled girdle round her
waist, and a white veil hanging from her shoulders.
Seen in profile, she raises with both hands, to the
level of her forehead, a silver disli ])ile(l with fruit and
flowers. Her head i> thrown back, and turned so as
to allow three-quarters of it to be seen as she looks
from the corners of her eyes at the spectator. Auburn
hair is carefully brushed off the temples, and confined
by a jewelled diadem, and the neck is set off with a
string of pearls. A deep red curtain partly concealing
a brown-tinized wall to the left, to the riiiht a view of
hills, seen from a balcony at eventide, complete a
picture executed with great bravuni, on a canvas of
• The copy to -nhich allusion is j was not soon by the authors. Tho
hero made is that which Waagon, j engraving was mentioned in notes
in his Treasures (Supplement,
p. 110), has described in the col-
lection of Mr. .Tamos ^Nforrison. in
London, as betraying in part the
hand of a scholar. The picture Dello Amoro, p. 79.
to an earlier chapter of this vo-
lume, and exists in two difForent
impressions, with inscriptions
which will be found in Cadorin's
140
TITLIN: Ills LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
coarse twill. Fully in keeping with the idea that
Titian had before him the image of his child, is the
natural and unconstrained movement, the open face
and modest look. The flesh, the dress, are coloured with
great richness, yet, perhaps, with more of the blurred
softness which the French call flou, than is usual in
pure works of Titian. It may be that excessive
blendino; and somethino- like down or fluff in the
touch was caused by time, restoring, or varnish. It
may be that these blemishes are due to the co-opera-
tion of Orazio Vecelli, who now had a share in almost
all the pictures of his father, as he had his confidence
in all business transactions. But in the main this is
a grand creation of Titian.'""
O'
Of equal richness in tone, but inferior in modelling,
and too marked in its freedom to be entirely by
Titian, Lavinia with the casket, in Lord Cowper's
London collection, is still interestino- as showing the
w^ell-known features of the painter's daughter in fuller
bloom than at Berlin. The casket here also lies on a
silver dish, there is a distance of landscape too, but
the balcony is wanting, the dress is green, the veil
yellow, and the face is cut into planes of more decided
* This example of Lavinia is
No. 166 in the Berlin Museum,
-and m.easures 3 ft. oh in. high, by
2 ft. 7| in. The figure is seen to
the hips. A tawny film, of old
varnish lies over the whole sur-
face, and there are clear signs of
retouching in the shadows of the
face, the wrists, and right hand.
and the sky. A strip of canvas
has been added to the right side
of the picture, which was bought
in 1832 from Abbate Celotti, at
Florence, for 5000 thalers. The
Abbate aflBrmed it was identical
with that mentioned by Eidolfi
as painted for Niccolo Crasso.
Cnxp. IT.] THE ''SALO^TE"' OF MADETD.
141
setting, wliilst the frame is sti-ongor and more de-
veloped than before. There is more ease of hand, but
also more laxity in the rendering of form than W(^ like
to welcome in a picture all by Titian. But again in
this, as in the Berlin example, much of the impression
produced may be caused l>y rest(jring.*
Younger again, ])ut with nak(^d arms, a wiiite veil
and sleeve, nnd a red damask dress, the " Salome " of
^ladrid carries the head of tin* Baptist on a chased
salver. But this piece is by no means equal in merit
to the girl with the casket, and is certainly painted
bv one of Titian's followers, from the Lavinia of
Berliu.+
An accident wliicli occurred about tliis time revived
• This canvas, ^-ith .1 figure of
life size, is retouched in the hands,
and disfipiiied hy a patch of re-
storing on tho .shoulder. It was
in the Orleans Gallery before it
passed into the hands of Lord
Co^Tier, and was noteil in the
collections of Lady Lucas and
Lady do Gro}'. (Waagen, Trea-
sures, ii. 197.) Engraved by
Ouibert.
One of Uollur's prints (IGjO),
taken from a picture in the Van
Veerle Collection, of which we
know nothing at jm-scnt, show.s
Lavinia with a dish on which
there are three melons.
t This picture. No. 4'>1 in the
Madrid Museum, has been well
]>hotogi-aphed by Laurent. It is
on canvas, m. 0.87 high, by 0..S0,
nnd ill preserved, being repainted
in several places, and particularly
in the cheek and near the elbow
of the right ann. The b.ack-
ground is a dark wall. A copy
of this picture, by Padovanino, is
No. 'JKH in the Municipal Gallery
at Padua.
A copy of the head of tho
Berlin picture (erroneously .sup-
posed by Waagen — Gemiildo
Sammlung der Ennitage, 11. s.,
p. ()'J — to be a fragment of a can-
vas of the IJarbarigo Collection
by Titian) is No. 104 in the
(Jailer J' of the Ilermitage at St.
Petersburg, and not original. It
has been supposed that tho Ma-
drid " Salome " is tho picture de-
scribed in tho catalogue of Charles
the I'irst's collection as by Titian.
(Waagen, Treasures, ii. 480.) But
this is only a surmise, and if an
unfounded one, the " l^alome " of
Charles the First is missing.
142 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
the hope which Titian liad long entertained of per-
manent aid from the Farnese princes. Cardinal
Alessandro had crossed the Alps in Jidy, 1546, with
the troops of his brother Ottavio, and found himself
in August at Ingoldstadt, where the Emperor was
facing the Protestants of the league under John
Frederick of Saxony. During the marches and
counter-marches of the contendino: armies the light
forces of the Italians and Spaniards were active and
fortunate. As autumn set in, and a standing camp
was j^itched in the neighbourhood of Ulm, the cold
reacted severely on the soldiers of the South, who
perished in vast numbers of dysentery. Cardinal
Farnese was attacked by a tertian fever, which made
it advisable that he should seek the warmer climate
of his own land ; and he returned on the 22nd of
November to Venice to find his brother leg-ate and
O
client, Giovanni della Casa, suffering from a violent
attack of 2jout.* Durino; the intervals in which he
was free from ague the Cardinal visited Titian, who
showed him pictures in various stages of progress on
the walls of his house ; and he asked the painter to
finish one of these pictures for liim.+ Titian was but
the more ready to make this promise, as Farnese was
going to Rome, and he hoped would again take steps
to obtain for him the benefice of CoUe. Other events
* Eoncliim, Lettere d'uomini
iUustri, u. s. pp. 155 — 163. Titian
to Earnese, Dec. 24, 1547, in
Eoncliini's Eelazioni, u. s. p. 10,
and Eanke's Deutsche Geschichte
im Zeitalter der Eeformation, 8vo,
Berlin, 1843, vol. iv. p. 438.
t Titian to Farnese, Dec. 24,
antea.
Chap. IV.] TITL\N ASKS FOR Till-: PTOMBO. 143
took place shortly after, which seemed calculated to
be fruitful of further consequences. On the 18th of
February, 1547, Julia Varana died and left the Duke
of Urbino a widower. With indecent haste Guidu-
baldo entered into negotiations fur a new matrimonial
alliance, and on the 4tli of June he espoused at Rome
Vittoria, the daughter of Pier Luigi Farnesi\ Hardly
a fortnight after the celebration of the nuptials, Scbas-
tian del Piurabo also died, leavinij the seals of the
papal bulls in the hands of Paul the Third. Titian,
w^ho had married and settled his second son, Orazio,
in April,* was not slow to perceive that a diange of
residence would now give him a place as well as the
joint interest of the Rovores and Fanieses. He accord-
ingly wrote to the Cardinal t<> offer his services and
bt'or for the heritaf^^e of Sebastian.
TITIAN TO CARDINAL FALNESE, AT ROME.
" Though he has had no message and no em-
bassy to press him to furnish the picture of your
Reverend Lordship, Titian, youi- liumble and most
<lcvoted servant, has not failed to bring it to that
ultimate perfection of wliicli his pencil is capable, and
keeps it ready fur an expression of your Lordship's
desire. As I should acquire the gi-eatest praise and
immortal honour in the eyes of tlie world if it should
be known for certain to all as it is known to myself,
that I live under the shadow of the high bounty and
* Aretino to Orazio Vecelli, Venice, April, 1ij47, in Lottere di
M. P. A. iv. TO'.
144 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CirAr. IV.
courtesy of your Reverend and Illustrious LordsHp,
I would beg your Lordship, in order that I may remain
in this credit, and no^y that I am free from every care
that might reach mc here, to prepare to employ me
and give me commands ; and I am ready to obey
these commands even thougJi your Lordship should
impose on me for the third time the acceptance of
the cowl of the late Fra Bastiano. And so I bow
most humbly and kiss your Lordship's hands.
" Your Most Rev. and 111. Lordship's
perpetual servant,
" TiTIANO.*
" Frovi Yenice, Jinie IS, 1547."
A fortni2;ht later Giovanni della Casa wrote to the
Cardinal to say that the Duke of Urbino had arrived
at Venice in perfect health, that Titian had been
informed that the seals of the Piombo were reserved
for his acceptance, and that he had already asked
whether anything had been done in respect of this
promotion. " It seems to me," Della Casa concluded,
" that Titian is more inclined to accept the place now
than he was on former occasions, and it would be
very desirable that your Lordship should acquire such
an ornament as he is for the court of his Holiness." t
How well we mark in this the canny nature of the
painter, a born negotiator, who begged the patron
direct for a vacancy, yet pretended to his agent to
be only inclined to take it if offered.
* Eoncliini, Eelazioni, v,. s. J f Eonchini, Lettere d'uomini
pp. 8, 9. I illustri, u. s. i. pp. 191 — 4.
Chap. IV.] ALTAR-PIECE OF SERRAY.iLLE. 145
Months, as we see, went by in the course of these
transactions, but Titian during those months finished
the altar-piece of Serravalle ami other works, of which
we have uncertain or incolierent notices.
The peopki of Serravalle had not at first intended
to ask Titian for an altar-piece. But Francesco
V'ecelli, to whom thoy had originally applied, liad
produced a sketch whidi they did not approve ; and
wlien they witlidrew tlieir otter he suggested an appli-
cation to his brother which found their willing sup-
})ort.* In 1547, Titian wrote to the council (>f the
-church of Senavalle to say that he had finished and
wished them to send iur the pictui*e. At their request,
— he subjoined — the figure of 8t. Peter had been sub-
stituted for that of Rt. \'inrent, and this liad caused
a surcharge of -.") ducats. The council protested
against this claim, asked Titian to deliver the canvas
at Serravalle, and bargained for the payment of the
stipulated price. The cpiarrel which ensued was not
.settled till 155;3, but the picture was not subsequently
altered, and though injured still gives account of the
progress which the master's art had made after it felt
the inttuence of the Florentine and Roman schools.
A massive and eddying cloud serves as a throne
to the Virfjin and Child, both of whom are looking
down towards tin? earth, surrounded by cherubim
fioating in the brilliant haze of a glory. An angel to
the riiiht bends to single out St. Peter below. Another
stoops to support with his hand the foot of ]\Iary.
* See Appendix, anno 1542, and Ciani, Storia, u. s., ii. 204.
vol.. It. L
146 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. IV,
St. Peter, grey-bearded, on the riglit foreground raises
his Lead and lifts the keys towards heaven, his frame
enwrapped in a cinnamon cloth twisted over a peach-
tinted robe ; St. Andrew, opposite to him, stands with
sandaled feet, clad in an oHve-green dress and red
mantle, and supports with both arms the heavy beam
of a tall cross, looking round as he does so with stern
majesty at the spectator. In the distance between
the two, Christ, in the bow of a fishing boat, calls
Peter and Andrew from their nets. Light emanates
from the Viro;in and radiates from her head into the
A-aulted sky beyond. The distance, of few but superb
lines brushed in with quick sweeping strokes, presents
a view of mountains with a coast bathed by a dark
lake, whose waters are stirred by a breeze, before
which a sail or two are running, and a marvellous
current of atmosphere flows over the water and the
shore. Forms more muscular and fleshy than any
produced at an earlier time are conceived with
sublimer grandeur and delineated with more than
usual force and ease in resolute and natural move-
ment. Draperies are cast in a monumental mould.
A masterly division of light and shade accompanies
an equally masterly definition of parts. The force
of the touch is only equalled by its spaciousness,
which neither excludes modelling nor delicate blend-
ing, whilst a pulpy pastose substance is produced that
rivals the flesh and bone and muscle of nature.
Little did the council of Serravalle know, whilst
quarrelling over a few ducats, that this picture re-
sumed the art of Titian as embodied in the "Peter
CriAr. IV.] ALTAR-PIECE OF SEEEAVALLE. 147
]\Lxrtyr " and " St. John the Almsgiver," and marked
a st^p in advance of all the master's previons -works.
Powerful as Miehaelangelo in the strength and serenity
of the principal figures, it recalls the tempered and
dainty grace of Eaphael and Correggio in the golden
sheen of its gloiy, and unites the sprightly elegance
of the Madonna of San Niccolo to the breadth and
style of a later age. More than this, it shows the
ingenuity of the painter in taking stock of the ideas
of his contemporaries and adapting some of them in
a novel and picturesqut^ way. In the distance we ob-
served is the miraculous draught of fishes. Eaphael
in 151 G fuiished the great set of cartoons in which
ho illustrated the life of Christ and the Acts of the
Apostles. On St. Stephen's day the tapestries worked
from these cartoons were exhibited for the first time
in the Sixtine chapel. From this time forward the
cartoons were in the main lost to Italy, but the arras
for which they were made remained a treasure closely
guarded in the papal palace, A notice embroidered on
the cloth of the Conversion of St. Paul at the Vatican
tells that this piec6 was stolen at the sack of Pome in
1527 and restored to Julius the Thir<l in 1550 ])y
Anne de ^lontmorency, and this notice is supposed to
refer to the theft and restitution of all the tapestries
made from Pa})haers designs. Put it is dithcult to
reconcile this version with history, which declares that
the tapestries were hung in front of St. Peter's, at the
festivals of Corpus Christi, by Paul the Third.*
• Compare rassavant's Life of Raphael, 1st ed., ii. p. 233.
148 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIDIES. [Chap. r\^
Titian apparently saw them at Rome, wliere Lis
disciple Andrea Schiavone possibly made the draw-
mgs for the plates, of which impressions are still
preserved ; * or he saw Eaphael's original sketches,
of which he made use in the altar-piece of Serra-
valle. The " Miraculous Draught " by Raphael exists
in two different forms. The cartoon at Kensinsfton
shows Christ sittins^ to the rioht in the stern of a
boat, with St. Peter on his knees before him, and St.
Andrew stepping down from the thwart behind. In
the second boat to the left, two men bend to the nets
which they are hauling out of the water, whilst a
bearded rower sits and steers. On the bank in front
of the barks three cranes are standino-. An earlier
version of the subject is that preserved in a drawing
at the Albertina of Vienna, which though heavily
retouched seems an original by Raphael. Here the
composition is reversed, and three apostles wait on
the shore near a group of women and a child. On
the back of the sheet the skiffs and figures are repeated
with varieties, St. Peter kneeling before the Saviour
as before, but St. Andrew giving the course, and the
second crew in rear to the right. The idea of placing
Christ in the middle distance and apostles in the
foreground was abandoned almost as soon as formed
by Sanzio, but Titian took it up and worked it out
with success, feeling that there was nothing inap-
propriate in making the miraculous draught an
episode in a picture sacred to St. Peter and St.
* Passavant's Life of Eaphael, let ed. ii. p. 233, and Bartsch, xvi.
p. 51.
CuAP. lY.] RAPHAEL'S "MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT." 149
Andrew. He modified Raphael's design in so fiir that
]ie represented Christ erect in the bows to the left,
and St. Peter kneel inoj before him on one knee to
the right. T\\e steersman of the second boat to the
right he placed in a standing attitude guiding the
skirt" with his oar, as one sees the gondoliers at Venice
doing. St. Andrew stepping down, tlie two men
bending to the nets, he took bodily as he found
them, lie thus created somethinfr that was original
out of Raphael's design, adding to the scene the
colour, the movement of the waters, and the scud
of the wind fjxvourablc to fishin<r.* lie took from
one of the greatest masters of the revival a thought
which he assimilated and gave back in a new shape.
He treated Raphael as he had previously treated the
antique.
It is a punishment of which Tantalus would have
been worthy to study Titian's letters and read of the
pictures which he showed to patrons, and to find
these works vanishing before us in the attempt to de-
termine their subject. AVe kiiow that Cardinal Farnese
chose a canvas out of the master's stock in 1546, and
• Tho altar-piece, on canvas,
archocl at top, is 14 ft. high by
7 ft. broad. The figmes are large
as life. Tho ■n'holo picture "was
cleaned and thrown out of focus,
and then in part retouched. Tho
Virgin's dress has lost its shape
in this process, and there are
smirches of new pigment on parts
of the dresses. Tho halo with the
angels is more disharmonized than
tho rest of the picture. On a
stone on the foreground wo read
the word " Titian," with a frag-
ment of an s, which now looks
like a note of interrogation. Tho
canvas is on the high altar of tho
church of Scrravallo, the patron
of which is St. Andrew. For
records referring to this piece,
under date of 1548-53, see Ap-
pendix.
150 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.U'. IV.
that Titian repeatedly declared his intention of finish-
ing and sending it home. The will was not followed
by performance, and time slipped past before the
promise was fulfilled, though it was realized at last,
we hardly tell liov/. There is only probability in
favour of assuming that the " Venus and Adonis "
which long adorned the Farnese collections at Parma
and Eome, was one of the masterpieces of this period.
Few compositions of Titian were more frequently
repeated, or exist in more numbers, yet none of the
finished repetitions are equal to the orighial sketch
which is now preserved at Alnwick. Though small in
scale, and not free from patching, this is a noble
instance of the cleverness with which the great
Cadorine treated pagan fable. The scene is laid in a
landscape of splendid tone and lines. The couch of
the goddess, a deep red-brown cloth on a raised
mound overshadowed by trees, is set in the corner
of a glade, where Venus, half lying, half sitting, with
her back to the spectator, turns and clutches at the
form of Adonis, who has risen and strides away to the
field. The youth is already fully equipped, his
feathered spear in one hand, a leash of three dogs in
the other ; over his red hunting shirt a horn at his
waist is bound with a striped cloth ; red buskins are
on his legs, and a winged cap like that of Mercury on
his head. He looks at Venus as she clings to him,
but is not the less bent on departing, for the sun is
up, Apollo in his car is riding across the heavens, and
beneath him a pure morning sky sheds its light
mysteriously over a deep-toned landscape. Far away
•Chap. IV.]
"VENUS AXD ADOXIS."
151
the tale of death is told after the mediaeval fashion, by
a distant episode, and in a grove to the right the boar
attacks and wounds the hunter. Rich tones, harmo-
nious colours, and a Ijalmy atmosphere give additional
charms to ficaires in themselves charminu;, for Venus
is perfect in shape, Adonis litlie and finely propor-
tioned, and both are well drawn, whilst tlie rapid
action caused l)y cpiick volition is rendered witli ( rpial
trutli and fire.* In other versions of this theme,
derived no doubt from this one oriiiinal, varieties are
introduced to express a fuller embodiment of the
painter's thouglit. Amor carries a dove, ('upid sleeps
under a tree, a rainbow is seen in the skv. In tlie
first oi" these forms the Farnese example, of wliich
there are copies at Leigh Court, Cobliam Hall, and the
Belvedere of Yionnn, was created. f The second is
* This canvas, .3 ft. 4 in. long
by 2 ft. (ii in., was once in the
Cammuccini and Baiborini Col-
lections. There are patches of
re-painting in the back and hip
of Venus, and the throat and
wi'ist of Adonis. It may be that
this is one of tho sketch pictures
of Titian which came into the
hands of Tintoretto ; or it may be
that which was presented to Vin-
cenzo Vecelli by Titian in \')G'2 ;
see Appendix under that date.
Eidolfi, Mar. i. 270 ; and Ticozzi
Vecelli, note to p. ('A.
f Tho Farnese example is noted
by Ridolti, Marav. i. 2:32-3. It
is registered in tho Parmese in-
ventory of 1G80 as follows : " Un
q\iadro alto br. 1, on. 11 largo,
br. 2, on. 4. Una Venero che
eicdo sopra di un panno cremesi,
abbraccia Adono che con la si-
nistra tiene duoi levrieri et un
Amorino con una colomba in
mano,diTiziano." (Oampori, Eac-
colta di Cataloghi, p. 211.)
The canvas at Leigh Court,
seat of Sir William Miles, 5 ft.
10 in. h., by (5 ft. 8 in., belonged
to Sir Benjamin West. Here
Amor sleeps with a dove in his
hands; Adonis, bare-headed, leads
two dogs ; Apollo rides on the
clouds ; and in tho distance the
boar attacks the hunter. On a
tree to tho left the quiver of Amor
is hanging, and on the ground a
vase. This copy is by some old
Venetian follower of Titian.
Tho copy of Cobham Uall, half
life size, was ori^i-inally in tho
152
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV,
j found in a repetition made for Philip the Second when
Prince of Spain, and in minor imitations of that work.
Unhappily the Farnese example is not to bo traced.
In a letter to Chancellor Granvellc, Aretino* de-
scribes the great excitement of the Venetian public
Avhen Titian was called to Augsburg, in 1547, by the
Emperor. Crowds besieged his house with demands
for canvases and panels, or anything else that might
serve to display the talent of the master.
Alessandro Contarini, a patrician and poet, wa»
probably one in the crowd. He bought a " Christ at
Emmaus," and found it so beautiful that he presented
it to the Signoria, which accepted the gift, and hung
the picture in the public palace, where it remained till
the close of last century.t But Titian had finished a.
Mariscotti Collection at Bologna,
and is a moderate imitation of
Titian by a later artist. Here
again Amor sleeps vrith. the dove
in his hand ; Adonis is bare-
headed, and has two dogs in a
leash ; instead of Apollo in his
car there is a rainbow in the sky.
Another copy, much injured, of
this piece is No. 91 in the Venice
Academy ; but here, though
Adonis wears the winged hat,
Cupid sleeps under the trees to
the left. Photograph by Nay a.
The school replica. No. 54 in
1st room, first floor, of the Bel-
vedere at Vienna, is perhaps that
which belonged to the Archduke
Leopold William, at Brussels, in
the seventeenth century. It was
engraved as by Schiavone in
Teniers' gallery work, and there
we still see Amor flying away with
the dove, which is no longer to
be seen in the picture; the spot
on which that figure stood being
patched with canvas and painted
over of the colour of the ground.
This canvas, now ill preserved (3
ft. high by 3 ft. 9), is extensively
re-painted and cut down at the
sides. It is a school piece, with
some traces left of the hand of
Schiavone. Whether any one of
the foregoing is the copy which
Titian eUo's Anonimo describes as
belonging to Gio. Carlo Doria, it
is impossible to say. (Anon. p. 5.)
* Aretino to Granvelle, Jan.
1548, in Lettere di M. P. A., iv.
136.
t Vasari, xiii. p. 29, saw it
above the door in a room of the
public palace ; and this room is^
:■■■ 'f J}^^.■y^ .
.e
o
k4
<1
H
32
l-H
a
u
Chap. IV.] THE "CHRIST AT EMMAUS."
153
replica, which he sent to ]\Iaiitua, and thi^^ passed,
with the Gouzaga Collection, into the hands of
Charles the First, and came with other Whitehall
treasures into the gallery ot" Louis the Fourteenth.
Like many of Titian's Scripture scenes this is a
humble incident in monumental surroundings. The
house in which Christ '"tarried" wirli ( 'leopas and
Luke is a palace adorned with piUars. The table at
which the Redeemer sits with liis diseiples is laid in a
marble court, from which the view extends to the
woods and dolomites of Cadore. In other respects
there is something of the domestic antl familiar in the
way in which events are recorded. Christ is seated
with Luke behind a tal)le covered witli a snowy damask
cloth, the diaper of which is given with surprising
skill. He blesses the l)read, wliilst Cleopas, to the
right — his bare and close-shorn head reverently bent,
and his elbows on the board, — joins hands and repeats
a silent prayer. Luke, un liie other side, is lost in
wonder, a display of feeling which quite escapes the
stolid servant serving with turned up slecvo, and the
page with feathered hat, to the left, who Ijrings in the
tureen. A do£r under the table erowls at a cat. The
whole composition commingles homeliness and gran-
deur, in the form familiar in after days to Paolo
Veronese. Turning from this masterpiece of Titian's
old age to the works of ids earlicjr time, and compar-
iniT the " Christ at Emmaus " with the " Christ of the
described by Boschini, R. M. S.
di S. Marco, p. 18 ; llidolti, Ma-
rav. i. 216; and Zanotti, Pitt.
Yen. If).";, as contigTioiis to tho
chapel of tbo Pregadi.
154
TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
Tribute Money," we gauge the changes which Venetian
painting underwent in the course of years. We note
the progress of realism at the same time that we ob-
serve how much more bold and natural the conception
of the artist has become, with what case he has learnt
to work, and what magic results his facile hand pro-
duces. Experience has given him complete command
in every branch. He composes with skill, compact-
ness, and simplicity. He disposes masses of colour,
light and shade with lively boldness, and in masterly
contrasts. His hand is quick jet not careless, and his
modelling, where it requires finish and rounding, is
still smooth and polished. His stuffs, again, have
texture and tone of surprising variety, and everything,
principal and accessory, contributes to a gorgeous
tinted picture.*
It is possible that Titian was more than once
* This canvas, signed " Tici-
A^nJS, F.," No. 462 at the Louvre,
measures m. 1.69 h. by 2.44. It
is registered in Charles the First's
Collection (Bathoe's Cat% p. 96)
as "a Mantua piece . . . where
Christ is sitting at the table at
Emaus with his two disciples,
and a boy and the host standing
by." The figures are under life-
size; Christ in red and blue,
Cleopas in a coflFee-coloured dress
with a red mantle, over which a
hat is hanging ; Luke bearded, in
profile in a deep green coat, and
white and blue check scarf. The
servant between Luke and Christ
wears a red cap and black vest.
The page has a blue cap, yellow
doublet, and red sleeves. A shield
on the wall above the page's
head bears the double-headed im-
perial eagle. The picture was en-
graved, "in .a^dibus Jabachiis,"
by F. Chauveau, in 1656; later
by Lorichon, Masson, andDuthe.
A plate of it is in Landon's work ;
photograph by Braun. A copy
of the Louvre canvas is No. 209
in the Turin Museum, but is not
original. Another copy, No. 237
in the Dresden Museum, looks
like the work of Sassoferrato.
Yet another was sold at the sale
of the Gallery of William the
Third of the Netherlands in 1850,
to Mr. Eoos.
Chap. IV.] EECUMBEXT ^T:XUS AND CUPID. 155
required to repeat this composition. But the only
extant repetition preserved by Lord Yarljorough
proves that the labour of multiplication was left to
disciples, and more particularly to Orazio or Cesare
Vecelli, who modified at will the types, the faces, and
the dress without comiufj near to attain the frrandeur
and perfection of their relative and master.*
Titian did not part with his best treasures to those
who fancied that once engaged with the Emperor
beyond the Alps he would never return, or at least
never find time to attend to the wants of less exalted
patrons. Numerous pieces on liis walls were only
suited to adorn the palaces of the great. These he
probaldy set apart and prepared to take witli liini to
Augsburg, where we may believe he found a ready
market for them.
Of all the masterpieces whicli mark this jieriod one
such as the " Venus " of ^ladiid would alone immor-
talize the master ; and of this there is a counterpart,
or rather an earlier rival, in the " Venus and ( \ipid "
of Florence.
Lord Yarborough's canvas intercepting a landscape of dif-
13 signed " TiTIA^fVS F. ; '" it is
therefore a school piece, hut vcrj'
inferior to the Louvre example.
Here Christ wears the green man-
tle of a pilgrim. The dress of
Cleopas is red, that of St. Luko
yellow ; the cap of the page is
grey, his doublet red ; the vest of
the servant olive green. The
heads all differ from those at the
Louvre, that of Cleopas being
bearded. Behind Cleojias, and I revision.
ferent lines, is a pillar not to be
found at the Jjouvrc. It is not
to bo denied that this picture
exactly coincides with that de-
scribed by Zanetti in the public
palace at Venice. (Pitt. Ven. 1G.5.)
It is much dimmed by varnish
and grime, and has been re-
touched in various parts. In so
far the present opinion held re-
specting it may be subject to
156 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
The Greeks were acknowleclo-ed from time im-
memorial as the most perfect creators of form, plastic
in its development, regular in its proportions, and
ideal in its parts. Titian never attempted to storm
the heights occupied by these heroes ; justly thinking
that such a giddy elevation was not to be climbed
more than once. But Titian, on the other hand, was
the only painter of his age who gave to the nude, as
we commonly see it, the colour and flexibility of
nature. If the earlier " Venus " of Florence leaves us
in doubt Avhether Titian meant to represent a goddess,
the later one suggests no such reflections. She lies
on a couch of burnt lake-like velvet, the cloth of wliich
she holds, together with a bunch of flowers, in her left
hand. Her elbow rests on the lawn of the pillows on
which her frame reposes. Her right arm follows and
lies on the undulations of waist and hip, and she
turns to listen to Cupid, who whispers as he looks
over her shoulder, and puts his tiny hand on her
throat. The calm and passionless character of -the
scene is indicated by the harmless arrow lying near
the quiver at the end of the couch — a little dog at the
goddess' feet snifis at an owl perched on the balustrade
which parts the bower from the gardens beyond. A
vase on a table contains roses and pinks. Behind the
balustrade, where curtains of stuff, sparkling with the
redness of wine, close in the space, a picturesque tree
shows its broad leafy vegetation and stunted branches
against a clouded sky, and a scolloped lake bathing
rocks or distant shore. Far away the blue mountains
of a Cadorine upland are faintly seen in the twilight
Chap. IV.] VENUS AXD THE ORGAX-PL.VYER. 157
of eventide, which covers more or less the whole
picture. We see that the sun is going down in light
grey mist without streaking the heavens with his
gleam. In the dusk at a ftiir distance the eye
gradually catches objects whidi become more and
more distinct as we look Ioniser at them.
Venus not onlv looks at Amor, but hears his
whispering. The boy is arch and handsome and
typical of Titian, as an angel in the SLxtinc "Madonna"
is typical of Raphael. His eyes are like his mother's,
.speaking. The group, siuiplc as in the anticpie, is
living and warmly coloured in a soft brown tone.
The lines of the goddess's frame sweep with rounded
modelling. Every flexion of it is given, and every
inch of it is throbbing flcsli. Not the slender youth-
ful maid of Darmstadt lies Ijcfore us, not the buddinij:
growth of the girl at Florence, but a shape of larger
scantling and more dapple fulness.*
The "Venus" of Madrid, in some respects a repetition
of that of Florence, shows the same lie of the body
and limbs, with a different face and more womanly
tigure. Cupid has vanished, and the girl no longer
plays with flowers, but pats the back of a cinnamon-
coloured lap-dog, the l)ark of which disturbs a man
playing an organ at the foot of the couch, who turns
to chide as his hands press the keys of the instrument.
* This picture, No. 1 U>8 at the shows a general resemblance to
Uffizi, is one of the heirlooms
from Urbino. The figures are of
life size, on canvas, and not free
from damage by cleaning and
stippling. The face of Venus
that of a woman's portrait iu-
floribod with Lavinia's namo in
the Gallery of Dresden, of which
more hereafter. Photograph by
Brauu, engraved l)y Ma.ssard.
158
TITIAN: HIS LITE AND TIMES. [Chap. IV.
Behind tlie balcony we see a long shaded walk,
sheltering a couple of hunters with a dog, a deer, and
a peacock standing on the edge of a fountain. Lines
of trimmed trees remind us of parks and palaces
rather than of Cyprus and Naxos. It would seem
indeed as if distinct individuals were represented here,
the girl with her bracelets and necklace of pearl, being,
as it were, the divinity adored by the man at the
organ, whose dress and rapier indicate birth. But it
would be vain to plunge further into a mystery whicli
we can no longer fathom.* We shall presently see
that a picture very like this belonged to the Granvelles,
whilst Kidolfi notes the same subject painted by Titian
for Francesco Assonica of Venice, f It may be that
Titian was furnished with limnings of the persons he
was asked to delineate. The spectator is certainly
transported from the realms of fancy to those of a
peculiar civilization, in spite of which he may still
find pleasure in admiring the master's skill in the
painting of flesh, his art in treating surface — here as
at Florence — with a breadth and power such as we
expect from the great craftsman when at his best.|
* There is some likeness in the
man at the organ to Ottavio
Farnese, as painted in the por-
trait group by Titian at Naples.
t Eidolfi (Mar. i. 253-4) says
that the picture thus painted for
F. A. Tvas taken to England.
X No. 459 at the Madrid Mu-
seum, m. 1*36 h, by 2*30, and on
canvas. This picture has been in
Spain at least since 1665 (seeMa-
drazo's Catalogue). It is said to
have formed part of Charles the
First's Collection. (Bathoe's Ca-
talogue, u. s., p. 96.) Of its pre-
vious history something may be
said presently. It is only neces-
sary now to observe that the
surface is damaged by repeated
cleaning and restoring. The head
of the Venus is thus enfeebled,
whilst the contours are either
rubbed down or altered by re-
touching. The right hand of the
Chap. IV.]
EECUMBENT VENUS.
1J9
That this class of subject should often have been
repeated by the scholars and followers of Titian was
to have been expected, but the repetitions, such as we
find them, in the Galleries of Madi-id, Cambridge, and
Dresden, arc far beneath his powers.* But Titian
mnn at tho organ is lost in a
smudge. Photograph by Laurent.
A copj' of this picture, not an
original Titian, is in tho Fenaroli '
Collection at Brescia ; another
copy ■svas sold in 1850 at the sale
of tho Gallery of King "William IT.
of tho Netherlands, for 1000 i
francs, the buyer being Mr. '
Brondgoost.
* Tho following will su^ico to |
characterizo and determine tho j
history of those works ; Madrid \
Museum, No. 4G0 ; canvas, m. I
l-4Sh. by '2-17. Though trace- I
able to tho royal palace uf Madrid
as early as 16Go, this picture is
not original. Venus lies on a
couch listening to tho whispers of
Amor ; she has no flowers in her
hand, and Amor is in profile. In
the main tho group is taken from
that of tho Florentine "Venus."
A man plays tho organ at tho foot
of the couch, but he wears no
rapier ; in tho distance is a foun-
tain and a poplar walk. This
part of tho subject is derived from
the Venus above described in the
Madrid Gallery. Though tho
name " TlTIA^•vs " is written on
tho wall near tho man's shoulder,
the picture is by some imitator of
the master, and tho inscription is
necessarily a later addition. Pho-
tograph by Laurent.
Cambridge : Fitzwilliam Mu-
seum.— In the collection of Queen
Christine (Campori, Raccolta di
Cataloghi, p. ;j;j9), then in tho
Orleans ( Jailer)', this picture was
bought by Viscount Fitzwilliam
for £1000. The following was
tho description of it: "Picture
of Venus on a red velvet couch,
the left arm on a wliito cloth,
a flute in her other hand. In
front of her a violin and open
music book. An amorino crowns
her head ; at her feet, and on her
couch, a man showing his back
playing a lute ; distance a land-
scape by Titian." This picture
is now exhibited under Titian's
name at Cambridge, and num-
bered 14 ; it is on canvas. Hero
again wo have a mixture of tho
figures at Madrid and Florence.
Tho forms of tho woman arc heavy
and coarse, the drawing defective,
and the painter is 2>robably an
imitator of tho early part of
the seventeenth century. On the
music book we read the word
"Tenok." Tho siufaco is much
injured, tho red hanging behind
the girl being all repainted, Amor
much retoiiched, and the whole
canvas grimed with old varnish.
Sii- A. Hume (Life of Titian, p. KG)
notes a copy of the Cambridge
example at llolkham.
Dresden : Museum, No. 22.5,
o ft. 1 in. high, by 7 ft. 3 in. This
160
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. IV.
was not content with taking profane subject pictures
to the Court of Charles, he required to touch another
chord, if he wished to satisfy the Emperor. He
therefore finished the " Ecce Homo," or Christ bound
-and suffering from the crown of thorns, and, as he
worked it out on skate after the fashion of Sebastian
<lel Piombo, he gave it necessarily some of the polish
which marked the '' Christ of the Tribute Money."
The " Ecce Homo " now lianofs in the Museum of
Madrid, but the master who boasted in his youth that
he could finish, like Diirer, without losing the breadth
of Venetian art, is no longer the patient and minute
craftsman of those early days. The type which he
created was as fine in its way as any that he had
previously conceived. It was realistic, expressive, and
speaking in its mournfulness ; it was modelled with
breadth, yet with blended softness and rounding.
The orradations of its lights and half tints were
delicate as they could be, the colour rich as ever, light
and shade was grandly balanced. But the mould of
the face was not as ideal or perfect as it might have
been, and in so far the "Christ" of Madrid is less
elevated in feeling than that of Dresden.*
is a variety of the foregoing,
softly and cleverly painted by a
late Venetian, wliose treatment
approximates very much, to that
of Andrea Celesti.
At the Hague and Dresden the
copies were called " Philip the
Second and his mistress."
* Madrid Museum, No. 467, on
slate, m. 0.69 h. by 0.56. This
picture is no doubt that which
Titian took to Charles the Fifth
at Augsburg. It answers to the
description of Aretino in letters to
Titian and Sansovino, of January
and February, 1548. (Lettere, iv.
134 & 144.) The figure is a half-
length turned to the right ; the
arms being bound in front of the
body, and the left arm partly
Chap. IV.]
THE "ECCE HOMO."
161
covered with, a red cloth. The
head is bent, the hair parted in
the middle, and tears of blood
drop from the punctures of the
crown of thorns ; on the ground
to the left, "TiTiAN\'s." AVith
the exception of some abrasion
from cleaning, the surface is
fairly preserved.
Aretino describes, in his letter
of January, I'HS, a copy of this
jiioce given him by Titian, which
differs in no respect from that
of Madrid. It is, perhaps, that
which camo into the Averoldi
Collection at Brescia, where it
was engraved by Sala, and after-
wards passed into the gallery of
the Duke d'Aumale. This piece,
m. 0.72 h. by 0. jS, was exhibited
at Leeds in 1868 (Xo. 254), and in
Paris in 1874 (Xo. oOli of Exhi-
bition for the Relief of Alsaco
Lorraine), but has not been seen
by the authors.
Vermeyen made a copy of the
original " Ecce Homo" for Charles
the Fifth at I'russels in \')do.
See the original record, printed in
Kevuo Univ. des Ai'ts, ii. s., iii.
p. i;}8.
Vol.. II.
M.
CHAPTEE Y.
The Pope and the Emperor. — Titian has to choose between them;
gives up the Seals of the Piombo, and goes to Court at Augsburg.
— He visits Cardinal Madruzzi at Ceneda. — Augsburg, the
Fuggers. — Titian's Pieception by Charles the Fifth. — His Pension
on Milan doubled. — Ho promises a Likeness of the Emperor to
the Governor of Milan.— Sketch of Charles the Eifth, and how he
rode at Miihlberg with Maurice of Saxony and Alva. — His Court
at Augsburg. — King Eerdinand. — The Granvelles, John Frederick
of Saxony, and other Princes and Princesses portrayed by
Titian. — Likenesses: of Charles as he rode atMuhlberg; as he
sat at Augsburg ; of the captive Elector, with and without
Armour; of Chancellor and Cardinal Granvelle, and Cardinal
Madruzzi. — The " Prometheus and Sisyphus." — Likeness of King
Ferdinand and his Infant Children. — Titian returns to Venice ;
proceeds to Milan, where he meets Alva and the Prince of Spain.
— Portrait of Alva and his Secretary. — Eeplicas of Charles the
Fifth's Portrait for Cardinal Famese and Francesco Gonzaga. —
Betrothal of Lavinia. — Death of Paul the Third. — Plans for the
Succession of Philip of Spain. — Charles the Fifth again sends for
Titian to paint the Likeness of his presumptive Heir. —Projected
Picture of the " Trinity." — Close Eelations of Titian with the
Emperor, and surprise caused by it. — Melanchthon. — Court of the
captive Elector. — Cranach paints Titian's Likeness.— Philip of
Spain sits to Titian. ^ — Numerous Portraits are the result.
At the time when Titian entered into enoao-emeuts
"with the Famese princes to take the seal of the papal
bulls which had droj^ped from the hands of Sebastian
del Piombo, Paul the Third and Charles the Fifth
were on the worst of terms, and there was reason
for thinking that the Pope would enter into a league
with Venice and France. After the fidit of Mtihlbero-
Chap, v.] THE POPE AND TUE EMPEEOR. 1G3
in which John Frederick of Saxony lost his liberty
and possessions, the policy of Charles had acquired
a natural ascendency which tlie subsequent surrender
of Wittenberg, the submission and imprisonment of
Philip of Hesse, and the reduction of all the cities of
South and Central Germany naturally increased.
But as the power of the Emperor re^'ived, the aversion
of Paul the Third returned. He cursed the ill-luck
of the Protestants, wished they had won at ]MLihlberg
as they won before at Rochlitz, and reverted speedily
to his old system of trimming. Paul's negotiations,
the coquetting of his son Pier Luigi with the French
Kin*;- and the marriaf^e of ( )razio Farnesc with Diana
the; dauirhtcr of Hcnrv the Second, are all attributable
to the same cause. \k\t when Paul <letermined to
reopen the Council at Pologna, and Charles insisted
on its return to Trent, the papal and imperial power
were clearly in o}>position, and this opposition was
not soothed when the Pojx- was informed that Pier
Luigi Farnese had been murdered, and Piacenza
occupied by Ferrando Gonzaga. As Cardinal
Madruzzi entered Pome in November, and sum-
moned the Pope in the h^mperor's name to transfer
the Council to Trent, it must have been evident
to any one accpiainted with ])olitics in these
days, that Paul was weak and the p]mpcror strong.
At this very moment Charles the Fiftli ordered
Titian to Augsburg. Titian, under promise to pro-
<:eed to Pome, obeyed the Emperor's bidding, and
wrote to Cardinal Farnese the following letter of
t^xcuse :
u 2
164 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. Y.
TITIAN TO CAEDINAL FARNESE AT EOME.
"Most Illustrious Lord,
" I sliould be acting the part of an ungrate-
ful servant, unworthy of the favoui-s which unite my
duty to your great kindness, if I were not to say that
though his Majesty forces me to go to him and pays
the expenses of my journey, I start discontented,
because I have not fulfilled your wish and my
obligation in presenting myself to my Lord and
yours, and working in obedience to his intentions,
also because I have not been able as yet to send
the work which your Ecv'\ Lordship saw here and
ordered of me. But I promise as a true servant
to pay interest on my return with a new picture
in addition to the first. Meanwhile I supplicate
the good spirit which always prompts you to do
good, — and for Avhich I adore you, — not to with-
draw your favour in respect of the benefice of
Colle, than which I have nothing more at heart,
since that person has shown a wish to possess it,
who as a boy deprived wives of their husbands,
and now that he is a man takes the sons from
their fathers ; and these sorts of vices ought not
to weigh against my devotion. I trust so entirely
to your sincere kindness that I shall certainly
be consoled at last in the measure of my present
despair. So with your licence, Padron mio unico,
I shall go, whither I am called, and returning with
the grace of God, I shall serve you with all the
strength of the talents which I got from my cradle,-
Chap. V.]
EOME OH AUGSBURG?
165
and meanwliile I kiss the hands of your Rev"^. and
Illustrious Lordship.
" Your Ptev*^. Lordship's perpetual servant,
" TlTL\>s-0." *
" i-'/Wrt Venice, nth December, 1j4T."
That Titian should have been attracted to Rome
by promises of a benefice on the one hand, and a
prospect on the other of the seals of the Pioniljo was
natural enough. There was nothing to be expected
from the Emperor so long as he remained at Wiu*.
That Titian again should Ix' flattered by the otl'er
of a stay at the court of Augsburg when all the world
seemed willing to bow down and worship Charles the
Fifth was pardonable. It is not })robable that the
Farneses W(juld have treated the painter as royally
as he was treated by the Emperor. What they held
out as an ineentive was somethinir disLunl and un-
certain. Charles sent Titian ready money and an
outfit, well knowing from experience the superior
attraction of gold, and Titian was not inclined,
perhaps not in a condition, to resist the temptation.
His letter to Farnesc is clever, but might have roused
the anofcr of the Cardinal if it had come alone. He
o
therefore enclosed it to the Duke of Urbino and asked
him to send it on with a friendly line of his own.
Possibly he joined to the missive some of his pictures,
• Tho original, in Eonchini'.s
Eelazionc, u. a., pp. 9-10, may bo
compared with a letter from
Arctino to Giiidubaldo, Diiko of
Urbino, dated Dec. 1547, in Let-
tero di M. P. Aret", iv. 131-2 ;
and Aretino to Titian, of a siimilur
date. Ibid. 133.
166 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chai-. V-
perhaps the Venus and Cupid of the Uffizi. It is-
a proof of the prince's regard for the painter that
he did not hesitate to accede to his wishes, but
forwarded the letter w^th the following covering
despatch :
GUIDUBALDO, DUKE OF UEBIXO, TO CAEDINAL
FAENESE.
"Most Illustrious and Eeverend Sionor, Am>
MOST RESPECTED BrOTHER-IN-LAW.
" I greatly love Messer Tiziano, because of
his rare qualities, as well as Ijecause he has particular
claims on my friendship. He communicates in the
enclosed his wishes and desires to your Illustrious-
Lordship ; and I beg you to be convinced that the
matter in question is quite as much desired by me as
it is by him, and not more grateful if in the interest
of Titian than it w^ould be if for my own convenience.
I therefore beg you to deign to do us both this favour,
for which I shall be obliged as much as he, and I kiss
3'our hands.
" Servant, and Brother-in-law,
"The Duke of Urbino."*
" Froni PesARO, January 8, 1548."
The patronage of the Duke Avas perhaps of less
service to Titian in his relations with Cardinal Farnese
than the evident inclination of the Emperor. The
nimbus which surrounded the painter had gained new
* Eonchini's Eelazione, j). 10.
CuAP. v.]
TITLUST AT CENEDA.
167
radiance. It dazzled the pivLite, who hastened to
perform one at least of his numerous promises. The
benefice of CoUe we may believe was given to Titian,
whilst the seals of the Piom'ho were handed to
Guglielmo della Porta ; and Titian, in February,
received the compliments of Aretino on the successful
attainment of his wishes.*
It was on Christmas Day in i.")47 thai Aretino
received the " Eccc Homo,*' which was a replica of
that taken by his friend to Augsburg. On the sixth
of the following January Titian was ;it Ceneda where
Count Girolamo dclhi Torre gave him a letter of intro-
duction to Cardinal Madruzzi. We left that prelate a
short time befor<> Ijearing the Emperor's summons to
the Pope to translate the Council from Pologna to
Trent.
" T hear," says Delia Torre " that your Lordship has
left Rome and returned to the court of his Majesty.
I therefore take this opportunity of presenting to your
Lordship Titian the painter, the first man in Christen-
dom, whom I ask you to treat as you would treat
myself, and who is coming at the Emperor's bidding
to do work for his Majesty."f
Wc are not informed as to the particulars of Titian's
journey, but let us picture to ourselves an old man of
seventy setting out on a long and tiring ride in the
heart of winter, crossing the Alps in January to take
up his residence in one of the coldest cities of Southern
* Seo Aretino to Guidubaldo,
in Lottero di M. P. A", iv. Ur, ;
and Vapuri, xii. 2.';."]; and xiii. 120.
t The original in ApiJCudix.
168 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
Germany. Ceneda, Trent, Innspruck, the finest of
Alpine towns, cliarni us in summer or in spring.
But who amongst us would now undertake Titian's
journey and visit them in winter ■?
Augsburg, in the sixteenth century, was an Imperial
city, surrounded with wall and bastion, but larger and
more airy than Nuremberg, to which it was inferior in
the character of its architecture. At Nuremberg every
church was a carved shrine, every house a jewel, every
fountain a miracle of fretwork. At Augsburg churches
and monasteries were imposing for their size and
extent, and the age of some of their parts, they were
not monuments worthy of any special admiration.
What misfht strike Titian would l)e the breadth and
o
length and the cjuaint aspect of the principal street,
the numerous houses covered with frescos, and a
certain medley of tints which might remind him of the
painted facades of Verona or Treviso. There was
nothing really imposing at Augsburg except the bril-
liant Imperial Court w^ith its suite of dukes and
electors, the diet presided over by Granvelle and the
patriciate which hid its head at the reformation, and
now stood defiant round Charles's throne. The courtiers
were well known to Titian, the merchant princes
equally so, many of them having acquired their wealth
at the Fondaco. It was difficult to name a sino-le
member of the house of Fugger that had not resided
in Titian's vicinity : Jacob Fugger, who built the alms-
houses still known as the Fuggerei ; Anton Fugger,
who negotiated the capitulation of Augsburg in 1547,
owned a palace at Venice, and Anton's sons, John,
CiLVP. v.] CHARLES THE EIPTH EECEIVES TITLiN. 169
James, and George, were traders whose money bags
had often been opened for the benefit of Aretino.*
Titian's stay with Cliarles the Fifth was contem-
porary with the suppression of the liberties of Augs-
buro-. It was then that Charles took the relimous
movement in hand, imposed the compromise called the
interim, suppressed tlie guilds and restored the patri-
cians to power. Titian wrote of all this to Aretino,
told him at once of the gracious reception which the
Emperor had given him ; and of Charles' intention to
give a dowry to '' Austria," the '' Scourge's '' daugliter ;
and in April communicated the gi'ateful intelligence
that his Majesty had sat to him, and would he repre-
sented in the armour, and on the liorse which had been
at Miihlbcrg-.t To Lotto he also sent his compliments
in April, wishing he were with him, so good a 2>ainter
and judge being invaluable as a critic. In ]\lay he
had exhausted part (jf liis supply of colours, and
begged Aretino, cum iustantla, to transmit half a
pound of lake by the first Imperial messenger. J
On the 10th of June, Charles the Fifth signed a
patent doubling Titian's pension <»n the treasury of
Milan ; Natale Musi, the faithful agent of Ferraodo
Gonzao^a, then oovernor of Milan, hastened to inform /
his nftaster " that the Emperor really meant Titian's
pension to be paid regularly at Venice, and Titian
* Lottcro (li M. P. Aretino, iii.
239, 2J8 ; iv. 52 & 1G9.
t Aretino to Titian, Feb. \o\ii ;
Aretino to the Prince of Salerno,
of the same date ; and Aretino to
Titian, April, 1548, in Lottcre di
M. P. A., iv. 153, 155 & 202.
X Aretino to Lorenzo Lotto,
April, 154S. The same to Lo-
renzotto (Jorriere, May, 1548, in
Lettore, iv. 215 & 252.
170
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
prayed he would do so, and accept a portrait of
the Emperor.* From Speyer, in xAugust, Giovanni
Battista Cattani wrote to promise that he would duly
solicit the Bishop of Arras (Anthony Granvelle) in
favour of Titian. He added that nothing had caused
him more pain, except the parting with " Signora
Marina," than the parting with the painter at Augs-
burg. The portrait of " Pirrovano," he continued,
had suffered some injury in the face, he begged
that his might be well packed before being sent, and
suggested as a change the previous lengthening of the
beard. I The scantiness of the news contained in
these few sentences is compensated by a brilliant
picture of artistic industry, and a noble series of
historical portraits.
When the Emperor, forgetting his gout and asthma,
and neglecting his doctor's advice, rode to the Saxon
frontier in March, 1547, to encounter his enemies, h(^
was described by the Protestants as little better than
a mummy or a ghost, yet there was " a will and a
way " in the worn frame of the Kaiser ; and a spring
* The patent is in Gayc, Car-
teggio, ii. o69 ; the letter of Musi,
dated Augsburg, June 12, 1548,
in Eonchini, Kelazioni, «. s., pp.
11—12.
t G. B. Cattani, from Speyer,
August 30, loiS, to Titian at
Augsburg, in Gaye, Carteggio, ii.
372. Sandrart says (Academia
Artis pictorise), " Augustfe Vin-
delicorum . . . pro familia Pe-
ronnseorum, qui mercatores erant
opus elaborabat magnum in quo
scenographice quinque architec-
turfp ordines exhibuerat." Is
there any connection between the
familj- noted by Sandrart, and
Cattani's Pirrovano ? But again
let us compare the above passage
from Sandrart with the following
from Yasari (xiii. oO) : "In Au-
gusta fece (Paris Bordone) per i
Piineri un quadrone grande dove
in prospettiva mise tutti i cinque
ordini d'architettura." Bordone's
picture is now in the Gallery of
Yienna. Did Titian also paint
this subject ?
CiiAP. v.] CHAELES THE FIFTH AT MUHLBERG.
171
of freshness rose to the surface -when the monarch was
roused to revenge or assured of victor}". Charles came
into the field on the day of ^liihlbcrGj, in burnished
armour inlaid with orold, his arms and lesjs in chain
mail, his liands gauntlettcd, a morion with a red
plume — but witliout a visor — on his head. The red
scarf with gold stripes — cognizance of the House of
Burgundy — hung across his slioulders, and he 1>rand-
ished with liis riglit hand a sluirp and pointed spear.
The chestnut steed, half hid in striped housings, had a
head-piece of steel topped by a red feather similar to
that of its master. In full panoply Charles dashed
across a dangerous ford of the Ellje, his pale and
colourless face still marked liy hooked nose, large
mouth and projecting chin, and, if possible, thinner,
more hollow, and not less blenched than of old. One
great change marked his appearance. The red hair of
earlier days had turned to a chestnut brown com-
mingled with copious grey.'''
At the Emperor's side rode Ferdinand, his brother,
a short figure with short l^rown red hair, and bushy
eyebrows, high cheek bones, and sunken cheeks, his
eagle nose more prominent than ever since the thick
and protruding lips had been covered by a new growth
of beard.t Both saw the Elector as he came a prisoner
* A (Icscription of Charles's
appearance is in the llelation of
Moccnigo, tho Venetian envoy,
in F. B. von Bucholtz's Gcschichte
der Eegierung Ferdinands des
Ereten, 8vo, VVien, 183 J, vol. vi.
pp. 498—501.
t Eelaziono of B. Navagero,
Venetian envoy at tho Court of
King Ferdinand (1547), in Bu-
choltz [F. B. von], Goschichte
der Ecgierung Ferdinands des
Ersten, n. s., vol. vi. p. 493.
172 TITLIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
escorted by Ippolito cLa Porto, bending his bead for
sbame, the blood flowing from a gash in his cheek.
He had been riding in plain sable armour, Avhicli
made his fat and unwieldy frame look fatter and more
unwieldy than ever. As he approached the " ghost of
a kaiser " and the wiry king,- — the latter assailed him
with a torrent of abuse, the former called out : " Do
you now acknowledge me as Roman Emperor," on
which John Frederick with dignity replied : " I am
to-day but an unfortunate prisoner, and beg your
Imperial Majesty will treat me as a born prince,"
which his ]\Iajesty would not promise to do. Maurice
of Saxony, at that time twenty-eight years of age,
rode twenty hours, and came home to find the father
of his house a captive, and his own claims to the
electorate secure. The Duke of Alva,, who led the
army, was the first to receive the submission of John
Frederick after he had yielded — rescue or no rescue —
to his own vassal, Thilo von Trotha. It was he who
led the van after the surrender of Wittenberg, to him
that Charles entrusted John Frederick and Philip of
Hesse after the conference of Halle. It was a weary
journey for the two electors, Philip of Hesse more
particularly feeling the irksomeness of imprisonment.
On the 23rd of July, 1547, v/hilst Philip was detached
to Donauwerth, John Frederick was taken to Augs-
burg, where he spent a year in comparative quiet.
He was lodged in a roomy house opposite the palace
of the Fuggers, wdiere the Emperor resided, and a
bridge was thrown across the street, to allow the
Kaiser's seeing his prisoner. He had his own servants
Chap. Y.] JOHN FEEDEEICK OF SAXONY.
173
and liberty to ride out for exercise. The Spanish
guard Avas nominally forbidden to enter his drawino--
room and bedroom, but it is said the soldiers often
showed him for money. From a window of his house
he was forced, in February, 1548, to witness the solemn
entry of his kinsman jMaurice, when he received invest-
ment of the Saxon electorate. i\Ieanwhile, Charles
the Fifth had assembled the Diet. There was liio-li
company in tlie palaces of Augsburg, and the king
and princes of the Empire Ijrought their ladies to
grace the ceremonies with their presence. Charles,
notoriously saturnine and mood}' at this period, saw
nobody, sat alone at dinner, and ate enormously as
he received tlie dishes from pages whose worn dress
and patches did not escape tlie observant eye of the
Venetian Mocenio;o. In the early morninii- his valet
Adrian, who could neitlier read nor write, would go
quietly to the residence of the Gran^'clles, and return
Avith a slip of paper containing the instructions set
down for his political conduct by the Cliancellor.*
No minister had ever inspired his master with so
mucli confidence — not even Cardinal Gattinara, nor
the bold but clever Covos. But if guests were not
frequent at the Emperor's table, his brother Ferdi-
nand, who willingly undertook the duties of hospi-
tality, often attended with pleasure the numerous
baUs and dinners that were oiven at this festive time.
Tlie AVelsers, Baumo-artners, and Fuo-o-ers, who owned
* Mocenigo, Eelazione in Bu-
choltz, Geschichte der Eegierung
Ferdinands des Erston, vol. vi.
p. olT.
174 TITLIX: IlIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
seven millions of gold gulden between them, were
but too glad to lend tlieir money to King and Emperor,
and the former kept regal court for himself apart from
bis sons Maximilian and Ferdinand, whilst a fourth
establishment, with all the paraphernalia of state, was
maintained at Innspruck for the benefit of the King's
daughters. Besides these royalties, there were present
at Augsburg, during the sittings of the diet, Mary,
Queen Dowager of Hungary, for whose person and
advice both Charles and Ferdinand had always the
greatest respect ; Christine, widow of two husbands ;
Francesco Sforza and Francis of Lorraine ; Anna,
daughter of King Ferdinand, with her husband Albert
the Third, Duke of Bavaria, and four of her sisters ;
Dorothy, sister to Christine, and wife of the Count
Palatine Frederick the Second ; Nicole Bonvalot, the
wife of Chancellor Granvelle ; Philibcrt Emmanuel of
Savoy, Ijetrothed to one of the King's daughters, whom
he never married ; Maurice of Saxony, the Duke of
Alva, the Prince of Salerno, the Granvelles, Gaztelu
Figueroa, Vargas, Alexander Vitelli, Giovanni Cas-
taldo, and numerous Spanish and Italian captains.
According to the testimony of Mocenigo, the
Venetian envoy at the diet of 1547-8, Nicholas
Granvelle had once been lowly and poor, but w^as
now rich and likely to be richer."'' xlbout sixty
years old and sickly, but still courtly and supple,
he was reputed to understand affairs of state better
than any man living.* Charles the Fifth called him
* Eelazione of M. Mocenigo, in Bucholtz, vol. vi. p. 516,
Chap. V.]
THE GKiNVELLES.
ITo
liis " bed of rest," '•' because lie was fertile in ex-
pedients and seldom at a loss for ways of doing
things. Thougli it was openly said that he received
presents, it was stated with equal openness that
Charles the Fifth was awai-e of the fact and connived
at it. Anthony Granvelle, the son of Nicholas did
not require — though he possibly did not disdain — this
source of income, being in receipt of 14000 ducats from
benefices and sharing; with his father the confidence
of the Emperor.
One of the most graphic passages in the voluminous
work of Hortleder is that in which the two Granvelles
are described as proceeding on ;i hot day in July, 1548,
to the lodging of John Fredeiidv of Saxony and try-
ing by cajolery and threats to make him accept the
interim.t The Chancellor, a tall man in a black robe,
wearing the order of the Golden Fleece is conspicuous
by his white beard falling forked from a heavy under-
jaw. The upper lip is fringed with a mere stripe of
moustache, and commanded by a heavy fleshy nose,
the high and vaulted forehead lost in sj)arse and
downy hair of doubtful colour ; l)ut the eyebrows
are bushy as they overhang an eye sharp in glance
but lying shallow under a broad pair of lids. Intel-
lect and shrewdness were the qualities which spoke
out of this statesman's face. The bishop his son was
almost the counterpart of his father, but his forehead
. * Charles the Eifth to Philip,
inWeiss (C), Papiors d'Etat du
Cardinal de Granvelle, 4to, Paris,
1843, i. pp. ii. — vi.
t Ilortledcr, Eomisch. Keyser
Ilaudlungon, &c., fol.,Gota, 1045;
ii. 940, and following.
176 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. Y
was less high, his nose and eyes were smaller, the
beard and hair shorter, more copious, and curly.
Both men were burly, but neither showed the j)lethoric
stoutness peculiar to the elector.
John Frederick was so fat that the confinement
which he endured in the heat of summer was most
irksome to him. His habit was so portly that riding
necessarily distressed l;)oth man and horse. Looking
at the black armour which he wore at Miihlbero; as
it stands in the Ambras Museum at Vienna, we can
easily imagine that none but a weighty Frisian
stallion could carry it and its wearer. John Frederick
had a favourite charger of this muscular race ; and
Charles the Fifth recognised the Elector on the battle-
field by his horse, because he bestrode the same animal
at the Diet of KSpeyer in 1544. Both Cranach and
Titian have immortalized the features and fioure of
John Frederick as they immortalized those of the
Emperor and his family. He ]md fat sides, fat
cheeks, fat hands, a bull neck, out of which the head
rose like a truncated cone. The eye was large, blood-
shot and apoplectic, the eyebrow spare, the forehead
sharply marked at the centre by a black " cow's-lick."
Tlie skull was displayed by dark close shorn hair, whilst
the beard clung short and frizzy to the hanging jaws.
This obese yet choleric apparition was very cool
under the threats and arguments of the Granvelles.
John Frederick was prepared for the worst, which in
his case would be closer seclusion and restraint. He
refused to surrender the Confession of Augsburg ; and
wandered with Charles the Fifth in Auoust 154S to
Chap. Y.] PORTEAITS AT AUGSBURG. 177
Ghent and Brussels, from whence in course of time
he wandered back again to Germany.
It is characteristic of the activity of Titian that he
portrayed, during his stay at Augsburg, not only the
Emperor and his captives, but most of the royal and
princely persons who attended on Charles the Fifth.
Mary, Queen Dowager of Hungary, who lived
alternately at Brussels or in the country residence of
her brother in the Netherlands, was one of the most
exalted of the painter's sitters. She was represented
in " every-day dress" on canvas. Her two relatives,
Christine and Dorothy, followed ; then came Mary
Jacqueline of Baden, widow of William the First of
Bavaria ; Anna, Consort of Albert the third Duke of
Bavaria, and her four sisters, each of whom, as daughter
of King Ferdinand, was allowed to sit separately.
King Ferdinand liimself was depicted "in armour, but
without a morion ; " after him, his sons Maximilinn
and Ferdinand, then Philibert Emmanuel of Savoy,
jMaurice of Saxony in armour, and the Duke of Alva
with cuirass and scarf.*
All these portraits were taken by order of the
Emperor, or by command of Mary of Hungary, to the
Netherlands, where they were kept either at Brussels
or at Binclie till the court retired to Spain in 1556.
As late as 1582 Argote de Molina saw several of them
in the Palace of Pardo, and it is presumed that they
perished in tlie fire of 1608.t
* See the inventories of Mary
of Hungary's pictures, in Revue
Universelle des Arts, u. s. , vol. iii.
pp. 127, and ffol. ; and Vas. xiii.
p. 38.
t Revue Univ. iii. p. 14j.
VOL. II. N
178
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
Charles tlie Fifth, as he rode at Miihlberg, John
Frederick as he sat at Augsburg after recovering
from his wound, Chancellor Granvelle and Cardinal
Madruzzi, are the sole extant likenesses which still
recall this period of Titian's practice. The picture of
Charles was safely taken to Spain, and subsequently
rescued from the fire of the Palace of Pardo, yet it
did not remain unscathed, but hangs — a wreck — in the
gallery of Madrid. Coinciding in every respect with
the descriptions of contemporary historians, it repre-
sents the Emperor, cantering — large as life — on a
brown charger, towards the Elbe, which runs to the
right, reflecting the dull light of a grey sky, remnant
of the fog which at early morn overhung the field of
Miihlberg. Tall forest trees form a dark background
to the left. The brightest light catches the face, the
white collar and gorget, and the polished surface of the
armour. The black eye and bent nose, the pale skin,
dark moustache, and short grey beard, are well given ;
and the features, though blanched and sallow, show
the momentary gleam of fire which then animated the
worn frame of the Kaiser. That Charles was not
distinguished by grandeur or majesty of shape is very
evident ; nor has Titian tried to falsify nature by
importing flattery into the portrait ; but the seat of
the Emperor is natural and good, his movement is
correct. The horse is also true ; and we pass over
defects of hip and leg to dwell with the more pleasure
on the character and expression of the countenance.*
* This canvas, No. 457 in the
Madrid Museum, is m. 3.32 h. by
2. 79. It is registered in the in-
ventory of Mary of Hungary
CIIAKMOS THK KHTIT OX THE FIEI.D OF MDULBKRG.
Mai/Rid Museum.
[Vol. II., 2). 178.
Chap. V.]
CHAELES Y. AFTER DINNER.
179
Charles the Fifth is reported to have differed in
many respects from liis brother Ferdinand, but in
none more so than in his demeanour before company.
When Ferdinand was in humour he would make puns
with the court fool and chatter ceaselessly with his
guests. Charles hardly listened to the jokes of his
jester, and even when they were good, received them
with the cold gravity of a Castilian. Although this
manner was assumed at first in obedience to the
advice of Covos, who said that Spaniards required to
be treateel with stiffness and severity, it became
natural to Charles, whose sour aspect was at last pro-
verbial. At dinner he ate copiously, without uttering
a word, and after the dotli was removed, he generally
withdrew to a corner near a window, and sat quite
still listeniui; to suitors.'"
In tliis mood and occupation we may suj)pose
Titian once caught him, and the result was the
portrait in the Pinakothek at Munich, where Charles
(Eovuo Universello dcsArts, «. s.,
iii. 139), and in numerous Spanish
catalogues. The fire of 1008 in-
jured the lower part of the piece,
which i/% not only altered in con-
tour, but rotouchod with colours.
Tht! whole surface is more or less
opaque and dim in tone. Photo-
graph by Laurent. A copy of
this equestrian portrait was re-
gistered as a genuine Titian in
the Farnoso Collection in 1680,
bruccie 4 on, o h. by 4 br. 0 on. ;
another, " palmi 3.^ h. by palm. 3
o un dito," in the collection of
Queen Christine. (Campori, Ruc-
colta di Cataloghi, pp. 359 & 243 ;
also Scanelli's Microcosmo, p.
222.) A clever repetition, on a
small scale, is that of the Rogers
and Baring Collections, where
the hand of Titian is alleged, but
the execution is more like that of
a good copyist, such as we have
in the Spaniard, Juan Bautista
Martinez del ^tazo, the pujjil
and son-in-law of Velasquez de
Silva.
• Compare Sastrow and Mo-
cenigo iu Bucholtz, u. s., vol. vi.
pp, 300 & 501.
180
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
is to be seen in black, seated in an arm chair, at the
angle of a stone court. A gold damask hanging falls
from a wall near the base of a pillar, and a screen
of stone separates the terrace where the Kaiser sits
from a distant landscape. The Emperor's gout re-
quired careful dressing. To sit in the open ail' he
wanted, and on this occasion he wore a black cap,
undressed leather gloves, and a fur pelisse. The
attitude, the elbows on the arms of the chair, the right
hand holding the glove, are set in Titian's fashion, but
little more than the head and shirt-collar are his. The
rest of the canvas is covered with layers of paint of a
character so modern as even to exclude the numerous
disciples of the master.'"'
Amongst the youths who accompanied Titian to
Augsburg, in 1548, one of his kinsmen is now to be
* This picture is now in the
Munich Pinakothek, on canvas,
6 ft. 4 in. h. by 3 ft. 9 in., and
numbered 496. It was abraded
and rubbed down to such an
extent that much of the detail,
especially in the background, was
removed. The surface was then
covered over, apparently bj^ a
Eleming, who gave quite a Dutch
character to the landscape dis-
tance. The Emperor is seated to
the left, and turned to the right.
The clever modelling of the face
and right hand is the more appa-
rent since the final glazings have
disappeared. The black hose and
shoes, the rapier, are partly slob-
bered over with the more modern
paint of the wall and red carpet.
The glove in the left hand is new,
and the signature, "mdxlviii,
Titianus F.," is repainted.
For more than a century a
small replica of this piece, on
panel, in the gallery of Vienna
(No. 51, room 2, 1st floor, Italian
schools, 7 in. h. by 5i) passed
for a sketch for the canvas at
Munich ; but apart from the fact
that the dress is differently tinted,
the hose at Vienna being of a
brownish yellow instead of black,
the handling of the panel dis-
plays none of the breadth of
Titian in 1548; and unless we
presuppose a total alteration
produced by abrasion and re-
storing, the picture is rather a
copy by Teniers than an original
by Titian.
Chap. V.] JOHN FEEDEEICK AT MUHLBERG. 181
distinfmislied ; and it is remarkaLle that tlie first
authentic record of his share in Titian's labours should
refer to the portraits of the captive Elector of Saxony,
of which one is still in existence : Cesare Vecelli may
have had a part in the detail of Charles' portrait.
He was the son of Ettore, own cousin to Grecrorio
Vecelli, and assistant to Titian when he produced the
portrait of John Frederick of Saxony. Being struck
with the Elector's armour, whicli ha<l heen deposited
for a time in his master's workshop, he made a draw-
ing of it, witli wliich he subsequently illustrated a
book on costume. In writiuo; the text to this illustrn-
tion, he not only observed that he had seen Titian's
picture of the Elector, witli the scar on his face, rest-
ing his hand on a baton, but that the })anoply was that
which John Frederick wore at Mlihlberg, and that he
was present as Titian's pupil when the portrait was
designed at the request of Charles the Fifth.'" This
portrait was one of those which Mary of Hungary
took to Spain, in l.j.')G ; and it was one of the series
which perished in the fire of the Palace of Pardo ; | a
second without a breastplate, done at the same time,
and likewise taken to Spain, survived, and is now
preserved in the Gallery of Vienna.
At ditiercnt periods of his life the Elector wore his
beard in dificrent ways. In the earlier portraits of
Cranach and his school, it is cut short and brushed
• Cesare Vecelli, Degli Abiti
Antichi e Moderni, 8vo, Yen.
1590, p. 61.
t See the inventory in Revue
Uuiveiselle dea Aits, u. «., iii.
140. The entry is as follows :
"El retrato del Duquede Suxonia,
cuaudo fuo preso, annado, y en
el lostro una oucbillada."
182 TITIi\.N: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
off the cliiu into the whiskers, giving a cpaint broad
shape to a face already very remarkable for breadth.
Almost all the princes who signed the Confession of
Augsburg wore this appendage, which is as character-
istic as cropped hair to the Puritans of England. After
the defeat of the Schmalkaldic league, the Spanish
beard, which is so remarkable for its length and pointed
shape, became fashionable, and John Frederick, in his
captivity, found it advisable to conform, thinking, no
doubt, that conformity was more pardonable in matters
of dress than in matters of religion ; and thus Titian
drew him with a pointed and not with a swallow-
tailed beard. Like most productions of this period,
the Vienna portrait is a picture of touch, in which the
head and hands are magnificently laid in from life,
whilst the dress, though executed with care, is pro-
bably done from memory. Had the surfaces been
spared by time and restorers, we should have a master-
piece before us. As it is, we still see that the Elector
sat, and sat well, and Titian gave the apoplectic look,
the bloodshot eye, the staring glance, which are cha-
racteristic of most men of dark complexion and
plethoric habit. But where his mastery is most ap-
parent is in the modelling of the flesh, which displays
the scantling of bone beneath the layers of fat with
a searching minuteness, surprising when combined
with so much breadth of treatment. The features of
John Frederick have been described. They were well
reproduced by the painter, who probably had the
sittings in the first months of winter, 1548. The
captive Elector is seated with his elbows and hands
Chap. V.]
POETRAIT OF GEAX\T:LLE.
183
at rest, on the arms of a cliair ; his coat is of black-
striped silk, his black pelisse is faced with brown fur.
In his left he holds a dark hat. White linen is
cleverly interposed to l)reak the monotony of black at
the neck and wrists, and the scar of the wound received
at Miihlbcrg appears on the left check. Cranach por-
trayed the Prince before and after jMiihlbcrg ; but he
never ennobled the form of his sitter. Titian takes
the fat and obese figure, sets it in an arm-chair, and, in
spite of these disadvantages, imparts to the shape and
features a dignified nnd princely air.*
Nicholas Granvclle was painted by Titian in state
dress, with the chain of the Golden Fleece round his
neck, a white beard falling silken and abundant to
his chest. Judging from a photograph of the picture
now ill th(.- museum of Besan9on, the likeness is
speaking and expressive, and if genuine, one of the
few specimens of Titian's art which remain in Franche
* Vienna gallery, first floor,
room 2, Italian schools, No. 46.
This picture is 3 ft. 7^ in. h. by
3 ft. 1 in., and painted on very
fine canvas, to which a strip has
been ackled at the top. The flesh
generally is tlayed and disco-
loured, and has lost its glazings
and other delicacies of finish. It
was re-touched in the forehead,
in four fingers of the right hand,
the fur, and the hut. The bark-
ground is a -warm grey-toned
wall. This is one of the canvases
which only came to Vienna in
the eighteenth century; but its
history after reaching Spain is
unknown. Eubens copied it to-
gether with that of the Laudgravo
Philip, during his stay at Madrid
(Saiasbury Papers, u. s., p. 237.
Compare also Vasari, xiii. p. 38).
That the portraits were painted
in 1548, rather than in 1550,
seems confirmed by the entry in
the inventory of Mary of Ilun-
gary's pictures (w. s.), " Otro ri-
tratto del dicho Duque do Sajonia
cuando estaba preso, hecho por
Ticiano." There is a copy by
Teniers of the Vienna portrait
now preserved at Blenheim. It
is engraved in the Touiors Gall,
by L. Vorstcrmann. A fine pho-
tograph by Miothke and AVawra.
184
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
Comte.* In earlier days this province was greatly
lionoured by the presence of the Chancellor and the
Cardinal, Both were pleased to favour the city in
which their ancestors had risen from obscurity. In
1534 Nicholas commenced a palace at Besan^on, which
he finished in 1.540, and in the course of years this
mansion was filled by his care and the taste of the
Cardinal with treasures of painting and sculpture.
Here were several masterpieces by the greatest artists
of the revival; a "Joconde" of Leonardo da Vinci,
two "Madonnas" and a "St. Catherine" by Cor-
reggio, besides a "Jupiter and Antiope" and the
" Venus and Mercury " of the National Gallery.
Here were a " Venus " by Paris Bordone, the
" Martyrs " of Albert Diirer, a present from the
captive John Frederick of Saxony now at Vienna,t
and numerous canvases by Titian, to which we shall
presently revert.|
At the death of Nicholas Granvelle the palace and
collection went by tail male to the Cardinal, and
would have passed to his brother Thomas, but that he
died in 1575. In 1586 the Cardinal made a will
disinheriting his nephew Francois the son of Thomas
* The canvas in the Museum of
BesaE9on represents the Chan-
cellor seen to the hips, large as
life, and his head turned three-
quarters to the left. It is said to
be the picture noted in the Gran-
velle inventory of 1607 (printed
in full in A. Castan's Monographie
du Palais Granvelle a Besangon,
8vo, Besan9on, 1867, p. 56), which
registers two likenesses of Ni-
cholas Granvelle, one 4 ft. by
3 ft. 3 in., the other 3 ft. 6^ in.
by 2 ft. 4 in., both by Titian.
t Scheurl, in C. Schuchardt's
Lucas Cranach, 8vo, Leipzig,
1851, p. 193.
X Ibid., and D. Levesque's
Mem. pour servir a I'llistoire du
Cardinal de Granvelle, fol., Paris,
1754.
Chap. Y.] THE GEAXVELLE COLLECTION.
185
Count of Cautecroix, because of his attempt to palm
off a copy of Diirer's " Martyrs " on the Emperor
Rudolf the Second. Instead of cutting off his nephew
with a shilling, Anthony left him his portrait by
Titian, and Cantecroix, to show his contempt, placed
the picture in a dishonourable part of his house, " afin,
disait-il, de lui faire tons les jours la grimace."* The
consequence was the loss of a valuable heirloom,
without an equivalent in money, in IGOO Cantecroix
parted with several of the Granvelle pictures to
Eudolf the Second, and amonor.st them with the
"Venus on a Couch, and an Organist," and "The
Sleeping Venus with a Satyr " by Titian,! leaving tlie
portrait of Nicole Bonvalot, wife of the Chancellor,
tliat of the Chancellor liimself in two examples,
" Cupid holding a Mirror to Venus," " A Golden
Kain," "xV Lady putting on her Smock," "A Lady
seated," "A Colossal Head," and "A Child," all by
Titian, to be sold or disposed of by his heirs. ;[ It is
hardly necessary to point out that the " Venus with
the Organist" may be identified as the "Venus of
Madrid." The "Venus and Satyr" may have been
the fifst form of the " Jupiter and Antiope," so long-
called the " Venus of Pardo " at the Louvre ; and we
might thus conclude that if Titian took these works to
Augsburg in 1547, they were sold to the all-powerful
Chancellor, for whom the master likewise painted two
• L'Evesque, ;'. s., i. p. 190.
t Beitriige 7,ur Gcschichte der
Kunstbestvebiingcn nnd Samm-
lungoa Kaiser Eudolfs II., vou
Ludwig Uhrliclis, in Zeitschrift
flir bildonde Kunst, n. s., vol. v.,
pp. l."J(5, and following.
X Castan u. s.
ISO
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
portraits of himself, a portrait of liis wife, and one of
Anthony as Bishop of Arras.
Christopher Madruzzi, to whom Titian, as we saw,
was introduced l)y Count deUa Torre, was but thirty-
five years old when Charles the Fifth sent him to
challenge the Pope to translate the council of Bologna.
There was a certain fitness in the despatch to Rome
on such an errand of a man who was not only an
ecclesiastical dignitary of the first rank but prince-
bishop of Trent. Titian's likeness of this churchman
is still preserved at Trent in the house of the Sal-
vadori, the last descendants by collateral lines of a
most potent family. The prelate stood to the master
in the black robes and hat of a prince-bishop, disdain-
ing as it were the cardinal's dress. He walks like a
minister busy with the cares of state over a red
carpet, a ministerial paper in his left hand, his right
raising the red curtain which partly conceals a study-
table covered with a green cloth, and laden with a
clock and letters. Though injured, this fine full-length
is painted quickly and with a masterly hand. As if
the sitter had but little time to spare, the lines of his
form are swept on to the canvas with rapid strokes,
and modelled with broad touches without much
thought of delicate transitions or glazed tonings.'""
* Christoforo Madruzzi was
born in 1512. His direct lino
expired in 1658, when the agnates
Barons of Eoccabruna inherited
the family dignities and heir-
looms. From these the property
came in 1837 to the Barons Isidore
and Valentino Salvadori of Trent,
who now own the portrait. The
figure of Cardinal Madruzzi is a
fuU length of life size, on canvas.
Injured by time and restoring,
especially in the flesh parts, it is
still fine, though deprived of the
--^•""•:^'*^'"~-^'V ■"'■^«- <■--— "''^^ ■■"
PROMETHEUS.
From a Piunt by Cort.
\Toface-p. 187, Vol. II.
Chap. Y.] PORTRAIT OF KING FERDIXAXD.
181
In the intervals that were not taken up with this
form of pictorial labour Titian varied his leisure, even
at Augsburg-, with the composition of subjects, and he
produced for Queen Mary of Hungary " Prometheus,"
'' Sisyphus," '-'Ixion," and "Tantalus," which Calvete
d'Estrella saw in 1.349 at Biuche, before they were
.sent to Spain to perish by fire at the Palace of Pardo.
Two copies, by Sanchez Coello, the " Prometheus " and
" Sisyphus," in the Madrid ^luseum, alone survive to
tell of Titian's industry.*
Though Titian's portrait of King Ferdinand perished
in Spain, there is reason to think that the original sketch
may have l)een preserved.| Amongst the Barbarigo
hrii< of Titian's touch and tone,
and opaiino in most of its sur-
faces. This portrait was known
to Va.sari (xiii. p. 3 !)•
• " rroinuthcus," No. 466,
" Sisyphus," No. 46 J, in the
Madrid Museum, are still as-
cribed, though not without hesi-
tation, to Titian. When !N[ary of
Hungary came over to Spain from
the Netherlands in 1556, she is
recorded to have taken with her
two at least of these canvases,
the existence of which was known
to Vasari (xiii. 38-39), and Lo-
mazzo (Trattato, u.s., 676). The
"Tantalus" and " Ixion " (In-
ventory of 1558 — Simancas —
printed in Revue Universello des
Arts, «..s., iii. pp. 140 — 141), are
described as "viojos e gastados
quo estaban en la Casa de Vinz,"
These, and the "Sisyphus" and
"Prometheus" of the Madrid
Museum were hung, according
to Carducci, in the Alcazar of
Madrid, the latter being already
known as copies by S. Coello.
(See ^[adrazo's Catalogue of the
Madrid Museum.) Since then
the "Tantalus" and "Ixion"
peiished. The two remaining
canvases are fine copies, and
nothing more. Prometheus hangs
downwards, his feet being chained
to the trunk of a tree, his arms
being thrown abroad wildly as
the bird pecks at the breast ; a
snake crawls on the right hand
foreground. Sisyphus bends under
the weight of a rock on his shoul-
ders. Both canvases, but " Si-
syphus" more than "Prome-
theus," are greatly injured. The
" Prometheus" was engraved by
Cort in 1506, by M. Rota in 1570.
" Sisyphus rolling a large stone "
was one of the Titians in the
Buckingham Collection, 4 f . 6 h.
bj^ 3, in the seventeenth century.
(Bathoe, «. s., p. 2).
+ Amongst the "copies from
188 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Cuap. Y.
heii'looms, of wliicli we remember some transferred
to the collection of Count Ginstiniani Barbarigo, at
Padua, we note one under the name of Morone,
representing Ferdinand, with short cropped chestnut
hair and pointed beard, seated in an arm-chair.
Through an opening to the left, a distance of sky and
trees is seen ; behind the chair, a brow^n hanging.
The king wears the obligate pelisse of black silk, with
a broad fur collar, and round his neck the chain and
Order of the Golden Fleece. His hands rest on the
arms of the chair, and the thick underlij) of the Bur-
gundian Dukes, noted by historians as a prominent
feature in the monarch's face, is very clearly displayed.
The canvas, unfortunately, was so heavily repainted
that Titian's original touches have been lost, but there
is something Titianesque in the look of the piece,
which is foreign to jMorone, and it may be that here
again modern daubing covers the handiwork of a great
master.
Titian painted not only Ferdinand, his two sons
and five daughters, but on liis way from Augsburg to
Venice, in October, 1548, he called at the royal
palace of Innspruck, and made a family picture of the
King's children. A letter which he wrote after he
sketched in this canvas has been preserved, and proves
that he put Ferdinand nnder contribution much in
the same way as Charles the Fifth. Just as he asked
Titian" in the Museum of Madrid,
is a portrait of Ferdinand in
armour, with his right hand on a
helmet lying on a table, and his
left on the hilt of his sword ; a
half-length of life size. That and
an engraving by P. de J ode, is
all that remains to tell of Titian's
labours in this case.
Chap, v.] CHILDREN OF KING FERDINAND. 189
the Emperor in early days to give him a privilege to
import corn from Naples, he now asked Ferdinand to
allow him to cut timber in the Tyrolese forests, and it
is curious to find that the letter written to press this
request was translated into German in the King's
Chancery ; thus proving that, however much his-
torians may Loast, Ferdinand was not so familiar with
the Italian language as to read it currently.
TITLVN TO laXG FERDINAND.
" Most Serene and Powerful King, most
Clement LoitD,
"Though your ^lajcsty, of your Royal
bounty, did me the grace to remit in my favour one
hundred ... of the duty on the timber which I am
authorised for the next three years to carry, yet, most
gracious Lord, I find, whilst soliciting here the expedi-
ting of this matter, that the councillors of the chamber
(kammerrathc) raise difficulties as to the liberty to cut
trees in the forest of Horbolt (?), on the ground that
your Majesty's order makes no mention of cutting, and
that the wood of this forest is reserved for the use of
the mines. This has annoyed me the more, as I did
not fancy tliat the said councillors would resist your
Majesty's order, as I am not a man to make mer-
chandize of the timber, but use the wood for myself
and my buildings, and I have served and now serve
your Majesty with all the diligence and fidelity which
can be expected of a faithful servant, of all which
these gentlemen can — if they choose — give testimony.
Therefore I beg your Majesty to order that I shall not
190 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. Y.
be impeded in the felling of timber in the said forest,
the more as other persons, in the year last past, have
felled timber there, as I can fully prove, and there are
no mines within twenty German miles or more.
Doing me this favour your Majesty will find me not
ungrateful, as I shall try to acknowledge by all the
means in my power.
"The portraits of the serene daughters of your
Majesty will be done in two days, and I shall take
them to Venice, whence — having finished them with
all diligence — I shall send them quickly to your
Majesty. As soon as your Majesty has seen them, I
am convinced I shall receive much greater favours
than those which have been previously done me, and
so I recommend myself humbly to your Majesty.
" Your Majesty's faithful servant,
"TlTIAXO."'
''From Innspruck, 20f7t Oct. 1548."
The king's daughters at lunspruck when Titian
WTote this letter were Barbara, nine years old, Helena,
aged five, and Johanna, a baby in long clothes, whose
birth cost its mother her life in January, 1547. If we
judge from the portraits which hang in the collection
of Lord Co^vper at Panshanger, Titian's share in them
was slight indeed. It seems clear from numerous
signs that the preparatory work at Innspruck was
done by Cesare Vecelli, whose pastose handling is
discernible by its emptiness and uniformity ; and that
See the original in Appendix.
Chap, v.] TITIAN'S RETURN TO VENICE.
191
the master himself added but a very little to the
heads when he took the canvas to Venice. The baby
in a cot with the royal arms, lies on a green carpet in
front of its two sisters, who sit on a red cushion
behind. Barbara to the right in white-silk damask,
Helena at her side to the left, holding a bird in her
hand. Time and restorers have not quite removed
the spirited touches of Titian in the hands and faces,
but all the rest is devoid of the firmness and power
characteristic of the master's own treatment."'
Titian's friends awaited his return to Venice in
October with impatience, proud of his familiar inter-
course with tlio Emperor, rejoicing " that he should
come home rich as a prince instead of poor as a
painter. "t For a few weeks of November and
December Aretino's palace was enlivened with the
converse and feasting of the full academy, when
doubtless Titian quaintly described to his friends the
details of his life abroad.;}: But the restless old
artist was after all not to be detained by feasting
and company any more than by hard weather from
attending to his worldly interests. At Augsburg,
toward the close of his stay, he had seen the Duke
of Alva and Cardinal ]\Iadruzzi start to fetch the
• This canvas, -with figiiros as
large as life, has boen retouched,
particularly in the loft hand of
the baby, and the deep green
coverlet of the cot. On the back
of the canvas is an extract from
the letter, the whole of which is
given in the text.
t Aretino to Titian, Venice,
May, lo-iH, in Lettere di M. P.
A., iv. p. 232; and the same to
Corezaro, Venice, Oct. 1.348, in
Lett., V. p. 40.
X Aretino in Lettere, v. 72, 78,
81.
192
TITIAX: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
Emperor's son from Spain. Philip had made his way
in state from Yalladolid to Barcelona, and from Bar-
celona to Genoa, and thence to Milan. His progress
was called by the courtiers the "felicissimo viage."
The purpose was the prince's introduction to the
potentates of Italy and Germany, and his presentation
to the states of the Netherlands. Titian set out in
December to meet him, confident that the payment of
his pension, which his son Orazio was vainly urging
at the time with the Governor and Senate of Milan,
would be made the sooner if his claims were su^Dported
by Alva and the Cardinal of Trent. A portrait of
Alva, which he then painted, suggested to Arctino one
of his most flattering sonnets, whilst a likeness ol
Giuliano Gosellini, Gonzaga's secretary, proved a
mere loss of time in so far as the person whom it was
to influence remained proof against such persuasion.*
Early in 1549 Titian resumed the ordinary routine of
his existence at Venice, where repeated allusions in
Aretino's letters reveal the popularity of his presence
amongst a host of admirers, f In July he stood god-
father, with Aretino, Sansovino, Marcantonio Cornaro,
and other patricians, to Francesco del Monte, a near
relative to Maria del Monte of Arezzo, who was soon
to exchange the Cardinal's hat for the tiara, and give
Aretino hopes of ecclesiastical preferment.! Of his
professional labours we have unhappily but dubious
* Aretino to Alva, Lettere, v.
81, 105. Both portraits are lost.
See also Titian to Gosellini, Augs-
burg, Feb. 10, 1551, in Eonchini,
Eelazioni, u. s., p. 13.
t Aretino, Lettere, v. 98, 101,
124.
X Abbate Lancelotti's Memorie
di Eaniero del Monte, in Ci-
cogna'slsc. Yen., u. s., iv. p. 644.
CiiAP. v.] TITLIN A^T) FEREAXTE GOXZAGA. 193
account; and it is a mere conjecture to say that he
sent to Cardinal Farnese, in fullihneut of an earlier
promise, a copy of "Charles the Fifth riding at Mlihl-
])erg," which long adorned the palace of Parma.*
About the same time he despatched to Ferrante
Gonzaga another likeness of Charles, which — he vainly
hoped — wouhl procure for him the payment of the
pension so long delayed on the Treasury of Milan.
TITLiN TO FEERAXTE GOXZAGA AT MILAN.
" I send to your Excellency by tlie bearer
ul" tliis letter the portrait of the Emperor, fullilling
my promise to demonstrate by such means as I have
in my power my gratitude for the courteous and
friendly way in whicli your Excellency proffered
through Sr. Francesco Cortese to obtain the payment
of my pension on presentment of the authentic docu-
ments. I am the more thankful and oblicjed for this
kindness as nothing could be more opportune than
the receipt of these monies, because, having a mar-
riageable daughter, I ventured to betroth her on the
faith of your Excellency's performance. This too I
was desirous of saying to show what good and chari-
table work your Excellency's promise will have
caused. The privileges will be presented with a
power from me by Messer Jacomo Fagnann, and I beg
that your Excellency will kindly give effect to the
good and courteous wishes expressed on my behalf.
* It is registered in tboParmese | recorded with praise by Anneniiii
inventory of 16h0, in Campori, (p. 115) and Scanclli (p. 222), bnt
Race, di Catalogbi, p. 243, and I has since been lost.
vol,. II. o
194
TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
[CiiAr. Y.
and favour my agent in this respect. It remains for
me to kiss most reverently your invincible and
honoured hand, and request that you will deign to
command me, as I shall deem it a favour to serve
your Excellency in Milan or Venice, or anj^vhere else
that your Excellency pleases.
" Your Excellency's most devoted
" and obliged Servant,
"TiTiANO Vecellio, Pittorc.^' '
" From Y^yiCB, Sept. 8, 1549."
Autumn and winter passed away, and the "honoured
and invincible hand " of the Governor of Milan was
never stirred in the painter's behalf Nor was it
without further pressure — we may think — that he
was induced, in February 1550, to send Titian's
papers down to the Senate of Milan asking that the
statute of limitations should not apply to his claims.t
Of the portrait, the present of which had been so
poorly rewarded, no certain record exists. We know
of one likeness, a half length, in the Naples Museum,
which might be that sent to Ferrante Gonzaga. It
represents Charles the Fifth in a black cap and dress,
his face and form turned three quarters to the left, the
collar of the Golden Fleece round his neck, a letter
in his right hand. The right eye and forehead, a l^it
of the upper lip and hand, are the parts which seem
free from retouching ; but the fragments scarcely
allow of a more decided opinion than that the canvas
* The original is in Eonckini's
Eelazioni, u. s., p. 11.
t See Gonzaga to the Senate of
Milan, in Appendix.
Chap. T.] "SUBMEESION OF PHAILiOn."
195
originally came from the easel of an artist who painted
in Titian's manner, whilst the age of the Kaiser is
that of the time when he came to ^'isit Pope Clement
at Bologna.'"'
If remarkable for nothing more, the year 1549
deserves to be noted in the chronology of Titian as
marking tlie publication of his celebrated print of the
"Submersion of Pharaoh," a large and important
piece, in whicli the master's design was engraved by
one of his Spanish pupils, Domenico delle Greche.+
At Biri Grande during the frequent absences of
Titian, alternations of pain and pleasure such as we
expect to find in every family in whicli there are
children contributed to sunshine or gloom according
as they came. Cornelio Sarcinelli, a respectable youth
of Serravalle, had courted and won Lavinia, and ob-
tained her father's consent to their marriao;e. The
only drawback was the obduracy of the ]\Iilan Trea-
sury, which delayed the settlement of the dowry,
wliilst Titian's earnings, which mii^ht have sufficed to
furnish a portion for the daughter, were unhappily
drawn upon by the eldest son, who not only spent his
father's patrimony and got into debt beside, but
• Naples Mus., No. 45, canvas,
half-length, of lifc-sizo, without
any history at present.
t This print is rare, but espe-
cially so with the margin con-
taining the following: "La crudel
pcrsccutione del ostinato re contro
il ])opolo tun to da lui aniato con
la Sommorsione di osso Pharaone
goloso del inoconto sangue. Di-
segnata per mano dil crande et
immortal Titian.
" In Venetia p domeneco dcllo
grecho depentoro Venetian,
MDXLIX."
Cicogna, in his MS. Annotations
to Morelli's Anonimo, notes a
complete copj' in possession ( 1 SGO)
of Abate Cadoiiu.
o 2
196
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V'
lauohed at the admonitious of his sire and of Aretino.'"'
In his letters to Titian on this subject, Aretino begged
the painter to remember the days of his own youth,
and temper severity with indulgence. But writing to
Pomponio he upbraided him sternly with spending in
pleasure the fruits of his father's labours, journeys
and savings.^' Nor was this the only misfortune
which weighed on the painter. In March he lost his
sister Orsa, who for years had been the companion and
guardian of his children and the keeper of his house-
hold ; and the cares of a matron devolved on Lavinia
before she entered into the married state.t
Meanwhile, important changes had occurred at
Rome. On the 10th of November, 1549, Paul the
Third died, and a protracted struggle between the
partisans of France and Spain ended in the elevation
of Cardinal del Monte to the papacy. For a time
Aretino, who flattered himself that Julius the Third
would give him a hat, and who knew that del Monte
had been Paul's right-hand man at Trent, inclined to
the party of France. He wrote letters to Henry the
Second and his queen, heaped flatteries on Bonnivet
the French agent at Venice, and even induced Titian
to begin a portrait of . that captain in armour which
promised to be one of his finest works. J But the
current, instead of setting in the direction of France,
had really changed in favour of Spain ; and as it did
so the Emperor sent for Titian to Augsburg, who
started to cross the Alps, leaving his friend to excuse
* Lettere, v. 310, 313-14.
t Ibid. V. pp. 243-244.
X Aretino to Bonnivet, Yen.,
Nov. 1550, in Lett. vi. 31^.
CH.-yp. v.] TITIAX AGAIN VISITS AUGSBUEG. 197
liim as best lie could with the French envoy. Seeing
his opportunity, Aretino naturally dropped off from the
French side, and wrote letters to the Emperor urging
his claim to preferment in the Church and begging for
Charles' support. Titian, who had put together such of
his canvases as were finished, took charge of Aretino's
missive and rode with liis load to Augsburg.
Paul the Third had liad tlie wisdom to dissolve the
council of Bologna, but liad doggedly refused to
sanction its meetiiifr elsewhere. Julius the Third
yielded on tliis important point to the will of the
Emperor, and Charles called a diet on the 2Gth of July
at AufTsburix to revive the Council of Trent. Other
plans were in his mind at the same time. ^lary
of lluugary shared his belief that the welfare of the
royal and imperial house required that the succession
of the Empire should fall on Phili|> of Spain rather
than on Maximilian of Austria. IMidip accompanied
his father to Augsburg as heir presumptive, whilst
Maximilian was kept at a distance in Spain. But it
was soon found necessary to bring all the members of
the family together, and as Titian came to Augsburg
in the first days of November, the Emperor and Philip,
the king and Maximilian, and all the appendages of
both courts, were together in the imperial city.
On the 4th of November, Titian wrote by ^neas
Vico the engraver to Aretino to announce his safe
arrival at court.'" On the 11th he wrote ao-ain to
describe his reception by the Emperor.
• Aretino to Titian, Venice, Nov. 1550, in Lettorc, vi. -"52'.
lf)8 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
TITIAN TO AEETINO AT VENICE.
"SiGNOR PlETRO, HONOURED GoSSIP,
" I wrote by Messer ^neas that I kept your
letters near my lieart till occasion should offer to
deliver them to his Majesty. The day after the
Parmesan's (iEueas) departure his Majesty sent for
me. After the usual courtesies and examination of
the pictures whicli I had brouglit, he asked for news
of you and whether I had letters from you to deliver.
To the last question I answered affirmatively, and then
presented the letter you gave me. Having read it,
the Emperor repeated its contents so as to be heard
by his Highness his son, the Duke of Alva, Don
Luigi Davila, and the rest of the gentlemen of
the chamber, and as there was mention of me he
asked what it was that was required of him. I replied
that at Venice, in Kon:e, and in all Italy the public
assumed that his Holiness was well minded to make
you . . . [Cardinal], upon which Caesar showed signs
of pleasure in his face, saying he would greatly rejoice
at such an event, which could not fail to please you,
and so, dear brother, I have done for you such service
as I owe to a friend of your standing, and if I should
be able otherwise to assist you I beg you will
command me in every respect. Not a day passes
but the Duke of Alva speaks to me of the 'divine
Aretino,' because he loves you much, and he says he
will favour your interest with his Majesty. I told
him tha*^, you would spend the world, that what you
got you shared with everybody, and that you gave to
OiiAP. v.] EOYAL COMPANY AT AUGSBURG. 199
the poor even to the clothes on your back, which is
true as every one knows. I gave your letter too to
the bishop of Arras, and you shall shortly have an
answer. Sir Philip Hoby left yesterday for England
by land ; he salutes you and says he will not be
content till he does you a pleasure himself in
addition to the good offices which he promises to do
for your benefit with his sovereign. Rejoice therefore
as you well may l^y the grace of God, and keep me
ill good recollection, saluting for me Signor Jacopo
Sansovino and kissing the hand of Anichino.
" Your friend and gossip,
" TiZIANO.*
" From Augsburg, Nov. 11, 1.3o0.'"
Titian found with few exceptions the same com-
pany at Augsburg in 1550 as in 1548. The Emperor,
the King, and Ijoth their famiUes, ]\lary of Hungaiy,
the Electors, John Frederick of Saxony, Chancellor
Granvelle and his son, Alva and the usual accompani-
ment of courtiers and envoys, were all residing
together. But there was little of the confidence and
elation in the chiefs of the court party which marked
the earlier period. Charles the Fifth was more sickly
and more gloomy than ever. Meditating retirement
from the world, and hoping to compass the transfer
of his dignity to his son, he doubtless felt that there
was some cause for the anger of his brother, and the
choler of his nephew Maximilian, who chafed at the
• Tho original is in Lettere a P. Aretino, u. a., i. p. 147.
200 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
prospect of losing the dignities to which thej thought
themselves entitled. It was no doubt in the gloomy
humour of those days that he consulted with Titian
as to the composition of a picture in which the
religious struggle of the time and his own longing
for rest should be embodied. Titian at his request
proposed to represent the radiant realm of heaven
presided by the three Persons of the Trinity, escorted
by the patriarchs, prophets, and Evangelists, and the
Virgin Mary interceding with her son for the sins of
the royal family, which should kneel in the clouds
attended by angels. Foremost in the group, Charles
himself was to appear as a penitent, accompanied by
•his Empress, Philip, and Mary of Hungary. There
must have been long and frequent conferences
between the Emperor and the artist on this and
cognate subjects, when Titian heard his patron con-
fess that it was his wish to get the picture finished
that he might take it to the distant convent where
he proposed to retire to end his days.* The world
observed with surprise the confidential intercourse of
the monarch with Titian. Far away into the centre
of Germany the fame of the master as a welcome
guest of Charles was spread, and Melancthon from his
distant study at AVittenberg, wrote to Camerarius,
" Our Genoese has been here and tells me that the
Pope is gathering troops to recover Parma. Titian
the painter is at Augsburg, whither the Emperor has
called him, and he has constant access to his Majesty,
* Vasari, xii. p. 38; Charles to Vargas, May 31, 1553, in Ap-
pendix.
CnAr. Y.
CRANACH AND CHAELES Y.
201
whose health is on the whole but middliiio-." * Doubt-
less there were agents enough who reported the
doings of Charles to the Eeformers, and the more
because a little court of Protestants had been formed
with the Emperor's leave round the person of the
captive Elector of Saxony, and here amongst others
resided Lucas Cranach, who had gone from AVitten-
berg to share the privations of his lord and master,
and who was quite capable of giving his co-religionists
all the news they wanted.
But Cranach was not a political newsmonger. He
was one of the first artists to whom Charles the Fifth
had ever sat, and one of the few Protestants whom he
had treated well after the battle of Miililberg. AMien
encamped before Wittenberg after the capture of the
Elector, he recollected Cranach's name, and ordered
him to appear. " John Frederick, your prince," he said,
" gave me one of your pictures when I was with him at
Speyer. You once painted a likeness of me as a boy
which I still keep in my rooms at Malines, and I want
you to tell me what I was hke in those days." " Your
Majesty," answered Cranach, "was eight years old when
the Emperor Maximilian took you by the hand and
received the homafjc of the Belgian States. There
was a teacher with you, who seeing your restlessness
told me that iron or steel would attract your particular
attention. I asked him to place a spear against a
• This letter, without date, biit
probably of January, Io.'jO, is in
Voogelin's " Liber continens con-
tinua sorio opistolas Philippi Afe-
lancthonis scriptis annis xxxvili
ad Joach. Camerar. Pabep. (Bam-
berg) . . . curante . . . Ernesto
Yocgelino, 8vo, Lipsitc, mdlxix,
pp. G14— 615."
202
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. Y.
wall SO that tlie point should be turned towards you,
and your Majesty's eye remained fixed on that point
till I had done the picture." The Emperor was
pleased at this story, and promised to be gracious to
Cranach, whereat the painter fell on his knees and
in earnest words pleaded the cause of his prince, for
whom he bespoke the mercy of the Kaiser. " I don't
attach much importance," said Charles, " to the captive
Elector, if I could but catch the Landgrave of Hesse. "
He then dismissed Cranach with a present."'"
Two years after this interview, the Elector, who
followed the Emperor about like a muzzled bear,
asked Cranach to meet him in summer at Augsburg,
and, punctual to a day, the old artist arrived on the
23rd of July, and took up his residence in the house
assigned to his master, f Here Titian found him five
months later the favoured servant of John Frederick,
who after reading his Bible for an hour in the morn-
ing, sent for Cranach to paint for him in the fore-
noon. J In the lists of the marshal of the court,
Cranach's place was marked for dinner at the first
table, whilst his apprentices served the meals at the
lower ones, of which they received the remnants. §
In February the Elector was escorted by order of
Charles to Innspruck, whither Cranach followed him,
* See Matthseus Gunderam's
contemporary report in Schu-
chardt's Cranach, u. s., i. 186, and
Eanke's Deutsche Geschichte,
n. s., vol. iv. p. 523.
t See Cranach's order of ap-
pointment, dated Weimar, Oct. 8,
1551, in Schuchardt, u. s., i. p.
195 ; and the Elector's letter to
Biuck, in ib. iii. 81.
J Forster of Arnstadt, in
Schuchardt, i. p. 199.
§ Ibid. i. p. 204.
Chap. V.]
TITIAN SITS TO CE.iNACH.
203
liaving earned the name of pictor celer by finishing
thirty pictures in seven months.*
Titian in early hfe had had the chance of studying
tlie works and admiring the person of Albert Diirer, at
the period when German art stood at tlie point of full
development. At tlie blooming time of Venetian
painting he marked the withering of the German
plant in the person of Cranach. Yet he would natu-
rally be too courteous to show any want of respect to
one who with all liis faults was imlnicd with a genuine
love of his craft, lie visited Cranach and gave him
sittings, and nmongst the portraits which the captive
Elector took home was the " Cunterfet of Thucia, the
painter of Venice," by Lucas, the painter of Witten-
berg.| It would liave been hard to find two men
more in contrast tlian these. Titian, a master of touch
and colour and eiiect, reproduced on canvas the sub-
stance as much as the semblance of his sitter, idealiz-
ing the features, catching with quick insight the
character, the type, and expression, and ennobling
them all in a grand and dignified way. Cranach,
quick and clever after another fashion, but without
poetry or grace in his conception of form, and without
tlie searching power which made Diirer great, reduced
his models to an uniform level of commonplace. Both
artists in their respective countries were representa-
tive men. But if we compare a likeness by Cranach
with one by Titian we measure a wide and impassable
• Schuchardt gives Cranach's
own account for these pieces (i.
pp. 206-8).
t Cranach's account, n. s.
204 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
gulf which parts the art of Italy from that of the
countries beyond the Alps.
But the principal object for which Titian was called
to Augsburg was not to sit to Cranach, nor to portray
afresh the Kaiser, or the princes and nobles around
him. The whole bent of Charles' policy and wishes
was to promote his son ; to this end every considera-
tion was made subordinate, and every detail was
calculated. As Charles of old had had to put away
the gossiping and friendly manner of a Fleming to
take upon himself the starched and haughty air of a
Spaniard, so Philip now had to divest himself of the
stiffness of a Castilian and — not without reluctance
we may think — to assume the friendly Biederheit of a
German. He rode German horses, danced German
dances, and tried his head and stomach at German
drinking parties. But the days w^ere past when his 1
ancestor Philip of Burgundy drank an abbot under
the table. Philip of Spain was no more capable
constitutionally to bear the coarse but copious fare of
the north than he was able physically to unbend and
ape a jovial manner. He w^as not strong, nor fond of
martial exercise. His chest was narrow and his le"S
were spare, and his feet were large and curiously
ungainly. His eyes lay under lids like rolls of flesh
and full of bilious humour, as if the gall which gave its
olive tone to his complexion was anxious to gush and
show itself. His projecting under-jaw was poorly
concealed by a downy chestnut beard, which by its
paucity gave but more importance to a pair of tliick
and fleshy lips, the chief characteristic of wdiicli was
Chap. Y.]
PHILIP'S POETEAITS.
205
redness. Add to this an oily smootliness of complexion,
and short chestnut hair, and we have the face of the
prince whose form won the heart of Mnvy Tudor ;
whose sensualism was only equalled by his disregard
for all that was good and kind in human nature ;
whose fanaticism sent hundreds of the noblest victims
to the stake or the block ; whose policy dictated the
Armada and lost the Netherlands to Spain. It Avas
for the purpose of making a likeness of this prince,
who was then twenty-four years old, that Titian was
called to Auo;sbur!j. He had not been more than a
month at court wlicn he finished the })reliminary
canvas. In the following Februaiy he prol)ably com-
pleted the large full-length which hangs in the
Museum of ^Madrid, and in the course of a few suc-
cessive years he sent forth the long series of copies,
the best of which adorns the gallery of Naples. '''
That we should enjoy in the case of Philip of Spain
both the orighial sketch for which he sat, and the
parade portrait for which he did not sit, is an ad-
vantage seldom vouelisafed to admirers of Titian.
It is clear that the master's method of preparing
pictures intended to be finished was different from
that which he practised in throwing off work at one
painting. In the first case a known process or a series
of processes was systematically carried out, so as to
produce substance, impast and tone. In the second
• Eccords of Dec. 1550, and
Feb. 1551, in Appendix, prove
that Titian was employed for
Philip of Spain immediately on
his anivul at Augsburg. We
may assume that the payments
made to the painter in February
are for the finished portrait now
at Madrid.
n
206 TITIAN: HIS LIPE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
tlie sole aim of the artist was to determine form
and expression during the curt and rapidly fleeting-
moments conceded by a royal and — we may believe —
impatient sitter. The sketch for which Philip of
Spain sat to Titian is one of the Barbarigo heirlooms,
now in the house of Count Sebastian Giustiniani
Barbarigo at Padua. The Prince is sitting, large as
life, near an opening through which a landscape and
sky are seen, in front of a brown curtain damasked
with arabesques and white flowers. His face and
body are turned to the left, the axe of the eyeballs
facing the spectator. A doublet of black silk buttoned
up to the neck allows the frill of a shirt to be seen.
Over it lies a pelisse of white silk, witli a lining and
broad collar of dark fur, and sleeves swelling into
slashed puff's at the shoulders. The chain of the
Golden Fleece falls over the breast. Part of the head
shows its short chestnut hair cropping out from a
black berret cap sown with pearls. The hands are
roughly outlined with the white pigment which served
to colour the pelisse, so as to give the movement with-
out even an indication of the fingers. The left, on
the arm of a chair bound in dark cloth fastened with
red buttons, the right holding what seems to be a
baton or the rudiment of a sceptre. Looking care-
fully at this canvas, which has only been injured in
the least important parts, we discern that the face
was struck off" from the life rapidly, almost hurriedly,
as if the master was conscious that unless he lashed
himself into a fury of haste he would not catch quick
enough the shape, the action, the colour and the charac-
Chap. V.]
PIIILIFS POETILUTS.
207
teristic individualism, or the complexion and temper
of the Prince. Like a fijeneral in the thick of a fi^iht,
who sees through the smoke and hears amidst the din,
and curtly but decisively gives the orders which
secure a victory, Titian rouses himself to a momen-
tary concentration of faculties, instinctively but surely
gives the true run and accent of the lines, and then
subsides, sure of success, into rest. His whole power
was brought to bear on the head, of which he gave the
lineaments and modelling witli spare pigment on a
very thin smooth canvjis, the sallow flesh light merg-
ing into half tones of clear red, the darker shadows, as
of eye and nostril, laid on in Ijlack. ^^ ho does not
see the application of the old principle, famous for
having been enunciated by Titian: " Black, red, and
white, and all three well in hand ? " The sketch, it is
evident, is not such as the master would have shown
even to the Prince if he could help it, being as it were
his own private memorandum, his "j^ensee intime,"
meant for himself and no other, a thing that was
neither drawing nor painting, yet partaking of both,
and sufficient for the reproduction of either ; — a sur-
face without the charm of rich tint or broken modula-
tion, but masterly, as giving in a few strokes the
moral and physical aspect of his sitter.* _
Being now possessed of the sketch, Titian leisurely
• Tho canvas in the Giusti-
niani Collection at Padua is a
half length on canvas, m. 1.14 h.
by 0.95 ; on a strip at bottom are
the comparatively modern words :
"PHiLirvs Hisr.vx. kex." The
only parts really injured are the
background, which is dark, and
some of the accessories. This,
no doubt, is tho portrait of Philip
seen by Vasari, xiii. 37; and
Eidolfi, Marav. i. 262.
208
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V
used it as a groundwork to compose his sliow por-
traits of Philip, his first business being to represent i
the Prince as a captain in damasked steel, and then
to display his form in the dress of the court and draw-
ing-room.'"' In each of these replicas he changed
the attitude and costume whilst the head remained
the same. Of the first the Prince in armour at
Madrid is the earliest, and one to which an interesting
fragment of history is attached. Knowing the type
of Philip's face and the blemishes of his figure, we
should think it hard for a painter to realize a portrait
of him true to nature, yet of elevated conception and
regal mien. Titian overcomes the difficulty with ease.
The sallow ill-shaped face may haunt us and suggest
uneasy forebodings as to the spirit and temper of the
man, but gloom here is cleverly concealed in grave
intentness, and every line tells of the habitual distinc-
tion of a man of old blood and high station. The
head we saw is the same as in the sketch. It stands
out from the gorget relieved by a frill of white linen,
beneath which the handsome collar of the Golden
Fleece falls to the chest. A breastplate and hip pieces
richly inlaid with gold cover the frame and arms.
The fine embroidery of the sleeves and slashed hose,
the white silk tights and slashed white slippers, form a
rich and tasteful dress. The ringed left hand on the
hilt of the rapier, the right on the plumed morion
which lies on a console covered with a crimson velvet
cloth, the whole figure seen in front of a dark wall —
* See Mary of Hungary to
Kenard, Nov. 19, 1553, in Papiers
d'Etat de Granyelle, ii. s., iv. p=
150, and postea.
CuAr. v.] PHUJP'S POETRAIT. 209
all this makes up a splendid and attractive full length
standing on a carpet of a deep reddish brown.
When Charles the Fifth preferred the suit of Philip
to Mary Tudor in 1553, his sister Mary of Hungary
sent Titian's masterpiece at tli(.' Queen's request to
Renard the Spanish envoy in London, telling him
" that it was thought very like when executed three
years before, but had been injured in the carriage from
Augsburg to Brussels. Still, if seen in its proper
light and at a fitting distance, Titian's pictures not
Ijearing t(j Ije looked at too closely, it would enable
the Queen, by adding three years to the Prince's age, ,
to judge of his present appearance." Renard was '
fui'ther directed to present t]i(^ canvas to Her jMajesty
with instructions to have it returned when the living
original had been substituted for the lifeless semblance. ■■■
Had not Mary been previously flattered at the
prospect of matching herself to a prince so much her
junior, she might have been induced by the mere sight
of this piece to entertain the proposal of Charles the
Fifth. As it proved, her prepossession was betrayed
to her courtiers by admiration of the picture, of which
Strype reports that she was "greatly enamoured." t
After the marriage in 1554 this most important work
of art was faithfully returned to Mary of Hungary,
wlio took it to Spain in 155 G.J A school replies.
* Mary of Hungary to Eonard,
Nov. 19, 1553, u. 8.
t Strypo, Memorials, Lond.
1721, iii. p. 19t).
I This picture, to which a piece
has been added all round, is now
No. 454 iu the Madrid Museum,
on cauvas, and in size, m. 1*93 h.
by ril. There are patches of
ro-touching on the right hand
and thigh, and here and there a
flaw in other 2)art3. But it is a
VOL. H. F
210
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.a.p. V.
made by Orazio or Cesare Vecelli under Titian's
superintendence, is preserved at Chatswortli, of
which there was a poor example in the Northwick
Collection.""
In March 1553 Titian sent his second version of
the portrait to Philip,t and this version — it may be —
is that which now hangs in the Museum of Naples,
where the figure is altered so as to bring the right
hand to the waist, and show the left holding a glove,
whilst the frame is clad in a splendid doublet of white
silk shot with gold, the puffs of the sleeves being braced
with red bands and the short mantle lined with
dark fur.J Of this fine piece, which is hardly inferior
to that of Madrid, numerous repetitions or copies exist.
fine -work in the best style of this
the broad period of Titian's style.
We find it noted in the inventory
of Mary of Hungary (1558), ti. .s.,
Eevue Universelle des Arts, iii.
132. There is a fine photograph
of it by Laurent.
* This replica, of life size, on
canvas, besides being injured by
restoring, to which we should
attribute a certain dulness and
opacity in the colours, is hard
and raw in tone if compared with
genuine pictures of Titian, and
the contours are much more
marked than those of the master.
The only point in which the piece
differs from its original at Madrid
is, that the console to the left
leans against the plinth of a
pillar. Beneath the crimson cloth
which hangs from the console is
the foot of the same.
The copy in the Northwick
Collection seems to have been
made by a Spaniard.
t Titian to Philip, March 23,
1553, in Appendix.
J This fine canvas, No. 11 in
the Naples Museum, shows Philip
at full length, his right hand
playing with the tassel at his
belt. We are not told whence
the picture came. It is signed
on the wall to the right of the
Prince's feet:
' ' TITIAJTVS
EQVES C^S.
F."
The treatment is more conven-
tional here than at Madrid, but
the head is still like, and the
features are given with masterly
skill. We notice here and there
unpleasant signs of stippling, and
over all a dull and embrowned
varnish.
Chap. Y.]
PHILIP'S PORTPAIT.
211
one of tliem at BlcDlieim by some disciple of the
master, aiiother better still at the Pitti, whilst two or
three feebler imitations are shown at Castle Howard,
in the Collection of Lord Stanhope and in the Corsiui
Palace at Rome."
Distant memories of Titian's occupations at Angs-
burg are recalled by scattered notices in the papers of
Rubens' succession. During Rubens' stay at Madrid
he copied almost all Titian's portraits, and amongst
these we find " Philip the 11^ big as ye life, James
the secretarie of the sayd Kynge, and the Kynge's
dwarf."t That copy and original of these pictures
should l)e lost is much to be regretted. Chi the Gth
of February, lool, Titian received from the treasurer
of Philip of Spain -I'SO ducats,:}: at siglit of which he
was dinibtless reminded of pensions overdue at Naples
and at ^lilan, and sat down to write the following
epistle.
• Tho Blenheim copy is exactly
reproduced from that of Naples,
on canvas.
Tho Pitti replica, No. '200, on
canvas, is said to be that which,
according to Vasari, was sent to
tho Grand Duke Cosimo I. by
Titian (Yas. xiii. 38). It differs
from that of Naples in some de-
tails, the background being no
longer plain but a colonnade,
the gi-ound a meadow ; the right
hand, too, is over the handle of
a dagger. Engraved by Mogelli.
Tho copy at (^istlo Howard, a
half length, is much injured by
rcistoring.
Tho copy belonging to Lord
Stanhope (figure seen to the
knees) was exhibited at Man-
chester. It does not deserve
the encomiums of Dr. Waagen.
(Treasures, Supplement, p. 181.)
The half length in the Corsini
Palace at Eome shows Philip in
a black doublet, with his left
hand at the hilt of his rapier, the
right resting on a table covered
with a red cloth. This is a good
old copy or adaptation, and not
an original Titian.
t From Rubens' Inventory iu
Sainsburj', u. s., p. 238.
I See the payments in Ap-
pendix.
p 2
212 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. V.
TITIAN TO OIULIANO GOSELLINI AT MILAN.
" I am more tlum certain that the good grace of the
Most Eeverend Monsignore (Cardinal Gonzaga) and of
the Most Illustrious Don Ferrante, will not take effect
as I wish unless it be aided by the courtesy of
yourself, to whom I already owe so much. I therefore
beg that you will put me under still further obligation
by presenting the two inclosed letters to your Illus-
trious Lord and to the President Grasso, and not only
present but recommend their contents so as I shall get
my 'passion,' or if you like it better, my pension. I
may add that I should be content to have the money
\ in your hands or in those of my agent Donato
Fognana, provided it can be screwed out of the grasp
of the treasury. And this would facilitate business
greatly, as I have promised to his Illustrious Lordship,
to visit him in satisfaction of the earlier engagement
which I made before his Majesty called me to this
torrid zone where we are all dying of cold. When I
do come I shall repaint the head of your picture, or if
necessary begin the whole afresh, as I already promised
and arch-promise now. Signor Pola (a captain in
Don Ferrante' s service) has much facilitated this
business with his Lordship, so that President Grasso
will easily have the word of the same so as to be able
if he listens with a will to the Eeverend of Arras
(Granvelle) to obtain for me the payment of my due.
I beg of you as the Cavalier Leone Aretino is not
there to give me further proofs of the affection he
liears me, to take charge of this matter for me. The
Chap. Y.] TITI.VN'S PENSION.
said Cavalier Leoni now kisses your hand as I like-
wise do, being more than ever a favourite with the
said Monsii^nore d' Arras : and Avithout further words I
pray that God may adorn yuu with eternal glor}'.
"From Augsburg, Feb. 10, 1.5.31,
" Your Signore's Servant,
"TlTIANO.""
Shortly after this tlie court broke up from Augs-
l)urg, Philip leaving for Spain t(3 wards the close of
^lay, Charles the Fiftli proceeding to Iniir^pruck,
wliither we may presume he Avas followed by Titian.
Here, according to an obscure and uncertain tradition,
Titian [)ainted an allegorical composition, in which the
king and ;ill his family were introduced.t Parting ]
with the master to see him no more, Charles gave him
in his son's name, a Spanish pension of 500 scudi,
which, like other grants of the same kind, remained
unpaid.;}: In August Titian was busy at his usual
avocations in Venice. §
* From the original in Ron- 1 ful authority. See Mara\-iglie, i.
chini's Eolazioni, u.s., p. 12,
t Ridolfi accepts this picture
as a reality, because at Titian's
funeral it was proposed to repre-
sent Titian, on a large canvas,
working at it ; but this is donbt-
2-10 & 281.
J Titian to Charles the Fifth, \ \
Sept. 10, 1.554, in Appendix,
§ Aretino to Francesco Terzi,
Aug. 15 jl, in Lettere di M. P. A.
vi. p. 8'.
CHAPTEE YL
Alleged reception of Titian by the Doge in Council. — His suspension
from the Sanseria, and resumption of that Office. — Life at Venice.
— Portrait of Legate Beccadelli.— Pictures for the Prince of
Sixain ; " Queen of Persia," Landscape, and " St. Margaret." — Of
Titian's Landscapes in general. — Prints and Drawings. — " St.
Margaret " at Madrid. — Eumours of Titian's Death. — He reports
himself alive to the Emperor. — The " Grieving Virgin," the
"Trinity," and " Christ appearing to the Magdalen." — Portrait
of Doge Trevisani. — Vargas and Thomas Granvelle. — " Danae,"
for Philip of Spain, and Eejilicas of the same.— Titian and
Philiji. — The "Venus and Adonis." — Philip and Pomponio. —
"Virgin of Medole." — Portrait of Doge Venier. — Votive Picture
of Doge Trevisani and "The Fede." — Marriage of Lavinia. —
Titian sends to Philip the " Perseus and Andi'omeda." — Decoration
of the Library at Venice. — Paolo Veronese. — The "Baptist" of
Santa Maria Maggiore. — .Death of Aretino-^-Titian. Ferrante
Gonzaga and the Milan Pension. — " Entombment," sent to Philip
and lost.
Ax anecdote current at the close of the sixteenth
century tells how Titian, after his return from
Auo^sburo-, was taken before the Venetian Council, and
in presence of the Doge Francesco Yenier related his
experiences at the courts of Ferdinand and Charles
the Fifth. After concluding his narrative, the great
master is said to have proposed to complete the
decoration of the Council Hall. At Titian's funeral in
1576 it was suggested that this incident should l3e
made the subject of a picture, and the plan would
have been carried out but for the virulence of the
CiLVP. VL] LIFE AT YEXICE. 21-3
2:»lague which was then raging,""' The sober truth of
liistory refuses unhappily to be reconciled with an
anecdote which places Francesco Yenier on the Ducal
throne in 15.32. The privilege conceded to Venetian
envoys was one that would hardly have been granted
to an artist even of Titian's celebrity, and the story is
probably a fable. But tlicre was good reason why
Titian, if not in state, at least through ordinary
channels, should enter into communication with the
Signors. During his long and protracted absences the
government had very properly suspended him from
the Sanseria, and now that he was home again he
wishfxl tliat suspension to be witlidrawn. There is
trace of a petition to the Council of Ten in which the
painter prays to be restored to the use of his broker's
patent. A decree of October 29, 1552, orders him to
be re instated. t The pictures of the Council Hall were
completed in due course not Ijy Titian, but by his son
Orazio, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese.
For the latter half of 1551 and the first half of
1552, contemporary letter books contain much more
information than the catalogues of public or private
collections. Dirmers and suppers in which Titian and
his friends are guests, and delicacies in season,
copiously served on luxurious tables, are of frequent
occurrence, luit pictures of note or portraits of cele-
l)rit}' are much more scarce. One might fancy that a
period had arrived in Titian's life when pleasure alone
had attractions for him. Niccolo Massa, a well-known
* Eidolfi, Mar. i. 240, 281. t The record is inLoronzi, ii.s. p. 27G.
216
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI.
surgeon at Venice, once asked liim what his expe-
rience was of the variation in his capacity to work,
and Titian answered that he had often noticed this
variation, being eager one day to paint, unable the
next to do anything but idle. The cause he could
not explain, though some people assigned it to the
conjunction of certain planets. Massa's explanation
was, that the variations depended upon the inner heat
or coldness of the body."^ With Titian we may
believe moments of weariness and disinclination to
w^ork were short and rare, and when we find nothing
written as to his labours, we may almost be sure that
historians have simply neglected to notice the results
of his unconquerable love of hard work. Aretino, in a
letter of August, 1551, to Francesco Terzi, reminds his
correspondent that Titian has become possessed of a
lordly income by dint of exertion and toil ; but he
adds, " I would not exchange my ease for his wealth
on any consideration ."t Titian, it might be, was
laying in stock or composing the vast picture of the
" Trinity " which was to be delivered in 1555. We
dimly note for 1552 the completion of a portrait of
the legate Beccadelli, a " Queen of Persia," a land-
scape and a "St. Margaret " for the Prince of Spain. J
Beccadelli had been sent to Venice after the death
of Paul the Third to supersede Giovanni della Casa.
On the eve of his arrival both Aretino and Titian were
* " Facile est inventis addere,"
bj' Niccolo Massa, 8yo, Yenice,
1556, cit. in Cicogna, Isc. Yen.
yi., 805.
t Lettere di M. P. A., vi. p.
J See further on, Titian to the
Prince of Spain, Oct. 11, 1552.
ClIAP. VI.]
LEGATE BECCADELLI.
217
speculating as to his power to relieve a common friend
from unexpected tribulation. The curate of the
Minorites, their joint confessor, had been thrown into
gaol for denying the divine origin of " confession,"
and Aretino could think of no better way to compass
his liberation than to await Beccadelli's comino;.'"
Titian finished this portrait, now at the Uffizi, in
July, 1552, and it is a magnificent likeness, in wliieh
the true grain of what may l)e called Churchman's
flesh is reproduced in a form both clear and fair but
with the slight puftiness and tendency to droop which
is characteristic in priests. The whole picture is
painted after Titian's fasliion in tliese days with broad
immediate sweeps of a brush loaded with jilenteous
consistent pigment grained to a pleasant warmtli.
The oblong but regular head witii spacious forehead,
pointed beard and tumid lips, is seen to great advan-
taoje beneath a black trianoular cap. A black silk
cape and lawn sleeves admirably relieve a pair of
hands of perfect workmanship, holding between them
a piece of unfolded paper. The prelate is seated in an
arm-chair, and looks up as if he was about to com-
municate the contents of the paper to some one near
him. Ill a letter enclosing a sonnet in honour of this
picture, Aretino — truly for once — said that as there
were two Charleses, one created by Nature and the
other by Titian, so now there were two Beccadelli to
listen to Aretino's verse, t
• Arotiiio to Titian, Venice, Oct.
lo49, in Lett, di M. 1'. A., v. 108.
t Lettero di M. P. ^^.-etino, vi.
U)2, Aretino " to the Secretary of
the Legate," Venice, Oct. 1552.
The picture is on canvas, iimu-
218
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CiiAr. YI.
The canvases intended for Philip of Spain were
despatched to Madrid in the course of the same year,
the last being the " Queen of Persia," which was
accompanied by the following letter.
titian to the prince of spain.
"Most high and potent Signor,
" Having recently obtained a ' Queen of
Persia ' of some quality, which I thought worthy of
appearing before your Highness' exalted presence, I had
her sent, pending the time when other works of mine
were drying, to take embassies from me to your High-
ness, and be company to the landscape and St, Margaret
previously sent by Ambassador Vargas, under cover
to the bishop of Segovia. Meanwhile, may God keep
and prosper your Highness's high and potent person
and state in all the prosperity and felicity which your
Highness's most devoted servant Titian desires.
" i^VoTO Venice, lltJiof Odoher, 1552.
" Most high and potent Signer's servant, who kisses
your feet,
"TiTIANO VeCELLIO."*
bered at the Uffizi, 1116, and of
life size. On the paper, in the
prelate's hand, we read :
" JULIYS P. P. III.
Yenerabilis fratri Ludovico epo
Piayelleii, apud dominium Vene-
torum, nostro et aplicse sedis
nuntio [cum annum ageret Lii,
Titianus Vecellius faciebat Ve-
netiis mdlii, mense Julii]."
lu a later character :
"Translatus deinde mdlv die
xviii Septembris a Paulo Quarto
Pontj; maximo ad archiepiscopum
Eagusinum quo pervenit die ix
Decembris proximo subsequente."
The background of the picture
is dark brown ; the whole a per-
fect piece of harmony in a pre-
dominant warm brownish tone,
and with all the vapour of a hot
sunny day upon it. Engraved
by J. C. Ulmer.
* See the original in Appendix.
Chap. VI.]
TITIAX'S LANDSCAPES.
219
Titian once before wrote to kiss the feet of Charles
the Fifth, Init he had been usually content to kiss the
liands of his patrons. His last stay at Augsburg made
liira better acquainted with the idol worship of the
Castilians, and the canny old mountaineer of seventy-
five now kissed the feet of liis prince like any Spanish
secretary.-' But let us remendier tlicse are the days
and the customs wliich the satire of Rabelais vainly
strove to change and chastise, and Venice,, like Spain,
was still to some extent under the influence of Oriental
customs,
Fortlir lirst tinn- in tlie annals of Italian painting we
lu.'ar of a picture which claims to be nothing more than
a landscape ; and of this landscape Titian was the
painter. AVc look throuifh the numberless catalooues
of the 17th century and find but one reference to a
piece of the Idnd by the great Venetian. It was "a
landscape with soldiers and animals," in the collec-
tion of Paolo del Sera.f European galleries may be
searched almost in vain for such productions, and there
is but one canvas at Windsor in which the figures are
altogether subordinate. Yet it may be easily conceived
that Titian often had such works on his easel, though
they may subsccpiently have perished, neglected alike
by the indifierent or the religious of all denominations,
Aurelio Luini once j^aid a visit to Titian, and asked
* Tu all the official corre-
spondcTico of (liplonjatists with
I'hilip the Socoiul, the secretaries
invariablj' kiss the hands aud
foet of his Majesty, and wish him
increase of kinfidoms and lord-
ships. The times have undergone
a radical change since then,
t Eidolfi, Mar. i. 262.
220 TITL\N: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
him how he connected his trees with the ground in
his compositions. Titian showed him divers ways of
doing this, and brought an admirable Landscape from
one of the rooms of his house, which struck AureHo at
first as a daub, till, drawing back to a distance he
found it suddenly light up as with the beams of the
sun. He left the workshop declaring that he never
had seen anything so rare in its way as this
creation.* ,
How nobly Titian furnished his canvases with back-
grounds has often been noted. The awful gloom of
mountains, their " fellowship with clouds, their per-
sonality as they stand sphinx-like in attitude of repose
or writhing like hooded giants^ striving to be free,"
their majesty as they sit "like tutelaiy powers presid-
ing over some gentle scene," have Ijeen sketched with
enthusiasm by the pen of Gilbert. "Forest depths,
masses of foliage backed by banks of solemn cloud,
olintinof liohts amonsfst the boles of trees," had as
much attraction for Titian as "the domestic charm
of cottao^e and farm."t Pictures in which these
characteristic features exclusively occur have not as
we saw been preserved. But numerous etchings and
drawings show how fondly Titian would have given
his time to such subjects had he but found a public to
appreciate their value. There are Cjuaint and startling
views of dolomites in the prints of Lefebre, forming
backgrounds to homesteads equally quaint and pic-
* Lomazzo. Trattato, n. s., ji. I f Gilbert's Cadore, u.s., j^p.
474. ! :, 72, &c.
Chap. VI.] LANDSCAPE PPJXTS. 221
turesque, in which castellated towers are roofed with
ragged and long projecting deals, and rocky boulders
are watered at their bases by rapid torrents. Some-
times it is but the outskirt of a hamlet or town that
we see, with the orchards near it, and a bridge
defended sometimes by a keep spanning a quick flow-
iusf stream. A fii^ure or at most two houres are
thrown into the foreground to o;ive a name to the
picture. In one of Boldrini's woodcuts, of 1566, free
in line as if it had been drawn l)y Titian himself, a
charming fifjure of Venus is shown sittino- under trees
with Cupid nestling in the folds of her dress. Here
is a good study of rocks and grasses in a glen over-
shadowed by pines. Gnarled trunks and roots and
broken o-round witli weeds and rushes are strikin";
accompaniments to some of the prints of St. Jerome in
the wilderness, liut more characteristic, and of more
lasting interest, are the drawings in which every form
to l)e found in inanimate nature is consigned to paper.
A screen of beeches near boulders, belonging to Mr.
Malcolm of Poltallock, a clump of trees in front of a
village backed by Alps, a study of tree trunks and
meadow side, before a range half covered with round
or stunted arborescence, or a solitary group of twined
stumps, with scant leafage in advance of a castle lying
tarn-like in the gloom of a mountain cauldron, are
but a few of a series in the gallery of Florence. A
figure of a naked boy or a woman often cowers in the
foreground, giving — in the absence of aerial perspec-
tive— a measure of the distance to which the planes
recede. In the Museum of Dresden, a large sheet
222 TITIAN: HIS LIPE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI.
contains a view of a haven with an approach by two
deep channels, and a fortified port of a triangular
shape, presenting its wedged apex to the spectator.
A castle crowning a precipice to the right commands
the entrance on that side, where galleys of war are
lying in the stream. Behind the town a rolling coast
rises majestically to a distance of dolomitic rocks.
At the Albertina in Vienna, another sheet shows a.
town nestling on the slopes of hills, the wooded crests
of Avhicli grandl}^ contrast with the bareness of the more
distant peaks. A more extensive view, partaking at
once of mountain, plain, water and sea-shore, is that
in a drawing at the Louvre, in which a canopy of low-
lying cloud is reflected in the stream, towards which
Europa is flying on the back of the bull. Titian's
dolomites we may confess are often exaggerated in
form or unnatural in settino;. The leafaoe of his trees
is mostly conventional. But in drawing chiefly with
the pen, his treatment is surprisingly effective and
often most poetic.
As — unhappily — no clue to the, landscape despatched
to Philip of Spain has been discovered, so unfor-
tunately no trace remains of the "Queen of Persia,"
by which it Avas accompanied. But we still possess
the " St. Margaret," which for centuries adorned a
gloomy hall in the gloomy Escorial. Though now in
a bad state in the Museum of Madrid, it is a. fine rem-
nant of a picture in which Titian clearly did his best
to captivate the young and powerful prince, to whom
he was willing to ofler all his incense. The vast frame
of the drao-on stretches from the left foreo-round to the
Ch-aj. YI.]
ST. MAEG.VEET— M.U)EID.
223
mouth ol the cavern which yawns in the background
to the right. In front of him the saint bears the cross
in her left hand, and as she passes not without haste,
turns round to go, \\liilst her glance is still fettered by
the monster's open throat and paw. This subject, often
painted by Giulio Romano,* had never as yet been
touched by Titian. Tie gave it all the charm of a
grand and sprightly form in fine and lively movement.
He managed a convolution of a few simple lines with
great skill and simplicity, and clothed the surfaces
within these lines with rich and harmonious tints,
sucli as only Titian was able to produce. Pity that
the green mantle which swathed the saint's shape and
relieved the brisrhtness of a lio;ht red scarf, should be
injured by a long and irrepressible scar on the canvas,
extendinfj from the cheek of the fiojure at one end to
the left leiT and foot at the other.t
Titian's connection Avitli the Imperial ftimily was
not severed in tho least by separation, nor was his
correspondence allowed to drop from lack of response.
• One of these is in the Louvre,
tho other in tho Belvedere at
Vienna. Both were assigned for
years to Eaphucl.
t This canvas, M. 2-42 h. by
1-82, is now No. 469 in the
^fadrid Museum, having been
in tho Escorial. The inonk?^, who
disliked the sight of tho bare leg,
had it painted over with a drapery
which has since been removed,
leaving the flesh abraded. This,
and the left side of tho face, is
heavily repainted. In tho dis-
tance to tho left the landscape is
coloured by tho flames of a burn-
ing city. In the foreground to
the I'ight is a human skull. On
the rock in which the cavern
mouth is yawning wo read,
" TiTi^iNVS." Two copies of this
piece are still at the Escorial.
A very similar picture by
Titian, in the collection of Charles
the First of England, is no longer
to be traced. See Bathoe's Cata-
logue, u. s. See tho engravings
by an anonymous hand, and by
H. Howard.
224
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
Philip acknowledged the receipt of Titian's letter of
October in a despatch of the 12th of December, and
for this the painter made humble return in the follow-
ing March, 1553, declaring "that the kindness of the
Prince's answer had made him young again, and pray-
ing that pending the completion of certain ' poesies '
which he had in preparation. His Highness would
accept a portrait of himself (the Prince) which he
now begged to forward." "
On the back of this letter Philip wrote the following
memorandum in his own hand.
/;*
"For Italy on the 18tli of June, by Don Antonio
de Bineros from Madrid.
" Answer Titian.
" Well beloved and faithful,
" By Ortiz the servant of our ambassador at
Venice we received your letter and the portrait which
accompanied it ; for which, being from your own
hand, as well as for the trouble you have taken, we
give you many thanks, together with assurance of
our good will in respect of your offer."
Almost at the same time Charles the Fifth \^Tote
to Vargas to ask whether it was true as rumoured
at Brussels that Titian had died.
* The original of Titian's letter
is in Appendix. It alludes to
Philip's despatch of the previous
December,
preserved.
which has not beeu
Chap. VI.] EUMOUEED DEATH OF TITLIN. 225
CHAELES THE FIFTH TO FEANCESCO YAEGAS,
AT VENICE.
" It is rumoured here that Titian is dead, but the
rumour has not been confirmed and is probably
untrue. Give us advice of the truth, and say whether
Titian has finished certain pictures which he was
charged to execute when he left Aug.-;l)urg, or how
far he has got on with them.
" From Brussels, May 31, l.jo3." *
Writing at the close of June, Titian conclusively
proved to the Emperor that he was alivc,t but \^argas,
after communicating similar intelligence, gave account
to the Emperor not only of the great picture of the
Trinity, Init of other works which the master had
l)een painting for Charles and ^lary of Hungary.
FEANCESCO VAEGAS TO CHAELES THE FIFTH,
AT BRUSSELS.
" Titian is alive and well, and not a little pleased
to know that your ^Majesty was inquiring for him.
He took me to see the ' Trinity,' which he promised
to finish towards the end of September. It seems to
me to be a fine work. Equally so a Christ appearing
to the ]\Ia<]^dalen in the o-ardcn for the Screnissima
(,»>ueen Mary. The other picture he says will be a
' grieving Virgin,' companion to the ' Ecce Homo,
already in possession of your ]Majesty, whicli he has
f \
• See the original in Appendix.
t Titian to Charles the Fifth,
in Ticozzi, p. 309. The date,
VOL. It.
which Ticozzi does not give, is
siip])lied by the following letter
of Vargas.
226
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
not done because tlie size was not given, but whicli
lie will execute so soon as tlie particulars are sent
to him.
" From Venice, 30^7i of June, 1553." *
Meanwhile Francesco Donato the Docfe havinof
attained to the great age of eighty, had been gathered
to his fathers, and found a substitute in the pious
senator Marc-Antonio Trevisani. Titian was forced
to suspend his labours to portray the new prince,
and Aretino was enabled to write a sonnet in praise
of the likeness in November.! A replica fortunately
survived the original, which perished in the fire of
1577, and this replica in the Sterne collection at
Vienna betrays the sickly complexion of a man who
died after a year of office as he sat at mass in a room
of the public palace. There is no picture of the time
in which Titian has more superficially contrasted
the smoothness and polish of flesh with accidents of
texture in dress. The figure and face are turned to
the right ; the ducal cap of yellow silk and gold seems
to overweight the head, which shows all the sio;ns of
disease, in a dull black eye, and skin suflfused with
bile. A black beard streaked with grey, falls on the
rich lemon-toned damask of the mantle, the folds of
which are kept together with the left hand whilst
the right grasps a white handkerchief.:]: We can
* The original is in Appendix.
t Aretino to Boccamazza, Ven.
Nov. 1553, in Lettere de M. P. A.
vi. 203.
X This canvas is m. 0'99 h. by
0'S6, and was long in the Ees-
tetits Collection. The figure is
seen to the thirrh, and is not free
Chap. VI. THE " DANAE."— MADEID. 227
hardly doubt that the master bestowed more care
and spent more time on the contemporary portraits
of Francesco Vargas and the Protonotary Thomas
Granvelle, each of which adorned the palace of the
Imperial embassy and Titian's house at Venice in
the winter of 1553-4.*
In spring and summer of 1554 Titian finished and
forwarded to their several destinations four important
works, — the "Danae" of Madrid for the Prince of
Spain, '•'Christ appearing to tlie ^lagdalen," which
Queen ]\laiy of Hungary took with her from the
Netherlands to Spain, the " Grieving Virgin," and
tlie "Trinity" to which allusion wiis made in the
letter of Vargas. Philip received the " Danae " but a
few (lays Ijcforc he left Coi-unna for the shores of
Britain. t A companion piece representing Venus
and Adonis, despatched a little later from Venice,
reached him in London about three months after
his marriage with Mary Tudor, and it is curious to
note how the annals of art here confirm whnt
historians of the time have told respecting a prince
whose habitual regularity of church observance did
not exclude the utmost freedom in respect of con-
nection with the fair sex. *' Se non ha il Re per
ccisto," the Venetian envoy wrote from London to
his government, and Philip's taste for the lightest
from restoring, particularly in
the parts immediately beneath
the beard.
* Aretino to Titian, Venice,
October, lijo'6. The same to Va-
sallo, Nov. lo53, and Aretino to
Thomas Granvelle, Jan. 15u4, in
Lettere, u. s., vi. 193, 203-5, and
220'. Neither of these portraits
is at present to be traced.
t The date of an-ival in Spain
is not exactly stated.
Q 2
228 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI..
nudities of the Venetian school seems to confirm the
statement.*
In the " Danae " as in other, canvases of the same
class, Titian was no longer producing anything new
or original, but merely composing variations upon old
and well-worn themes. The " Danae " of Madrid is
not different in any essential particular from that of
Naples. It is only coarser and more realistic. One of
the distinct peculiarities of the " Danae" of Naples was
form of ideal beauty akin to that of the antique, and
colour of richness only attainable on Titian's palet.
The " Danae " of Madrid lies in the same attitude as its
earlier prototype and is cast in a similar mould, but
the shape is less refined, the contours are less clean,,
and — it is clear — a certain obtuseness has grown upon
Titian, who now felt with less delicacy than of yore.
The sacrifice of poetry and sentiment to realism,
equally marked in the palatial and festive canvases of
Paolo Veronese, and in the lowly and pastoral pieces of
Giacomo Bassano, is already complete, and the limbs,
the hands and feet of Danae will no more permit
us to think of princely birth or tender nurture
than the hag who catches the gold pieces in her apron
will help us to remember the classic loves of Jove.
But this brings us to another feature in which the
Madrid canvas differs from that of Naples. Cupid
here has disappeared, and has taken away his bow
and arrows. A little dog lies curled up at Danae's
side. The gold pieces fall from the clouds, and an
* Eelatione di Gioyanni Michele, in Prescott's Philip tlie Second.
■J
'A
•Ch-vp. VI.] " DANAE."— PETERSBURG— VIENNA.
229
old womau with a key at her girdle sits at the foot
of the couch, and greedily watches them as they fall
into her dress. But to give Titian his due, — if we
accept as unalterable the coarser fibre of thought
which runs through the picture — we shall still admire
the wonderful power which lies in the artist's touch,
his efiectiveness in the distribution of lisjht and shade
and colour, and his absolute mastery in reproducing
nature. As a study of character nothing can l)e
more true or more strikingly real than the hag on
the bedside, and as a contnist to fciirness and youth
what can be more telliuij than old aQ;e and weather-
beaten skin, or the sear of vice and rags.*
We cannot trace to Titian's easel a replica which
formed part of the Granvelle collection, t but more
than once in later days tlie master rang the changes
on this composition without altering it, and extant
repetitions in St. Petersburg and Vienna fully demon-
strate the popularity of the subject. In the Petersburg
example the dog is absent, and the old woman wears
* This canvas is mentioned in
a letter which Titian wrote to
Philip in Nov. 1554 (Ticozzi,
VeceUi, u. s., p. 312). He
speaks of it as having been for-
warded earlier in the year. It
is now No. 458 in the Madrid
Museum, having been preserved
for centuries in the "Titian Hall"
at the Alcazar. It is on canvas,
m. 1-28 h. by 1 -78, and the figures
are as large as life. It has been
injured by cleaning and repairs,
And there are bad patchings with
new paint about the upper part
of the right aim, the left breast,
and abdomen. The toes of the
right foot are also repainted, and
the sky is so altered that the face
of Jove in the clouds has disap-
peared. The old woman with her
grey cap, naked shoulders, and
brown dress, is best preserved.
There are engravings of this piece
by Sutman, Lisebetius, Le Fdbre,
and Richer.
t This picture was 3 ft. h. by
5^. See the inventory in Castan,
u. s.y p. bo.
230
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI.
a brown dress ; '"' wliilst a second at Vienna gives the
form of the hag fronting the spectator, and holding
up a chased dish. Both these canvases are executed
Avith bold Titianesque ease of hand, and must be held
to be originals, though perhaps not carried out with-
out assistance from Cesare Vecelli, or Girolamo, the
favourite of the master s workshop.t
Titian received his reward for the " Danae'' of Madrid
through Vargas. In a letter to Philip he acknow-
ledged that the guerdon was more suited to the
Prince's greatness than to the painter's merit : but he
promised to finish quickly the "Venus and Adonis" in
order that he might deserve it more.J Having done
* The Petersburg example is
on canvas, No. 100 of the Gallery
of the Hermitage, m. 1"2 by 1'88,
or about 3 ft. 8 by 7 ft. It has
also been damaged by unequal
cleaning and abrasions, which
have removed some glazings and
half-tones, leaving the whites es-
pecially raw and cold. It was,
1633, in the collection of the
Marquis de Vrilliere, afterwards
in the French collections of The-
venin, Bourvalais, and Crozat.
It is engraved in reverse by Louis
Desplaces.
t This picture. No. 36 in the
2nd room of the 1st Floor (Ital.
Sch.), in the Belvedere of Vienna,
is 4 ft. 3 h. by 4 ft. 8, and in-
scribed beneath the left foot of
Danae, " titianvs ^qves c^s."
But this inscription is modern,
though it may have been re-
painted on the old lines. It is
more injured than the Petersburg
example, and less in focus. The
head of Danae is in part rubbed
away, the toes of the right foot
are renewed, and glazes here and
there have been removed. A copy
of the Petersburg replica, pos-
sibly by the Spaniard Mazo, is in
the collection of the Duke of
"Wellington in London ; a copy
of that of Vienna, in the collection
of Lady Malniesbuiy, was sold in
1876 for £15 4s. 6d. ; a Venetian
adaptation of the Naples original
is at Cobham Hall. In Februaiy,
1 875, there was on view at Angers^
a " Danae by Titian," and said to
have belonged to the Buoncom-
pagni family at Bologna. The
same picture was exhibited at
Milan in 1874. In both cities it
was said that it had been pur-
chased for the Emperor, of Eussia
for 630,000 fr.
J The letter without date in
Ticozzi (Vecelli, u. s., p. 312),
must have been written at th©-
close of Spring in 1554.
CnxD. YI.] TITLVX'S PEXSIOXS. 231
this, he penned a contrasting letter to Charles the
Fifth, announcing the completion and delivery of the
"Trinity" and " Addolorata," and complaining — we
may think justly — that his claims for pensions on
^nian and Na})les had never as yet been satisfied.
TITIAN TO CHAELES THE FIFTH.
" Most Sacred Cesarean Majesty,
" By order of your Coesarean ^lajesty a yearly
provision of 200 scudi was assigned to me at Milan, and
a privilege for the carriage of corn Wiis granted to me
at Naples. The latter has cost me hundreds of scudi
to pay an agent in the kingdom. Lastly, I received
a * natiiralezza ' in Spain for one of my sons, to which
a yearly pension of 500 scudi was attached. It has
been my ill fortune to fail in obtaining anything from
these grants, and I now beg leave to say a word to
}'our Majesty respecting them, hoping that the liberal
mind of the greatest Christian Emperor that ever lived
will not suffer his orders to be contemned by his
ministers. I should consider such a benefit as an act
of charity, inasmuch as I am straitened for means,
havino; lieen in ill health, and havinix married a
daughter. My supplication to the celestial Queen to
intercede for me with your C. M. finds expression
in the record of her image, which now comes before
your ]\Iajesty with a semblance of grieving which
reflects the quality of my troubles. I also send the
picture of the ' Trinity,' and, had it not been for the
tribulation I liavc undergone, I should have finished
and sent it earlier, although in my wish to satisfy
232 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI.
your C. M. I have not spared myself tlie pains of
striking out two or three times the work of many
days to bring it to perfection and satisfy myself,
whereby more time was wasted than I usually take to
do such things. But I shall hold myself fortunate if
I give satisfaction, and beg your C. M. will accept my
eager wish to be of service, my greatest ambition being
to do a pleasure to your Majesty, whose all powerful
hand I kiss with all devotion and humility of heart.
" From Venice, Se^jt. 10, 15o4."
" The portrait of Signor Vargas, introduced into the
work, was done at his request. If it should not please
your C. M. any painter can, with a couple of strokes,
convert it into another person.
" Of your Csesarean Majesty,
" The most humble Servant,
" TiTiANO, Fittore." *
It is unfortunate for Titian's character for veracity
that the contract for his daughter's marriage should
be dated in 1555, instead of in 1554, but the word
" married " may be charitably attributed to the promise •
rather than to the consummation of Lavinia's union.
A letter from Francesco Vargas communicated to
the Emperor the dispatch of the " Trinity " and
" Addolorata," Avhich left Venice for the Netherlands
on the 11th of October, 1554, and there is every
reason for thinking that Mary of Hungary was
destined to receive by the same conveyance the
" Christ appearing to the Magdalen," which she after-
* See tlie original letter in Appendix.
Chap. Yl.]
<<■ V
VIRGIN LAMEXTIXG.
233
wards took with her to Spain.'"' For a long time
Titian's latest version of the " Noli me tangere " was
preserved at the Escorial, where a copy of it still exists.
The original was mutilated in a stranore and iinac-
countable way, and what remains of it is a fine head
and bust of the Saviour holding a hoe in his left
hand.t
The " Yu'gin of Grief," being on slate, was probably
saved by the strengtli of its materials from sharing
the fate of many other masterpieces of Titian. It was
a companion piece to the " Ecce Homo," and as such,
properly represented the Virgin as a mother lamenting
over the sufferincfs of the Son. Tlie face, at three-
quarters to the left, is bent forward, the glance is
intent, and the liands are held up in token of grieving.
Sweetness and richness of colour are combined with
great blending and very delicate transitions of tone.
But the type and expression and the cast of the
features indicate the master's irrepressible tendency to
absolute realism. :|:
* The letter of Vargas is in
Appendix.
t This fragment, on canvas fast
to panel, is No. 489 in the Madrid
Museum, m. 0G8 h. by 0-G2. It
represents the .Saviour at three-
([uartors to the left, in a white
tunic and blue mantle, with rays
issuing from the head ; distance,
sky. The fragment was found at
the Escorial by Don P. Madrazo ;
it then served as a cover to an oil
jar. See an account of this by
Mr. J. C. Robinson, in the " Aca-
demy " for March, 1872. The
I proof that the picture in its entire
state was taken to Spain, is to be
found in QueoTi Mary's inventory
of 1ju6, in Revue Universelle des
Arts, u. s., iii. 141 ; another edi-
tion of this subject was seen un-
finished in Titian's atelier by
Vasari in 1j66 (xiii. 44).
t Madrid Mus., No. 468, on
slate, m. 0G8 h. by 0'53. The
Virgin wears u violet tunic and
blue mantle, the latter partly
covering the head, on which there
is a white cap. The figure is a
bust of life si/e. See postea.
\
234
TITIAX: HIS LIFE AKD TIMES. [Chap. YI.
It lias been remarked that the distribution of the
" Trinity " was in defiance of the laws of composition,
whilst the strained attitude of most of the figures was
detrimental to their general efi'ect.'"" There is no
doubt a great deal of truth in the reproach, for we
miss altogether the convergence and symmetrical
arrangement of lines which so large a subject on so
vast a scale required. But it should be remembered
that Titian was worldngj at a theme dictated to him
by the Emperor or some of his spiritual advisers, and
if he failerl under these cii^cumstances to produce the
necessary pictorial equilibrium he was not much to
blame. AVe are bound meanwhile to concede that he
all but restored the balance by contrasts of light and
shade, and a vivid spread of harmonious colour un-
attainable by any artist but himself. One might add,
indeed, that the glorious medium of light amidst
clouds, in which his personages are suspended, trans-
fio'ures the host which he has brought tos^ether, and
makes one forget the colossal bulk of some, the violent
movement of others, and the realism which more than
ever reveals itself in the rendering; of all. In the
highest circle of the heavens, and as it were in a halo
of golden radiance, the two first Persons of the Trinity
are seated in awful majesty, with crystal orbs and
sceptres in their hands. About them the countless array
of cherubim and seraphim loses itself in a brilliant mist.
Lower down in the clouds the Virgin stands before
the heavenly tribunal, and intercedes for the sinners at
* Waagen, Ueber in Spanien
Yorliandene Gemalde in Jahr-
biicher fiir Kunstwissenscliaft,
Leipzig, 1868, vol. i. p. 118.
Chap. Y1.] " THE TRINITY." 235
whose head Charles the Fifth to the right is kneeling.
The monarcli in profile looks up prayerfully. Behind
him is the Empress, lower dovm Mary of Hungar}-,
Philip, and his sister, all easily recognised by their
characteristic features — each of them in their T\andiiig
sheets, and in action of prayer. The crown, emblem
of the Imperial dignity, is at Charles's feet, and seems
to indicate his purpose of abdicating the thi'one.
Beneath the royal group and on the same side, there
are several figures in which it may be possible to
recognise Vargas, bearded, and simulating the patient
Job. We can fancy Titian giving this character to
an envoy of the Kaiser with some sort of tremor.
Further down the canvas, and in the very centre of
the clouds, are grand representations of Moses vdih the
tables, Noah holding up a model of the ark, on which
the dove is restino- with the olive branch, and near
him a female with long and copious tresses, who may
be the Magdalen ; further on to the left in ascending
lines, the Evangelists and Prophets. The sheen of
the colours can hardly be described, and particularly
the sheen of the blue raiment in which the Eternal,
Christ, and the Virgin are clad. The outlines are lost 1
in the rounding of the parts as they lose themselves I
under similar conditions in natm^e, and the flesh is
stamped off as it were mth grand robust touches,
reminding us of those words which Titian spoke to
Vargas when asked why he painted with so large a
brush."^" After Charles's abdication in 1555, several
* See antea, i. p. 329.
236
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YL
pictures of Lis favourite master were taken to the
solitude of Yuste, and amongst them the "Trinity,"
upon which he often gazed at last with great fond-
ness and pleasure.* In a codicil of his will, which
Philip the Second was induced to disregard, the dying
Emperor ordered the piece to be framed and set up on
the high altar of the Jeronymite monastery. Philip
carried off his father s remains and the " Trinity "
together, and both were taken to the Escorial, where
the ashes of the great master still repose, whilst the
" Last Judgment " as he called it, upon which his last
glances were thrown, was removed to the Madrid
Museum .t
* Figueroa, in Prescott's Philip
II. See also the inventory of
pictures taken by Charles the
Fifth to Spain, and left by him at
Yuste, in Eevue Universelle des
Arts, u. s., iii. 227-30. Compare
also Stirling's Cloister Life of
Charles the Fifth; Mignet's
Charles V., 8vo, Paris, 2nd ed.,
p. 452, and Gachard's Eetraite et
Mort de Charles V., 8vo, Brux.
1855, ii. pp. 90—93. The i^ictures
taken to Yuste were : 1 , " The
Trinity"; 2, the " Ecce Homo "
and 3, the " Addolorata," the two
last framed as a diptj^ch; 4, a
" Madonna " by Titian, in a dip-
tych, with ' ' Christ carrying his
Cross," by Michael Coxie ; 5, a
" Pieta," by Titian ; 6, a " Virgin
and Child," by Titian; 7, the
" Emperor and Empress," on one
canvas, by Titian; 8, the "Em-
peror in Armour," by Titian;
9, the " Empiess," by Titian.
t "The Trinity" is now No.
462 at the Madiid Museum, on
canvas, m. 3-46 h. by 2-40. The
figures on the foreground are of
life size, and one of them, on the
left — St. John Evangelist, lying
on the outstretched pinions of an
eagle — holds a roll of paper in
his right hand, on which we read :
"titianvs p." Beneath the
clouds, and quite at the base of
the picture, is a strip of distant
landscape, with woods and hills,
and people assembling near a
chapel. Till 1823 a copy of this
canvas was on the high altar of
Yuste. C. Cort engraved the
original, probably from a drawing
under Titian's direction in 1564.
The same composition reversed
bears the name of Hondius. A
fair photograph from the original
was taken by Laurent. Titian's
petition to the government at
Venice to print the " Trinity " is
still extant, dated Feb. 4, 1568.
See Cadorin, Dello Amore, 9 & 65
CH.VP. .VI.] "YENUS AND ADONIS "—MADEID.
:6t
"Grieving Madonnas" or tlie " Day of Judgment,"
warning mortals of the perishable nature of man, were
fit subjects for the contemplation of a monarch in the
frame of mind peculiar to Charles the Fifth, in 1554 ;
classic fables, like the "Danae" or "Adonis," were better
suited to the taste of Philip. Titian worked alter-
nately at both, and dispatched them to their destina-
tion almost simultaneously. In a letter written dming
the autumn of 1554, Titian sent congratulations to the
new kincj-consort of Enoland, and forwarded the
" Adonis," saying that "if in the 'Danac' the forms
were to be seen frontwise, here Avas occasion to look
at them from a contrary direction, a pleasant variety,
he added, "for the ornament of a camcrino. Other
views he hoped to give of ' Perseus and Andromeda,'
and ' Jason and ]\[edea,' to which he intended soon to
add a devotional picture, on which he had already
been labouring for ten years."* To Don Giovanni
Benevides, a member of Philip's household, Titian
also wrote in September, claiming his favour and
interest with the King, and saying he would have sent
the "Perseus" and a "Devotion " for the Queen, but
n \
A small copy of this picture, in
possession of the Duko of Cleve-
land, was exhibited at the Eoyal
Academy in 1872. It previously
belonged to Lord Harry Vane
and Mr. Rogers, and Tvas called
" Titian's original sketch for the
Trinity at Madrid." (Waagon,
Treasures, ii. 77, favours this
opinion, and mistakes Noah's Ark
for Charles the I'ifth's coffin. See
also Mrs. Jameson's Private Gal-
leries, p. 401). But it is a copy
and not a sketch ; a copy, too, of
quite uncertain date, which was
taken to England by Mr. Wallis
about 1.S08, after having been
discovered, as alleged, in a gam-
bling-house at Madrid. (See the
Manchester Catalogues.)
* Titian to Philip, m Ticozzi,
p. 312. This letter has no date,
but Philip's reply to it is of
Dec. G, 15(54. Hqq jnostea.
238
TITIAN: HIS LITE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
tliat liis time had been taken up with the " Trinity "
composed for the Emperor.""' Meanwhile, the "Adonis "
reached its destination in London in such a state that
Philip was quite distressed to look at it. " The
* Adonis' has arrived," he writes to Vargas, "but so
ill-treated that it must be repaired, having a long fold
across the middle of the canvas. It were best," he
concluded, "not to send pictures till I give special
instructions respecting them."t
There is clear trace of the injury on the canvas
now hanging at Madrid, a long furrow running hori-
zontally across the composition and parting the head
from the shoulders of Venus ; but irrespective of this
the picture was again but a variation, and not one of
the best of its kind, on an old theme, and although
the goddess is fine and Adonis manly, the figure of
the young hunter appears to have been drawn from a
rigid model, and betrays much more of the sitter than
the earlier and more coloured original at Alnwick,
whilst the landscape is neither as genial in tone nor
as beautiful in lines as it misfht have been had Titian
painted it all with his own hand.;]: The truth is,
* Tkis letter, dated Sept. 10,
1554, is in full in Ticozzi's Ve-
celli, ti. s., p. 312.
t The original, dated Dec. 6,
1554, is in Appendix ; an extract
from it in Madrazo's Madrid Ca-
talogue, p. 247, is falsely dated
March 4, 1556.
X The "Adonis," though in-
tended as a companion piece to
the " Danae," is larger. It is on
canvas, m. 1*86 h. by 2*07, and
numbered 455 in the Madrid
Museum. A long furrow runs
horizontally across the middle of
the canvas, cutting the trunk of
the trees to the left, in -which
Cupid's bow and quiver are hung,
dividing the sleeping Amor into
two parts, showing along Venus's
shoulder and Adonis's breast, and
ending in the distant trees to the
right. Two longitudinal stripes
lower down show that the picture
Chap. VI.] "YENUS AND ADONIS "—EEPLICAS.
239
apparently, that the subject was popular and often
repeated, and for this reason palled on the master and
his disciples ; and this may account for the neglectful-J
way in which many of the replicas were executed, a
fact of which we become aware when lookino- at
examples in the National Gallery, or in the collection
of Lord Elcho.""' But the truth may also be that
Titian had been working hard and continuously,
when his better impulse was dulled by the pain of
domestic troul)les. There were letters exchanged
between Poraponio Vecelli and Aretino in 1554,
•was rolled and then squeezed flat
by an accident. The colours are
the same as at Alnwick. In the
clouds to the right a small figure
of a god looks down. Adonis
holds three dogs in a leash. On
the foregi'ound to the left is a
vase. The picture was engraved
by Jul. Sanuto and E. Sadeler;
there is a photograph of it by
Laurent. Wo may suspect that
Orazio Vecelli was no stranger to
the execution, of which Dolce
wrote so enthusiastically to the
patrician Alessandro Contarini, at
Venice. See Zucchi, Idea del
seq., ed. of 1G14, p. 4, in Cicogna,
Isc. Ven., iii. p. 236.
* No. 34 in the National Gal-
lery, on canvas, 5 ft. 9 h. by
G ft. 2, "was in the Colonna Palace
at Piome till 1800. It is a coun-
terpart of the Madrid example,
but painted with less delicacy,
and apparently with much help
from Schiavone. It might, in-
deed, have been altogether carried
out by that disciple of Titian.
Besides some general retouching,
there is here some wholesale
daubing of a modern character in
the sleeping Cupid. Of this them
are engravings by Sir E. Strange
and W. Holt.
Lord Elcho's repetition of this
piece is injured, but on the whole
less satisfactory than the fore-
going. It is a school work, of
which, as of the National Gallery
canvas, there are small but very
modem copies in the Nostitz Col-
lection at Prague, and in the
Gallery of Dulwich.
It is impossible to say which of
these repetitions originally be-
longed to the Marquess Serra of
Milan in Scanelli's time. (See the
Microcosmo, u. s., p. 222.) Sir A.
Hume notes this subject by Titian
in the Lomellin: Palace at Genoa
(Notices, 1)45). , and there was a
replica ascribed to Titian in the
collection of Queen Cki-istine.
(See Campori, Eaccolta di Cata-
loghi, n. s., p. 340.)
240 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
which show that the. scapegrace had been driven to
a state of anger and distress by some very decided
measures of his father."' Titian had lost all con-
iidence in his son's amendment, and taken steps to
control him rigorously. In April, 1554, he had
written to Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, to
ask permission to substitute one of his nephews for
Pomponio in the canonry of Medole, and in the
following October he had become possessed of the
Ijenefice of St. Andrea del Fabbro, near Mestre, of
which the income was secured to himself, t It is
difficult to ascertain whether Pomponio was most
' angered by the loss of the benefice of Medole, or by
Titian's refusal to grant to him St. Andrea del
Fabbro. But he must have felt very keenly the
preference which Titian soon after showed to his
nephew. In order to ingratiate the new incumbent
with his flock, Titian presented to the parish church
a picture of " Christ appearing to the Virgin Mary,"
and this masterpiece, on the high altar of St. Mary of
Medole, shows with what interest he did his work,
and how much of real heart he threw into it. The
scene which the painter imagined is the meeting of
Mary and Christ after the Ascension. The Virgin
kneels on the clouds and raises her hands with marks
of surprise as she looks at the Saviour, who stands
* Aretino to Pomponio, in Lett.
di M. P. A., \i. p. 182.
t Titian's letter to Gonzaga is
in Appendix, together with a
precis of the instrument by which
his rights to the benefice of Sant.
Andrea del Fabbro, which Titian
in 15o7 conferred on Pomponio.
See also a Breve of Cardinal Tri-
vulzi, under date of Sept. 30, 1557,
Talamio,a priest atReggio, cedes i in Cadorin, DeUo Amore.
CiLVP. VI.] THE "CHRIST" OF MEDOLE. 241
before her in the garb of the tomb and shows her the
stio-mata. To the left, behind the Redeemer, Adam,
the first man, poises in the mist the beam of a cross,
and behind liim stands Eve ; and two patriarchs,
perliaps Noah and Abraham, show their bearded
faces. • Rays issue flame-like from Christ's head, and
a supernatural halo pierces the heaven, which is
arched as it were with winQ-cd cherubim. One cannot
but admire the vigour which Titian here displays,
and rememberiiK^ his acje, one feels iuclined to com-
pare him to an old and mighty oak which, in spite of
years, expands its canopy of fresh and licalthy leaves.
Granted that the forms are cast in a mouhl more ]
indicative of strength than of grace, that the features '
are more expressive than select — granted, in fact, the ,
realism wliidi now characterises Titian, it is iKirdlyj '
possible to point to a work of this time in wliicli
more power is concentrated, in which there is more|
simplicity of tone or more sobriety or appropriateness
of action. Nor is it without renewed surprise that we
look at the skilful modellino- of the fio-ures relieved
by tone upon the silver ground of the halo behind
them, or on the broad and massive touches with
whieli this modelling is produced ; and were it not
that time and accidents have caused a marked deteri-
oration in the surface of the canvas, one might com-
pare the figures for studied grandeur and force of
design to those of Michaelangelo, and the movement
and draperies for fitness and flow to those of Fra
Bartolommeo. Here, it is evident, Titian was not
painting for the Prince of Spain, for whose taste and j
VOL. II. K '
242
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI.
judgment lie might possibly feel but small respect.
Here Titian was painting for the satisfaction of his
own feeling as an artist, and so it happens that his
picture is better and more successful than those pro-
duced to order for king and kaiser.'"
Charles the Fifth received the "Trinity and the
grieving Virgin " not without pleasure, but his letter
being apparently a mere compliment, had only induced
Titian to press anew and with increased persistency his
claims on the Lombard and Neapolitan treasuries.t He
had sent Orazio to Milan with letters from liimself and
Aretino to Gio Battista Castaldo, hoping that these
and a judicious present of a picture might soften the
obduracy of the Milanese administration ; but little
arts of this kind had proved altogether ineffectual,
and nothing had come of them except repeated dis-
appointment. ;j;
* Dr. Francesco Beltrame ■wrote
some illustrative notes on this
picture when it was taken, about
the year 1862, to be restored by
Professor Paolo Fabris, to Venice.
These notes were published in
five folio pages in August, 1862,
and contain the letter to Gugli-
elmo Gonzaga, which will be
found in the Appendix to this
Volume. They further explain
the cause of the damage done to
the piece, which was produced by
its concealment in a tomb during
the French revolution. Here the
canvas rotted, and the colours
were to some extent corroded,
and Professor Fabris did not
restore them with any great suc-
cess. The blue mantle of the
kneeling Virgin, for instance, has
turned to a dull opaque tone not
unlike black ; and much of the
rest has been flayed and thrown
out of focus. The size of the
work is m. 2*76 h. by 1-98. Ac-
cording to the local tradition of
Medole, Titian fell sick at the
house of the " parroco," his ne-
phew, and rewarded him for his
attention with this picture.
t The original letter, without
date, from Titian to Charles the
Fifth, is in Ticozzi's Vecelli (p.
310). It gives the Emperor thanks
for kind expressions as to the
Virgin " addolorata."
J Compare Aretino to G. B.
Castaldo, in Lettere di M. P.
Aretino, vi. p. 264. Titian to G.
Chap. YL] PORTRAIT OF DOGE YEXIER.
24;5
In the meanwhile new and not nniniportant labours
had been offered to Titian in Venice. The Doo-e
Trevisani, having passed away on the 31st of May,
1554, in the quiet and unobtrusive manner which
has already been recorded, had been succeeded by
Francesco Venier, who called on Titian soon after, not
only to paint his likeness, but to compose the neces-
sary votive picture in honour of his predecessor. The
portrait of Venier was finished early in 1555, and paid
out of the treasury of the Salt Office in the month of
March. It was the last portrait which then found a
place in the Hall of Great Council. It was also the
last that Titian undertook in his official capacity,
the two Doires, L^rpuzo and Oirolamo Priuli, havinjx
relieved liim oi" the duty in favour of (liruhimo di
Titiano and Tintoretto."' On the l'.»th of August,
1554, Titian was called to the Ducal Palace, where he
signed a contract in the presence of the Doge and the
proveditora of the Salt Office to paint within a year
IVum the first day uf th(3 following September a
canvas representing Marc- Antonio Trevisani in state
robes kneeling before the Vii-gin and Child and
attended by St. Mark, St. iVnthony, St. Dominick,
B. Castalflo, in Nuova Scelta di
Lottere di divorsi, 4to, Ven. 1074,
and reprinted in Ticozzi's 13ot-
tari, vol. v. p. 59.
• The payment, dated March 7,
is printed by Lorenzi, u. s., p.
288. See also the record in the
sanio volnino as to Oirolamo and
Tintoretto, who were Titian's suc-
cesriors, and Vasari, xiii. 27-8.
See further, an order of April 1.'},
I.'i4.3, in which the Council of Ten
declares : " 1". That there are but
three spaces left tor Doges' por-
traits in the Hall of Great Coun-
cil ; 2". That s])ace is to be fouud
for Doges' jjortraits in the new
library." Auothor order of \o\').
Juno 9, orders that the friezes in
the old library bo removed to
make room for the series of new
Lorenzi, m. s., pp. 252-3.
K 2
Doges
244 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. YI.
and St. Francis. The contract provided that pay-
ments should be made in instalments to the full
amount of 171 ducats and 12 soldi, but that a fine
should be imposed on Titian if alive, or if he should
die, on his heirs in case the picture should not have
been finished at the appointed time. The deed being-
subject to confirmation by the Doge in Council was
balloted on the 5th of September and lost ; balloted
and lost asfain on the 28th of the same month. And
the composition was nearly complete before the sages
thought of taking a resolution in respect of it. At
last, on the 7th of January, 15.55, a decree was passed
ordering a valuation, and, pending that formality,
an advance of 50 ducats was made. Long after the
canvas was hung in a splendid frame above the door
of the Pregadi Hall, the payment for it remained
unliquidated.'"' In the meantime, Venier, apparently
the most unselfish of men, was not content to contri-
bute to immortalize his immediate predecessor, but
recollecting that a Doge long since dead, whose
offences had been condoned by his contemporaries,
was still without his share of the usual tributary
honour, resolved that a monument should be set up to
his memory of equal value to those which had been
dedicated to his compeers. He therefore proposed
and carried an order in Council by which Titian was
charged to paint a votive picture of Antonio Grimani.
The order was issued to the master on the 22nd of
* The records are in Lorenzi,
pp. 285, 2S7, & 292. The final
January, 1556. Both this picture
and the portrait of Venier pe-
payment of 171,12 was made in ' rished in the fire of 1577.
Chap. ^^:.] THE "FEDE." 24o
March. As early as the following July lie had made
such rapid progress that an advance of 50 ducats was
granted.'"' But then some sudden blight fell upon
the whole undertaking. The canvas was left in the
painter's hands, and during his lifetime was never
exliibited. And it is related that the disciples after
Titian's death finished and placed it where it now
hangs in the Hall of the PulJic Palace, known as tlie
Sala de' Quattro Porte. It is the more curious that
this mishap should have occurred, as the "Fede"
deserves to rank amont^st the mtjst nuiiinificent and
effective palatial pieces that Titian composed in his j
later years. Nor is there a sin2:le work of the artist
whicli more fully confirms contem[)()rary accounts of ,
his style. " Titian's later creations," says Vasari, | '-'^
"arc struck ofi' rapidly with strokes and with touch so
that when close you cannot see them, but afar they
look perfect, and this is the style which so many tried
to imitate to show that they wrre practised hands, I
but only produced absurdities. The cause is explained
by this, that though many think the work is fiung off j
without trouble, it is not so. For, on the contrary, it
is done and redone with great pains, as any one can
see who looks into it, and this method is full of judg-
ment, and equally fine and stupendous, as it gives life
to the picture and displays the art whilst it conceals ' 1\
the means." t '
It is possible that the form given by Titian to the
subject was considered likely to offend religious ov
* Lorenzi, u, s., pp. 289-90. f Vasari, xiii. 39, 40.
246 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
political prejudice. Grimani is represented kneeling
on a cushion, his head in profile, and raised to look
up at a vision. His body, arms, and thighs are clad
in steel, whilst his shoulders are decked with the
mantle of the Doge. He kneels to the right, before a
bright apparition of a female, whose long loose hair
and white dress float as it were in a balmy breeze as
she stands erect on a cloud surrounded by angels and
cherubs supporting the cross and the cup. A page, in
a flowered tabard, to the right of Grimani holds up to
him the ducal cap. A helmeted soldier behind grasps
a partisan and bends obsequiously. A captain in the
foreground, in a green scale-jacket and yellow buskins,
stands in an attitude of proud strength, one hand on
his haunch, another supporting a standard. To the
left, St. Mark in red tunic and blue mantle, with the
lion couchant at his side, is placed in a fine movement,
turnino- from the leaves of his book to look at the
vision. Beneath the clouds which curl under the
latter, a distance is seen showing the Venetian fleet at
anchor, and the ducal palace and campanile. That
this after all is nothino- else than Grimani's life con-
densed into an allegory is clear. Defeat, captivity,
and exile, symbolised by the cup and cross, human
trials condoned through the intercession of St. Mark ;
this may seem tlie burden of the picture, Avhich as
such might perhaps justify certain contemporary mis-
givings. Be this as it may, the sages of a later gene-
ration were content to think that the multitude would
accept the vision as an allegory of faith, and so they
displayed, so explained it. In itself imposing, the
CiiAr. VI.] THE "FEDE." 247
composition is . made still more impressive by tlie
grandeur of the figures wliicli give a supernatural air
to the scene. The female in the clouds, antique in
form and drapery, antique in force and elegance of
attitude, is hardly less efi'ective in her way than the
angel in Raphael's " Liberation of St. Peter." The
tall cross which she supports is made light to her by
charming Ijoy angels, one of whom raises the foot, the
other the arm, whilst a thii-d sports without occupa-
tion in the air to the left. A beautiful circle of
winged churubs' heads Hoats in the halo around.
Equally efi'ective in a difierent but sterner key, St.
j^lark stands out in coloured strength and splendid
robing against the radiant mist, his head admirably
thrown "back and foreshortened. Brilliant is the fiioht
of })illar.s in perspective with ornaments of statues,
gorgeous the red hanging that falls l)ehind the group
on the right, splendid the gloom on the red and white
marble of the floor, which forms the foreground.
Nature itself is reproduced in the flesh, the colours
are full of a surprising richness and variety of har-
monic contrasts. In grand divisions the light of the
halo is pitted against the darker ground and its occu-
pants, whilst the breadth of deep shadow projections
is broken by sharp bursts of light of the most varied
quality, according as they are shown in armour or in
stuffs of diverse texture. That Marco Vecelli should
have had a hand in this piece is only conceivable on
the supposition that he added the two figures of a
prophet and a standard bearer at the sides of the
main composition. But these are mere fillings of
u
248
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
empty spaces which make no change in Titian's
original picture. *
In the midst of these important labours, which more
than ever tied him down to his residence in Venice,
Titian married his only daughter to Cornelio Sarcinelli
of Serravalle, and the marriage settlement, which still
exists, was signed on the 20th of March 1555. The
dowry which Lavinia brought to her husband was not
worth less than 1400 ducats, a regal sum for a painter
to have amassed who complained that he never was
paid by his royal and imperial patrons ; GOO ducats of
this amount were given to the bridegroom in June,
and the rest was transmitted to him in money and
jewels in September of the following year. The
wedding took place on the 19th of June, the day on
which Lorenzo Priuli was elected to succeed Francesco
Venier as Doge of Venice.t
In March of this year, Titian had written to Philip
the Second to announce that pictures were ready for
despatch, if he chose to send word whither they should
be directed. Philip replied with a letter of thanks on
* Boschini, u. s., E. Min. S. di
S. Marco, p. 10, distinctly states
that all tliat Marco Vecelli did
"was to make these additions.
The picture itself contains figures
of life size, which unhappily have
been subjected to more than one
ordeal of restoring. The remarks
in the text are naturally subject
to this drawback. But though
we miss some of the original
hrio, and have to take up with
colour reduced in parts to a dull
opacity, the whole piece is still
very grand. Photograph by Naya.
Compare Tizianello's Anon", p. 8 ;
Eidolfi's Maraviglie, i. p. 269; and
Zanetti, ii. s., p. 164. According
to the Anouimo this picture was
in the " Anticollegio," and Za-
netti thinks that after the fire of
1577 it was taken from thence
and placed in its present position ,^
when the necessities of the space
forced Marco Vecelli to introduce
the side figures.
t The marriage settlement is
in Appendix.
Chap. VI.] "PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA."
249
the 4tli of May, gently rebuking the painter for not
telling him the subjects which he had prepared, but
anxious to receive them whatever they might be. We
may well believe that one of them was the " Perseus
and Andromeda," of which Yasari relates that it was
a beautiful work representing the princess of Ethiopia
bound to the rock and Perseus appearing to save her
from the sea monster." The monarch's letter con-
cluded witli a request that Titian should inform him
whether his claims had been linally settled, as he
meant, if they were still pending, to cause special
instructions to be sent to the Duke of Alva. He
wrote at the same time to Vargas to pack Tit inn's
canvases most carefully and scud them to r>russels,
where the sooner he received them the Ijctter he should
be pleased. t
The high and acknowledged position held by Titian
at this period is proved, not only by his being absolved
from the duty of painting the ducal portraits without
losing his broker's patent, Init by an honourable
commission entrusted to him by the Venetian govern-
ment. Sansovino had finished the hall of the library
of St. Mark in 1553,| and the ceiling of that beautiful
* Vasari, xiii. p. 29, and see
antea, p. 237. This picture was
engraved by F. Berteli and Bat-
tista Fontana, and by Cort, in
1565, Audi'omeda being fastened
to the rock on the left ; in the
middle Persons attacking the
monster in the background ; to
the left a town. " Perseus and
Andromeda, by Titian," was in
the Orleans Gallery; tho same,
perhaps, which Lepicio catalogued
in 1752 at the Louvre.
t See Philip to Titian, and
Vargas, May 4, 155(5, in Appendix.
X See the inscription to that
effect above the entrance to the
hull, and a copy of the same in
Sansovino's Ven. Desc. n. s., p.
311.
250 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. Y I.
room liad been divided into compartments for the
reception of frescos a short time after. It was now
suggested by the procuratori that Titian and Sanso-
vino should name the artists whom they thought best
fitted to carry out a decoration of such importance, on
condition that the price to be paid to eacli man for
his work should not exceed sixty ducats ; but with a
promise that the painter who most distinguished him-
self should receive a gold chain of honour as a mark
of special approbation. Neglecting Tintoretto, with
whom the " Academy " was not on good terms, Titian
and his colleague asked Salviati, Paolo Veronese,
Zelotti, Franco, Schiavone and other men of less
ability, to compete, and when their labours were con-
cluded in the autumn of 1.556, they awarded the prize
to Paolo Veronese, whose descendants long preserved
the gold chain as a proof of pictorial distinction.'"
Paolo Veronese, who had the rare good luck to
win thus early a prominent place amongst Venetian
artists, had not been long in the capital when this
event occurred. Born at Verona in 1528, and bred to
the art of sculpture, of which his father was but an
obscure professor, he soon gave up chisel and hammer
for the use of the brush, and exercised his skill as a
vagrant craftsman, at Mantua, Padua and Vicenza.
It seemed as if in the practice of fresco or in the
production of large canvases he had never been able
to forget the paternal business, for early and late he
* Tlie records as to tliis com-
petition are iu part in Zanetti,
Pitt. Yen., u. s., p. 337. But
comp. Vas. xi. 138 & 330, with.
Eidolfi, Mar. ii. pp. 17 and 192.
Chap. VI.] "THE BAPTIST IX THE DESERT."
251
wielded the brush more like a modeller's spatula than
ii painter's tool. But his talent was naturally so great
that he made rapid progress, and the name whieh he
acquired for himself in the provinces probably en-
<^ouraged him to try his fortunes in the metropolis.
He went to Venice about 15.3.5, and there was fortu-
nate to find a patron in his countryman, Fra Bernardo
Torlioni ; abljot of the monastery of San Sebastian.
Titian soon discerned and rewarded the skill of the
young fellow, but he tlid not hesitate to enter the
lists with him in person, and we shall find him
presently composing an allooor}' in the same locality
in which Paul had lirsl introduced himself officially
to the Venetians, and in the calm retirement of his
atelier, producing that fine and standard work " The
Baptist in the Desert," which, after adorning for cen-
turies an altar in the church of Santa ]\[aria Maoi>iore,
n(j\v hangs in the Academy of Venice. It is not
\\itliout reason that Vasari and Dolce praise this fine
creation as a marvel of design and colour. " No picture
of the master gives note, as this does, of the power
with wliicli Titian could set the example to his young-
competitor in the conception and execution of form,
realistic in shape and presented in a plastic spirit. As
a solitary figure this Baptist embodies all the princi- .
pies of movement inculcated in this iGth century. kU
It is a splendid display of muscular strength and
elasticity combined with elevation in a frame of
• Vasari, xiii. p. 27. Dolce,
I)ialogo, p. ()G. Tho allusion of
tlio latter author to this picture
shows that it was painted before
1jj7, tho year in which tho Dia-
iogo was published.
252 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YI.
most powerful build. It hardly diflers from other
Titiauesque ^Yorks except in this, that being-
painted with the master's usual force and fire, it is
distinguished at the same time by more than tlie "7
usual study of anatomy and outline, and a more /
sculptural definition of parts. If we look back taj
the earlier ideal of St. John in the schools of North
Italy, asceticism is represented in the solitary by
wild looks, sharp features, unkempt hair, and a lean
wiry body. Here the Baptist is trained, indeed, but
brought down to a symmetry of strength, which is
grand in its development. The black, curly hair and
beard, are as surely indicative of toughness and
fibre, as the sculptured brow and bold black eye,
which looks sternly out into space as if scanning the
audience that has heard or is about to hear the sermon.
Alone at the foot of a rock, where the lamb is coiled
up and sleeps, the saint is seen standing at rest, yet
not suggesting a motionless halt. In the hollow of
his arm the reed cross reposes, whilst the wrist is bent
and the fingers grasp the garment of skins. The right
hand is raised and gesticulating as if to enforce the
word. The whole appearance is that of a weird
inhabitant of the wilderness, whose naked breast and
legs are shown brio-htlv ao-ainst the trees and masses
of a vale, through which a torrent flows after having
spent its force in the hills that show their blue sides-
far away. Impassioned expression is enhanced by -
rich weather-browned features and flesh, thrown into
prominence by strong relief of lights glowing and
coloured, into darks of a brown and consistent warmth.
Chap. YI.]
DEATH OF AEETINO.
l^Sl
On
53
More than ever before, planes of flesh are rendered by
kneading out of solid pigment, only broken by reds,
greys or blacks, where the monotony of blended sur-
face made such lireaks desirable. The same art
reappears, as we shall presently see, with almost equal
effect in the " Diana and Calisto," the " Diana and
Actason," and the " Europa," whicli Titian painted
for Philip of Spain. A later form is apparent in a
replica of the Baptist at the Escorial."'
On the 21st of October, 1.5.3G, an event took place
whicli probal)ly affected Titian greatly. Late in the
evening of that day Aretino was supping with some
acquaintances, when an accident deprived him of his
life. The certificate drawn up after his death declared
• This picture, on canvas, m.
1"(>7 h. by 1-33, is numbered 3(j(i
in the Venice Academj'. It was
noted in S. M. Maj^giore, at Ve-
nice, by all the writers on art of
the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. It is well preserved,
and signed on the stone upon
which the left foot is raised,
"TiciANVS." The rock near the
saint's right hand, and bits of the
pky, show traces of restoring.
Thoro are certain turns, as in tho
hand and wrist of the saint, which
recur in Paolo Veronese. Even
the head is a typo to which Paolo
clung.
Tho replica in the sacnstj' of
tho I']scorial varies in so far that
tho hands hold a scroll, and the
face is thrown up as if in suppli-
cation. On the stone one reads,
"TITIANV3 FACI . . . ." But the
picture when seen was ill-lighted,
looked dim from agn, and might
have suggested criticism if better
exposed. How it came into the
Escorial is not stated.
The same saint " in the desert "
was noted in tho collection of
Niccolo Cornaro at Venice, by
Martinioni. See his edition of
Sansovino, Ven. desc, u. s., p.
374.
The canvas at Venice was en-
graved by V. Le Febre, and iu
tho work of Patina, in 1809, by
Cipriani. It is reversed in a
print of Jacob Hojden. Photo-
graph by Xa5'a.
A small replica, called "A
sketch of the St. John Baptist,"
was long preserved as a work of
Titian in Casa Jacobi at Cadore.
It passed in tho present century
to Signor Galeazzo Galeazzi, of
Venice. (Notes from Jacobi MS.
of Cadore . )
254
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.^. TI.
"-;>
that lie died of apoplexy " at three of the night
But it was reported that he had been sitting at table
in his palace on the grand canal, when a joke was
made by one of the guests at which he laughed
immoderately. In this fit of laughter he overbalanced
himself, fell back, and striking his head against a
corner, was dead almost immediately .t An anecdote
makes him live to receive supreme unction and
utter the blasphemous words : "now that I am oiled
keep me from the rats." J Titian probably lamented
the loss of a man with whom he had been on terms
of intimacy for more than thirty years. The outer
world rejoiced rather than mourned at his departure,
and Antonio Pola, a creature of Ferrante Gonzaga,
who had flattered him when he lived, was obviously
delighted at his death when he wrote to his master in
November : " On reaching Venice I found that that
mascarone Aretino had given up his soul to Satan,
whose death I think will not displease many, and
particularly not those who are from henceforth
relieved from paying tribute to the brute." §
Pola's visit to the capital was not accidental, he was
travelling in the wake of Ferrante Gonzaga, who had
recently passed through Venice on his w^ay to Milan,
* See Bongi, Yita del Doni,
8vo, Lucca, 1852, p. Ixviii.
t Lorenzini, " De Eisu," in
Mazzucchelli, u. s., p. 71.
X Mazzucchelli, p. 73.
§ Antonio Pola to Eerrante
Gonzaga, Nov. 14, 1556, in Eon-
clini. Eelazioni, u. s., jt. 13; and
Aretino to Pola, August, 1554, in
Lett, di M. P. A., vi. p. 253.
Here we take leave of Aretino,
and we do so with regret, since
however bad lie may have been
as a man, his letters are an inva-
luable guide to the historian of
art in the first half of the six-
teenth century.
Ch-VP. YI.] TITLVX and FEEEANTE GOXZAGA. '2oo
and he had special commission, as it appeared, to
inquire into the cause of certain marks of incivility
which Titian was allesjed to have shown to his master.
The letter, of wliicli a fragment has been given, was
written to excuse Titian's conduct. Ferrante com-
plained that having sent word to Titian that he would
dine witli him, tli(^ painter had purposely left his
house and allowed him to come to Biri Grande, where
he found neither host nor hospitality. Titian ex-
plained tliat he had been informed through Arctino
that his Excellency intended to dine witli liim, and
had given orders that the dinner should l)e prepared
by his own servants. But on the appointed day no
servants came, and Titian, tliinkin::: tliat the visit was
postponed, went out on l)usiness. "Be this as it may,"
Pola concludes, " I propose to advance half a Innidred
scudi to Titian to purchase the pictures wliich your
Excellency desires to have from this discourteous
man.""'*
It was perhaps in consequence of this slight, which |
may, or may not, have been intentional, that when j
Titian sent Orazio in the followinor summer to Milan
to draw the pension that still remained unpaid, he
was again put off witli promises. And this new dis- \
appointment must have been the more disheartening, /
as a letter, obscure in some parts, but of interest as
throwins: a o'leam over the relations of the master to
his son and to Philip the Second, gave hopes of a
more favourable issue.
• Pola to Ferrante Oonzaga, tt. s.
256 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VI.
TITIAN TO OEAZIO VECELLI.
" Horatio, your delay in writing gave me some
uneasiness. Your letter says you have had four
ducats, but that would not cover your expenses to
Milan" (the text of the foregoing sentence is very
confused). "Again, you make a slip of the pen for
mere joy, it Avould seem, when you write of two
hundred, instead of two thousand ducats. But it is
sufficient that you should think that things will take
a good course. I WTote to his Majesty that the
Treasury of Genoa had not the means of paying, and
I hope his Majesty will make the necessary provision.
What you write inclines me to think you intend to
proceed to Genoa. If you fancy the journey will be
fruitful of results .... of which you are a better
judge than I am, you may do well to undertake it.
But if you go be careful not to ride in the heat and
see that you take four days to the usual two days'
ride
" From Venice, June IV, 1557." *
We shall see that, during these fruitless journeys,
Titian had been preparing for Philip the Second a
picture of the " Entombment," which he desjDatched in
!N^ovember, but which by some miscarriage of the post,
* Translated from, the original,
■which, in 1866 was in possession
of Mr. Eudolph Weigel, at Leip-
zig. Mr. Weigel had got it from
G. B. Bragadin, of Venice, who
caused it to be printed, in 1841,
in Gualandi's Memorie, u. s., ii.
102-3.
Chap. VI.] ORAZEO YECELLI AT MILAN. 2j7
tlien as now in the hands of the fomily of Tassis,(
never reached its destination.""'
Early in the year too Titian relented towards his
eldest son and induced the pope's legate at Venice,
(]^ardinal Tii\'ulzi, to siojn a breve i^ivino; him the
curacy of Sant' Andrea del Fabbro free of tithes.t
• See Philip the Second to
Count de Luna, Januaiy 20, 15j9,
in Appendix.
t The breve is in Cadjrin,
Dello Amore, ;/. ?., p. 39.
Yor,. ir.
CHAPTER VII.
^
standard of San Bernardino. — Philip and St. Lawrence. — " Martyrdom
of St. Lawrence " in the Gesuiti at Venice. — Girolamo di Titiano;
—Lorenzo Massolol ETsT VVidow and^Tilian. — Parody on the
" Laocoon," "Christ crowned with Thorns" at the Lbtivre.--^-'
Portraits.-^^Teath of Charles thel'iith. — ^TirialTand Coxie. — The
" Grieving Vii'gin."— Philij^ at Ghent orders Titian's Pensions to
be paid. — Orazio at Milan is nearly murdered by Leone Leoni. —
Titian begins the " Diana and ActtBOu," and " Diana and Calisto."
— Philip the Second orders an "Entombment." — Titian, Philip,
and Apelles. — The " Girl in Yellow." — Description of the " Diana
and Actceon," "Calisto," "Entombment," and replicas. — Figure
of "Wisdom" at Venice. — Death of Francesco Vecelli. — Altar-
piece of Pieye.
NoTHiNC eventful occurred to Titian in 1558,
during wliicli Venetian annals record tlie completion
of a cliurcli standard, on the 11 th of June, for the
brotherhood of San Bernardino,* but a man of his
activity would not allow the time to pass in idleness,
and the silence of chroniclers invites us to inquire
what Titian may have done in this apparently un-
eventful time.
On the 9th of August, 1557, "the memorable day
of St. Lawrence," when Counts Egmont and Hoorn
won the battle of St. Quentin for Philip the Second,
that monarch vowed to build a monastery in honour
of the Saint to whom he ascribed the victory. Not
See the record in Appendix.
€hap. Vn.] "MAPtTYEDOAT OF ST. LATVUEXCE." 259
till 1563, however, and when fresh from some auto
da fe in which unhappy Protestants had undergone
the ordeal inflicted on St. Lawrence, did Philip find
leisure to fulfil his vow; and not till 1564 did it
occur to him to ask Titian for a picture of the " Signor
Sant' Lorencio " to adorn the spacious church of the
Escorial.''' The subject was not new at Venice.
Oarcia Hernandez reported to the minister, Antonio
Perez, in October, 1564, that there was a martyrdom
of St. Lawrence in a Venetian monastery, Avhicli Titian
had composed years before, and for which tlie brethren
were willing to take 200 scudi. His Majesty might
even for less money have a copy of this piece by
Girolamo Titiano, an assistant who had worked for
thirty years in Titian's house, and was inferior to no
artist except his master.t The Crociferi, whose hospital
contained this treasure, were cenobites devoted to the
worship of the true cross discovered by the Empress
Helen. Their monastery had often been in com-
mendam, and this had not improved the character of
the inmates, whom the Venetian government had fre-
quently threatened to suppress, but the church was
richly adorned with masterpieces of many periods, from
the days of Cima, Mansueti, and Lattanzio da Pdmini,
to those of Titian, Schiavone, and Tintoretto. Early in
1556 Lorenzo Massolo, son-in-law to Girolamo Quirini,
having paid the usual tribute to nature, was Ijuried in
the church of the Crociferi, and Elisabeth Quirini, his
* Philip the Second to Garcia
Hernandez at Venice, Aug. 31,
ldG4, in Appendix.
t Garcia Ilcrnandez to Antonio
Perez, from Venice, Oct. 9, 1564,
in Appendix.
8 2
260
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIL
widow, mindful of lier old friendship for Titian, asked
him to adorn a monument with a martyrdom of her
husband's patron saint.* The date of the patrician's
death and the time required for the erection of his
tomb, Titian's habitual procrastination, and above all,
the character of the painting, may lead us to believe
that the work was finished about 1558.
For once in his life it had occurred to Titian to
realize a night-scene, and surely it must have struck
him that more startlinej effects were to be obtained
from the contrast of a glory at midnight, with furnace-
fires and the glare of torches, than from combinations
of halo and flames at noon. This too was a fit occa-
sion for re vi vino; classic ideals in Pas^an statues
and temple porticos, and there is some evidence that
the subject of this martyrdom recalled to Titian's
mind, not only the sculpture and statuary of early
Rome, but the very sites which he had visited in the
Eternal City, whilst — naturally allied to these —
reminiscences of masterpieces by Raphael and Michael-
angelo would easily suggest themselves. The idea of
cremation, familiar to the Romans as practised on the
corpses of the dead, is here applied to a living body,
and the saint, naked in all parts but the hips, is held
with his legs towards the spectator on an iron frame
standing on twelve legs at an angle to the plane of
delineation. Under this framework, which in effect
is a gigantic gridiron, a man who stoops to the left
feeds the flames with logs, a bundle of which is carried
* The epitaph which fixes the
dates of Massolo's burial and the
erection of his monument, is in
Sansovino's Ven. desc, p. 169.
Chap. Vn.] "MAKTYEDOM OP ST. LAWRENCE." 261
by a servant close at liaud. Behind, an executioner
grasps the saint under the annpits, whilst a soldier in
scale shoulder-plates to the right, pins him with a
fork to the latino;. Two men crouchino- near the
soldier are preparing to strike the mart}'r with theii-
hands, as he, raising his arm and throwing back his
head, looks up at the heavens, which open to give him
iissurance of salvation in the world to come. In rear
of these scoffers a man at arms is standing, who liolds
a lance, whilst an officer on horseback supports the
standard of the Empire, and looks down at the dying
saint. The group is partly lighted by the fire kindled
under the grating, and a cage-torch, the pole of which
is stuck in a ring fastened to the carved sliaft of a
pedestal supporting a statue. But the black clouds
in the arching of the canvas open to show a dazzling
star, which casts a briirht Jileam downwards on the
head and frame of the sufferer, and lights the steps
leading up to a tcm})le on which three spectators
have met, whilst a soldier issuing from the pillars
throws himself forward with a torch to dispel some
more of the gloom. There are marvellous oppositions
here of red and silver light, of greys of varying tone,
of heavy gloom and rolling smoke. Too dark even in
the seventeenth century to be seen in all its details,
this most important and interesting creation was sub-
sequently covered with daubs of paint, which now
conceal much of the primitive workmanship, but it is
something to be able to study in its original place a
picture which preserved its station even after the
'Crociferi had yielded to the more modern company of
262 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YH.
tlie Jesuits. The subject, and the effects that are con-
ditional upon it, recall those which Piero della Fran-
cesca, some hundred years earlier, produced with
such marked preference in various places, one of which
was repeated by Eaphael in the rooms of the Vatican,
We prize in Raphael's masterpiece a noble simplicity
of arrangement, measured action, and elevated form,
admirable drapery, and majestic balance of light and
shade. Titian is not less effective than his Umbrian
rival. He never made a nearer approach to the grand
art of the Florentines than when he painted this piece,,
in which he applied the principle of dramatic execu-
tion peculiar to Michaelangelo. With more of the
real and human than Raphael, he attains his end by an
exuberant display of movement in shapes instinct with
life and stamped with emotions developing themselves
instantly into strong exj)ression and action. Not less
effective than Raj^hael in adjusting contrasts of light
and gloom, he obtains them in a more complex way
and by a more varied play of gleam Avith colour.
Hardly less powerful than Buonarroti, his definition of
torso and limb in states of tension is looser, but still
in its w^ay grand and imposing. We may indeed per-
ceive on close examination that if Sebastian del
Piombo perfected pictures laid down on the lines of
Michaelangelo, without giving them that sublime
energy which characterised the Florentine- master,.
Titian, with undeniable originality, almost attained ta
a grandeur of composition and bold creativeness equal
to those of Buonarroti, whilst he added to his creations
that which was essentially his own — the magic play of
C]iAr. VIL]
THE XOXKEY LAOCOOX.
263
tints and liiiLts and shadows wliicli mark the true
Venetian craftsman. St. Lawrence, in build, in mus-
cular strength, and foreshortening, as we see him at
the Gesuiti, recalls the finest desiiins of the Sixtinc
chapel, and it may well 1>e that the marvellous figures
of that chapel clung involuntarily to Titian's memory
as he conceived his own, just as they clung to him
when he painti-d the " Peter ]\lartyr " and the
" luattle of Cadore." But in all these pictures, and in
the mode of tlnir presentment, he still preserved an
individuality as immistakahle as it is grand and
strikinrr. Recollections of the Eternal City no doubt
surged up in Titian's mind when he drew in that
noble tenii»le front which reminds us so vividly of the
" portico of the Argonauts," in the Piazza di Pietra, at
Home, yet what majestic beauty was added to the
lines of the noble Might of steps leading up to them.
The treatment, peculiar to this period of Titian'^ art,
is that in Avhich touch and surface were all in alLJ
Destroying hands of time and restorers have removed
much of both, yet left enough to show how touch and
breadth did not preclude excellent modelling and
accurate study of the human form.'"'
* Scanelli, iu the seventeenth
century (Microcosmo, p. 215),
noted the dimness of this picture,
•which was only to be understood
by Cort's print. Since then it
has undergone several courses of
repairing, one quite modern,
which has done much to make
earlier injiuics irreparable. The
picture is on canvas, arched at
top, with figures over life size,
and stands on the first altar to
the left after entering the portal
of the Gesuiti at Venice. Sir
Joshua says (Leslie and Taylor,
u. s., i. 83) : " It is so dark a pic-
ture, that at first casting my eyes
on it I thought there was a black
cm-tain before it." On the cdgo
of the grate, titi.vnvS veceliv3
264
TITLIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YII.
Titian at tliis time was obviously much occupied in
refreshing his memory with references to the antique.
He coulcl get sometliing like burlesc^ue out of it, as we
see in Bolclrini's print, where three monkeys are
shown writhing under the coils of snakes like Laocoon
and his children in the celebrated Eoman group ; but
the study of that remarkable piece was not confined to
drawings. It showed itself in serious works, such as
y the " Christ croAvned with Thorns," now at the Louvre,
where the movement of the principal figure, though
inverted, reminds us of Laocoon, whilst the suffering-
displayed seems derived from the same source. This
characteristic and clever picture, transported — we
may think — to ^lilan when Orazio went there in
1559 to claim the pension of his father,"" is painted
in a style which stamps it as a contemporary of the
"St. Lawrence." It came to adorn the church of Santa
Maria delle Grazie, and was not removed to France
till the beginning of this century. Here we have
the classic action united to great agony and muscular
contraction. Christ is struggling on the steps of the
prison, the gateway of which is surmounted by a bust
of Tiberius. His legs and frame are twisted by pain
in contrary directions. The head, on which two
men with long reeds are pressing the crown of thorns,
is bent and turned to the left, the torso inclining to
the right, whilst the arms, which are bound at the
^QVES F. On a print by Sadeler
we read, TITIA^"vs mvEX. .t:qves
C2ES. A later print exists by Jan
Bussemaker; a line engraving by
Zuliani. Palma Giovine copied
the picture in 1559. (Baldinucci,
Opere, x. 11.)
* See postea.
CHRIST IX TIIK PRETORIAN COURT.
[To face p li(>5, I'ul. If.
Ch-\p. Yn.] "CHEIST CROWNED WITH THORNS." 265
TVT-ist, are forcibly lield by a kneeling soldier on tlie
foreoTound. The scarlet mantle thrown in derision
over the frame leaves the limbs entirely bare, and in
the working and tension of muscle apparent in these,
as well as in the con\^ilsive strain of the features, the
triumph of physical torture is delineated. Equally
robust, but not more resolute in action, his motion
being shown as much by flap of drapery as by stride,
the man on the left who jerks the crown on the
Saviour's forehead, is a model of herculean strength
in a moment of .strong exertion. In his desire to
realise emotion altogether human, Titian has ap-
l)arently forgotten tlie divine. He has forgotten the
select shapes and conventional ideals of expression
and form pcruliar to the antique. He is realistic
almost to the veroe of a disao-reeable coarseness —
particularly so in details of hand, foot, and ancle-
Yet there is something so grand in the life and energy
exhibited, and a minuteness of study so profound in
the shrinking of the features and the clinging of the
toes of Clu'ist to the gi'ound, tliat one almost forgets
to inquire how it is that an artist so thoroughly
acquainted with the classic as Titian was should
altogether neglect to apply its cardinal principles.
The very furia which characterises the action is
traceable to the artist himself, who seems to have
worked oflf the contours with dash and force, whilst
he touched in the flesh with a stroke of surprising
breadth and sweep. Strangely enough, thougli warm
and golden in general tone, the picture has less
variety and more uniformity of colour than usual,
266
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAi>. YII,
either because the surface of the panel on which the
figures were thrown gave less opportunity for variety
of graining and toning, or Ijecause, fresh from a night
scene like the St. LaAvrence, where greys and blacks
were copiously applied, these shades predominated
on the palet. Dash and eagerness are ecpially ap-
parent in abrupt contrasts of light with deep bitu-
minous shadows which give to the whole piece, in
some respects, the look of a monochrome but partially
brought up to the colour of nature.*
Memorable for such creations as these, if our
pictorial instinct is correct as to the date of produc-
tion, the year 1558 is equally so for some very fine
portraits. A likeness in half length of Marc Antonio
Eezzonico in the hospital of Milan may repel us, since
cleaning and repairing deprived it of original cha-
racter.t But " Fabricio Salvaresio " at the Belvedere
* No. 464 at the Louvre, on.
panel, m. 3.03 h. by 1.80. The
figures are large as life ; on one of
the steps -we read, " titianvs, f."
There are engravings of this piece
by Luigi Scaramucci, V. Le-
febre, Gotfr. Sayter, Pdbault, and
Massieu, in Eilhol and Landon's
Series. Another version of the
composition, of which a word
later, is in the Munich Gallery.
Compare Vasari, xiii. 40.
The panel has been restored,
so as to impart a certain heaviness
to the surface and dimness to
the shadows. The name of the
painter is one of the details that
have been retouched or added.
t This portrait is that of a man
in a black diess with yellow
sleeves standing in a room, and
seen to the thigh. "With the right
hand he points at some object,
whilst his left rests on his hip
and holds a glove. On the plinth
of a pillar to the left we read,
' ' Marco Antonio Eezzonico morta
ai 29 Maggio, 1584 ; Tiziano Ye-
cellio fece in Yinezia nel 1558."
Though modern as compared with
the painting itself, this inscription
is probably historical. For we
find in the Guida Storico-artistica
deir Ospitale Maggiore in Mi-
lano (8vo, 1857, Tip. di Pietro
Agnelli), that Eezzonico was one
of the deputation of the hospital
in 1575, and at his death in 1584
left the picture to the foundation,
of which ho was a benefactor.
CuAP. MI.]
LAYIXIA" OF DEESDEX.
267
iu Vienna, shows us a fine and expressive representa-
tion of a man embrowned l)y travel, and familiar, it
might seem, with the East, from whence perhaps he
Lroudit the ne^jro l)uy who stands before him and
holds a bmich of flowers.*
But the masterpiece of portraiture of this time is
the " Lavinia " of the Dresden Museum, the semblance
of a lad}'" of mature years standing in a room and
waving a fan of ])lumes. In state di-ess of green
velvet cut scjuare at the bosom and slashed at the
shouldei- puffs with white silk, she turns slightly to
the left, raising tlie liaiid with the fan, and with her
left tucking up the skirt of her gown. Scanty
chestnut locks are strewed with pearls. A pearl
necklace winds round her plump neck. She wears a
jewelled brooch, a ring, and a girdle of shells. On ca
tablet in the upper corner of the canvas are the
* This is also a portrait iu half-
length, on a brown ground, No.
l.j, in the .3r(l room of the ground
floor, Italian schools, at the Bel-
vodero. Size, 3 ft. 8 h. by 2 ft. 8,
on canvas, with the following in-
scription on a tablet in tlio upper
corner to tho left: " MULViir,
FABRICIVS SALVARESIVS AXNV
AGEXS L. TITIANI opvs." Painted
on a coarse canvas, this piece is
much imi:'aired by retouching,
but is a good bit of energetic
treatment. Salvaresius stands
with the thumb of his right hand
in a figured shawl wound round
his waist. Ilis dress is a black
cap, vest, and pelisse, the latter
lined with white lamb's wool. A
knife hangs in a sheath at his
side. In the angle of the canvas
to tho right is the profile of a
negro boy looking up. His arm,
encased in yellow damask, is
stretched out, and he holds in his
hand a bunch of flowers. On a
console above tho boy's head a
rich green cloth is lying, and be-
hind it is a clock. Pity that tho
flesh should have acquired a
brick-red opaqueness. Tho negi'o
is so completely renewed as to
leave us in doubt whether any
part of him is now by Titian. It is
curious that the print in Teniers'
Gallery work which shows that
the picture belonged to the Arch-
duke Leopold William, omits tho
negro boy. Tho hand of Salva-
resius is the i)art best preserved.
2G8 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VII.
words : " lavinia tit. v. f ab' eg p." wliicli lias been
interpreted to mean, and no douLt was intended to
convey, that Lavinia the daughter of Titian was por-
trayed by her father. A cicerone or guide showing
the picture might have expressed himself in the
words of this inscription. Titian would have written
ipso and not eo. But the lines are of much later
date than the time of Titian, who neither ^vrotc
his name in this fashion nor habitually finished his
capitals with cross strokes. The words were scrawled
over the background after one of its numerous
restorings, and the pigment has settled into the older
cracks. It is not a question whether the work is
genuine, for Titian's hand at its best is very apparent.
It is a question whether we have Titian's daughter
before us, the features being essentially different from
those traditionally known as Lavinia's, whilst they
curiously resemble those of Venus listening to the
whispering Cupid at the Uffizi in Florence. As a
representation of a richly developed form in gorgeous
habiliments this is a masterpiece. The face is vigo-
rously painted and modelled with breadth, whilst
blended in tone to a nicety. Fine transitions inter-
pose between warm lights and brown tinged shadows.
The eye sparkles and the mouth is full of a healthy
redness. The features are cut with great delicacy, in
spite of a certain pinguid ity. The left arm, raised to
wave the fan, the left lowered to clutch the dress, the
swelling bust and portly waist, are given with the
plastic force and grain which Avere so successfully
imitated in later days by Paolo Veronese ; and the
Chap. YH.]
DEATH OF CHAELES Y.
260
colours of the velvet, together vriih that of the muslin
at the bosom and ^\Tist.s and the hair and pearls,
are all worked into harmony with the brown back-
cround so as to form a natural vision surrounded ^Yith
atmosphere and instinct with life.'"'
Whilst he was busy with these and other pictures,
Titian heard of the sjradual decline, and at last of the
death, on the 21st of September 1558, of the Emperor
at Yuste.
Charles the Fiftli was the in'eatest as well as the
most poweiful of all Titian's patrons. He had ordered
the "Trinity" as a record of his intention to abdicate
the throne. He took it to Yuste that he mij^lit more
constantly be reminded of another and higher world
than that in which lie -u-as wastino; the last of his
strcnfctli. Tliou<j;]i he never ceased to direct from his
Spanish solitude the weak and clianging policy of
l^hilip, there were moments when he turned altogether
from the contemplation of public affairs to memories
of the past or thoughts of his own salvation, and at
these times his mind was disposed to tender recollec-
tion by Titian's portraits of those who had been most
dear to him, or stimulated to prayer l)y sacred
subjects in tlie representation of whicli Titian had
had a share. It is characteristic of the Emperor's
quaint love of contrast or variety in art that he
• This canvas, in the Dresden
Museum, numbered '230, and of
life size, was sold to the King of
Saxony with the Modena collec-
tion. It was transferred to a new
canvas in 1826. It has a scar on
the forehead, and some stipplings
on the face, particularly in .sha-
dow. The left hand is much in-
ured by repainting. The back-
ground is renewed. Engraved by
lUisan.
270 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [ChapYII.
caused two of the latest masterpieces of his favourite
Italian to be framed with those of a Flemish artist.
The "Ecce Homo," which Titian took to him in 1548,
was combined in a diptych with a Pieta by Coxie.
The "Addolorata" of 1554 was set in the same way
with Coxie's "Effigy of Christ."* One canvas for
which he had a particular devotion Avas a grieving
Virgin which probably belonged to the batch of
pictures presented to the Emperor on the memorable
occasion when Titian pleaded Aretino's claims to a
cardinal's hat. It was a l^eautiful piece, well w^orthy
of preservation, and happily preserved at this time in
the rooms of the Madrid Museum. Here the Virofin
is seen in profile, her form clad in traditional red, her
blue mantle — coverino; a white veil — lined with stuff
of a deep yellow texture. In this simple array of
colours we have the full complement of primaries
which go to produce the true harmonic chord. The
Virgin's thin and delicately chiselled face is over-
shadowed with melancholy, the hands are wrung
together, and the eye-ball is directed towards the
ground where we fancy the corpse of the Redeemer to
lie or to be carried amidst mourning to the tomb. In
none of his sino;le fio-ures has Titian ever shown more
genuine feelino-. We need but reverse the lines of the
face and frame to have a counterpart of the agonized
Mary in the " Entombment " of the Lou\a'e. Agony
is apparent in the eye and mouth as well as in the
* See the inventory of Brussels,
1556, in Gachard's Eetraite et
Mort de Charles V., u, s., ii. 90-
93 ; and that of Yuste by Juan
de Eegla and Gaztelu in Stir-
Hug's Cloister Life of Charles Y.
Chap. \1I.]
PHILIP II. AT GHENT.
271
movement of the body and limbs and every articula-
tion of the hands and fingers. Admii'ably blended
and finished, the flesh is fresh and smooth as in life,
and bears the closest inspection, wliilst the draperies
display in the most admirable manner the run of the
contours and the shape beneath them."" Besides this
fine and pathetic creation, Charles had close at hand
a portrait of himself in armour, to which we may
think he would look for the sake of contnxstinG; the
early strength of lii.s youth with tlie debility of his
premature old age ; then tlie likeness of the Empress
and himself in one canvas, and that of the Empress
alone. At the last of these works of Titian he cast a
lono; and fond ulance almost on the ver<xe of dissolu-
tion, and he only gave u[) its contemplation in order
to turn to that of the " Last Judgment," upon whicli
"he gazed so long as to cause appreliension to liis
physician, "t
When the news of Charles's death reached Philip
the Second at Ghent, he withdrew to the comparative
solitude of the monastery of Groenendaele, where he
remained secluded for several weeks. It was from
the cloisters of this once celebrated retreat that he
caused a despatch to be sent, on Christmas Day 1558
* This figure, a bust on panel
in profile to the left, is No. 47j,
m. 0.68 h. by 0.61, in the Madrid
Museum. It is noted in the
13russel3 and Yusto inventories,
ft. 8., and is fairly preserved,
though not free from ro-toucbing,
especially in the bead.
An old school copy of this piece
bangs high up in the chapel of
the Sacrament in San Zaccaria,
at Venice. Another school copy,
by a later hand, in the Oratory of
San Gaetano at Padua. A jibo-
tograph of the original by Laurent
exists.
t Prescott, H. s., 136.
272
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YII.
to the governor of ]\Iilan, Duke of Sessa, ordering- |
him to pay all arrears of the pensions " granted to !
Titian by Charles his father (now in glory)," adding a
postscrij^t in his own hand to show the interest which
he felt personally for Titian and his claims/'"' Titian
was made acquainted by the Duke with the terms of
this despatch, and invited to Milan, but being too old
to travel, sent his son to attend to his interests. Here
Orazio put himself in communication with the Duke
of Sessa and wrote — in March — that he had received
letters from the governor for the Senate by means of
which a settlement of accounts would speedily be
made, and he hoped that the business would be finally
transacted soon after Holy Week. From Milan,
Orazio continued, he meant to proceed to Genoa, and
with help of letters to the king's ambassador he
thought that the pension due at that place would also
be obtained. t Little did Orazio then foresee that
events would happen which would make his journey
to Genoa impossible. At the court of Milan there
lived at this time Leone Aretino, a sculptor whose
name has often appeared in these pages in connection
with Titian. He was nearly related, though no one
exactly knew how, to Pietro Aretino, and his interest
had been used with Titian, and through Titian with
the Emperor and the Granvelles, to push him on in
the world. More violent in temper and certainly
more cunning than Benvenuto Cellini, Leone had
* Despatcli and postscript are
in full in Eidolfi's Marav., i.
244-5.
t Orazio to Titian, March 19,
1559, in Cadorin's DeUo Amore,
u. s., p. 46.
CiiAP. YII.] ASSASSIXATIOX OF OEAZIO. 273
been placed under bann for homicide in several cities
of the Peninsula ; yet he had always found new friends
wherever he settled. At Milan, where he was now a
resident, he OAVTied a palace and lived in some state
with an establishment of horses and valets, and here
he gave a liospitable reception to Orazio Vecelli, whom
he fetched witli an escort of riders from his rooms
at the Falcon. Orazio, who had brought fourteen
pieces with him from Venice, remained upwards of a
montli a guest in Leone's palace. He sold his pictures
to the Duke of Sessa, and took sittings from that
noljleman, for whom he painted a full-length portrait.
As time went by he thought he should not tax the
kinduess of his host too lonrr, and havinir commission
to get the Duke's canvases framed, he took lodgings of
his own and went on tlie 14tli of June to Leone's
house to superintend tlie removal of his pro})erty.
Wliilst occupied with this duty he was set u})on by
the host and his servants, who struck at liim with
daggers so suddenly as to put his life in imminent
peril. Fortunately the first blow aimed by Leone in
person liad not been mortal. Orazio struggled, ran
for the door, and reached the street with severe
wounds. He was carried to the Falcon inn, where he
was attended by the Duke of Sessa's barber, who gave
him such restoratives that he was able on the fol-
lowing day to give evidence before a magistrate sent
for that purpose. In answer to the question whether
he could assign a cause to the assault, he could only
say that he thought the murderer was envious of his
favour with the governor. But in his subsequent
VOL. H. T
07J
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CiiAr. VII.
communications to Titian, and in a memorandum
afterwards drawn up by his friends, lie declared that
Leone knew that he had received two thousand ducats
of Titian's pension from the Milanese treasury, and
meant to take his life and his money at the same
time.'"" Titian wrote a long letter to Philij) the
Second on the 12th of July, accusing Leone of an
attempt to murder and rob his son, and he asked for
justice with pardonable expressions of indignation.
But we do not read without surprise that the man
whose hospitality Orazio had not disdained to accept,
was now described by the angry Titian as a well-
known criminal, who had been expelled from Spain
because he was a Lutheran, condemned to the stake
by the Duke of Ferrara on a charge of coining, and
banished for attempted murder from the Koman and
Venetian states.t Titian's appeal to Philip the Second
was but partially heard. Leone, who had been
arrested immediately after the crime, was let off with
bann and fine, and Orazio lived for some years in
secret fear of assassination, until the blood feud was
condoned with a sum of money.J
Some months before these events occurred, Philip
the Second had written to the Duke of Luna from
Brussels to make complaint that a large canvas of the
" Entombment " despatched by Titian from Venice in
* See tlie depositions in Ca-
dorin's Dello Amore, p. 50 ; the
memorandum in the same author,
p. 103.
t Titian to Philip the Second,
July 12, 1559, in Appendix;
X Memorandum, u. s., in Ca-
dorin's Dello Amore. See also in
the same work, p. 51, Orazio's
petition to the Council of Ten,
dated March 20, 1562, to be al-
lowed to carry arms.
Chap. YIL] THE SECOND "ENTOMBMENT." 275
November 1557, and received shortly after at Trent
Ly the jjostmaster De Tassis, had never reached its
destination. He desired search to be made for the
missing work, and gave directions for the discovery
and punishment of the thieves.""
Tln-ee or four days after Leone's attempt on Orazios
life, but before news of it had reached Venice, Titian
wrote to Philip the Second, alluding to the loss of the
"Entombment" and announcing the completion of two
compositions of "Diana and Actreon," and ''Diana
and Calisto."
TITIAN TO rillLIP THE SECOND.
'' ^lu.ST PoTKNT CaTHULIC KlNCJ,
" I hiive already finished the two " poesies "
intended for your majesty, one of Diana suri)rised Itv
Actseon at the fountain, ;iiiother of Calisto's weakness
exposed by the nymphs at Diana's Itidding. When
your Majesty wishes to have them, nothing will l)e
J 1 ceded l)ut to name the person to whom they should
be sent, in order that no accident may occur as in
the case of the 'Entombment,' which was lost on the
road. I hope that if ever any tilings of mine have
been thought worthy of favour, these will not be found
unwoi'thy. After their despatch 1 shall devote myself
entirely to furnishing the ' Christ on the Mount,' and
the other two poesies which I have already begun — I 1
mean tlu; ' Europa on the shoulders of the Bull,' and
' Acta-'on torn by his Hounds.' In tliese pieces I shall
* Philip the Second to Count do Luna, Jan. 20, loo9, in Appendix.
T 2
270 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. YH.
put all the knowledge wliieli God lias given me, and
wliicli lias always been and ever will be dedicated to
the service of your Majesty. That you will please to
accept this service so long as I can use my limbs, borne
down by the weight of age, I hope, and though the
burden be hea^y, it becomes lighter as if by a miracle,
A^^ienever I recollect that I am livino- to serve and do
something grateful to your Majesty. I beg further
to say that my bad fortune has not allowed that after
so much time and labour and trouble, I should enjoy
anything of the pensions due to me according to the
schedules of your ^Majesty from the royal agents at
Genoa, which I can only attribute to my ill luck, since
the kindness of your Majesty in this respect has
always been great, though your servant Titian has not
the less remained in his old condition, in so far as he
is mthout the payment of his due. May 1 humbly
beg your ]\Iajesty to cause such provision to be made .
as shall appear most opportune, and, with all reverence,
I offer and recommend myself, and kiss your royal
and Catholic hand.
"Your Catholic Majesty's
" Most humble Servant,
" TiTiANO Vecellio, pittorc.'"
"From Venice, June 19, 1559."
To this letter Philip replied on the 13th of July
from Ghent, ordering the "poesies" to be sent to
Genoa, carefully packed so as not to be lost after the
fashion of the " Entombment," recommending the rapid
* The original is in Appendix.
Chap. VH.]
TITIAN'S " POESIES."
completion of the " Christ on the Mount," and other
"poesies," asking for a second version of the "Entomb-
ment " to replace that which was missing, and con-
cludin2; with an assurance that orders had been issued
as to the pensions which would preclude all further
chance of failure.'"
In spite of Titian's statement that he had akeady
finished the " Diana and Actpeon," and the "Diana and
Calisto," there still remained something to be done to
those canvases when Garcia Hernandez, the Spanish
secretary at Venice, wrote the following despatch to
Philip the Second.
SECRETARY GARCIA IIEKXAXDEZ TO I'lIILir THE
SECOND.
" Titian will have finished the ' Diana and Actax)n '
in twenty days, because they are large and involve
much work, and he wauts to do some little things to
them which no one else would think necessary. With
these he will give me the ' Christ in the Tomb,' of
larirer size than that which he sent before, the
figures being entire, and a smaller fancy piece of a
Turkish or Persian girl — all excellent.
" The pictures and the glass panes, as well as the
glasses for drinkino- water and those for drinkinc^
wine, will all be despatched at one time
" From Venice, August 3, .1559."
* The original (Estado, Leg",
1336) in the Simancas archive
coincides as to the text with the
^e^sion in Ridolfi'sMarav., i. 'IVl.
But the date is erroneously given
by Ridolfi as 1558, being in reality
1559.
278 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CiiAr. VII.
We see by this letter how anxious Titian was, even '
in his old age, to finish ; and how true it is, as Vasaii '
says, that pictures which seem to have been dashed
off rapidly were really laboured so as to look as if they
were executed quickly. Of interest in Garcia's letter
is the allusion to Venetian glass, which was now
manufactured with great delicacy and perfection in
the factories of Murano, and exported to the most
distant countries of Europe.
In September, after much filing and polishing of
his pictures, Titian delivered them M'itli the following
letter to the Kino;.
TITIAN TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
"I send your Majesty the 'Actseon,' 'Calisto,'/
and ' Christ in the Sepulchre,' in place of that which
was lost on the way, and I rejoice that though larger,
the last of these pictures has succeeded better than
the first, and is more worthy of acceptance from your
Majesty. I attribute this improvement in a great
measure to the grief which I felt at the loss of the
first example, which proved a strong stimulus to
exertion in this and my other works, in order doubly
to recoup the damage. If contrary to your expecta-
tion and my intention, so much time has been spent
in finishing and sending them (for I confess three
years and more have gone by since I began them), I
beg your Majesty not to attribute this result to my
neglect, for I can say with truth that I have hardly
attended to anything else, as your secretary Garcia
Hernando can tell you, who has often pressed me,
Chap. VII.] TITLIX AXD APELLES. 279
though I did not require pressing, and the cause was
simply the quantity of time required, and my fervent
wish to produce something worthy of your ^lajesty,
which made me forget fatigue, and put all my industiy
into the poli.shing and completing of them. Is it not
indeed my greatest study to serve your Majesty 1 Is
it not my only aim in life to refuse the service of
otlier princes and cling to that of your ^lajesty 1
AVhat painter, old or new, can boast as I can of being
bcnignantly asked, as well as urged by his own will,
to serve such a King? I hold myself to be so flattered
Ijy this, that I dare to alHrni I do not envy the famous
Apelles, who was so dear to Alexander the Great, and
I say so with reason, since, if I consider the dignity
of the monarch he seiwed, I fail to see who else is
more like Alcxandt.T in all parts that are admirable
and W(nthy of praise than your jMajesty. And as to
dependents, though it is true my small merit is not by
any means comparable to the excellence of that
sino-ular man, it is enough for me that as he had the
grace of his king, I ho.ve the feeling that I also possess
the favour of mine. Because the authority of your
kindly judgment, united to the regal magnanimity
continuously shown to me, makes me equal to Apelles,
and Y)erhaps his superior in the opinion of men. And
so, in order to show my gratitude in every way I can
think of, I send, besides the other pictures, the portrait
of her who is absolute patroness of my soul, and that
is her who is dressed in yellow, who, though in truth
only painted, is the dearest and most precious thing I
could send away. But here I am a living witness of
280 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CHAr. VII.
your Majesty's humane and gentle nature, which gives
courage to one who in respect of your high rank is so
humble to correspond with your Majesty by letter,
and so enough as to paintings. I wrote some days
ago to your Majesty in reference to the assassination
of my son Horatio, at Milan, by Leone Aretino, and
of the mortal wounds which he received, praying for
the deserved punishment of the offender after the
custom of your Majesty's justice. Process was issued
in due form against him, and great effort was made
after his recovery by my son to hasten the trial, and
for this he was forced to spend much of the money
obtained by your Majesty's bounty at Milan, but the
wretch is so clever and so favoured on account of the
name which he bears of Statuary to your Majesty,
and my son is so much a stranger at Milan, that the
case has been subjected to delays, and will probably
end in smoke, to the great detriment of justice, and
the more so because my son has come home, and there
is no one at Milan who can counteract the cunning
and ways of this wicked man. I therefore most
humbly pray that your Majesty will deign to give
orders to the Senate to hasten the judgment and
exercise justice in a manner suitable to so great an
offence, showing that your Majesty holds me to be
one of your servants. My son Horatio above named
(I had almost forgotten) sends with mine a small
picture of ' Christ on the Cross,' painted by himself.
Will your Majesty deign to accept it as a small
testimony of his great desire to imitate his father in
serving you? And with all inclination of the heart, I
Chap. VII.]
"DL\NA AND ACT.i:ON."
281
and he recommend ourselves, and I kiss your Royal
and Catholic hand.
^ " Your Catholic Majesty's
" Most humble and devoted Sers^ant,
" TiTIANO VeCELLIO."'"'
" From Ven'ICE, Sept. 22, 1559."
In a minute of two despatches of Septemher 27
and October 11, Garcia Hernandez noted :
" That I have sent to Genoa the glass panes and
glasses and the pictures of Titian, according:; to his
Majesty's orders. Titian gives the subjects which he
sends in a letter of the 23rd of September, and adds a
canvas from his son Horatio, the same who was struck
by Leone Ai'etino, and as to tliis, Titian begs your
Majesty to move the Senate that justice may be done
in a manner suitable to the enormity of the delincpient's-
offence." t
Time sped on, and Titian heard no more of his
works or their reception ; Init after the slow fashion
of the period — as we shall see — they reached their
destination, and gave pleasure to Philip the Second.
Since the days of his connection with Alfonso of
Ferrara, Titian had never composed any mythological
subjects of equal importance, in respect of incident
and number of figures, as the " Diana and Calisto," or
the " Diana and Actseon ; " but now, as then, he
* Seo the original in Appendix,
t See the minutes in Ap-
pendix, and see also Garcia Her-
nandez's charge for sending the
pictures in an account dated
Oct. 1, 1563, in Appendix.
282 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YII.
spared no pains to produce engaging pictures ; and
if he failed to come up to the standard which he
had himself set up, the fault lay in circumstances
over which he had no control. In looking at the
gorgeous canvases which now form part of the Elles-
mere collection, we are bound to remember that
they were finished when Titian was eighty-two years
old; and on this account alone we must look for a
certain bluntness of expression and a certain ab-
sence of delicacy in contour. One canvas represents
Diana surprised at the bath by Actoeon, the other
Calisto's shame discovered by the Goddess of the
Chase. Both are made up of figures two-thirds of
life-size.
As Actseon breaks on the solitude of Dictynna his
quiver is on his back, his dogs are at his heels. At
sight of the goddess his arms are thrown up in sur-
prise, and his bow falls stringless to the ground.
Diana is parted from the luckless hunter by the
breadth of a rill. The diadem is on her forehead, and
the pearls in her hair, but she sits naked on her dress,
and her purple mantle lies on the bank, whilst the
nymph at her side wipes the water from her foot. At
Actseon's appearance Diana, droops her head, and a
negress behind her draws together, though vainly, the
mantle from below, the muslin from above ; a little
dog barks furiously the while across the water ; on
the marble steps of a fountain in rear of the rill a girl
with a mirror clutches the fold of a red cloth hanging
from the arch above her, a second gathers herself
together, a third turns her back, and a fourth hides
ClIAP. VII.]
"DLIXA .VXD ACT^OX."
283
all but her fiice Leliiiid a square pillar. The scene is
laid ill a glade, not " of cypress and pine/' The foun-
tain is a ruin of rustic and antique manufacture, with
marble steps and bas-reliefs, defiant of the poet's
lines —
" . . . . antrum nemorale recessu,
Arte laboratuin nulla, simulaverat arteni
Ingenio uatura suo." *
Through the archings of the fountain the eye wanders
to blue hills and Id'owii ranges fitfully lighted by
a warm sun in a sky swept with clouds. t
As Diana })repares for the bath she sits on a hank
at the fountain ed^c. Inhind her is a irrovc of luxu-
riant trees, from wliich a gorgeous tapestry depends.
Her left arm is on the shoulder of a nymph, who
.stoops to her lovingly; at her sides two huntresses
with their dog; kneeling in the brook a nymph
bathinir lier foot ; on the cfrass with her lei^s in the
stream a girl with a feathered dart, and near her a
hound at full-length on the sward. Ikit on the oppo-
* Ovid, Motamor. iii. I.j.j.
t This canvas is signed on the
pillar to the right, " titianvs f."
Xow in tho Ellesmoro collnction ;
it was in tho royal palace at
Madrid when Charles Stuart, as
heir apparent, made his apjicar-
anco at the Spanish Court. All
the light pictures of Titian, tho
"Danae," "Adonis," "Rape of
Europa," tho " Diana and Ac-
treon," and the " Calisto," were
packed as presents to Charles.
I'jighty years later tho two last
named pictures, together with the
"Europa," were given by Philip
tho Fifth (1704) to the Marquis
of Grammont, who took them to
France. They passed into the
Orleans Gallery, at tho sale of
which the " Act toon " and. "Ca-
listo " were bought for the Duke
of Bridgwater for £2500. Tho
small version of the ''Actreon,"
No. 482 at Madrid, m. 0.96 h.
by 1.07, is a copy, probably by
Del Maze. (Compare Don P. do
Madrazo's Madrid Catalogue, p.
270. ) Tho copy was photographed
by Laurent.
284
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VII.
site or left side of the picture, two nymphs are hold-
ing the hapless Calisto, who struggles on the ground
with shame in her face as the girl, her companion,
stands over her and raises the veil that conceals her
secret. At sioht of her form Diana stretches out her
hand and bids her begone. Here, too, the fountain
is faced with marble. A square plinth adorned
with bas-reliefs acts as pedestal to Cupid, who pours
water out of a vase, and behind the fountain
stretch the groves and hills of Cynthia's hunting-
grounds.'""
It would be vain to look for the poetry and fresh-
ness of the Bacchanals in these late creations of
Titian's brush. The flash and fire of youth were
leaving the artist as they had left the man. There
are countless subtleties of thought and of hand
which make up the charm of the " Bacchus and
Ariadne" that do not recur in the "Actaeon." There
are bits of cleverness on the other hand in the "Calisto"
which are not to be matched in the "Bacchanal."
But the yield of the earlier time, take it all in all, is
sweeter and of better savour than that of the later
* This picture is signed on the
plinth of the fountain, '"I'ITIAJTYS,
P." It has the same history as
the " Actiseon," hangs in the
EUesmere collection, and was
bought for £2500 from the Orleans
Gallery for the Duke of Bridg-
water. The bas-reliefs on the
fountain represent Diana hunt-
ing. A, smaller copy of the
" Calist*^ probably by del Mazo,
is No. 483 in the Madrid Museum.
It is photographed by Laurent.
Both the EUesmere canvases are
injured by abrasion, restoring,
and bad varnishes. The subject,
"Diana and Calisto," was one
of which Charles had a repre-
sentation ; but the name of the
painter is not given. See Mr.
Cartwright's notes in the Aca-
demy for 1874, p. 268.
Cii.vr. YII.] TITIAN'S LAST M.VXXER. 28J
I
period. Kich, exuberant, jiud bright the works of the
master always were, but there is something mysterious
and unfathomable in the lirightness and sweetness of
his prime which far exceeds in charm the cleverness
of his old ao'c. When we look at the o-roves of Xaxos
or Cypinis, there arc enchantments there which we do
not find again in Arcadia ; though the distant hills
and wooded slopes of Gargaphia are lit with a sun as
<Toro;eous as that which shines in tlie reahn of Bacchus.
Tlie god, who springs from his car to seek Ariadne,
M'hilst his followers dance after him on the sward, are
much more ideally beautiful than Acta^on, or the
goddess and her maids whom Acta?on surprises.
Handsome in .shape and proportion, the latter have
not quite that perfume of youth and health and
vijTour which is so strikini;- in the former. Titian
was never more thoroughly master of the secrets of
the human framework than now that he was aoed.
Never did he less require the model. AVliat his mind
su2:2:e.sted issued from his hand as Minerva issued from
the brain of Jove. His power was the outcome of years
of experience, which made every stroke of his brush
both sure and telling. But years had also made him
a realist, and practice had given him facility ; and
both produced a masterly ease which is not always
quite so like nature as earlier and more studied,
though perhaps more timid laljour. Yet it would
be a mistake to think that the facility apparent
on the surface of these pictures was the result of
mere rapidity of conception and handling. On the
contrary, there is every reason to think that Titian
286 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIL
devoted both time and study to his work, and it is
one of his clevernesses here to conceal this strain upon
his faculties. His composition is arranged in favour-
able and graceful lines. His forms are beautiful and
of more slender scantlino; than of old. A rare intelli-
gence of plastic definition is displayed in shapes
modelled with substantial pigment and breadth of
touch, but rich in tone and enamelled surface ; and
additional effect is given by a flush of warm tinted
light which merges into brown and transparent
shadow. It may be thought that Titian indulged
in excess of bituminous rubbino-s and blurred stroke.
But this was a trick of execution which had become
habitual to him, and was after all not uh suited to,
nudes seen in the open air of summer, and Titian was
too much of a philosopher and naturalist to wander
into haze or supernatural halo in a scene altogether of
earth. There is unhappily no English word to convey
the idea of that form of execution which in French
and Italian is expressed by " chic " and " di ^^ra^ica."
It came very late to Titian, comparatively early to
Paolo Veronese and other Venetian craftsmen ; but it
would be very hasty to assume that because the same
phenomena are apparent at about the same time in
the younger and older master, the latter came under
the influence of the former in an absolute sense.
Whilst Titian was completing the " Diana and
Actseon " or the " Entombment," Paolo Veronese had
been composing his celebrated " Feast in the House of
Simon," wdiere, on twenty-five square yards of canvas,
he combined palatial architecture and costly raiment-
Chap. YII.] TITIAN AXD PAUL VERONESE. 287
painting with every form of realism that an observant
eye could light upon. The size and splendour of the
picture no doubt gave it a singular attraction, but one
of its characteristic features was a peculiar scheme of
colour.'" The system illustrated in this and cognate
works, less familiar to an executant in oils than to
<jne accustomed to fresco, mainly consisted in setting
pigments of garish tints in such contrasts as would
neutralise each other by juxtaposition. Oriental
weavers had for centuries illustrated this theory in
practice. Paolo applied it not only to distinguish the
parts of one dress, but to distinguish one dress and
figure from the other ; decomposing even the tints of
Hesb and settino; colours tofjether without transition
that they might act as complementary of each other.
With this method he could produce brilliant, spark-
ling, and even gaudy work — l)ut work that inevitably
paled before the rich suftusion of tone which always
covered Titian's canvases. It is true Titian had
become at this period more silvery than of old.
Glosses of grey and 3'ellow in flesh relieved by warm
brown recalled more than of old the prismatic tones
obtainable from silver ; but this scale in Titian was
always combined either with blending or glazings and
scumblings, forming links of transition between light;
and shadow, and were invariably subsidiary to chiaros-
curo, rich glow of complexion, landscape, or drapery.
Titian, in fact, remained a colourist in the subtlest
sense, and even now had something to teach to Paolo,
* Tho iiicturo is in tlio Gallery of Turin.
288 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VII.
who had ah^eady studied to some purpose the secrets
of such earlier pieces as the Mantuan " Entombment,"
the " Madonna " of Casa Pesaro, the " Presentation in
the Temple," the "Ecce Homo" of the Dannas, and
the " Vision of Faith to the Doge Grimani."
When he sent away the " Calisto," Titian kept a
replica or sketch model of the same size — to which,
possibly, he had given a few touches of his own — and
this replica came into the collection of the Archduke
Leopold AVilliam at Brussels in the seventeenth cen-
tury, and from thence to Vienna, where it now
remains. Whether this was the sketch of which
history records that it passed, at Titian's death, into
the workshop of Tintoretto, it is impossible now to
say. At all events, in the version now at Vienna
there are some notable varieties in the action and in
the actors, and principally in the figure of Calisto,
whose shame is not as ruthlessly exposed as it is at
Madrid. But besides this change, which is merely
wrought by the addition of a little drapery, there are
others of a more decided character. The naked nymph
tearing the veil from Calisto's waist is replaced by one
that is dressed and kneeling. The nymph at Diana's
foot has disappeared. A lap-dog is substituted for
the hound in the foreground, and the shape of the
fountain and landscape is changed altogether. In
treatment, again, the picture is far behind that of the
Ellesmere collection, and suggests the co-operation
-—if not indeed exclusively the hand — of Orazio,
Girolamo, or Andrea Schiavone. Numerous copies
of the "Calisto" and "Actseon," though assigned to
Chap. \I1.^ THE THIRD " ENTOMBMENT."
289
Titian, do not deserve even tliis small concession of
iiutliorsliip.'"*
In the " Entombment " wliicli accompanied tlic
"Calisto" and "Acta^on" to Madrid, Titian repeated a
subject which he had studied frequently since the first
example of it had been sent to ]\Iantua some thirty
years before. Comparing the picture as executed for
Federico Gonzaga -with that produced for Philip the
Second, we may be struck as with something familiar,
lingering undefincdly, though still indelibly, on the
mind. It is not that the theme is exactly the same in
Ijotli pieces, since different moments in the action of
entombment are represented, but that in l>uth we
* The " Calisto " at Vienna is
numbered 17 in the second room
of the first lloor iit the 15elvedero.
It is on canvas, o ft. 8i h. by
0 ft. 4. There are some curious
inequalities in the treatment,
which is in places thin, diy, and
flat, in others full and pastose.
In many of the forms the finish
is quite beneath Titian, and the
trees are particularly like the
work of Schiavono. Deserving of
note, to fix the vaiiations from
the Madrid picture, are the foun-
tain, which hero is a basin, on a
pedestal merging into dolphins at
the water's edge. On a shaft
above the basin Minerva stands,
with a stag at her side ; water
streams from her breasts and
from the stag's nose. A yellow
festoon hangs from the tree to the
left, and to the right there is a
rainbow in the sky. This pieco
was engraved in Toniers' gallery
work. There are also, engravings
VOL. II.
of the subject by Cort and Van
Kessel. The following copies of
smaller size than the originals
exist : Academy of San Luca, at
Eome, much injured copy of tho
" Calisto;" Lord Yarl)orough, in
London, copy of tho Madrid copy
of the " Actcoon " of the EUesmero
Collection, called an original
sketch; Hampton Court, copy
again with some varieties. None
of these canvases are of the six-
teenth centuiy. A feeble copy
of tho " Act?oon " under tho name
of Paolo Veronese, is in the Nos-
titz Coll. at Prague. " Diana and
Actcoon, where Diana is near
a fountain with her nymphs,"
is one of tho pictures assigned to
Titian, size 3 ft. ;} by 3 ft. 3, once
catalogued in the Buckingham
Collection (Bathoo's Catalogue,
«. s., Y>. 2), " Actifon and Diana,"
bj' Titian, much spoiled, was ono
of the pieces in James the Second's
Collection (Bathoo, u. s.), No. 3M.
290 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. VII.
observe generally the dead body of Christ, the agony
of Mary, the grief of the Evangelist, and the wail of
the Mao-dalcn. The same fio-ures do not affect similar
action in both compositions, but certain rhythmic
movements recur, as that of the man stooping over
the form of Christ and presenting the back of his head
and frame to the spectator, and that of the Virgin
lookinsf with anouish at her Son. Besides these we
have modifications of types which are to be found as
studies of expression in single canvases. The Mag-
dalen is still the model which o-raced the " Venus-
Worship " at Madrid, or the " Entombment " of the
Louvre ; the Virgin is nearly related to the grieving
" Madonna " which we saw displayed at the death-bed
of Charles the Fifth. But here the Saviour is not
carried to the tomb, He is lowered into it, and the
sepulchre presents to us its marble sides adorned with
bas-reliefs of antique carved Avork. The legs of Christ
are nearer to us than His head. But the foreshorten-
ing is so cleverly managed that the parts which might
have seemed too near to be in focus are concealed in
the grasp of the bending Nicodemus, whilst the head
grandly reposes on the breast of Joseph, who kneels at
the opposite end of the grave with a strong grip of
the body under the arm-pit. The flexibility of the
frame, the raised legs, and hanging hand are very
grandly represented. The Virgin taking the left arm
of her Son, which she hopes to kiss, still hovers over
Him with an agonized look expressed with great force.
With equal power we note the grief of the Evangelist
behind Mary, who wrings his fingers, and the wail of
CnAr. Vn.] THE THIRD " EXTOMBMEXT."
21)1
the Magdalen, whose yellow robe flies and leaves her
white dress exposed as she comes sobbing and hair
dishevelled to catch a last glimpse of the Redeemer
There is no such o;orojeous colouring:, no such maaic
eflect of light, no such careful definition of outline, or
gloss and gi-ain of surface in this as in the Mantuan
example, l)ut it is the work of a man much more
expert and jn-actiscd than of old — of a man who knew
the laws of composition, and applied them — a man
acquainted with inexliaustible varieties of expression
— a realist who knows every action of body or limb
by heart. Less rich in tints, less engaging in form,
less select in features, the dramatis i^ersonce at
Madrid are superior to those of the Louvre, inasmuch
as they arc more true to nature and have a deeper
meaning. Less highly coloured, they bear closer
inspection, and the nude especially is modelled with
appropriate shades of tone with a decision and firm-
ness which left almost nothing for subsequent blend-
ing or s^lazinof. It is, in fact, as if we should distin-
guisli the grave doctrine and depth of Bach from the
playful and melodious power of Mozart, or compare
the profound but realistic Rembrandt with the brilliant
and cavalier-like Van Dyke.'''
* Tho canvas sent to Philip the
Second in 1559, is that which now
appears numbered 464, measuring
m. 1.37 h. by 1.75, in tho Madrid
Museum. Its history is tho same
as that of the "Diana and Ac-
tteon," and tho " Calisto." But
unUko those pieces it was not
given away to Charles .Stuart or
to the Duke of Grammont, and it
remained for centuries the orna-
ment of tho altar in the old
church (Iglcsia Vieja) at the
Escorial, after having been in
Philip's lifetime on tho altar of
tho Eoyal Chapel at Aranjucz.
On a sheet fastened to the right
side of tho sepulchre we read,
V 2
292
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CuAr. VII. ^
One copy we saw had been made of tlie ]\Iantuan
*' Entombment." But it was not made in the master's
workshop. The " Entombment " of IMadrid was fre-
quently repeated, not only by Spanish and other
craftsmen, of which examples may be found in Spain
and in England, but by Titian himself or his pupils. ''■
One of the replicas to which Titian personally may
TITIANVS VECELLR'S iEQVES CJES.
Half the composition is relieved
(to the left) on a dark wall, the
other half on a landscape. The
saint at Chiist's head is in brown,
the other at the feet is in red,
■with a striped sash. The white
winding sheet falling over the
bas-relief of the tomb gives some
subtle varieties of light. (Compare
Don P. de Madrazo's Catalogue,
u. s.) Photograph by Laurent.
* The "Entombment," like the
foregoing, in the Madrid Museum,
numbered 491, on a canvas, m.
1.30 h. by l.GS, varies in so far
that the saint on the extreme
right wears a robe embroidered
with black flowers ; the tomb is
without bas-reliefs, and the word
TITl^VXVS F. is written on the
stone of the left side. But the
execution is not that of Titian or
his pupils, but that of a Spaniard
who may be Del Mazo. (Compare
again, P. de Madi'azo, who shows
that a copy of this "Entomb-
ment " by Del Mazo, once rested
on an altar in the chapel of the
Alcazar at Madrid.) Photograph
by Laurent.
A second copy of the "En-
tombment" is still in the old
church at the Escorial, sur-
mounted by a half-length " Ma-
donna," ascribed to Titian, but
likewise a copy.
To these we add the following :
Hamilton Falacc. — This is a free
adaptation, with figures of life
size in a gloomy landscape. At
Christ's head are two bearded
men. The Magdalen wrings her
hands. The figure in the right
foreground holding the feet is only
seen to the thigh. The style is
that of a follower of the Bassani,
a Spaniard rather than an Italian,
who loses the lines of Titian's
composition, and tries in vain to
reproduce his rich colours. His
general tone is hard and red.
Amhrosiana, Alilan . — Thisagain
is a variety, with the Marys and
a standing saint in prayer to the
left ; on the base of the tomb,
TITIANVS. But the handling is
that of an imitator of the seven-
teenth century.
Torricjiani Collection, Florence.
— This again is an adaptation,
with life-size figures, of the
Madrid "Entombment," with
different dress. The figures are
all half-lengths, and lighted by a
torch held by one of the men to
the left. One of them, to the
right, is muth injured. On the
whole a poor work of the seven-
teenth century.
Cn.\r. YII.] EEPLICAS OF THE "ENTOMBMENT."
293
have coDtributed is that which came into the Mantuan
galleiy, and is traced to the collection of Charles the
First and James the Second of Eno;land.''' Another is
that which passed into the hands of the prime minister
of Spain five years before Titian's death. At a confer-
ence held between Antonio Perez and the Venetian
envoy Donato, in 1.'372, the former expressed a strong
wish to become possessed of one or two pictures by
Titian, and Donato hastened to communicate this
wish to his government. The consequence was that
the Council of Ten sent a competent judge to Titian's
house, who chose tAA'o canvases, one sacred and the
other profiine, and tliese were forwarded by the next
opportunity to Spain.t Shortly after this Antonio
Perez fell into disgrace and suffen-d imprisonment
for alleged treason. His family, in want of funds,
announced an auction of his pictures, and of these
the Imperial envoy, Khevenhiller, made a report to
Eudolf the Second, describing, amongst others, the
" Entombment " by Titian as a replica of the King's
at tlie Escorial.:}; It is not known what became of
the picture after this report, but some persons think
that it may have remained in Spain, from whence it
was taken by the Duke of Buckingham in 1G22.
There is no doubt that an " Entombment " by Titian
formed part of the Duke's Collection ; and this was
* See Bathoo's Catalogue, u. s.
The picture is missing.
t Compare Cicogna'sMS. notes,
U.S., toTiziancUo's "Aiionimo; "
and Mr. A. Baschet's contribution
on this subject to the Gazette dos
Beaux Arts, for Jan. 15, 1859,
pp. 76-9.
X Ludwig Urlich's Beitriige,
«. s., in Zeitsch. f. bild. Kunst,
V. p. 81.
294
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VII.
sold at Antwerp after his death to the agents of the
Archduke Leopold William. ''" Comparing this piece,
which is now at Vienna, \\'ith the earlier one at
Madrid, we may concede that it is the same composi-
tion, yet with varieties. For here the JMagdalen is
represented wringing her hands, whilst little more
than the head of St. John the Evangelist is seen
between the profile of the Virgin and the shoulders of
the saint next him. Unhappily the canvas appears to
have heen mutilated and patched up anew, and this
treatment may have caused injuries which prevent us
from distinguishing much of the personal labour of
Titian.t The master himself never thought out any
better design of the subject than that which he used
at Madrid ; the sketch — pen and ink and bister height-
ened with w^hite — is still preserved in the Collection of
Oxford University, and shows that Titian seldom made
preparatory paintings in oil, but simply finished large
pictures from drawings.
Whilst the " poesies " were still hanging on their
easels, though all but ready for despatch to Spain,
Cristoforo Eosa, a Brescian and gossip of Titian, had
been painting for the " Frocuratia di sopra" the
vestibule of the library at Venice, with designs
* Battoe's Catalogue, and
XrafFt's Kiit. Katalog.
t This canvas, in size 3 ft. 1|,
by 3 ft. 7, is No. 32 in the second
room, first floor, Italian Schools,
at the Belvedere of Vienna. It
has a strip of new canvas round
three sides, and is signed on the
right of the tomb, " titiakys."
The scene is in an enclosed space,
and in gloom. When in the Col-
lection of the Duke of Bucking-
ham this piece was 3 ft. h. by
4 ft. 6. It was engraved by Paul
Pontius, at Antwerp, and then
showed the full length of the
figui-es. Good photograph by
Miethke and Wawra.
CiLVP. ^^I.] FIGURE OF "WISDOM." 295
simulatinsf architectural and surface decoration. Titian
was asked by the Procuratia on the 9th of September
to value this work,'"" and it is probable that he then
executed the splendid picture of " Wisdom " which
adorns the centre of the vestibule ceiling. Paolo
Veronese, Schiavone and the rest of the young-
painters had l)een busy with the neighbouring hall a
short time before, and Paolo had received from
Titian's hands the golden collar which marked the
puljlic a})prol)ation of his skill by the Senate. We
may fancy that Titian would be anxious to show that
he too had not forgotten his craft, and we feel assured
that lie undertook the figure with a film intention to
produce something of mark. His success was fully
equal tt) his exijcctatiou. " AVisdom " is a woman of
gi-and form half rccumljcnt on a cloud, on which she
rests with her left elbow as on a pillow. On the palm
of the left hand a long scroll reposes, whilst the right
is stretched out to touch a folio held up by a winged
genius. The head is in profile crowned with laurel,
the face bending, the eye fixed on the book. Subtle
drapery falls over the bosom, to which it clings as the
cloth clings on the breast of the females in the Elgin
marbles. The yellow mantle, which is thrown over
the shoulders and fiaps in the breeze, the grand
drapery which covers the legs and shows its changing
lines of green shot with yellow, the clever ease with
which the form is thrown on the cloud, all this
betrays Titian's habitual study of the antique and
* The record is in Zanetti's I'itt. Yen., p. 339.
296
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VII.
liis intimate acquaintance with the ceiling-work of
Eaphael and Michaelangelo. It would hardly be
possible to fill an octagon field more appropriately
than this, impossible to produce anything more
abundantly graceful and elevated, or more splendidly
foreshortened. The play of light and shade combined
with that of atmosphere and colour is magic, and the
touch, broad, firm and to the purpose, cannot be
surpassed.'"'" In his old age Titian shows more clever-
ness in decorative work of this kind than in his youth
or prime, and this allegorical creation is more impres-
sive and striking than the fresco of " St. Christopher "
in the Ducal Palace or the fresco of uncertain date
which adorns the staircase near the Scala de' Giganti.t
It was during this year 1559, that Titian lost his
brother Francesco, who died at Cadore, and was
eulogised in a Latin oration by his relative Yincenzo
Vecelli. It is impossible to say how Titian received
the news of this death, nor is it known whether it
came upon him suddenly. There is no evidence to
show that he visited on this occasion the place of his
birth, to which he had been so partial in the days of
THs fine piece has been well ■with the infant Christ, who lies
photographed by Naya. The
earliest mention of it is in Bos-
chini's Eicche Miniere Sest. di S.
Marco, p. 67. Zanotto (Nuovis-
sima Guida, p. 114) assigns it,
without giving his authority, to
the year 1570.
t This fresco may be described
here. It is a lunette, in which
the Virgin is represented plaj-ing
on his back on her lap, and
catches at her veil. An angel at
each side, naked, winged, and in
prayer. The whole composition
on clouds. This was once a fine
fresco, in Titian's broad manner,
but has sufiered from repainting'
to such an extent that almost all
the original beauty is gone.
CnAr. yn.] DEATH OF FEANCESCO YECELLI.
2d't
his yoiitli. Certainly the numerous duties which
devolved upon him as successor to his brother were
performed in his stead by his son Orazio, whose
presence at Cadorc in the spring of 15G0 is proved by
more than one record of undeniable authenticity.''"
But we can hardly think that Titian would absent
himself altogether from a family gathering of this
kind, and it is easy to suppose that he came up to
Cadorc and made a short stay tliere, when perhaps he
undertook to paint for the chapel of the Vecelli the
well-known altarpicce which still adorns the church
of the Pieve. Between promising and executing an
altarpiece at this period of the master's life there was
a wide difference, and it would seem that Titian was
not by any means ambitious of leaving one of his
best creations at Cadorc. But still if he did not take
much personal pains with such a work, he deputed
some one not quite incapable to take his place, and
the result was a picture which has the merit of being
at least Titianesque.t The Virgin is represented
bendino: over the form of the naked infant Christ, to
whom she gives the breast. To tlie right St. Andrew
stoops under the weight of a large cross. To the left
St. Titian of Odcrzo, a young and handsome prelate
with an eaole nose and a slio;ht l)lack beard and
moustache, kneels in a white pivial and mitre with his
gloved hands joined in prayer, whilst an acolyte with
* Seo a record of May 21, 1560,
in Appendix.
t Vasari (xiii. 31) states dis-
tinctly that Titian painted this
l)icturo, which, however, ho only
describes from hearsay.
298 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. VII.
a grey beard in black cap and gown carries the
crozier. According to a tradition confirmed by
Titianello's " anonimo," the bald and bearded St.
Andrew is Francesco Vecelli and the acolyte is Titian
drawn by himself ; and it is undeniable that there is
some ground for acknowledging tradition in respect of
the latter/"' But as to St. Andrew, the legend, old
and respectable though it be, can scarcely be accepted
as trustworthy, and judging of the picture profes-
sionally, no critic will admit that it bears scrutiny as a
w^ork of Titian. It is in fact a homely and rather
artless combination of portraits freely handled and
gay in tone but sloppy in touch, and of that empty
uniformity which comes of using superabundant
varnish medium. The canvas displays some of the
technical habits of Titian without his skill and force,
and it must for that reason be assigned to some one
familiar with his style, who can be no other than
Orazio Vecelli. Titian thus undertook to paint an
altarpiece upon which he scarcely left a stroke, if
indeed he touched it at all ; and this accounts for the
want of character which appears in the likeness of
himself, which instead of having the marked and
noble lines conspicuous in the great examples of
Berlin and Madrid is a mere generalization of his
features. Of Francesco Vecelli, his relative Vincenzo
said : " erat ei species et forma admirabilis.^t This
but ill suits the face depicted under the name of St.
Andrew, whose air and shape are not only homely and
* Tizianello's Anon., p. 8.
t Orazione, Panegirica, n. s., in Ticozzi, p. 323.
Chap. Vn.] VOTIYE ALTAR-PIECE, CADORE.
299
vulgar, but iii type and mould altogether different
from Titian.""'
* This canvas, in the Pieve, is
2 ft. h. by 4 ft. 3 in length, and
has suffered from a curious
mutilation. The Madonna and
Christ, with a fragment of the
St. Andrew (the whole forming a
rectangle about half as large as
the picture), was cut out by a
thief, but on being recovered was
sewn, on again. The picture in
consequence is injured, and to
this damage the usual cleaning
and restoring must bo added.
The canvas is coarse in textui*e,
and upon this gi-ound pigments
have been used with copious di-
luted medium. The forms ai-e
unusually short and thickset for
Titian. There is a woodcut of
the altarpicco in Mi-. Gilbert's
Cadore. But it was engraved by
Lefcbre. (Compare Vas. xiii. 31,
and Eidolfi, Mar. i. 265.) When
Ticozzi wrote his lives of the Vc-
celli, the picture had been with-
di-awn from the Pieve to the
house of Dr. Taddeo Jacobi, of
Ciidore (Ticozzi, it. s., llo). It
has since been restored to its
original i)lacc.
CHAPTER YIII.
Paolo and Giulia da Ponte, Irene and Emilia of Spilimberg. — Their
Portraits. — The Cornaro Family at Alnwick. — "Epiphany" at
Madrid, and numerous Peplicas of the same. — Victories of Caesar.
— Magdalens. — "Venus of Pardo." — "Christ in the Garden." — •
Titian and Correggio. — The " Europa" at Cobham. — Titian begins
the "Last Supper." — "Crucifixion" at Ancona. — "St. Francis
receiving the Stigmata," at Ascoli. — Mosaics and Mosaists.—
Titian's Cartoons designed by Orazio Vecelli. — Nicholas Crasso. — ■
His Altarpiece of "St. Nicholas" by Titian.— " St. Jerome" at
the Brera. — " Venus with the Mirror." — Loss of Titian's Venetian
Pictures by Fire. — " The Last Supper" at Venice and theEscorial.
— Portrait of the Queen of the Eomans. — Commission for the
"Martyrdom of St. Lawrence." — Titian visits Brescia. — Titian,
A. Perez, and Philip the Second. — Canvases of Brescia Towti
Hall. — "The Last Supper" at the Escorial. — Its Mutilation. —
Titian and the Milanese Treasury. — The " Transfiguration," the
" Annunciation," and " St. James of Compostella."— Titian
employs Cort and Boldrini as Engravers. — Vasari's Visit to
Venice. — Pictures at that time in Titian's House. — Allegories. —
Titian joins the Florentine Academy.
Italy, at the close of the sixteenth century, was
still the land of heroines ; it was the only country in
Europe capable of producing women like Vittoria
Colonna, Veronica Gambara, and Isabella of Este.
Ladies of birth and fortune in those days were either
confined to the solitudes of convents, or bred up after
the fashion of men. When they studied at aU, they
learnt Latin and Greek, or they read translations of
the best classic authors, and when they had finished
this course of instruction, they issued into the world.
Chap. YIH.]
IIEEOINES.
301
combining the cliarms of literary converse with those
more natural to their sex. Such a woman, in 1559,
was Irene of Spilimberg, avIio died at the age of
twenty, with the fame of classic learning, of poetic
gifts, and artistic acquirements in music and })ainting.
That a person so gifted should have lived at Venice
without being connected in some manner with Titian,
was not to be expected ; and, though her knowledge
of painting was confessedly lower than that which she
displayed in other fonns of culture, it was not the less
re<Tarded as a loss to the workl tliat she should have
been carried off without a chance of improving it.*
Titian was well acquainted with Paulo da Petite, the
Venetian patriciiin, Irene's grandfather, lie was on
terms of friendship with Oiidia da Ponte, Paolo's
dauLihter and Irene's mother, wlio held one of his
children at the baptismal font.t AVhen Giulia married
Adrian of Spilimberg, Titian probably visited the
possessions of that noljleman, in Friuli, and particu-
larly the Castle of Spilimljcrg, where early in the
century Pordenone had left some of his frescos. After
the death of Adrian, and the second marriao-e of his
widow, Irene and her sister were taken to the house
of their grandfather at Venice, where they received
the manly education of which a sketch has just been
given ; and amongst the masters to whom Irene was
indebted for lessons, Titian appears most prominently. J
. ■* 8eG Dionisio Atanagi,Piiinodi
diversi in morto della Signoia
Irene, 8vo, Von. 1561 ; and Ma-
niago, Stor. d. b. arteFriul., n. s.,
pp. l2o, 280, and;J71.
t Vasari, xiii. 41.
t Atanagi and Maniago, u. s.
302 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. VIH.
Count Fabio da Maniago, to whom Ave owe the only
trustworthy account that exists of painting in Friuli,
being distantly related to the clan to which Adrian of
Spilimberg belonged, inherited some of his family
pictures, and describes three of them, painted by Irene^
"Noah entering the Ark," the "Deluge," and the
" Flight into Egypt."* At Irene's death in December,
1559, Dolce wrote a sonnet, asking Titian to collect
his strength, and furnish to the world a portrait of the
heroine ; and when Titian answered the call, he not
only furnished a likeness of Irene, but one of her elder
sister Emilia, both of which are still preserved in the
house of her kinsman at Maniasjo. If in the first of
these portraits we miss the beauties which inspired
for a moment the Muse of Tasso,t it is, perhaps, only
because time has injured the canvas, Avhich restorers
did their utmost completely to destroy. But the picture
was at best a reminiscence preserved after dciith of a
lady who was described in her lifetime as beautiful
and Mr. Irene is represented almost at full length
and large as life, in a portico, from which a view is
seen of a landscape, with a shepherd tending his flock,
and an unicorn to indicate the lady's maiden condition.
Her head is turned to the left : showing auburn hair
tied with a string of pearls. Eound her throat is a
necklace of the same. Her waist is bound with a
chain girdle, and over her bodice of red stuff a jacket
of red damask silk is embroidered with gold, and
fringed at the neck with a high standing muslin collar.
* Maniago, p. 245. f Atanagi, u. s.
gkaf. vin.]
lEENE OF SPILIMBEEa.
303
A band hanging from the shouldei-s and passing
beneath one arm is held in the right hand, wliilst the
left is made to grasp a laurel crown, and " Si fata
tulissent" is engraved on the ]Dlintli of a pillar.
The likeness of Emilia, done, it is clear, at the same
time as that of her sister, is in the same form and
costume, but turned to the right, the distance being a
storm at sea, and a galley labouring on the waves,
all of which is displa}'ed through an opening in the
room in which Emilia is standino;. One can see that
the idea which these two portraits embody is that of
Irene going in peace from the world in which her
sister is left to encounter the storms and passions of
life*
At this period, or perhaps earlier, Titian probably
exercised his ingenuity in putting together the splendid
groups of the " Cornaro Family," which now form one
of the prime attractions of the grand Collection of
Alnwick. The absence of other works of this year,
except an " Epiphany " which w^e shall find desjmtched
to Madrid, might almost speak for L^GO. Nine feet
long, and seven feet high, this canvas contains nine
figures variously distributed about an altar on which
the Holy Sacrament is displayed. Tlic cube of the
altar stands to the right in the picture, at the top of a
flight of marl)le steps. To the left, with his hand on
* Both portraits aie rubbed
down and opaque from retouch-
ing, both are on canvas and of
life size. A copy on canvas of
the " Irene," seen to the waist, is
in the house of Sign or Gatorno,
at San Yito del Tagliamento. It
is an old picture, and probably of
the sixteenth century, but not by
Titian. The surface is injured by
stippling and tinting.
304
TITIAN: niS LIFE AND TIMES. [CiiAr. ATH.
the edge of the plinth, the ekiest member of the party
— an aged man Avith a white beard — kneels. More to
the left, ascending the steps, another grey-bearded
man looks up and presses his hand devoutly to his
breast. Both are senators in state robes of red damask,
with open hanging sleeves lined with fur. Lower
down on the same side, a younger senator also in red,
shows his face in profile, looking up, whilst in front of
him three youths are kneeling. At the foot of the
altar to the right, a little boy in red hose, lies on the
marble step with a dog in his lap, the head of which
is caressed by an elder boy with one knee to the
ground, on whose shoulder a third boy leans his hand.
All these figures are finely relieved on a sky bedecked
with clouds, forming a superb composition treated in
the broad free style which characterizes Titian's art
when Tintoretto tried to imitate its grandeur and
"senatorial dignity." Flesh or stuffs, all have their
proper value and peculiar surface, carried out with the
realistic force which distino;uishes the '\A'ork of the
master's advanced ao;e from that of the more winnino'
time when he pleased more by colour and finish than
by touch.*
* The canvas of the Cornaro
family, 6 ft. 8 h. by 8 ft. 5, was
purchased by Algernon Percy,
tenth Earl of Northumberland,
at the sale of the effects of Sir
Anthony Yjindyke in 1656. It
was engraved by Baron in London ,
in 1732. On the altar of brown
stone are a cross, two candles,
and a vase. Parts of the picture
are injured by repainting, par-
ticularly the left half of the
kneeling boy on the extreme left,
and the left hand of the boy next
him. The left hand of the boy on
the extreme right is also injured.
The surface generally is altered
by uneven cleaning and varnish.
(Exhibited at the Eoyal Academy
in 1873.) There is a small copy of
the picture assigned to " Old
Stone " in the galleiy at Hampton
Chap. YHI.] PICTUEES FOE SPAIN. 305
The " Epiphany " which Titian sent to Spain was
packed away and forwarded to its destination after the
" Entomhment/' the "Actaeon," and the " CaUsto," yet
Philip acknowledged the receipt of them all on the
same day. The time which elapsed Ijetween dispatch
and arrival of these pictures threw Titian into a fever
of suspense. On the 24th of March, 15 GO, he wrote
to the King " to ask whether they had been received.
He feared they might not have given satisfaction.
He would paint them over again. ^leanwhile he
pressed for the punishment of Leone ^Vix'tino." '""
Again, with still greater insistance, on the 22nd of
April :
TITIAN TO pniLIP THE SECOND.
" Seven months have elapsed since I sent the pic-
tures which your Majesty ordered of me, and as I
have received no notice of their arrival, I should
greatly rejoice to hear that they gave pleasure,
because if they should not have done so, according to
the perfect judgment of your Majesty, I should take
care to paint them afresh so as to correct past errors.
If received at last with favour, I should have more
courage to proceed with the ' Fable of Jupiter and
Europa' and the 'Story of Christ in the Garden,' and so
to do something that might not be thought altogether
unworthy of so great a King. The letters with which
Court. A drawang assigned to
Titian, in the Wicar Museum at
Lillo, represents a mother at a
table surrounded by nine chil-
dren. The catalogue calls this
VOL. II.
"the Cornai-o family," but on
what grounds does not appear.
• Titian to Philip the Second,
March 24, loGO, in Appendix.
306
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. Till.
I was favoured by your Majesty in respect of the
money assigned to me at Genoa have not had any
effect ; from which it appears that he who can con-
quer the most powerful and proud of his enemies is
not able to secure the obedience of his ministers, and
I do not see how I can hope ever to obtain the sums
granted to me by your Majesty's grace. I therefore
humbly beg that the obstinate insolence of these sub-
ordinates may be chastised, either by ordering that my
claims should be instantly satisfied, or by transferring
the order for payment to Venice or elsewhere, so that
your humble servant shall be enabled to obtain the
fruits of your Majesty's liberality. My devotion
further prompts me to ask your Majesty to order that
the glorious and immortal victories of Caesar should
be painted as a memorial to posterity, and of these I
should wish to be the first to paint one, as a sign of
gratitude for the many benefits I have received from
their Caesarean and Catholic Majesties. So I should
esteem it a favour of your Majesty to let me know the
light and configuration of the rooms where these pic-
tures are to hang, and meanwhile, &c.'"*
" Your Majesty's humble servant."
[No Signature.]
"From Venice, A^ril 22nd, 1560."
* No allusions but these occur
in Titian's correspondence to
" Csesar's Victories." But it is
remarkable that in 1557 Don
Luis Davila caused " the battles
of Charles the Fifth" to be
painted in fresco in his palace at
Plasencia, in Spain,— as supposed
— from Titian's designs (see Stir-
ling's Convent Life of Charles the
Fifth, U.S., p. 149); and similar
designs are again alluded to as
having been used at a festival
given by the Emperor Charles
the Sixth at Brague in 1723. (See
Gio. Pietro Zanotti, Storia dell*
Chap. YIII.] TITIAN'S PENSION PAID. 307
It is to be presumed tliat this and the previous
letter were written for the purpose of being read to
Garcia Hernandez, and that Titian after reading them
was asked to leave them as memoranda in the presses
of the Spanish Embassy. We cannot otherwise explain
their preservation without signatures in the archives
of Simancas.'"'
It was not till spring of 1561 that Titian heard, and
then only by indirect channels, that his pictures had
been received and approved.
TITLAN" TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
" I learnt by letters from Dellino that your Majesty
was pleased with the pictures which I sent of ' Di;i.na
at the Fountain,' the ' Fable of Calisto,' the ' Dead
Christ,' and the ' Kings of the East,' at which I am
the more content, as my greatest happiness is to find
that my works have met with approval from so great
a King. I now thank your Majesty anew for the two
thousand scudi, of which payment was ordered three
years since iu Genoa, although your generous intent
was not fulfilled, your Majesty's orders were not
obeyed, and I have been suljjected to severe losses.
Kesting my hopes on the payment of the money, I
had bought some possessions for the support of myself
and my childi'cn, which, to my great distress, I have
been obliged to sell, and I now supplicate your
Majesty most humbly that since your Higlmess
Accadomia Clemontina, Bologna,
1739, vol. ii. p. 24, quoted by
Ciani in Storia del Pop" Cadorino,
u. s., ii. note to 319.
* See the original, of April 22,
in Appendix.
X2
SOS TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YIII.
deigned to grant me tlie said two tliousand scudi,
whieli it has been my misfortune not to obtain, your
Highness should order that they be paid to me here
at Venice. As an intercessor in the case, I have
prepared a picture in which the Magdalen appears
before you with tears and as a sup])liant in favour of
your most devoted servant. But before sending this
I wait to be informed by your ]\lajesty to whom it
shall be consigned, that it may not be lost like the
' Christ ; ' and, in the meanwhile, I shall get ready
the ' Christ in the Garden ' and the ' Poesy of
Europa,' and pray for the happiness Avhich your
Eoyal Crown deserves.
"Your Majesty's humble servant,
" TiTIANO.
" From VENICE, April 2nd, 1561.
In a concise marginal note to this letter Philip
the Second MTote, as if surprised : "It seems to me
that this matter has already been arranged, and that
w'ritten order was sent to pay and settle what is here
stated." But this was a mistake, which, however, was
soon after corrected.
The " Epiphany" sent by Titian to Madrid in 1560
is now in the Madrid Museum, being, as it were, the
first of a series of replicas, of which one or more may
have been finished by pupils in Titian's work-room.
The longitudinal canvas, filled with figures of half the
life-size, is divided into groups, the chief of which is
that of the Virgin and Child, on the left, seated under
a thatched pent-house with St. Joseph behind her and
a kneeling king in front who kisses the Saviour's tiny
Chap. Yni.] THE "EPIPHANY." 309
foot. Beliind the kino- come tlie two monarclis his
companions, with a suite of riders, led horses, and
camels in a gay landscape, lighted by the rays of the
rising sun. As a worldly scene of pomp and splen-
dour, with people in lively motion, in the spirit of the
great "Eccc Homo" of 1.343, this is a picturesque
composition, the model of which probably inspired
the Bonifacios and Bassanos, who <2:ave its touch of
fjenre to the later art of the Venetians, a model, too,
in the spirit and fasliion of those which assumed
such a monumental o-randeur in tlie hands of Paolo
Veronese. But here Titian seems to be represented in
many parts of the composition by proxy ; and there
are fine groups, such as that of the Virgin and her
adorers to the left, whicli are not to be matched in
those to the right, where indeed some disciple of the
master appears to have painted Titian himself on a
horse amongst the suite.'" The very picturesqueness
of the subject caused it to be frequently copied — once
l)y a Spaniard, whose version in the Escorial bears the
name of Titian ; once or twice in Italy, where painters
whose style recalls that of Schiavoue and the Bassani,
produced the repetitions of the Munro and Ambro-
siana Collections. t
* This canvas is no-w No, 484 bclo-w the master's powers, the
in the Madrid Museum, and
measures m. 1"41 h. by 2'19.
t The replica at the Escorial
is in the old church, signed
in the foreground to the left,
" TITIANVS." Surmounting tho
picture is an " Ecce Homo," also
ascribed to Titian. Both are
"Ei)iphany" being probably by
a Sjjaniard.
The repetition in the Munro,
now Butler Johnstone, Colloctiou
has much the character of Schia-
vooe or Bassano, the shadows
being dark and bituminous, and
tho sui-face generally without th
310
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YHI.
In the course of summer 1561, peremptory orders
were issued by Philip the Second to the treasurers at
Genoa to pay Titian two thousand scudi, and on
receipt of these the money was quickly sent to Venice.
But Titian's claim was for o;old, and the Genoese had
paid him in ducats, which entailed a loss to the
painter of two hundred pieces. The letter of acknow-
ledgment which he addressed to the King was written
under the influence of this defalcation, and assumed
in consequence a tone of complaint rather than of
thanks.
TITIAN TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
"Most Potent Catholic King,
"Thanks to your Majesty's kindness I have
at last received the money from Genoa, and I now
most humbly incline myself and give thanks for the
favour which, since it frees me from some embarrass-
ment, will I hope enable me to spend the rest of my
life in peace in the service of your Majesty. True
indeed, I have received 200 ducats less than your
Majesty's first schedule ordered, because the last did
not specify that I should be paid in gold ; but your
Majesty will doubtless have the matter rectified and
hrio of Titian. This jiicture once
belonged to Miss Piogers.
No. 170, at the Ambrosiana of
Milan, is a good old copy in the
style of that of the Munro Col-
lection. There is a tradition that
it was ordered by Cardinal Far-
nese for the King of France, but
that it never left Italy, and being
purchased by San Carlo Bor-
romeo, it was left to the Milan
Hospital, from whence it came
into the hands of Cardinal Fe-
derico Borromeo, and thence into
the Ambrosiana. (Notices in tbe
Inventor}' of the Ambrosiana.)
Chap. VIII.] THANKS FROM PHILIP THE SECOND. 311
I shall get the difference, which will be of the greatest
use to me. 1 still await your ^lajesty's directions to
know to whom I shall deliver the ' Mau'dalen ' which
I promised long ago, and which I have completed in
such a manner that, if ever your Majesty was pleased
with any work of mine, your ^lajesty will be pleased
with this. Your Majesty may send at leisure a
trusty person to receive it that it may not be lost
like the ' Christ ' and other pieces some time since.
Meanwhile, I shall proceed with the ' Christ in the
Garden,' the ' Europa ' and the otlier paintings wliieli
I have already designed to execute for your Majesty,
to wlioni I humbly offer, &c.
" Your Catholic ^lajesty's most liumble servant,
" TiTiAXO Vecellio.'^
"From Vexice, the llth of Aurjust, 1561."
i i^rccis of this letter laid l^efore the King contains
the followino^ marfriual memoranda in his own liaud :
1. Send the money (200 scudi) from here, which
will be least inconvenient.
2. Let the picture go to Garcia Hernandez, and
write to him to foi-ward it by a safe conveyance with
some more of the glass previously bought at Venice.
\\. Tell Titian to hasten the completion of the
pictures of which he speaks and send them to the
secretary, and write an order in my name that they
go by safe conveyance, and write further that they be
despatched with similar care from Genoa.t
* Soo tho oi'iginal iu Appondix. t Tho original is in Appendix.
312 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
The letter embodying these instructions to Titian
exists in Italian and in Spanish. The former is dated
October 22, 1561, the latter by a clerical error,
October 22, 1565. Both were inclosed to the secre-
tary Hernandez, who described their delivery in the
following interesting despatch."''"
GAECIA HEENANDEZ TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
" As soon as I received your Majesty's communica-
tion of the 22nd of last month, I gave Titian his
letter, Avhich aflforded him considerable pleasure. He
is still working at the ' Magdalen,' though he wrote
that it was finished. When he delivers it in about
eight days, I shall send it to the Marquess of Pescara
with your Majesty's letter, which seems to me the
shortest and the safest way. Good judges in art say
that this (' Magdalen ') is the best thing Titian has
done. He is labouring at the two other pictures
slowly as is natural to a man who is past eighty, but
he says they shall be completed by February next, when
he can despatch them to your Majesty by the Venetian
ambassador who starts at that time. I have pressed
him to keep his word and not to miss so good an
opportunity. Your Majesty will be pleased to OKler
the payment of 400 scudi, which are due for two years'
pension to Titian, who being old is somewhat covetous
{codicioso). The glass is in course of preparation, and
will l3e ready at the close of the month, when I shall
* The original in Appendix ; the translation in Gaye's Carteggio,
iii. 59.
CnAP. Till.]
THE "MAGD-\LEN."
313
forward it to the ambassador Figueroa at Genoa. It
goes in two cases, with one containing drinking cups
for wine and water, and I shall write and not cease to
press till they are shipped, as the others with the
pictures remained there a year ....
"Your Catholic and Royal Majesty's servant, who
kisses your Majesty's feet and hands,
" Garcia IIekxandez.
"From Venice, 20tJt of Nov., IJGI.''
On the 1st of December, Titian wrote to the King
to announce the deliveiy of the " Mngdahii,'' wliicli
Garcia Hernandez forwarded to its destination a few
days after. ■■• Contemporary gossip declared that it
was not the canvas "which judgt-s praised so liighly,'
that was thus despatched to the King. Silvio Badoer,
a patrician, well-known for his patronage of nrt, had
seen the masterpiece on the painter's easel, and had
taken it away for a hundred scudi ; and Titian had
been obliged to paint another for his Catholic ]\[ajesty.t
In course of time both pictures disappeared, or went
throuirh such a course of adventures as to lose their
identity .J But there arc still half-a-dozen ]\Iagdaleus
in existence to show how Titian handled the subject,
and the model which served as an orio;inal from wdiich
• See Titian to Philip the Se-
cond, Dec. 1 ; and G. Hernandez
to the same, Dec. 12, lo()l ; also
X>. 11. 's iiccounts of Oct. 1, 1563,
in Appendix.
t Vas. xiii. 41. Eidolfi (Mar.
i. 'J48) says that the Badoer
" Magdalen " was sold to a Fle-
ming and taken to the Nether-
lands.
X Yet it may he that the
" Ma<,'dalcn" still exists in Spain,
and Sir Abraham Hnmo notes that
.subject by Titian in the Sacristy
of the Escorial. (Notices, n. s.,
p. 8*2.)
314 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. YIII.
all replicas and copies were taken, is a picture of the
period upon which we are now busy, and an heirloom
which after passing out of the hands of Pomponio
Vecelli, into those of the patrician Barbarigo, after-
wards M^ent out of the Barbarigo Collection into the
gallery of the Hermitage at St. Petersburg.
The characteristic features of the piece which Cort
engraved in 15GG, are masculine power and a luxurious
maturity of charms. Technically, the treatment
reveals a bold readiness of hand, and an absolute
command of means. The figure is turned to the
right, and seen to the hip scantily clad in a white
garment, which leaves a wide and well developed
bosom and throat to be covered by copious locks of
long wavy hair. The eyes are turned up towards
heaven ; tears drop down the cheeks, and the saint
shows her grief and repentance, not only by ex-
pression, but by gesture, pressing with the right
hand the locks on her neck, and gathering with her
left the cloak of white wool striped with red and black
which winds round her arm and waist. On a skull to
the right an open book reposes. To the left the vase
of ointment stands, and the light edge of the form-
on that side is relieved on a dark bank overgrown
with coppice- wood, whilst the shaded edge is seen
against a landscape, lovely in the variety of its hues,
and balmy Ayith atmosphere. There is no subtle veil-
ing of tones, no artifice of colour. The artist knows
exactly what he has to do, he balances light and shade
distinctly, kneading his colours rapidly, and modelling
out the forms with resolute brush-stroke, melting the
Chap. VIH.]
THE "MAGDALEN."
315
whole at last into a polished surface broken here and
there with a touch, and warmed to a brownish glow
by general glazing.*
The same figure, with some variety in the landscape
and accessories, was repeated in the " Ashburton
jMagdalen," a picture which diftV-rs from that of St.
Petersburg only in being of somewhat colder execu-
tion, t ]\Iore or less on the same lines, the later
" Magdalen " of the Naples Museum, and that of the
JDurazzo Palace at Genoa, are replicas in which the
master's touch is still to be traced,J: whilst copies
* This canvas, No. 98 in the
Gallery of tho Ilcrmitago, is an
hoirloom ■which passed to the
Ijarbaiigo family, with Titian's
house, in 1J81. It measures
m. 1*1 7 h. by 0"98, and is signed,
on tho dark ground to tho left,
"TiTiAXVS r." Tho surface is
damaged by cleaning and re-
touching. Coniparo Ti/ianv^Uo's
Auonimo, p. 10, and llidolfi, i.
2G1.
t Tho canvas, till lately in
Lord Ashburton's Collection, is of
tho same size as that in Peters-
burg, and is signed in the same
■way. The skull is seen at three-
quarters, not in profile, as in the
Larbarigo example, and the ti-ee
in the landscape is omitted. But
this picture has been injured by
washing and stippling. There
are traces of retouching on the
bridge of the nose and the cheek
at both sides, and patches of
repair are seen in parts of tho
foreground. Tho landscape and
sky are masterly. Other parts
may have been done by Titian's
pupils and assistants.
X The Naples "Magdalen,"
No. 21 in tho Museum, is like tho
foregoing, of life-size, and on
canvas. Uei'o tho whole form is
relieved against tho dark bank
behind. A slight veil is pulled
by the wind at the shoulders.
Tho treatment shows this to bo a
picture of Titian's advanced age.
We might think it was that which
the painter sent as a present to
Cardinal Farneso, as we shall see
in 1 JG7 ; but that there are notices
to prove that it was bought from
the Colonna Collection by King
Ferdinand the First. The pig-
ment here is comparatively thin,
and the tones have become dark
and opaque from time and re-
storing. Tho most injured parts
are the shadows, particularly
about the neck and chin. The
right breast is re-painted, and
the signature, " titianvs r," is
renewed over tho old one.
The Durazzo " Magdalen " is a
316
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YIII.
belonsfino; to tlie Yarborouo;h and other Collections,
betray more or less the hand of disciples or inferior
artists.* The " Magdalen," it is clear, was a stock
subject much in fashion ; often repeated, seldom
varied. It never taxed the powers of the master like
the Venus of which we possess so many and such
important varieties. Amongst the heirlooms which
we shall soon find passing out of the hands of Titian's
son, into those of Cristoforo Barbarigo, is the " Venus
of the Mirror," of which numerous copies were made
repetition of that of Barbarigo, in
■svliicli the landscape alone pre-
serves Titianesqno character, the
rest being thoroughly re-painted.
* Lord Yarborough's example,
canvas, 3 ft. 6 h. by 3 ft. 0^, has
the book without the skull. The
dress is striped red, yellow, and
green. The cold tones and feeble
modelling point to a Venetian
artist of a time subsequent to
Titian.
Mr. Joseph Sanders exhibited at
Manchester a " Magdalen " which
was a copy of that of Petersburg,
by an artist of the schools of
Padovanino and Contarini. -
A copy again was the "Mag-
dalen " ascribed to Titian in the
Northwick Collection, a much
damaged example.
Under Titian's name, and
signed " titiaxvs p," is a " Mag-
dalen " of feeble execution, No. 5,
in the Gallery of Stuttgardt. The
canvas is by a Venetian copyist,
4 ft. h. by 3 ft. 5.
Some of the foregoing may be
identical with pictures noticed in
books as by Titian, of which we
have no very late accounts, i.c.y
"Magdalen" by Titian, in the
Madonna de' Miracoli at Venice
(Boschini, Eicche Min. Sest. di C.
Eeggio, p. 5); "Magdalen" by
Titian, which belonged to Eubens
(Sainsbury, u. s., p. 236) ; " Mag-
dalen " on panel, 2 ft. 7 h. by 1 ft.
11 , in the Collections of Louis the
Pourteenth and Fifteenth (see Pere
Dan's Tresor de Fontainebleau
(1642), and Lepiciii's Catalogue);
"Magdalen" belonging to the
Venetian, N. Crasso (Eidolfi, i.
131, 253) ; " Magdalen " in Casa
Euzzini, at Venice (Sansovino>
Ven. descr. p. 374) ; " Magdalen"
in Casa Muselli at Verona (i!i-
dolfi, i. 258) ; two " Magdalens"
in the Collection of Queen Chris-
tine (Campori, Eaccolta, it., s., p.
343), one of them afterwards in
possession of the Duke of Orleans,
subsequently belonging to Sir
Abraham Hume, Lord Alford,
and Earl Brownlow ; ' ' Magda-
len " amongst the heirlooms of
Ippolito Capilupi, Bishop of Fano,
in 1580 (Darco, Pitt. Mant., u. s.,
ii., note to p. 112).
o
1-1
O
H
Q
a
CiiAP. Tin.] "JTPITER AND AXTIOPE." 317
by Titian's disciples and followers. But neither the
original nor the copies of this fine work were Ccilculated
to create the impression produced by the more cele-
brated "Venus of Pardo," or, rather, the ' 'Jupiter and
xVntiope," which Titian now sent to Philip the Second.
Till quite recently, it was not possible to trace the
history of this canvas beyond the reign of Philip the
Fourth of Spain. That monarch, it was well-known,
had "-iven the picture to Charles Stuart, as he came to
court his sister, Init no one knew who had left it to
Philip the Fourth. It is very remarkal)le that the
copious correspondence of Titian wiili Philip the
Second should not once contain an allusion to it,
wliilst frec|uent reference is made to the contemporary
" Europa ; " yet both pictures were i)aiuted about the
same time, and Titian claimed payment for both of
Antonio Perez, iu l.')74.* Though injured by fire,
travels, cleaning, and restoring, the masterpiece still
exhibits Titian in possession of all the energy of his
youth, and leads us back invtiluutarily to the days
when he composed the Bacchanals. The same
beauties of arrangement, form, light and shade, and
some of the earlier charms of colour are here united to
a new scale of effectiveness due to experience and a
niao-ic readiness of hand. Fifty years of practice were
required to bring Titian to this mastery. Distril)U-
tion, movement, outline, modelling, atmosphere and
distance, are all perfect. We remember the " Venus of
Darmstadt," and "Ariadne asleep on the Sward." The
* Seo Titian to A. Porcz, Doc. 22, 1 J74, in Ai>iiendix.
318 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
slumbering attitude of the first, the coloured llesh of
the second, are here combined. But Antiope on her bed
of skins is more lovely than either. Is she dreaming or
only musing ? Her eyes are closed, her ears are deaf
to the sound of the horn and the barking of the
hounds. She does not feel the stealthy pull of the cloth
which Jupiter, " Satyri celatus imagine," lifts from
her feet. Her shape is modelled with a purity of
colour and softness of rounding hardly surpassed in
the Parian marble of the ancients. Cupid, whose
quiver hangs on a bough, is the classic boy of the
Greeks, as he flutters on a branch and shoots his
arrow at the Satyr. The Sylvan gods intent on
sport or conversation, are unsuspecting tenants of the
groves or attend to their own amusement. A faun
sits on his haunches near a girl with a lap full of
flowers, l3ut a huntsman who might be Actaeon, cheers
his companion who sounds liallali, and starts Avith his
dogs towards the distant glade where the stag has
been brought to bay by the pack in pursuit. Charac-
teristic is the feeling of the painter when he takes us
into the "wilds of his native Cadore, and finds the
heights of Cithseron or the banks of Asopus in the valley
of Mel. Behind the group to the left, the deep foliage
of a forest is finely contrasted with the tree-grown
meadows on the banks of the stream, which shows
its pretty line of falls to the right, whilst the blue
mountains on the horizon are half concealed by the
wooded hills that dip into the vale below. Splendid
in contrast, the shades of tone are vivid and strong,
and rich with a richness both solid and sating. Light
Chat. YIII.] :M0EE PICTURES TO SPAIN.
319
aud gloom, fairness and weather-beaten tan ; flesh and
dress are all varied in surface and diverse in texture.'"'
The delivery of the " Europa " to the agents of the
King of Spain seems to have been delayed for the
sake of a smaller piece, of which Garcia Hernandez
gave notice to his master on the luth of April, l.-^GiZ.t
But on the 26th of the same month Titian himself
communicated to Philip the completion of two of his
fiTcat works.
TITL\N TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
" Most Serene and Catholic King,
" With the help of the divin<* Providence, I
have at last finislied the two pictures ahvadv com-
• No. 408 at the Louvto, on
canvas, m. 1 '90 h. by ."J-SJ, figures
large as life. For the history of
this piece we must consult the
Ashmoloan MS. of Charles the
First's Collection, as published
bj' Bathoe, u.s., where the fol-
lowing entrj' is printed: "The
great, large, and famous piece
called in Spain the ' Venus del
Pardo,' which the King of Spain
gave to our King when he was in
Spain . . . done by Titian." Ja-
bach bought the picture for £000
at the sale in London in 1050-1.
It was valued 10,000 livres tour-
nois in the inventory of Cardinal
]Mazarin's property, suffered from
fire in the Palace of Prado at
Madrid in 1008, and in thoLouvre,
in KiOl, was cleaned aud abraded
by an ignorant painter, and left
in a bad state to be restored by
Antoine Coj-pel. All the old re-
paints have since been removed,
and the picture was restored
afresh and transfeiTed to a now
canvas in 1829. (See Villot's
Louvre Catalogue.) Engraved by
Bernard Baron, and Corueillo ;
photograph by Braun. Lomazzo
(Idea del Tempio [1590], p. 116)
describes a picture of Venus
asleep, with Satyrs uncovering
her, and other Satyrs about her
eating grapes, whilst Adonis in
the distance is seen hunfin"-.
This piece he describes ns having
been left by Titian at his death
to his son Pomponio. There is
an adaptation of this composition
on canvas ascribed to Titian in
the Corsini Palace at Rome, but
it is not original.
t Garcia Hernandez to Philip
tho Second, April 10, 1562, in
Appendix.
320 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap, Vm.
menced for your Catholic Majesty. One is the
* Christ Praying in the Garden,' the other the ' Poesy
of Europa carried by the Bull/ both of which I send.
And I may say that these put the seal on all that
your Majesty was pleased to order, and I was bound
to dehver on various occasions. Thouorh nothinof now
remains to be executed of what your Catholic Majesty
required, and I had determined to take a rest for
those years of my old age which it may please the
Majesty of God to grant me ; still, having dedicated
such knowledge as I possess to your Majesty's service,
when I hear — as I hope to do — that my pains have
met with the approval of your Majesty's judgment, I
shall devote all that is left of my life to doing rever-
ence to your Catholic Majesty with new pictures,
taking care that my pencil shall bring them to that
satisfactory state which I desire and the grandeur of
so exalted a King demands. Meanwhile I shall pro-
ceed with a 'Virgin and Child,' hoping to produce
something that will satisfy your Majesty not less than
my other works.
" Devoted humble servant,
" TiTIANO.
''From Venice, April 26, 1562."
The pictures came in due course to Spain, where
the gospel subject was transferred to the Escorial and
the " poesy " to the Royal Palace. In the solitude of
the Prior's Hall in the Spanish monastery the " Christ
in the Garden " was allowed to decay, so that, though
originally grand and clever, it was nearly ruined before
(Jhap. yill.] " CHRIST IN THE G.UiDEN/' 321
it was "restored." The " Europa " shared the fate of
the "Venus of Pardo." It was seen and copied by
Eubens at ^ladrid, Ijut subsequently packed away
with other canvases of a light and fanciful style in-
tended as presents to Charles Stuart. When Charles
left ^Madrid and broke off his engagements, the
"Europa" was restored to its place, and afterwards
passed, with the "Actceon and Calist<'>," into the
galler}' of the Duke of Orleans, from whose collection
it came into the hands of Lord Berwick and the Earl
of Damley.'"
There is every reason to believe tliat early in the
sixteenth century, Count Claudio Rangone of ^lodena
was possessed of a celebrated work Ijy Correggio
representing Christ's prayer in the garden of Gethse-
mane.t After many vicissitudes, this masterpiece
found its way to England, where it now adorns the
palace of Apsley House. In the days of Titian's
acquaintance with the Rangoncs he doubtless had
occasion to admire this noble composition, which he
imitated in the canvas of Philip the Second. Here,
as in Correggio, we see Christ kneeling with his
hands outstretched and looking up at the angel who
comes on the wing from heaven, whilst Peter and the
sons of Zebedee are sleeping on the grass. The air of
Christ's head and its foreshortening, the sprightly and
* Tho copy is still in. the Ma-
drid Maseum, and is numbered
in the catalogue of 1845, No.
1 588. See also Madrazo's Madrid
Catalogue, u.s., p. 270.
t See L. A. David to Muratori
VOL. II.
in Campori's Lett. Ined., u. s.,
p. 5.39 ; and compare Aretino to
Claudio Eangone in Lett, di M.
P. A., i. 35; and Lottero a M
P. A., i. 70, and following.
322
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. ^Till.
not unaffected movement of the ano-el bearino; tlie
cup, are reminiscences of Allegri, which are not to
be explained in any other Avay than by acknow-
ledoino- Titian's indebtedness to his Parmesan con-
temporary.""'
At first sight, the silvery light and deep brown
shadows of the " Europa " remind us of Paolo
Veronese ; but the scene is depicted with much more
elevation than Paolo was capable of feeling, and
composed with much more thought than he usually
bestowed on pictorial labours. Nothing betrays the
aged character of Titian more than the inevitable
looseness of drawing and the coarse delineation of
realistic extremities, to which we must fain plead
guilty in his name. But these defects are compen-
sated by startling force of modelling and impaste, by
lively effect of movement apparent in every part, by
magic play of light with shade and colour, and a
genial depth of atmosphere.
The bull, with his garland of flowers, raises a surge
* Escorial, Sala Prioral. Mucli
injured canvas, with figures half
the size of life. Christ is turned
to the left, and looks at the angel
■who flies down from that direction.
This picture is not to be con-
founded, as it is by Sir A. Hume
(Notices, u. s., pp. 38 & 84),
with another, once in the Sa-
cristy of the Escorial, now No.
490 in the Madrid Museum, where
Christ is seen kneeling by moon-
light in the garden (without the
angel), whilst two soldiers, ac-
companied by a dog, are scaling
the hill by the light of a lantern
which one of them is carrjdng.
Ticozzi (Vecelli, 212-13) curiously
confounds these two jaictures irr
one description. The last-named,
though catalogued as a Titian
(m. 1.76 h. by 1.3G), is a poor
adaptation of Titian's work by a
Venetian copyist, whose work is
iww opaque and injured, the pig-
ments originally being thin and.
the drawing defective.
Ch-VP. yni.] "JUPITER AND EUEOPA." 323
as lie rushes tlirougli the greenish hrinc, above which
a dolphin just shows his snout. He looks imposing
and triumphant as he lashes his tail and carries off
his prize, and leaves a wake behind that reaches to
the distant bank, where the nymph's companions are
bewailing her loss, and a royal l>ull looks quiescent at
his daring mate. Europa struggles on the back of the
beast whose seat she dare not leave, holding on with
her left to one of his horns, parted from his white side
by an orange doth, of which a fold is waved 1>y her
outstretched riglit arm. As her face is thrown back
it catches a shadow from her arm, and her glance may
reach to the shores far away where her companions
have been left. The muslin drapery which conceals
some of her shape, the orange cloth, the creamy hide
of the bull, and the green curl of the water, sets off"
grauflly a form whirli is not the less tnie to nature in
its semblance because it displays no selection or ideal
of contour, but is the reality itself in rich substance of
<Xor2^eous tone. Eros clino-ino- with expanded winf][s
to a dolphin, and sporting along in the course of the
bull, is a lovely fragment of Titianesque painting,
representing, as finely as the two Cupids with their
bows and arrows in the air, the idea of rapid going,
already suggested by the swimming fishes and the
surge at the bull's breast. i\Iasterly as a bit of
" actuality," the shadow cast by her own arm on
Europa's fiice is as truly caught as the reflection of the
maid's companions in the Ijlue deep water, or the
lovely lines of the brown and azure hills which rest
on the horizon. Nothing can be more vigorous or
Y 2
324
TITLIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
brilliant than the touch which has all the breadth of
that in the " Jupiter and Antiope/' or the " Calisto,"
without the abruptness of Paolo Veronese, the Ijroader
expanses of tinting being broken effectually with
sparkling red or grey or black, toned off at last by
glazing and calculated smirch to a splendid harmony.'""
Strange to say there is no account extant of the
King's reception of this picture, of which a fine, and
probably a Spanish, copy is in the collection of Sir
Eichard Wallace.t
During the twelvemonth wdiich followed the de-
livery of the " Europa," Titian had no further corres-
pondence with Phihp the Second. In May, 1562, we
find him writing to Vecello Vecelli announcing the
despatch of a "Venus and Adonis," and the com-
ing of a "Madonna" to Cadore. Earlier in the
previous year a lively interchange of letters had taken
place between the painter and the Cadorine com-
munity, in consequence of Titian's claim to be paid
with interest a debt of 1000 ducats, and the inability
of the municipality to satisfy his demands. Vincenzo
Vecelli was, perhaps, flattered with a present in order
to secure his interest and accelerate the action of the
* This picture, now at Cobham
Hall, was bought by Lord Ber-
wick at the sale of the Duke of
Orleans for £700. The figures
are large as life on a canvas 5 ft.
10 h. by 6 ft. S in length. In the
left hand corner of the picture,
beneath the Cupid on the dolj)hin,
we read in Eoman letters, " TI-
TIAN VS. P."
t This copy is no doubt that
which belonged to Dawson Tur-
ner, Esq., of Yarmouth (Waagen,
Treasures, iii. 18), and has been
characterised by some critics as a
genuine sketch by Titian. It is,
however, but a copy, and pro-
bably by Del Mazo. A poor copy
of the Cobham Hall " Europa "
is in the Dulwich Gallery.
CiL^p. YIII.] "POETE.UT OF A TURK."
325
Cadorine Council.''"' About the same period Titian
was in communication with Andrea CotHno, a notary
of Medole, who sent favourable accounts of Don
Cristoforo da Cisano, at that time curate of the bene-
fice of which Titian was the holder. f In November
Orazio at Cad ore was recovering for his fiither a
meadow near Tai, which had been mortgaged in pre-
vious years l)y Francesco Vecelli.;!: A few months
later Titian, whose scheming to obtain payment of his
pensions shows that he possessed in an eminent
degree the arts of diplomacy, sent a "Portrait of a
Turk" througli Capilupi, bishop of Fano, to Cardinal
Gonzaga, to interest that prelate and induce him to
react in his favour on the authorities of ^IiUin.§
Titian's principal professional employment was tlie
painting of a " Last Supi)er," upon wliich he had been
busy for six years, and of which he gave some account
to riiilip the Second in the following letters :
TITIAN TO rniLir the second.
" Months have passed since I }tresented my
humble duty to your ^lajesty otherwise than in
thought, and now I take the opportunity of your
jNIajesty's glorious victory to do so. In order to show
* See Titian to the Community
of Cadore, April 24 ami Sept. 3,
1561, in Beltramo's Tiziano Ve-
celli, H. 8., p. 7 t.
t Cadorin, DuUo Amoro, u. s.,
p. 42.
: Eecord of Nov. 10, loG2
drawn by Yincenzo Vecelli, MS.
Jacobi, of Cadoro.
§ Ippoiito Capilupi to the Car-
dinal of Mantua, March 7, 1563,
in Darco, P. M. Muntua, ii. p.
138.
326 TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
my devotion and my desire to be of service, I beg to
say that tboiigli nothing remains to be done of all
that your Majesty in past times kindly committed
to me, I shall in a few days have brought to comple-
tion a picture on which I have been at work for six
years A "Last Supper of our Lord" and
the "Twelve Apostles," seven braecia long and more
than four braecia in height, — a work which is perhaps
one of the most laborious and important that I ever
did for your Majesty, and which I shall send on as
soon as it is finished, by such channels as your
Majesty shall direct. Meanwhile I beg your Majesty
most humbly, and out of old friendship, before I die,
to do me the grace to a;ive me some consolation and
utility of the privilege of corn from Naples, which
was granted to me so long ago by the glorious
memory of Csesar, your Majesty's progenitor. I beg
likewise to ask for some pension to realise the
" naturalezza " of Spain, which was given to me in
the person of my son, and also that your Majesty
should deign to empower me, by some efficacious and
valid schedule addressed to the Duke of Sessa, to
recover my ordinary dues from the chamber of Milan,
of which I have not had a cjuatrino for more than
four years
" Your Catholic Majesty's most devoted,
" humble servant,
"TiTIANO VeCELLIO, PittOT.'''
*' From Venice, 28i!7i of July, 1563."
* See the original in Appendix.
Chap. Tin.] "LAST SUPPER" BEGUN". 327
THE SAME TO THE SAME.
'OIosT Potent and Invtnciblk Catholic King,
" Having received no answer to numerous
letters forwarded with my paintings to your Majesty,
I greatly fear that either the latter have not been satis-
factory, or your servant Titian is no longer in favour
as of old. I should like vorv much to be assured (if
the one or the other ; for knowing the opinion of my
great Kini^ I should endeavour to act so as to avoid
all cause of comi»laint in future. I trust that your
]\Iajesty will deign to give orders that I should be
consoled, if not by a letter, at least by your ^lajesty's
seal, which, 1 assure your Majesty, would add ten
years to my life and be an incitement to send with a
more joyful heart the " Last Supper," of wliich I
wrote on previous occasions. This picture is eight
braccia long and five in height and will shortly be
finished, and your INFajesty will be pleased to give
directions to whom it shall be consigned, in order that
the matter of this ' devotion ' may be evidence of my
devotion to your ^lajesty. And as, till now, I have
not had the slightest payment for the numerous works
which I have furnished, I ask for no more from the
singular benignity and clemency of your Majesty than
my ordinary dues on the Camera of ]Milan
" Your Catholic Majesty's humble servant,
" Titiano Yecellig.'^''
"Frcnn Venice, Dec. 6, 1563."
* Seo the original in Appendix. I is also in the archive of Siman-
A duplicate, dated Dec. 20, 1jG3, | cas.
328
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. ^^II.
In the interval which Lay between the dates of
these letters and the despatch of the " Europa " to
Spain, Titian was possibly busied with the composi-
tion and painting of the " Crucified Saviour with the
Virgin, St. John Evangelist and the Magdalen,"
which is still preserved, though in a very bad state, in
the church of San Domenico of Ancona.'"' He doubt-
less also painted the kneeling " Desiderius Guido in
prayer before the Vision of St. Francis," which still
remains, though nearly ruined, in the public gallery of
AscolLf Much of his time, and not a little of his
* Vasari (xiii. 40) praises highlj'
the "Crucifixion" in San Do-
menico of Ancona, which he de-
scribes as executed " di maccJtia"
in the master's latest style. The
picture is arched, and contains
four figures of life size : Christ on
the cross, of which the foot is
grasped by St. Daminick, St.
John looking up to the right, and
the Magdalen to the left with
her hands joined in prayer ; on
the bottom of the cross, " titi-
ANVS FECIT." A patch of canvas
has been added to the bottom of
the picture. The Christ is re-
painted anew, and the rest is
dimmed by repainting and old
varnishes.
t Desiderius Guido, of Ascoli,
is a well-known prelate, who was
Governor of Cesena in 1546, and
Governor of Eome in 1592. In
1561 he founded the chapel in
San Francesco of Ascoli, for which
Titian's picture was furnished,
and the fact is vouched for
by an inscription preserved to
the following effect : " Desiderius
Guido, J.U.D. [juris utriusque
Doctor], sibi posterisque suis
Sacellum hoc divo Francisco di-
catuni poni curavit, A. mdlxi."
(See Abate Gaetano Frascarelli's
Memorie del tempio di S. Fran-
cesco di Ascoli, 8vo, Ascoli, 1861,
coi tipi del Cardi.) Guido kneels
to the right, whilst further back,
in a landscape of hills, St.
Francis kneels and receives the
stigmata from Christ in the
clouds. Behind the latter is a
cross of heads of seraphs and
cherubs. To the left of St.
Francis the Friar Hilarius, on the
ground some books, the arms
of Guido, a tree on a hill, and
near this, " titianvs veceliys
CADVB." The pictui'e is so in-
jured that some parts of it show
the priming of the canvas, yet it
looks as if it might originally
have been by Titian. Eidolfi
notes a picture with this subject,
by Titian, in S. Francesco of
Ancona (Marav. i. p. 267). But
he probably meant to write As-
coli.
CnAr. Yin.] THE MOSAISTS OF ^"EXICE. 329
mind, was absorbed in settling the differences Avhicli
broke out at this period nmougst the mosaists of the
Church of San ^larco.
At a very early period of Venetian civilisation it
had been found advantageous to adorn churches with
mosaics, and the Cathedral of St. ^lark was not the
least splendid edifice in the lagoons in which Byzan-
tine craftsmen exercised their talents. But as pic-
torial skill increased, the demands made upon mosaists
increased likewise, and it became requisite to form a
school in which apprentices should Ijc bred to the
profession of setting coloured stones in patterns on
walls. At tlie close of tlie loth, and even in the
beginning of the IGtli century, painters such as
Tiazzaro Bastiani and Bissolo contributed to the
decoration of San ]Marco ; but aljout 1520 it was
found necessary to organise a special establishment of
professional mosaists, assisted by designers, chosen
from the better masters of the day, and to these
men the duty was entrusted of repairing worn
mosaics, and executing fresh vntj^, and w hen the later
pictures AVere substituted for those which time had
brought to a state of decay, the temptation was not to
be withstood of pulling down old work and replacing
it with new. The founders of the modern school of
mosaists were ISIarco Rizzo and Vincenzo Bianchini,
whose appointment by the Senate dates as far back as
l.;17. In 1524 an important addition of strength
was made by the selection of Francesco Zuccato, who
for more than half a century remained the favourite
and best paid master of the Venetian government.
330 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
In 1542 the mosaists were allowed to pay tlieir
apprentices a salary of three ducats a year out of the
treasury of St. Mark, and under this rule Bartolommeo
Bozza became a pupil and assistant to Zuccato.
Between Bianchini and Zuccato an old and in-
curable feud existed, into which the friends and
enemies of both artists were gradually drawn.
Zuccato had once charo-ed his rival with coinino-
which led to Bianchini's imprisonment. After 1545,
Avhilst Zuccato and his brother Valerio were employed
at high pay in the vestibule of San ]\Iarco and
Bianchini with liis clan was busy designing the tree
of Jesse in the chapel of Sant' Isidoro, Zuccato
committed the mistake of settino: the word " Saxibus "
in a Latin inscription, and covered the defect with a
piece of painted paper. Bianchini received intel-
lio-ence of this and other alleo^ed irrefjularities from
Bozza, who abandoned his master and went over to
Bianchini on grounds of which there is at present no
explanation, and the ]procurator cassiere, Melchior
Michele, w^as privately informed that irregularities had
taken place which ought to be prevented or punished.
A commission of inquiry was appointed, and the
procurator was present when the mosaics of the
vestibule ay ere Avashed and the paper Avhich covered
*' Saxibus " Avas swept away. On the 22nd of May,
1563, after suspicion had been thus aroused, Melchior
Michele came to the cathedral accompanied by
■Sansovino and folloAved by Titian, Jacopo Pistoia,
Andrea Scliiavone, Jacopo Tintoretto, and Paolo
Veronese, AA'hen a diligent examination of all the
Chap. VHI.]
THE ZUCCATI.
331
mosaics was made. It was found that paint had been
used in various places, but the judges were unanimous
in thinkin<]c that this was not material, as the mosaics
were other\^4se perfect. Still Zuccato was ordered to
renew the parts that had been painted at his own
expense ; and Valerio was deprived of his salar}' till
such time as he should i)rovc his skill afresh. It
appeared in the course of the investigations that all
the cartoons of the Zuccati, were made in Titian's
workshop and designed by Orazio Vecelli."''' Orazio, it
is clear, was at this period the presiding genius of his
father's house, administering his property, and super-
intending the design and fii-st laying-in of his pictures,
and there is some reason for thinkim:' that ho was
maiidy instrumental in producing, with the help of
assistants, the canvas of " St. Nicholas in cathedra,"
which was delivered in 15G3 to the Venetian Niccolo
Crasso. Crasso had been bred to the law, which he
liad given up for the mercantile profession, but having
lost all he possessed by the wreck of his ship on the
Syrian coast, he returned to the bar, where he made a
fortune. In 15G3 he l)Ought the freehold of a chapel
in San Sebastiano of Venice, and on the marble of
the altar over which Titian's " St. Nicholas " was
placed, he caused these words to be engraved :
" Nicolaus Crassus fonira primum navigationem cloindo secutus.
Ab advcrsa fortuna fortunis omnibus spoliatus,
Ad forum iterum reversus hunc postreino locum
Laborum omnium et miseriarum quietem sibi et post. p. MDliXlll."
* Seo for all those facts Za-
netti's Pitt. Ven., ». s., pp. 725,
and following ; and the protocol of
May 22, 15(33, in Ilartzen's Essay-
on Schiavone, Deutschos Kunst-
blatt, No. 37, of tho year 1853.
332
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
Titian's picture on an arched panel represents St.
Nicholas seated as if presiding over an imaginary
audience in the stall of a cathedral choir. Behind
him is a panelled screen of stone adorned with a
relief of St. John the BajDtist and a plinth and part of
the shaft of a pillar. With one hand he supports a
book, with the other he gesticulates, whilst an angel
in buskins to the left raises aloft an episcopal mitre.
The forehead is bald, but the temples are covered
with grey hair, and a grey beard stands out against
the red cape which falls in fine relief on the lawn of
a surplice. The red dress of the angel is looped up
above the knee, and girdled at the waist with a blue
sash, a striped carpet lies on the ground, and near it
are the three balls, emblems of the saint's peculiar
benevolence. What effect the picture may produce is
due rather to warm general toning of a golden shade
than to freedom of touch, grandeur of form, or massive
contrasts of lis^ht and shade. The hand of assistants
is betrayed in the uniform velvety surface and feeble
modelling of the f)arts, and it would almost appear as
if Schiavone had helped Titian not only to pass
judgment on the mosaics of the Zuccati, but to produce
some of the pictures which issued from Titian's
workshop.'" We have seen in the "Europa" and
*' Antiope " what the master could do when he put
* The " St. Nicholas " is on a
panel arched at top, the figure
being just under life size. It is
iQ-uch praised by Vasari (xiii. 41)
and Eidolfi (Mar. i. 253). It was
restored several times, and last
by Count Corniani in 1822. (Ci-
cogna, Isc. Yen. iv. 149.) En-
graved anon3'niously. Photo-
graphed by Naya. On the pe-
destal of the seat we read:
"TITIAKVS p."
Chap. YIII.]
ST. JEEOM "— BEEKV.
333
forth his strength, and it might occur to us to think
that he only exerted himself in these days when
pleased with a fancy subject or flattered by a royal
commission. But that this was not so is clear from
the fine figure of St. Jerom, which was painted in
these days for Santa ^laria Xuova of Venice, though
now exhibited in the Brera of Milan, the " Venus of
the ^lirror " now at Petersburc^, and other works of a
cocmate nature. The " St. Jerom " of tlic Brera is the
model from which a replica was made for Philip the
Second. The "Venus of St. Petersburg" is the
original from whicli repetitions were made for Niccolo
Crasso and the King of Spain. AVe are accustomed
to see Titian piling the imi)aste on his canvases at
successive sittinirs, and kncadinti: the wli^le at last into
a grained surface, toned u[) with glazings that pene-
trate into the hollows and tracks of the Ijrush. Here
he works off the figure at one painting on panel,
using primaries chiefly, nnd producing almost a mono-
chrome. He then seems to have glazed the surface
all over, shaded it deeply with bitumen, and lighted it
up here and there with flat tint, breaking the whole
at last by notches of pure colour. Tlie result is a
l)road picture of touch which is quite masterly, though
it difiers from earlier work 1)}' deriving its eflcct from
contrast of light and shade and sweep of brush rather
than from sweetness or richness of tint.'"'
* This picture, in the Brera, is
on an arched panel, m. 2.23 h. by
1.33. The fif^uro is a little under
life size, bearded, bald, and
stringy. At the lion's feet is the
signature, "ticlvnvs F." A fine,
but somewhat faded, original
sketch in sepia is in the Dres-
den Museum, photdgi-aphcd by
Braun. The original pictui'O has
334
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
The replica sent to Philip the Second is still at the
Escorial, where it underwent such an ordeal of repair
that the master's hand is apparent in a few places only.
But what remains, particularly part of the head, shows
how cleverly the canvas was executed."""
The " Venus of St. Petersburo- " was an heirloom of
Pomponio Vecelli and the Barbarigos. In its original
state it must have been a noble creation, of which wc
can only judge with accuracy now by bits about Cupid's
back and the bosom of Venus. No masterpiece of
Titian's later time more agreeably combined grandeur
of style with perfect harmony of lines and of colour.
Venus is seated to the left, part naked, on a striped couch
of black and yellow stuff. Piound one arm a cherry
coloured velvet mantle, with sable lining and edges
braided with gold, is twisted, passing underneath the
form, and held at the hip with the right hand. The
left hand lies on the bosom, whilst the head is turned
to look at a mirror held by Cupid. The goddess
been engraved by "N. B. E. S.
(? Salter) Ant" Ucelli a I'arca di
Noe ; " it is also engraved in the
collection of Lefebre. Titianello's
Anonimo (p. 9), Eidolfi (Marav. i.
267), andZanetti (Pitt. Yen., u. s.,
p. 169), all note the picture in
Santa Maria Nuova at Venice.
A small copy of the seventeenth
century, ascribed to Titian, is in
the gallery of the Academy of
San Luca at Home.
* This picture, we are told by
Don Jose Quevedo (Descripcion
del Escorial, 4to, Madrid, 1849),
has been restored. It is a square,
on canvas. But here the lion is
on the left ; a large square boul-
der fills a large part of the back-
ground, and the saint's left hand
:s on a book. Beneath a volume
on the right foreground, an in-
scription is just visible, though
illegible. Below, " TITIANVS f."
Eor a variety of engraved
figures of St. Jerom " by Titian,"
see Sir Abraham Hume's list
(Notices, u. s., pp. xxvii, and fol^
lowing). There are two fine
drawings of the penitent Jerom,
by Titian, in the British Museum ;
another in the Albertina at
Vienna.
CiiAP. YIII.] " VENUS "WITH THE MIRROR." 335
wears her golden liciir partly brushed in Avaves from
the temples, partly plaited with jewels, a Ijracelet
fastened on one wrist, a chain wound round the other ;
earrings of pearl adorn her. The winged Cupid who
holds the mirror, presents his back to the spectators,
and has dropped his quiver and arrows on the couch.
A yellow sash falls from his shoulders, Eros, almost a
counterpart of Amor in the "Venus of the Uftizi,"
puts one hand on the shoulder of liis mother, and tries
with the other to crown lu-r head with a garland of
flowers. A l)rown-gTeen hanging to tliu left, is in-
geniously pitted against a brownish background,- and
both react upon the crimson of the mantle. The light
is cleverly concentrated on Venus, displaying a full
and fleshy frame of superb mould. Something of the
Asiatic may be traced in the dark eye, the drooping
nose, the small nostril, and tlic richly cut mouth. A
noble contrast is produced by the repose of the goddess
and the muscular efforts of the Cupids, one of whom
seems obliged to stand on tiptoe to reach up to Venus's
head, whilst the other staggers under the load of the
mirror, which has evidently been detached from a
neioihbourinn; wall. The latter is a vounc; Hercules in
scantling, and the play of his muscles is admirably
given. Not less fine is the projection of shadows, and
the reflection in the mirror. The surface is broadly
modelled, and notwithstanding all the injuries of time
and retouching, we still sec that it was impasted
repeatedly and with surprising skill before it received
the finishing glazing, smirch, and touch. No record
has been kej)t of the fate of tlie rej)lica sent by Titian
336
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
to Philip the Second. We only know that the painter
claimed payment for it in 1574. Of all the known
copies and adajDtations at the Hermitage in St. Peters-
burg, in the Ashburton collection, at Cobham, Dresden,
or Augsburg, none is worthy to compare with the Bar-
barigo heirloom.'"'"
As the year 1563 came to a close, Titian was in
active correspondence Avitli the Duke of Urbino in
respect of payment for a picture of the Virgin Mary,
* The Barbarigo " Venus with
Cupids," is on canvas, No. 99, of
the Hermitage Gallery, and m.
1.23 h. by 1.03. It is mentioned
by Eidolfi (Mar. i. 262). But
since it came ofT the master's
easel it has been rubbed down
and repaired in many places ;
and under the more transparent
repaints we still see the original
cracks. A good photograph by
C. Eoettger. The replica belong-
ing to King Philip, described by
Titian himself as " Love holding
the Mirror to Venus" (see his
letter to Antonio Perez, Dec. 22,
1574, in Appendix), is missing.
So is the replica painted for
Crasso (Pddolfi, Mar. i. 253). Ano-
ther variety, classed as a school-
piece. No. 108 at the Hermitage,
canvas, m. 1.31 h. by 1.11, came
from the Malmaison collection,
and presents both Cupids holding
the looking-glass, the Cupid in
front having a quiver hanging
from a sash round his shoulders.
Of this a replica under Titian's
name was, till lately, preserved
in the collection of Lord Ashbur-
ton, which bore somewhat the
character of a copy by Contarin
or Varottari. At Cobham Hall
we have the Venus with one
Cupid holding the mirror, a can-
vas engraved by Leybold, which
we trace back to the Orleans and
Queen Christine collections. (See
Waagen, Treasures, ii. 497, and
Campori, Eaccolta, p. 342.) Here
the hanging is red, and Venus
holds Cupid's bow in her right
hand. The whole picture is feeble,
and a copy, in all but the bow, of
a school piece once in the Im-
perial Gallery of Prague, now
numbered 232 in the Dresden
Gallery; of which school piece
there is a still j)oorer copy. No.
233, in the same galleiy. In the
Augsbirrg Gallery, No. 269, is a
canvas almost completely re-
painted, with Venus and one
Cupid as at Dresden ; but here
Venus, besides wearing the red
pelisse, is draped in white, her
bed is also white, and Cupid's
quiver lies with the bow at his
feet. Lithograph by Hanfstiingl.
There was one of these Venuses
"by Titian" in the Granvelle
collection. (See Castan, m. s., p.
46.)
CnAr. ^111.] PICTUEES LOST BY FIRE.
oot
sent as a present to some one at ^lantua, and as to a
series of designs probably intended for the decoration
of the paLace of Pesaro. A letter Amtten by Titian on
the 6th of January, 1564, in reference to these matters,
has been published, which almost desersTS to be
reprinted, as it shows that the great painter and his
son Orazio were at this time dealers in timber at
Venice, and furnished the Duke of Urbino not only
with pictures but with pine planks and logs.'"
Amongst the altar-pieces which adorned Venetian
churches in the last quarter of the sixteenth century,
two by Titian seem to have been worthy of atten-
tion— the •' Nativity," on the hio^h altar of St. ^lark,
and the "Last Sui)per," in the refectory of San
Giovanni e Paolo. Not a line in contemporary
historians has been found to allude to the first of these
masterpieces. The second was registered by Vasari
and Ptidolfi without a word of praise, probably because
they had not seen it.t Both were destroyed by fire in
an accidental way. On the 19tli of January, 1580,
there was high company at mass in San Marco.
The Archduke JMaximilian, the Prince of Bavaria,
and one of the Dukes of Brunswick, on their way to
the wedding of the Duke of Ferrara, had been stopping-
over night in the Casa Dandolo alia Giudecca, and in
the monastery of San Giorgio. They came over
* The original is in Lettero d'
Illnstii Italiuni non mai stampati
pubblicato da Z. Bicchierai per le
nozze Galootti Cardenas di Va-
leggio, Svo, Firenze, 18j4, Lc-
VOL. II.
monnior. It is signed "Ser Titiano
Yecelli, p.," and addressed to tho
Duke of Urbino in Pesaro.
t Vasari, xiii. p. 37 ; Eidolfi,
Mar. i. 2(38.
338 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VHI.
betimes in the morniiif? to visit the treasury of the
cathedral and hear a mass. After the ceremony, one
of the li2;hts set fire to a festoon and burnt the
" Nativity/' by Titian, which was fastened above the
altar.""'
The day of Saint Marina "vvas kept as an annual
festival at Venice after the recovery of Padua in 1509 ;
and the Venetian government, as a matter of pre-
caution, habitually quartered troops in appropriate
localities to suppress disturbances, if any should
occur.
On that day in 1571, some German soldiers
detached to the magazines below the refectory of San
Giovanni e Paolo, got drunk and set fire to the
monastery, and burnt down the refectory, novitiate,
and dormitories with all their contents. We may
presume that the " Last Supper " which perished on
this occasion, was the original which Titian now copied
for Philip of Spain, t
Most of the year 1564 was consumed in corre-
spondence between the painter and the monarch on the
subject of this picture, of which — we recollect — Titian
had made an offer at the close of 1563. With more
wile than we approve, he wrote repeatedly to his
patron to say that the " Cena " was finished, though
Garcia Hernandez, the king's secretary at Venice, was
always in a position to report that the contrary
w^as true. AVhat Titian wanted was payment of his
* Diarii MS. in Cicogna, Iscr.
Ven. iv. 333. The picture was
t "Emortuale de' Padri de'
SS. Gio. e Paolo." Codex Extr'.
" sopra il yolto dell' altare." i in Cicogna, Isc. Ven. yi. 825.
Chap. ^•III.] TITIAN'S PENSIONS. 339
pension before parting -svitli any more of his works.
What Philip could not for a long time compass was
this vei*} payment, which was always evaded hy his
officials.
In a despatch to Hernandez, dated March S, 1564,
a minute of which has been preserved, Philip told his
envoy that he had acknowledged the receipt pf two
letters from Titian, and written to ]\Iilan and Naples
to press for the payment of the dues. He would
be glad to receive the " Last Supper " now that
it was finislied, and hoped it would be forwarded
in good condition to Genoa, from whence it could be
sent by galley to Alicant or Carthagena."' The same
post took tlie king's letter to Titian, dated from
Jjarcelona on the 8tli of ^larch, under cover to Her-
nandez with copies of orders (.»f tlie same day to the
Duke of Sessa, governor of ]Milan, and to the Viceroy
of Naples, to settle Titian's claims ; and by the same
opportunity the minister Perez wrote to the master
thanking him for his promise of a iNIadonna, giving
him notice of the despatches sent to Hernandez, and
concludino- with an assurance that when the " Cena "
arrived, he should see that the King sent a suitable
acknowledgment.t
Garcia's reply to the King is dated the IGtli of
* See tho Minute in Appendix.
t All these letters are in Ap-
pendix, except that of Perez,
which will be found dated Bar-
celona, March 8, in Eidolfi's Ma-
raviglio, i. 248. It is to be noted
that Pwidolfi's text gives the initial
of the name of Perez as G.,
whereas there is reason to think
the correspondent hero is Antonio
Perez. See in Appendix, Garcia
Hernandez to Antonio Perez, Oct.
9, loCA.
z 2
340
TITIAN": HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIH.
April. He said lie liad given the King's despatch to
Titian, who had been flattered by its reception.
Titian would be content to claim his dues from Milan
and drop those of Na^Dles, which were antiquated,
and of which he as an old man had but an imperfect
recollection. The " Last Supper " was not finished as
had b^en stated, but was to be completed, according
to promise, in May.'"' But jNIay came and passed
away, and Garcia wrote on the lltli of June to say
that Titian was working steadily at the " Cena," which,
notwithstanding all his industry, would not now be
completed for three months. Titian, he added, had
given him a portrait of the Queen of the Eomans, to
send to his Majesty, and it had been forwarded — well
packed — to Don Gabriel della Cueva.t
Titian, it is evident, wished to gain time and give
the treasurer of Milan leisure to obey the King's
commands. He did not like to ofi^end the King, and
sent the portrait of Philip's sister as a sop. His
success is shown in the King's answer to Garcia, a
letter dated the 15th of July, in which the envoy is
bid " to tell Titian that the King liked his diligence
in completing the ' Cena ' and forwarding the likeness
of the Queen his sister. ";{:
Meanwhile no symptoms of relenting appeared on
the part of the King's financial agents. Titian there-
fore wrote again to Philip on the .5 th of August,
tellins: him for the second time that the " Last
* See tlie letter in Appendix,
t The original is in Appen-
dix.
+ See tlie original letter in
Appendix. The picture is not
known to exist.
Chap. ^T[II.] TITIAN VISITS BRESCLV.
341
Supper " was ready, after seven years of labour,
and begging that his Majesty might give command
to his ministers to pay his pensions at ]\Iilan and in
Spain."'" This letter was crossed on the road by a
despatcli of the 1.3th of July from the King to Garcia
Hernandez, stating that Philip Avas thankful for the
diligence used by Titian in completing the " Last
Supper" and the portrait of the King's sister. t A
second despatch, dated a fortnight later, announced
the arrival of the " Queen of the Romans " with other
pieces at ^ladrid, and asked Hernandez to report how
Titian was disposed as regarded work, because the
King wished him to paint a picture of the " Signor
Sant' Loreucio/'J Later still, un the 20tli of
September, Philip wrote to express his pleasure to
Hernandez that the " Cena" should be ready, adding
that orders had l>een sent to Don Gabriel della Cueva
to pay the painter ]iunctually.§ To these letters
Hernandez made the following reply :
GAECL\. HEEXAXDEZ TO riULIP THE SECOND.
"Titian has finished the picture of 'Christ our
Lord at the Last Supper,' and on his return from
Brescia, where he has been for more than a fortnight,
and from whence he is hourly expected, he will give
it to me, and I shall send it at once to the ambas-
sador at Genoa. I shall a.sk Titian to bemn the
* Titian to tho King of Spain,
Aug. 5, loG-1, in Eidolfi, Mar. i.
249-51.
+ Tho original is in Apponilix.
+ Seo tho original in Appendix.
§ Tho original is in Appendix.
3i2 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. 'VTII.
' St. Lawrence/ as lie is well able to work, since in
order to get money he lias gone from here to Brescia.
"Your Majesty's, &c.,
" G. Hernandez.
" Fro??i Venice, Odoher 8, 1564."
Much more fully and with a clear insight into the
character of Titian in his old age, the Spanish envoy
wrote to his minister at Madrid.
gaecia hernandez to antonio peeez.
"Illustrious Senor,
" I received the letter of your Magnificence
dated the 1st ultimo enclosing one for Titian, which I
gave and read to his son, Titian himself being absent
from the city, though expected home hourly. I shall
tell him when he comes, that your Magnificence has
communicated with me as to the picture which he
sent to Francisco Dolfin, now in glory, respecting
which indeed nothing further need be said, since
Titian is content that your Magnificence should
make use of it as you have written. The 'Christ
at the Last Supper ' which has been finished for his
Majesty is a marvel, and one of the best things that
Titian has done, as I am told by masters of the art,
and by all who have seen the composition. Though it
is done, and I was to have had it on the 15th of
September for the purpose of forwarding it to Genoa,
he said, when I sent for it, that he would finish it on
his return, and then give it to me, which I suspect
is due to his covetousness and avarice, which make
Chap, yni] TITIAN AND A. PEREZ. 343
liim keep it back, and may continue to do so, till tlie
King's despatch arrives ordering payment to be made.
If on his return he does not give up the canvas, I
shall consider this the true cause, yet still try to
obtain it, and make him Ijcfrin the 'St. Lawrence.'
For though he is old he works and can still work,
and if there were but money forthcoming we should
get more out of him than we could expect from his
^^Q, : seeinjT that for the sake of earninG; he went
from hence to Brescia to look at the ])lace in which
he has to set certain pictures just ordered of Idin.
Your ]Ma!]:nificence will ask H. M. to settle witli
Titian respecting that of which so much has been
written, as I fear it .may not be done, and if your
Ma^-nificcnce should like some little things from the
master's hand, this would be a fitting and easy oppor-
tunity. In a monastery of tliis city tliere is a picture
of ' St. Lawrence,' done by Titian many years ago, of
the size and style of which your letter speaks. The
friars have told me that they would give it for 200
scudi, and it could be copied for 50 scudi by Geronimo
Titiano, a relative or pupil who has been in Titian's!
house more than thirty years, and is considered the?
next best after him, though he does not come up to
him ; nnd if his Majesty should like these they could
be had more (piickly. I beg your JMagnificence to
advise me as to this.
" Half of the ebony pictures are ready, and the rest
will soon be done also. . . The three lamps are likewise
finished, . . . I have been out with my surgeon and two
apothecaries looking for rhubarb, but there is not a
344
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
dram equal to sample to be had in all Venice, but
if any should be found it will go with this ; if not,
I shall send of the best till the arrival of the genuine
article from the Levant. But all this requires money,
and I have none . . . and if H. IMaj^'. does not com-
mand that the dealers here and there be paid, I do
not know what I shall do. . .
" I kiss the hands of y''. Mag^., and remain most
certainly your Servant,
*' Gaecia Hernandez.'''
" From Venice, Odoher 8, 1564."
A week after this the envoy wrote to Philip to
tell him that Titian had returned, and the " Last
Supper" would be ready "in eight or ten clays."
Titian would then begin the " St. Lawrence," from
which he would not remove his hands till all was
done; but Titian "begged that his Majesty would
condescend to order that he should be paid what was
due to him from the court and from Milan, as Don
Gabriel de la Cueva had not done so, as he had been
bidden." For the rest the painter was in fine
condition, and quite capable of w^ork, and this was
the time, if ever, to get "other things " fi'om him, as
according to some people who knew him, Titian was
about 90 years old, though he did not show it, and
for money everything was to be had of him.t
Titian, it w^ould seem from these letters, was fairly
justified in withholding his picture, for which it was
* The original is in Appendix,
t See G. Hernandez to Philip
the Second, Oct. 15, l<jG4,'_in Ap-
pendix.
CiL\r. YJll.-\ TOWN ILVLL AT BEESCIA. 345
clear the payment was doubtful. He knew well enough
the men with wliom he had to deal, and was probably
quite aware that he could secure the favour of Antonio
Perez with "a.Ir/nnas cosillas de sic mano." The
King, who was favoured with a precis of Garcia's
letters of the Sth and lotli of October, wrote laconic
notes to them in the marofin :
" Orders have been sent to ^lilaii to make the
payment ; and as to matters here, I don't know how
they stand."
" Tlic picture should be bought from Titian's rela-
tive for ."30 ducats."
*' Titian's should not be taken unless it dilfered from
the first, for then there would be two instead of one."
" All that had been done as to the ' ebony carved
work' and lamps I approve."
"As to the rhubarb 1 know nothincr." "
According to these communications, Titian had
been travelling professionally to Brescia in 'search of
money ; and this was true in so far as it appears that
he liad been asked to undertake an important com-
mission, and had received a large retainer. In 1503,
Cristoforo Kosa had contracted to decorate the vault-
ing of the great hall in the public palace of Brescia,
and in February, 15G4, had begun his labours. But
the principal ornament of the place was intended to
consist of three octawnal canvases filliniT spaces in a
large square ceiling ; and it had been thought worthy
* The original is in Appontlix.
346 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. VIII.
of Brescia to employ as composer of these canvases
the best painter of the Venetian states. A contract
was accordingly drawn up and signed, in the presence
of Cristoforo Rosa, on the 3rd of October, in which
Titian agreed " to j^taint three pieces in the cube of
the ceiling of the palace of Brescia with such figures
a,nd histories as the deputies of the to^^al should
designate, at a price to be determined by a taxing
-commission after the completion of the work," and
in the meanwhile an earnest of performance was
given by preliminary payment of an advance of
150 ducats.'"
We shall presently see that Titian at last obtained
some portion of his dues from Milan, ^though the
Lombard treasurers, like some usurers, cashed their
bills in kind. Meantime the " Last Supper " was for-
warded to its destination, and in due course reached
the Escorial, where immediate preparations were
made to hang it in the great refectory. UnhapjDily, it
is said, the wall of this apartment was not as large as
the canvas of Titian, and after short deliberation it
was resolved that the picture should be cut down ;
but this resolution had scarcely been taken when it
was made perceptible to a deaf and dumb artist, " the
Titian of Spain," Juan Fernandez Navarrete, at that
time employed in the monastery, who made energetic
protest against the mutilation, and begged hard for
permission to make a copy. Li spite of his protest,
summary execution was performed upon the famous
* The original contract is in I alle ijubbliclie Fabbrich.e . . . deUa
Zamboni (B.) Memorie intorno I Citta di Brescia, fol.' Bresc. 1778.
CiLiP. ^Tn.] THE "LAST SUPPER." 3^7
work of Titian'.'"' And it is hardly credible, tliouoli
undeniably apparent, even now, that the monks cut
off a large piece of the upper part of Titian's canyas,
leaving the architectural background in a mutilated
state. AVe can fancy Navarrete witnessing this van-
dalism witli the utmost disgust, and accompanying
it " with the most distressing attitudes and distor-
tions." But mutilation is not the only damaoe
inflicted on the picture. It has been so frecpiently
repainted that little or none of the original colour is
left on the surface, and all that the spectator cnn
now enjoy is the grouping and distribution. Taul
Veronese composed the " Feast in the House of Levi,"
now in the Venice Academy, to replace the " Last
Supper," burnt down in the fire of San Giovanni c
Paolo. He naturally challenges comparison with
Titian at the Escorial. Both artists have qualities
which enal)le them to impart grandeur to the sul)jects
which they represent ; both set the scene in monu-
mental architecture ; both give to their episodes that
" condiment " of realism which a French critic w^ould
call '' dciualitc.'' But Titian, thouoh his thouoht is
deformed and lamed by accident, still shows more
elevation and dignity than his younger and now more
active rival. The cloth is laid in a vast hall with an
arched opening at each of its sides. The rays of the
Holy Ghost fall on the head of Christ as he sits at the
centre of the board, where his form is relieved airainst
the landscape seen through the opening beyond. His
* This anecdote, copied from Cean Bermudez, is in Northcote's
Life of Titian, n. s., i. .349-o0.
348 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. Vin.
right arm stretches over the table, his left is on the
shoulder of St. John Evano-elist, who bends with melan-
choly before hini. The dramatis ^lersonce are natu-
rally grouped behind and round the ends of a long
table, under which a doo; is o-uawinG; a bone. To the
right the foremost figure is that of Judas in the act of
rising from his seat, the purse half hid in his fingers.
The traitor looks round as if suspecting his next com-
panion, who leans over and supports himself with one
hand on the cloth whilst pointing at the Saviour with
the other. To the right of both, a man in profile is
eating ; another faces the spectators, and nearer the
centre, two more have their eyes fixed on Judas.
Here, too, the arms of a servant carrying a dish pro-
ject from the opening of the arched doorway. On the
Saviour's right the disciples grouped in threes are
communing with each other ; one in front, to the left,
seated in converse with his neisfhbour, to whom a
word is spoken by a turbaned man in rear, above
whose head the base of a statue is visible on a bracket.
On the floor a vase is lying near a shallow bowl, out of
which a partridge is drinking. The finest group in
the whole picture is that of three apostles on the
Eedeemer's right, one of whom appears surprised,
whilst another, forgetting the cup in his hand,
stretches his frame and face towards Christ ; the third
leaning over and resting his hand on the shoulder of
the second. There flashed on Titian's mind when he
composed this group some reminiscences of Da Vinci's
"Last Supper," which he doubtless saw so often
during his visits to Milan. There are parts, for iu-
ClLiP. VIII.]
THE "LAST SUPPER."
349
stance the profile of the apostle leaning over the end
of the board, and the bare arm of Judas, which are in
iair preservation, and show the superb breadth of
modelHng and kneading of pigment peculiar to Titian
in his later days. The rest is seen more or less to
disadvantage, for the causes already assigned. Seven
years Titian admits he laboured at this great picture.
How often during this time may he not have impasted
and rcimpasted the figures, then forsaken the canvas
and impasted it again, before he ventured on the last
Mazinirs and touches 1 We can still realise to our-
selves, in fancy, how he did this, modelling the forms
at first in primaries, correcting, strengthening, and
tintinf]c the whole at last to its final gorircous rich-
ncss.'" An unfinished copy of this vast piece in a
Venetian palace in the sixteenth century tells of
Titian's connection Avith a painter named Stefano,
who may be identified as Stefano Rosa, the relative of
Christopher Eosa, who witnessed the contract for the
ceilino; canvases at IJresciii.t It is not known what
became of this work. But other copies exist in the
collections of Lord Ellesmcre and Lord Overstone,
which prove the original form of this vast composition
and the value assigned to it. |
* Tho picture contains thirteen
full lengths of life size. It is still
in itrf origiuul place, signed on
the bowl out of which the par-
tridge is drinking, " Titianvs F."
A print of the picture exists, by
C. Cort.
t Anonimo, ed. Morelli, p. .jG.
The picture was in the Casa Pas-
qualino at Venice, and is de-
scribed as having been ' ' begun
by Titian and finished by Ste-
flino."
+ In the Bridgwater collection.
No. 87, is a cojjy from the " Last
Supper" at thoEscorial, properly
assigned to Andrea Schiavono.
But here a high window is sub-
350
TITIAN : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. ICiulp. YIII.
Titian's reward and the beginning of fresh labours
on the " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence " are noted in the
following* letter :
TITIAN TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
*'MosT Potent and Invincible King,
"Malio-nant fortune oblio-es me to recur to
your Majesty, whose infinite goodness as a munificent
patron to a devoted servant may assist and favour
me, in spite of destiny. Some days since, wishing to
recover from the Chamber of Milan the rest of my
ordinary pension, I had an amount equal to some
years' pay retained from me, which caused me great
inconvenience ; besides which, the remnant assigned to
me was forwarded in the shape of a warrant for rice,
by which I was put to a loss in discount of more than
a hundred ducats. I therefore apply to your Majesty
to vouchsafe that orders should be issued for making
good the loss I have sustained, so that, having no
other salary, I may be able to live in the ser\dce of
your Majesty with that small sum which the glorious
memory of Ctesar, your Majesty's Sire, and your
stituted for the arching behind
tie Eedeemer.
The copy in Lord Oyerstone's
collection is small, and described
as an original sketch ("Waagen,
Treasures, Supplement, p. 142).
But as to this, which is open to
contradiction, the authors would
like to reserve their opinion.
Meantime it is important to notice
that here we haye the whole com-
position as it was thought over
by Titian. The space above the
table is much larger. The arch-
ing of the door behind Christ is
complete. The pillars rise to the
height of the entablature, and the
statues on brackets at both ends
are entire. It might be that this
small copy, in which Titian's
composition appears without mu-
tilation, is the work of Nayarrete.
CiLVP. "STII.] TITIAN AXD MILAN TREASURY.
3j1
jMajesty's self concedecl to rae. I shall await the
effect of the infinite kindness of my most clement
King, and meanwhile proceed to finish the picture of
the heato Lorenzo, which, I believe, will be to the
satisfaction of your ^Majesty, to whom, &c.,
"TiTIANO VpXELLIO."
" From Yexice, Juhj 18, loG5."
"Wlillst it is clear from this ej^istle that the master
had not as yet laid hands upon the " St. Lawrence,"
it is equally clear from the tenor of a correspondence
which he had in August with the Lresciau agents, that
he had not begun the canvas of the town hall.
The Brescians spent six months in choosing the pro-
mised subjects; and it was not till the :20th of August
tliat Titian wrote to acknowledge the receipt of them.
In September he went to spend tlie autumn at
Cadore, and there he planned the decoration of the
church of the Pieve with frescoes and mosaics, which,
it was understood, were to be carried out by puj^ils
from his designs.t On his return to Venice in De-
cember, wc find him renewing actpiaintance by letter
with his old friend and protector Beccadelli, who had
now become Bishop of Ravello.J
AMiat the master's labours may have been during
this interval has not been reported by chroniclers.
* Tho original is in Appendix.
t Several of these pupils were
thou with him at Cadore. Va-
Icrio Zuccati, Emmanuel of Augs-
burg, and C'esare Vecelli, wit-
nessed tho deed appointing Fausto
Vecelli to bo a notary on tho
1st of October. Compare Ticozzi
Vecelli, u. s., p. 238.
X Tho original is in Herman
Grimm's Kunst und Kiinstlor,
8vo, Berlin, 18C7, ii. pp. 16j-6.
352
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CiL^r. YIII.
But there is circumstantial testimony to show that
Titian had completed two canvases at least — the
*' Transfiguration " and the " Annunciation " — in the
church of San Scxlvadore at Venice ; and there is reason j
to think that the figure of "St. James of Compos-
tella " in San Lio of Venice and the " Education of
Cupid " in the Borghese Palace at Eome were pro-
duced about this time.
Titian only once designed the " Transj&guration,"
and that, as we see, in extreme old age, yet his com-
position of the subject is very telling. Christ is just
leavincf the earth, which he still touches with the
ridit foot. He rises from the ground with out-
stretched arms, looking up to heaven, as the three
apostles, awe-struck and half-recumbent, watch him
from the foreground. Moses on the left with the
Tables, Elias on the right, are powerful but somewhat
unwieldy figures, in which we discern the coarser
execution of the master's disciples, and particularly
the shallow technical handling of Marco Vecelli. Oily
pigment superficially blended and a marked deficiency
of bold contrast between lights and shadows, are
unmistakable evidence of this. But in spite of these
drawbacks, the canvas is remarkable for the richness
of its toning ; and Titian's genius in realizing forcible,
almost majestic, movement is undeniable.'"'
* The "Transfiguration" is
mentioned by Yasari (xiii. 37) ;
and Eidolfi says (i. 267) that it
had already suffered in his day
from retouching. It is a canvas
with figures of Hfe size, covering
a "j)«/a" of chiselled silver,
forming the ornament of the high
altar. The general tone is low,
and the surface is injured by
partial repainting and bad var-
nish. The picture is engraved.
Chap. Yin.] THE " ANXUXCIATIOX." 35:5
The "Annunr-iatioii" on a ueighbouriug altar of the
same church is carried out with hokl skill and sur-
prising mastery of means. The old painter is now on
the verge of 90, yet his power and inventiveness are
in some respects greater than they were in earlier
days. He repeats a theme often studied and thought
over, and his mature experience suggests to him a
treatment as ingenious as it is new. Four angels and
numerous cherubs flutter about the dove, the rays of
which are dartinij towards the head of ^larv. The
Virgin, who had been kneeling at lier book on a desk,
turns round suddeidv and disi)hivs a face lost in
astonishment, the features of which express timidity
making way for fortitude. She raises with her right
hand the veil that covers her hair and floats about her
form, and directs her glance shar])ly at the winged
anuel who comes in Ijowinrj to the left, with b(»th
arms crossed over his breast. With the other hand
she still grasps the book as if it were i)art of herself
and not to be lost for a moment. The ty2)e is not
that which belongs to a shrinking and youthful girl.
It recalls in some measure that of the " Magdalen " or
of the " Venus " at Petersburg or the Borghese Palace,
but it is still so elevated and im})ressed witli so much
dignity and character, that nothing more than the
mould of the face suggests a point in common with
these creatures of another world of thought, wliilst
the grandeur attained brings the })ainter as near to
]\Iichaelangelo in conception as it was possible for
Titian to come. The life which l)ul)bles out so gaily
in the quick movement and gleeful joy of the angels,
VOT;. II. A A
354
TITIAN" : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. ^T:II.
and the graceful action of Gabriel ; tlie charm which
lies in bright hues of drapery, the beauty of the
grouping in the glory ; the sheen of wings in radiant
atmosphere, and the splendid contrasts of light and
shade and deep harmonious colour, all combine to
fetter attention in the highest measure, and this im-
pression is but enhanced by masterly treatment,
though it be but that of a man whose hand and eye
are no longer apt for detail, but confine themselves to
broad and sweeping dashes and planes of pigment.
\yell might Titian feel offended at the reproach that
the picture so composed and executed should not have
satisfied the purchasers, and we cannot but approve
the energetic answer of the artist to the ignorance of
his judges when he wrote beneath the foreground,
"titianvs fecit fecit." Curiously enough Vasari,
who described this piece and its companion in 1566,
declared that Titian held both in slight esteem, adding
that he himself thousfht them inferior to other works
O
of Titian. But if this were true, how could we
account for the anecdote which tells of Titian's indig-
nation, and how explain the double " fecit " thrown
by the master on the canvas ? We may believe that
Vasari on this occasion confounded the " Transfigura-
tion " with the " Annunciation,'" and applied to both
the opinion which Titian only applied to the first."
* This picture is also on can-
yas, Tvith figures large as life.
It is mentioned by Vasari (xiii.
37) and all the guides and his-
torians of Venetian art. On the
floor, above Titian's signature, we
read, "ignis aedens non com-
BVRENS." Between the angel
and Virgin a view of a landscape
is seen through a door. Here
also the colours are dimmed,
perhaps on account of excessive
Oh.\p. Vrn.] ST. JA^klES OF COMPOSTELLA.
355
St. James of Compostella receiving tlie ray from,
lieaven, whilst the Baptist kneels in the distance, is
a life-sized fio;ure in San Lio, which misfht vie with
those of the church of San Salvadore, if time and
restoring had not almost obliterated the master's
work. The walking- movement, the tender upturned
face, the hand on the breast, express feeling without
the affectation of the Peruginesques, and the lines are
of that gran<l boldness which surprises afresh in every
work of Titian."""
Superb in anotlier form, though quite in a different
scale of tone, is the " Cupid and Venus " of the
Borohese Palace, a canvas of which the orioiual
tliought is transparent enough, though modern criti-
cism was too careless to detect it. Not the three
Graces disarming Cupid we should think, but Venus
and two Graces teaching Cupid liis vocation, is the
subject depicted. Tlic Queen of Love is seated in
front of a gorgeous red-brown drapery ; her li(>ad is
crowned with a diadem, and her luxuriant hair falls in
heavy locks on her neck. Her arms are bare, but her
tunic is bound with a sash, which meets in a cross at
the bosom and winds away under the arms, whilst a
uso of bitumen in shadows and
glazings. Engraved by C. Cort.
* This is an arched canvas, on
tho last altar to the left, in San
Lio. A piece has been added to
tho right side and base of the
picture, in the foreground of
which there are traces of the
master's name. In tho distance
to the left, bounded bj^ hills, a
knight is seated. The saint is
bare-headed and bare-legged ,
with a green rag about his ancles.
In his right hand the pilgrim's
staff; his dress is red and yellow.
(Compare Tizianello's Anon., p.
9 ; Sansov. Ven. desc, p. 42 ; and
Boschini, Min. Sest. di Castollo.
p. 34.) The surface was injured
by time, and then repainted in
many places. Tho tones arc
hea\'y and opaque in conscquoncc.
A A 2
850
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
flap of a blue mantle crosses the knees. With both
hands she is binding the eyes of Eros leaning on her
lap, whilst she turns to listen to the whispering of
another Eros resting on her slioulder. A girl, with
naked throat and arm, carries Cupid's quiver, whilst
a second holds his bow. Behind the group a sky-
overcast with pearly clouds lowers over a landscape
of hills. There are reminiscences here that take us.
back more than twenty years to the allegory of
Davalos at the Louvre, or to similar "poesies" at
Vienna, but how different is the treatment ! Let us
recall the clays of the " Tribute Money," when it was
of little consequence whether one saw the master's
work at a distance or not. Near it the smallest
details could be detected, losing themselves in the-
mass as one drew back. Now a near view presents
a medley of patches of impasted pigment, red, blue
and black interspersed with grey, and no contour-
or minuteness of any kind. But if w^e retire to the
focal distance the reality itself is before us. The
figures look plastic. Light plays upon every part,
creating as it falls a due projection of shadow,
producing all the delicacies of broken tone and a
clear silvery surface full of sparkle, recalling those
masterpieces of Paolo Veronese in which the grada-
tions are all in the cinerine as opposed to the golden,
key.^'^
* This picture is mentioned by
Eidolfi as belonging to Prince
Borgbese (Marav. i. 257), who
thus possessed two allegories,
executed at the two extremes of
Titian's career: "Artless and
Sated Love," and the "Education
of Cupid." The canvas, witb balf-
lengtbs large as life, is well pre-
served. It sbows on tbat account
Oh.u'. ynr.] titia.x, cort, and boldrint.
35?
During the winter leisure of 1565-66, Titian de-
voted some of his time to the superintendence of
Cornelius Cort and Niccolo Boldrini, whom he em-
ployed to engrave some of his rarest and most
popular pieces. He sent a petition to the C^ouncil of
Ten praying for a monopoly of the publication of
these* prints, and a patent to that effect was issued to
him in Februar)' of 1566.* In this manner there
came into circulation the "St. Jerom," the "Perseus
and Andromeda," tlie "Trinity," the Barbarigo "Mag-
dalen," the " Annunciation " of San Salvadore, a
second version of the " St. Jerom," " Sisyphus,"
" Prometlieus," and several other com])ositions, a
selection of which having been presented to Dominick
Lampsoniu.s at Lit?ge, produced that fulsome letter
which Gaye has published, praising Titian as the best
landscape painter of the agc.t In January two of
the Brescian canvases were so far advanced that the
envoy of that numicii)ality at Venice was enabled to
congratulate his government on their approaching
completion.^ Shortly afterwards the Spanish envoy
Hernandez wrote to Philip the Second, to tell him
that the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" would be
finished in the following Lent.§ But we hardly
how well the pictures of Titian's
old ago could look wheu he chose.
This picture has been engraved
in a plate marked L. Bo. Ba"" f.
Romae, engraved by F. Vanden
Wyngaordo and Robert Strange.
* Cadorin, Dello Am ore, u. s.,
j)p. 9 & 65.
t D . Lampson . to Titian , Liege,
March 13, 1567, in Gaye's Car-
teggio, iii. p. 242.
X Zamboni, u. s.
§ See Philip the Second to
Garcia Hernandez, March 26,
156(5, acknowledging the i-eceipt
of that of Hernandez, in Ap-
pendix.
358 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. YIII.
require the evidence of contemporary correspondence
at tliis period, to realize the picture of Titian's
industry. Vasari, who had been preparing a new
edition of his Lives in the spring of 1566, had become
impressed with the necessity of revisiting the principal
cities of Italy, and had left Eome for Venice on the
I7tli of April. In the short space of a month, he
travelled by way of Narni, Terni and Spoleto to
Tolentino, Macerata, and Loretto, thence by Ancona,
Eimini, and Eavenna, to Bologna. From Bologna
he passed on to Modena, Parma, Piacenza, and
through Pavia to Milan. On the 10th of May at
Lodi, he visited in successive days Cremona, Brescia,
and Mantua, and after spending a few hoiu's at
Padua and Vicenza, he reached Venice on the 21st,
retmiiing to Ferrara on his way home on the 27th of
May.'" In this short visit of four or five days he
saw Titian, of whom he wrote after his return in
terms judicious if not enthusiastic, as follows :
" Titian has enjoyed health and happiness un-
equalled, and has never received from heaven anything
but favour and felicity. His house has been visited
by all the princes, men of letters and gentlemen who
ever came to Venice. Besides being excellent in art,
lie is pleasant company, of fine deportment and agree-
able manners. He has had rivals in Venice, but none
of any great talent. His earnings have been large,
because his works were always well paid ; but it
would have been well for him if in these the later
* See Yasari's own letters in Gaye, iii. 210 to 219.
CiiAP. Vni.] VASAEI VISITS VENICE. 359
years of liLs life be had uuly laboured for a pastime,
in order not to lose, by works of declining value, the
reputation gained in earlier days. When Yasari,
writer of this history, came to Venice in 1566, he
went to pay a visit to Titian as to a friend, and he
found him, though very aged, with the brushes in his
hand painting, and had much pleasure in seeing his
pictures and conversing with him ; and there, too, he
met Gian' Maria Verdizotti, a \'enetian gentleman, a
young man full of talent, friend of Titian and a good
l)aiuter and designer, as he proved in some fine land-
scapes of his own execution. This gentleman owns of
Titian, whom he loves as a father, two figures in oil
of Apollo and Diana, each in a niche."' Titian
having decorated \'enice and indeed Italy and other
parts of the world with admirable pictures, deserves
to be loved and studied by artists, as one who has
done and is still doing works deserving of praise,
which will last as long as the memory of illustrious
men. t
Proceeding in another place to describe some of
the things which he saw in Titian's dwelling, Vasari
further says :
" He lately sent a ' Last Supper ' to the Catholic
king, which was seven braccia in length and of great
beauty. Besides the many pieces already described,
and others of less price which brevity commands us
to neo-lect, the following in his house are sketched out
and begun : —
* Those figures are not to bo found. f Vas. xiii. 45.
360 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. VIII.
The " Martyrdom of St. La^\T:'ence," similar to one
already described.
" The Crucifixion," with Christ on the cross and the
thieves and executioners below, which is ordered by
Messer Giovanni Danna.
A picture ordered for Doge Grimani, father of the
Patriarch of Aquileia.
Three large canvases for the ornament of the ceiling
of the o-reat Palazzo of Brescia.
O
A picture of a nude female bending before Minerva,
with another figure at her side, and a view of the sea,
where Neptune is seen on his car. This piece was
beorun lono; ao;o, but left unfinished when Alfonzo,
Duke of Ferrara, who ordered it, passed to another
life.
" Christ appearing to the Magdalen in the Garden,"
a picture much advanced but not finished.
" The Virgin and the j\Iarys and the dead Christ
lowered into the Sepulchre."
A Virgin, which is one of his better things.
A portrait done four years ago of himself, very fine
and natural.
"St. Paul Reading," who seems filled with the
Holy Spirit.*
The history of Titian's portrait remained, as we
saw, obscure. t The "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" was
sent to Spain, the Brescian canvases to Brescia, after
the lapse of one or two years ; whilst the " Entomb-
ment " was despatched to Madrid in 1572 as a present
* Vas. xiii. 43-4. f See antea.
Ch-VP. Vin.] MOEE ALLEGORIES. 361
from tlie Venetian government to Antonio Perez.""'
The picture ordered for the Doge Grimani is probably
the "Fede" now in the public palace of Venice. "St.
Paul," "The Crucifixion," and "Christ appearing to
the Magdalen,"' it has not been possible to trace. The
allegory conijtosed for Alfonzo of Ferrara, unex-
plained in the pages of Vasari, remains equally
inexplicable if we look at the picture still unfinished
in the private apartments of the Doria Palace at
Rome. A goddess or wnius with a red banner in her
left hand, su]»})orting with lier liglit a shield of liexa-
gonal shape, stands proudly on a seashore, attended by
a female bearing an unsheathed sword ; at her feet lie
the emblems of war, a flag, a helmet, breast j>late, and
arrow. In front to the riijht, and in a bending atti-
tude, a nude woman stands before a tree stump, on
which seven serpents are coiled, at the foot of which
there lies a broken stone, the wafer of the Host and an
overturned chalice. In the distance a god drives his
car through the waters. The key to this obscure
allegory may possibly be found by some ingenious
admirer of this class of pictorial subjects. The mode
in which it is treated is of more interest to the student
of Titian's life. Unliap})ily the sketchy forms which
ai)pear on this canvas have apparently been taken up
by Titian's disciples, and though still unfinished the
figures show little, if any, of the grandeur of form
and features or contour, and none of the dexterity of
handling which characterised the master in his middle
See antea.
362
TITMN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. VHI.
period. The nude female, which most recalls Titian,
has been draped in a sketchy white drapery of modern
ail", and the picture as a whole is quite disappointing,
both as regards conception and execution.* At some
unknown period of his life Titian produced an alle-
gorical composition of the same kind, which came into
the gallery of the Escorial, and then found its way into
the Madrid Museum. Here the goddess with the
standard is followed by a band of female defenders.
The shield which she supports bears the arms of Spain,
and the car in the distance is driven by a Turk and
pursued by the galleys of the Christians. But even
here we hardly see the unadulterated treatment of
Titian, and the picture betrays the assistance of the
master's disciples.t
During Vasari's stay in Tuscany, in the autumn of
1566, and but a few months after he had occasion to
see the pictures of w^hich we have seen the descrip-
tion, a letter was forwarded from Venice to Florence,
and opened there in due form. That letter contained
* At tlie feet of the bending
naked figure we read, " D. ti-
TiAi^o." It is a mistake of tlie
Madi'id Museum Catalogue to say
that tlie shield of the goddess is
emblazoned with the arms of
Doria ; it is altogether bare.
Besides the repainted drapery of
the nude figure, there are other
parts of the picture which have
suffered from retouching.
t Madrid Museum, No. 476,
canvas, m. 1.68 square. The pic-
ture is signed with the dubious
inscription, " titiaKus f." It
was in the Palace of Pardo in
1614 (Madrazo's Madrid Cat., p.
681), and before that in the Es-
corial. A similar subject, called
' ' Virtue and Peace defending Be-
ligion," was engraved by Julius
Fontana (not seen), after Titian ;
but Eidolfi (Mar. i. 242) gives the
subject of the print as " Eeligion
persecuted by Heresy," and heresy
is described in an inscription a&
anguicoma.
Chap. YIII.] TITIAN AND THE FLORENTINE ACADEM . 36
a joint application from Titian and Lis colleagues in
art to be admitted members of the Tuscan Academy
of Paintino^. The letter was laid before the council of
that body, and answered immediately, AVithout a
dissentient voice there were registered on the lists of
the Florentine Academy : Andrea Pallatlio, Joseph
Salviati, Danese Cattaneo, Battista Zelotti (Veronese),
Tintoretto, and Titiano Veccllio.*
* Vas. xiii. 183, and see the I demy, printed in the chronology
entry in tho books of the Aca- | of Titian, in Vasari, xiii. 07.
CHAPTER IX.
Titian is taxed for his Income. — His Eelations with Picture Dealers
and Collectors.— Strada the Antiquary. — Final Correspondence
with Urbino and the Farnese. — Frescos at Pieve di Cadore. —
The " Nativity." — " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence " at the Escorial.
— Canvases of the Town Hall at Brescia, and Quan-el as to the
Payment for them. — The second " Christ of the Tribute Money."
— Death of Sansovino. — " Lucretia and Tarquin." — "Battle of
Lepanto," and Pictures illustrative of that Encounter. — Titian's
Allegory of Lepanto. — " Christ Derided " at Munich. —
Exalted Visitors at Biri Grande. — Titian's List of Pictures. —
His last Letter to Philip the Second. The Plague at Venice.
— Titian's last Masterpiece. — His Death. — Titian's Pictures:
Genuine, Uncertified, and Missing.
OxE of the earliest privileges conferred on Titian
had been an exemption from the income tax, valued
in an official record at about eighteen to twenty-
ducats a year.* In 1566 this privilege was withdrawn,
and Titian was asked for the first time in his life to
furnish an estimate of his property. In obedience to
an order of the council of Pregacli he declared on the
28th of June that he lived at San Canciano, in the house
of the magnificent Madonna Polani, paying a clear
annual rent for his dwelling of sixty-two ducats. His
income he stated to be about one hundred and one
ducats, derived from various sources. The cottage at
Cadore, in which Francesco Vecelli his brother had
lived, produced, as he protested, nothing but a load of
* See antea, i. p. 162.
Chap. IX.]
TITIAN'S INCOME.
365
hay, which was the produce of an adjoining meadow.
There Avere fields belonging to him in various parts of
the Cadorine territor}^ two saw mills at Ansogne, let
for twenty-four ducats each, but involving charges
for emljanking the Piave, a meadow near Ansogne,
of which the Piave swallowed up a fragment every
summer, and a field with a cottage at Col di ^lanza in
the district of Serravalle. At ]\Iilart', he continued,
he had eighteen fields ; near Serravalle, two fields
with a cottage and a house, and a small meadow, and
a mortoranc yieldiuu; interest at the rate of a "stara" of
wheat. In Conegliano he owned a cottage, for which
he paid a ground rent of three lire a year to the brother-
hood of Sant' Antonio.* Not a word in this income
return of the proceeds of the Sanseria, the pension from
j\Iilan and Spain, the timber yard at the Zattere, or the
profits of the sale of his numerous pictures. The canny
old man was a master in conceaHng his wealth. He
dwelt complacently on " the smallness of his receipts
and the difticulty of maintaining his family," at the very
time when the municipality of Cadorc was sending
him word that they were ready to receive his pupils,
who were to begin the frescos at the Pieve, which
were to bring him in two hundred ducats ;f at the very
time when he was dealing with Strada, a Mantuan
" antiquary " who purchased pictures, prints and old
sculpture for the Emperor All)ert the Fifth of Bavaria.
About the middle of the 16th century, the trade in
* See the income return in
Cadorin, Dello Amore, p. 90.
t The minutes and letters of
June 18 and July 2 are in Ti-
cozzi, «. s., pp. 318-19.
366
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
pictures and works of old and modern art was
actively carried on by dealers in connection witb.
living artists and commission agents of various kinds.
The buyers were usually kings and princes, cardinals,
noblemen, and patricians. The sellers were im-
poverished descendants of great houses, or spendthrift
sons of old families, who parted secretly with heir-
looms to fill their purses, lightened "by play and
betting and women."* Jacob Strada, a clever judge
of art in the service of the Emperor, from whom he
had received the title of " Caesarian antiquary," was
the chief asjent in transactions of this kind during the
latter half of the century in North Italy, his aiders
and abettors being the Fuggers on one hand, and
half a dozen of subordinate dealers and brokers on the
other, of whom Niccol5 Stoppio, Bernardo Olgiate, and
J. P. Castellino were the cleverest or the most success-
ful. In the same line of business as Strada, but with
less professional versatility, were the sculptors Ales-
sandro Vittoria and Leone Leoni, the engraver ^neas
Vico, and now and then Titian, whose name crops up
occasionally in connection with the sale of relics of
the olden time. Of the wealth of art which lay con-
cealed in Venice and North Italy during these days
we have an idea when we turn the pages of the
"Anonimo," edited by Morelli. There were "studios"
in every one of the principal cities, at Venice, in the
Cornaro and Odoni palaces, in the houses of the
* Niccolo Stoppio to Max Fug-
ger, Venice, June, 1567, in Quel-
lensclimten, u. s., p. 53. (Dr. J.
Stockbauer's Kunstbestrebungen
am Bayriscben Hof. )
Chap. IX.]
PICTURE COLLECTORS.
367
Pasqualini, Contariui, Marcclli, Foscarini, Zios, Veuiers,
Loredanos, Grimani ; at Padua, in the palaces of tlie
Bembos, Mantovas and Cornaros. In some instances,
the greatest pains had been taken to secure the preser-
vation of heirlooms in the shape of antiques, pictures,
and medals by testamentary disposition, and Cardinal
Bembo amonirst othci-s had left his museum to his son
Torquato on the clear understandmg tliat it should
never be dispersed. But Torquato secretly disposed
of the best pieces from time to time, so thnt he had
parted with some of his treasures to Strada and
Stoppio before 15G7, and sold almost all his father's
collection by 1583.* Under simihir circumstances
at the same period an heir of the Loredanos at Venice
was parting piecemeal with the lieirlooms of his
family, the Vendramins were offering their gallery for
sale, the Mantovas of Padua were prepared to give up
some of their best rarities, and the heirs of Giulio
Romano at Mantua were making money of the
antiques which that painter had brought together witli
so much trouble and expense.t
Titian's connection with the " antiquaries " and
their following of agents and adventurers is casually
illustrated in tlie correspondence of Niccol5 Stoppio,
an Italian of the class of Daniel Nys, the celebrated
dealer who purchased the Mantuan collection for
Charles the First of England. It was Stoppio who
* Seo E. Basso to Niccolo
Gaddi, Eome, May G, 1583, in
Bottari, u.s., iii. 291 ; Stoppio to
Fugger, Aug. 1, 1JG7, in Stock-
bauer, u. s., p. 55 ; and Strada's
accounts, also in Stockbaucr, p.
3L\
t Stockbaucr, u. s.
368 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CiLvr. IX,
sent Cort's prints of Titian's pictures to Lambert
Lombard at Liege."'^ It was Stoppio who negotiated
with the Duke of Bavaria for the sale of a casket then
in the hands of Titian.
On the 17th of August, 1567, Stoppio wrote to the
Duke : " His friend Cario della Serpa, once high
chamberiain to Pope Julius the Second, had a silver-
gilt casket set with crystals, for which the Venetian
government were bidding 1200 crowns. For this
price Serpa was unwilling to sell his treasure, but had
transferred it to Titian, with instructions not to part
with it except for ready money." The Duke's inclina-
tion to make the purchase is shown by the following
note from the factor of the Fuggers, David Ott, at
Venice, who wrote in September :
"I spoke with Titian about the crystal casket, tell-
ing him that your Highness wished it forwarded at your
expense. I gave him to understand that it should be
paid at the rate of 1000 ducats, or sent back if your
Highness did not like it. Titian wanted 1000 golden
crowns, but he accepted your Highness's offer at
last, and I now await an opportunity to despatch the
casket."
To this the Duke replied that he saw no objection,
but that he would not take the responsibility of acci-
dents or breakage on the road. Titian should be asked
to send the piece at the Duke's cost, but at his own
risk ; upon this point Ott had an interview with Orazio,
which Stoppio described as a squabble :
* See antea, and Lampson to Titian, March 13, 1567, in Gaye^
Carteg", iii. 242.
CiiAP. IX.] STRiU)A THE ANTIQUARY. 369
"The 'crystal casket,'" he said, "was phiced this day
in David Ott's hands. I wish you could have heard
the quarrel between Carlo Serpa and Titian's son as
to the form of delivery. They chaffered so long that
neither of them could speak. It is hard to deal with
such curious people."
On the 3rd of November, 15G7, the parties
agreed to a declaratiou, in whieli Ott acknowledged
the receipt of the casket in presence of two wit-
nesses, and elected to send it at his risk, promising
to return it or pay 1000 ducats on that day six
weeks.""
When Max Fugger, in December, 15G7, took oc-
casion to disparage Stoppio's skill as a judge of art,
Stoppio retorted with the statement that his judgment
was approved by a man of the celebrity of Titian.t
Stoppio died in February, 1570, and his property was
impounded by his creditors. Among^^t the goods
seized, there were pieces purchased for the Duke of
Bavaria. Francesco Brachicri, who inherited Stoppio's
business, claimed these pieces, and wrote that he
would take Titian with him to value them. In 1571,
Brachicri bought crystals, corals, and knick-knacks
for his patron, and Titian made the necessary advances
in cash. J
In 1566, before Strada took his final departure from
Italy to enter the Duke of Bavaria's service at Munich,
and just before he transferred his agency to Stop})io,
* Stockbauer, n. s. ; Quellou- bauer, Quellenscbr. viii. 62.
echrifteu, ». s., pp. 92, 93. t Ibid. pp. 66 & 69.
t Stoppio to Fugger in Stock-
VOL. II. B B
370 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
he sat to Titian, who painted that clever though
sketchy portrait of which Boschini wrote :
" Ma sora il tuto quel del Antiquario :
Perche tra i beli de quel bel' erario
El porta el vanto, e rende stupefati." *
Early in the seventeenth century, this portrait came
into the gallery of the Archduke Leopold of Austria
at Brussels, passing after his death into the Imperial
collection, and now adorning the Belvedere. Strada
is now sixty years of age. He stands behind a table
over which he leans, and supports with both hands a
small statue of Venus. As he raises it he turns his
face to the right, speaking, one might think, to some
invisible person. His beard is slightly grey, his hair
cut short, round his neck is the chain of an aulic
councillor, and the sword of a " Hofrath " is belted to
his waist. Over the red doublet which takes white
reflections from the light projected into the room, a black
pelisse lies on his shoulders displaying a picturesque
lon2;-haired lamb's wool collar. A hio^h console behind
the figure is weig-hted with books of reference, the sfreen
table cloth is partly concealed by a fragment of a
torso, two gold and four silver medals, and a letter
addressed " II Mag^« Sig°'' Sig"'' Titia. . . Veceli. . .
Yen. . ." In spite of abrasion and a partial repainting
of the right side of the face, we see one of those clever
pieces of execution on coarse rough ground which is
so characteristic of Titian in these days. The grain of
the canvas is ingeniously concealed in the flesh parts
* Boschini, Carta del Navegar. p. 40.
Chap. IX.]
STRADA THE .iXTIQUARY.
371
by impasted pigment chilled to a glossy smoothness,
and finished with an unctuous scumble in which we
distins^uish the li£!;ht track of a soft brush, the smudo-e
created by an application of the thumb, and the notch
produced with the butt of the pencil. The dress,
more scantily impasted, shows the roughnesses of the
stuff, and the whole is picked out with points of light,
giving great brio to tlic picture. In this form we see
Paul Veronese frequently working at this time, and it
is no wonder tliat he sliould have been captivated by
a treatment so free, so bold, and so exceedingly clever.*
How keen Titian could still be in preserving order
in his affairs and promoting the welfare of his family,
is apparent, not only from his dealings with antiquaries,
but in his irrepressible correspondence with people of
high station. With that steady persistence which had
already secured so many unhoped for payments from
the obdurate treasurers of Spain, he now corresponded
Avitli the Duke of Urbino.
TITIAN TO THE DUKE OP UEBIXO.
" Many days have elapsed since, by order of your
Excellency, I sent through the secretary (Agatone at
Venice) the picture of " Our Lady." But having since
then received no news as to whether it was considered
* On a scutcheon fastened to
tho wall we read: " JAC0BV3 DE
STUADA. CIVIS ROM.U^VS CAES. S.
ANTIQVAUIV3 ET COM BELIC. AN
^TAT LI. MD.LXVi." On the wall
to tho left, "TiTiANVS F." The
word " BELIC," which formerly
was " Aulic," the age Li, which
formerly was Lix, show how this
inscription was altered by re-
painting. The figure is largo as
life, seen to tho knee, on a can-
vas, 3 ft. 11 h. by 3 ft.
n r. 2
372
TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TBEES. [Chap. IX.
satisfactory, I beg now to kiss your Excellency's
liand, and ask to be consoled in respect of this matter ;
because being in tliis uncertainty I live in a state of
doubt, as a man who would have pleasure in learning
that his service has been Q-ratefuL I have heard that
the painting was a long time on the road, and I think
it would be proper to have it placed for half an hour
in the sun to counteract any injury which it may have
received. And so, kissing your Excellency's hand,
" I remain, &c.,
" TiziANO Yecellio, p
*
From Venice, Zrd May, 1567."
Titian's impatience grew as months went by, and
the secretary Agatone repeatedly met his impor-
tunities with promises. In autumn he renewed his
application to the Duke.
" Six months had elapsed since May — he wrote in
October, 1567 — and Agatone had never offered but
fair words in return for the painting sent to his
Excellency." And Agatone, we need not doubt, suc-
cumbed to the pressure put upon him, and made the
required payment.f The " Madonna " of which his
letter speaks may possibly be one of those which
came as heirlooms into the galleries of the Grand
Dukes of Florence. It was but one of a series of
pieces which found their way to Pesaro and Urbino
* The original is in Lettere d'
Illustri Italiani non mai Stam-
pate, pub. da Z. Bicchierai per le
Nozze Galeotti- Cardenas di Va-
leggio, 8vo, Fir. Le Monnier,
1864, p. 11.
t Titian to tlie Duke of Ur-
bino, Venice, Oct. 27, 1567, in
Gaye's Carteggio, iii. 249.
Chap. IX.] PICTUEES AT U£BIXO. 373
in these latter days of the master's life. Two small
canvases, reminiscent of this period, are visible even
now in the church of San Francesco di Paolo at
Urbino, which fairly show how easily, yet with what
power, Titian in his old age could work. One of
these canvases is the " Last Supper," so arranged
that the table, being a square instead of an oblong, is
placed at an angle to the plane of delineation, and
shows the Saviour and disciples in threes at the sides
of the board. Lehind the table Christ is seated with
a crust in his hand, whilst Judas, at the corner oppo-
site to him, raises the bread to his mouth. The apostles
are ingeniously delineated in various attitude and
expression of surprise, and the scene is laid in a
cloister, the archings of which are in part open, and
display the landscape outside, with one of those
slender pyramids sliooting iuto the air which Titian
used to break the monotony of horizontal and vertical
lines. The picture unfortunately was fatally injured
by w\ashing, and being rapidly executed without
repeated impasting, has darkened so much that some
of the figures are lost in an artificial gloom. Better
preserved, and originally better designed, is the
"Resurrection" in the same church, a picture in which
the foreshortening;s and somethins^ in the movement
of the Kedeemer recall a similar masterpiece by
Mantegna in tlie gallery of the Uffizi. The subject is
that which Titian executed on a large scale for the
Lcfjate Averoldi at Brescia: but the treatment here is
bolder and more dramatic. Clu'ist rises on the cloud,
giving the blessing and holding the banner. The
374
TITIAN: HIS LIEE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
winding sheet covers Lis hips, and flaps away in the
breeze. In the landscape beneath we see the square
of the tomb, with a guard on the right starting up
and wielding his lance, whilst one to the left totters
as he looks towards heaven and shades his eyes with
his hand. The two sleepers in the middle of the fore-
ground are foreshortened with consummate skill, and
the whole picture is thrown off at one painting with
that breadth and certainty of hand which make a
return to the parts altogether unnecessary.*
Amusing as illustration of Titian's pliancy in
renewing relations with old and all but forgotten
patrons in these years, is his correspondence with
Cardinal Farnese in 1567 and 1.568. We may re-
collect that he had obtained from Charles the Fifth
what he called a " naturalezza di Spagna," a natm^a-
lization of his son Pomponio in Spain, which ought
to have yielded an annual income of some hundreds
of ducats. Many of his appeals to the King of Spain
on the score of this pension had been fruitless, and
one of Philip the Second's last memoranda had been
" that he knew nothing of the matter. "f Notwith-
standing this most hopeless state of affairs, Titian now
turned to Cardinal Farnese for the purpose of support-
ino' his claim bv le^atine intercession : and the
Cardinal was mindful enough of the services done to
his family by the artist in bygone days to answer his
■* Each of these canvases is
m. 1 h. by 0.75. The "Eesurrec-
tion " is fairly preserved, if we
except the sky, which is much
i-epainted. The " Last Supper,"
as above stated, is very dark, and
in part obliterated ; on the fore-
ground to the left a dog is gnaw-
ing a bone.
t See antea, p. 345.
Chap. IX.] TITIAN AND THE FAENESE.
375
letter kindly. Encouraged by this turn of affairs,
Titian now addressed his old protector anew, taking
advantage of a journey undertaken towards Eonie by
Giannantonio Facchinetti, Bishop of Nicastro, to
send pictures to the Cardinal and to Pope Pius the
Fifth, and accompanying the present with the follow-
ing letter:
TITIAN TO CAIIUIX.U. FAENESE.
" Having ascertained from your Reverence's
communication that your Lordship's singukir courtesy
had deigned to approve the k^tter I lately sent, I
make bold to present a new tril)ute of service in the
shape of a picture of " St. Mai}' ^Magdalen in the
Desert" in an attitude of devotion and penitence. As
on n previous occasion y(nir T^ordship showed signs of
liking the works of my hand, I feel convinced that
this one will not meet with less favour ; being done in
my old age and fruit of my leisure, I beg of your
Lordship to accept it as a proof of my devotion and
desire to be of service. I join to it another picture
lor our Signore (the Pope), which is the "Beato Peter
Martyr," and I shall be glad that your Illustrious
Lordship should do me the favour to present it in my
name. Praying that v/henever Monsignor the Legate
.shall write from here in my favour your Lordship
may give me your support, and kissing your Lord-
ship's hand, " I am, &c.,
" TiTiANO Vecelli."*
* Tho original is in Eoncbini's
Eelazioni, u. s., . 14. It is not
dated, but was probably written
about tbo close of March, loGl.
376 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
To this letter tlie Cardinal was not so quick in
responding as Titian thought he might have been.
TITIAN TO CARDINAL FARNESE.
" Two months, or nearly so, have elapsed since
I sent two of my paintings to your Illustrious and
Eeverend Lordship, one of " St. Mary Magdalen " for
yourself, and the " Martyrdom of St. Peter Martyr "
for our Signore, together with a letter begging your
intercession in favour of my son Pomponio. But
up to this time I have had no news of the receipt of
these paintings, or of their having given pleasure to
your Lordship. I therefore ask in these lines to be
allowed to do my humble reverence and pray for con-
solation bv a word of advice. The extension of this
grace to me will be an obligation, since in my present
state of age I feel the greatest consolation in knowing
that I am a favourite and liked by my old signors
and protectors, and so, kissing hands, &c.
" TiTIANO VeCELLIO.*
" From Venice, May 17, 1567."
The Bishop of Nicastro did not fail to second
Titian's application with notes of the 24th of May
and 28th of June, warning Cardinal Farnese that
silence would probably induce Titian to give up the
intention of sending His Eminence some rare picture.f
The closing letter of the correspondence, dated De-
* The original is in Roncliini's Relazioni, u. s., p. 15. f Ibid.
Chap. IX.] TITIAN AND THE FAEXESE.
377
cember 10, 15.68, shows that the prelate caused his
relative Cardinal Alessandrino to reply, ordering of
Titian a figure of "St. Catherine," which was duly
forwarded through the Papal Nuncio at Venice to
Kome, and telling the painter that his wishes with
regard to Pomponio would be speedily attended to.*
The Farnese thus obtained three pieces from Titian
for which there is no reason to beUeve that they ever
paid a farthing. The "Magdalen" was no doubt
a replica of that which Titian left to Pomponio at
his death, and passed, as we saw, to the Hermitage
at Petersburg. AVe shall always remain in doubt
whether it is that which is now preserv^ed in the
Naples Museum. The " ^Martyrdom of Peter Martyr "
was engraved by Bertelli as a masterpiece in posses-
sion of Pius the Fifth, but it subsequently dis-
appeared.t As to the " St. Catherine " nothing is
known beyond the fact that Cardinal Alessandrino
received it. In the Belvedere at Vienna we shall
find a half length, representing a lady in red and
green, with golden hair twined with flowers and
* This letter, in the archive of
Parma, is printed in Ticozzi's
Vecelli, u. s., 317 ; and here it
may be -well to observe that all
the letters of Titian and others
printed by this author were taken
without acknowledgment from
the second edition of Titian's life,
edited by Tizianello, a reprint
made on the occasion of the .uula
Lavagnoli wedding at Venice, in
1809, with the types of Antonio
*Jurti.
t Andrea Maier, in his Imi-
tazioue pittura, gives a notice of
this print, which the authors have
not seen (p. 370). It consisted of
three figures, varying slightly in
attitude from those of the altar-
pieces in iSan Giovanni e Paolo,
with a difference also in details
and landscape. It is inscribed,
" Titianus Vecellius Equcs Cio-
saris Pio V. Pontifici Maximo
faciebat."
378
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX,
strewed with pearls, standing with a palm in her
left hand and resting her right on a broken wheel.
Unfortunately this canvas is repainted to such an
extent that, with the exception of a patch here and
there in which the hand of Titian might be revealed,
we seem to discern the style of Padovanino."" The
Madrid Museum also comprises a half length of
"St. Catherine," in which the Saint appears in a
flowered violet dress, looking up and prayerfully
raising her hands to heaven. In bygone times this
figure was preserved in the old church of the Escorial,
and assigned to Titian ; but it is at best the work of
one of his assistants.!
In the meantime, the pupils of Titian had not been
idle. They had rapidly covered the choir and other
parts of the church of Pieve with frescos from Titian's
designs. In the vaulting of the choir they had drawn
the Eternal receiving the Virgin into heaven, attended
by angels, with the four Evangelists and appropriate
emblems. On the walls to the right and left they
had placed the Annunciation and the Nativity ; on
the soffit of the choir arch eight half-lengths of pro-
phets, and on the front of the arch the Virgin lament-
ing and St. John Evangelist. These frescos, which
perished in 1813, were so nearly completed in March,
* Yienna, Belvedere, second
room, first floor, Italian School,
No. 5, half-length on canvas,
3 ft. 1 h. by 2 ft. 4. The figure
is turned to the right, the left
hand on a console. Behind, to
the left, a panel and a bas-relief,
all on dark ground.
t Madrid Mus., No. 473, can-
vas, m. 1 .35 h. by 0.98. The style
is like that of Orazio or Cesare
YecelLi. The figure is turned to
the right.
Chap. IX.]
THE NATIYITY.
379
1567, tliat orders were issued by tlie Cadorine com-
munity to fell fifty loads of timber to pay the first
instalment of Titian's dues/" The series was not
remarkable for great ability of execution, but it repre-
sented subjects drawn by Titian, and one of them at
least preserved in a contemporary picture. The scene
was the pent-house, traditionally known amongst Vene-
tian artists as the birth-place of Christ, a worn and
uninhabitalilc hut thatched with reeds set up amongst
the ruins of an old temple. To the right, the Virgin
knelt in front of a basket, raising a white cloak from
the naked form of the Infant. In rear to the left
St. Joseph stood, weak from age and travel, leaning
on his staff. In front a shepherd prostrate on the
ground trailed his lamb off'ering ; behind him to the
left Avere two herdsme^i, one of them doffing his cap
and leadinfj the ox, the other drai^ginQ at the head of
the ass. On the hinder wall of the pent-house, two
men watched the cradle, whilst the grove behind was
lighted by the moon, which shed its rays on field and
trees and a flock tended by its keeper. This subject,
engi-aved l)y Boldrini, is depicted in a small panel
catalooued as a Titian in the Pitti collection at
Florence, but recalling the peculiar form of treatment
familiar to us in the works of Savoldo. It may be
that the picture in earlier days displayed the hand
of Titian. Now that it is dimmed by varnishes and
* Wo have full accounts of
these frescos in one of Dr. Taddeo
Jacobi's MS. at Cadore, to which
Northcote (Life of Titian, u. s., ii.
pp. :i01 and ffK) seems to have
had access. See also a record of
March lil, 1J67, in Ticozzi, Ve-
celli, p. 319.
380
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
disfigured by repainting it looks like one of Savoldo's
night scenes.'""
Whilst this and other work was proceeding at
Venice and Cadore, Titian had finished the " Martyr-
dom of St. Lawrence" for Philip the Second, and
waited with impatience for the moment when he
could send and claim payment for it. He had given
notice to the King's secretary, Garcia Hernandez,
that the picture was ready for delivery ; but sickness
had prevented that diplomatist from attending to
him, and his death a short time after had thrown
Titian's communications with Spain into some sort of
confusion. The only Spanish agent then remaining in
Venice was a consul, and to him Titian now applied ;
writing to the King to announce the despatch of a
" Nude Venus " in addition to the " Martyrdom,'' and
proposing to ^Jaint a whole series of scenes from the
life of St. Lawrence.
TITIAN TO PHILIP THE SECOND.
"Most Invincible and Potent King,
" I gather from the letters of your Majesty
to Secretary Garcia Ernando, of good memory, the
* Pitti, No. 423, panel, with
small figures, so injured that the
colours are dropping from the
wood. The best preserved part
is the Virgin and Child, which is
a richly coloured group.
A copy of this panel, said to be
identical with the " Nativity " by
Titian, once in the collection of
Charles the Fii-st, is in the Gral-
lery of Christchurch at Oxford.
It is also on panel, but almost
completely repainted. Compare
Bathoe's Catalogue, p. 14. The
same siibject, by Titian was no-
ticed by Eidolfi (Maraviglie, i.
198) amongst the pictures be-
longing in his days to the painter
Gamberato.
CuAP. IX.] MLiRTYEDOM OF ST. LA^'EENCE. 381
desire that your Majesty has of receiving the ' Beato
Lorenzo.' Your Majesty would have had the picture
deUvered months ago in Spain hut for the deLays,
indisposition, and death of the said secretary. Now I
shall consign the canvas to the Spanish consul, who
will forward it to its destination. I have heard that
your Majesty wishes to have paintings of all the inci-
dents in the life of St. Lawrence, and if this be so, I
beg to be informed in liow many parts and the height
and breadth and lighting of each part, as the life
might l)c illustrated in eight or ten pieces, besides
that of the death, which measures four and a half
braccia in breadth and six in height. When I have
ascertained your IMajesty's wishes, I shall do all I can
to put the matter in train quickly, and use the assist-
ance of my son Orazio and another clever assistant, so
that the thing shall be done at once, as I jim disposed
to spend all that remains of my life in your Majesty's
service. I also humbly beg your ]\Iajesty to deign to
assist me in my wants in my old age if in no other
way than in commanding the officials to pay my pen-
sions without delay, as I do not receive a quatrino
but the half of it goes in commission and interest, or
in fees for agency and other expenses, or in bills and
presents. The Chamber of Spain owes me pay for
three years and a half, the Milan Chamber even more
than that, and in months past the latter retained
certain annates, which I did not expect of these
officials, considering my continuous service under
your Majesty. Besides this, when paying 400 scudi
they gave me a warrant for 400 some of rice, for
382 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
the discount of which I was obliged to give two reals
per soma, making up a loss of about 80 scudi. To all
this, I should add that my claim on Naples has never
been settled, in spite of the numerous orders of your
Majesty to that effect ; and so I beg your Majesty to
give commission that if no copies of this grant are to
be found, and though the originals may have been
destroyed, it should be renewed, which I pray to God
and your Majesty may be possible, in order that I
may clear myself some day from the infinite expenses
which I have had to make up to the present time,
havino; had more outo-oinos than the whole value of
the original grant, in respect of salaries and presents
uselessly laid out in favour of various gentlemen and
agents. In conclusion, I beg to be recommended and
excused if, through the fault of your Majesty's minis-
ters, I have delayed sending the ' St. Lawrence.' I
may add that I send with that picture a ' Nude
Venus,' which I finished after the ' St. Lawrence '
was completed ; and with all devotion and reverence,
" I remain, &c.,
"Your Majesty's most humble servant,
"TiTIANO VeCELLIO."
'^ From Venice, Decemher 2, 1567."
We may presume that the " Venus " which accom-
panied the " St. Lawrence " was one of those Spanish
pictures which perished by neglect or by fire, a replica
perhaps of the " Venus with the Mirrors " preserved in
Titian's work-room till his death.
* The original is in Appendix.
Chap. IX.] MAETYEDOM OF ST. LAWEEXCE. 383
The " St. Lawrence " was sent in safety to Madrid,
and placed on the high altar of the old church of the
Escorial, where it still remains injured — it may be
feared — without redemption by smoke and repainting,
yet still a grand and majestic work. It differs neither
in oreneral form nor in treatment from the orio-inal at
the Gesuiti of Venice, though marked by some inte-
resting varieties. The martyred saint lies with one leg
raised, and the ric^ht foot wTithinc^ under burns on the
grating. The canvas is semicircular at the top. A
triumphal arch takes the place of the Roman temple
in the distance, and the sky seen through the arch
is dimly lighted by the crescent of the moon. To
the right in the foreground a don- is snarling. In
the air in front two angels fly above the Saint's head,
one of them holding a crown, the counteq:)art of those
which used to float amongst the trees of the " Peter
Martyr " on the altar of San Giovanni e Paolo.'"'
Whilst this picture was on its way to Spain, Titian
was finishing the three canvases ordered by the
Brescian municipality. The " deputies " of Brescia '
had generously left it to the " king of painters " to
draw the figures of such a size that they should look
larocr than life when seen from the floor of the Brescian
Hall, but they stiffly upheld their right to dictate the
* Two long streaks of repaint- | graving of this picture by C. Cort,
ing are visible, running upwards inscribed, " Titian invenit, ^ques
frotQ the head of St. Lawrence to Cses. 1571, Cornelio Cort, fe."
the figures of angels in the air,
which they cut iu halves. On
the edge of tho grating we read,
**■ TiTiAXo F." There is an en-
On the base of the pedestal in the
picture at Madrid is written,
" Invictiss. Philippo Ilispaniarum
regi D."
384 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
subject and the detail of face and dress in every one
of the persons delineated. According to their paper
of instructions, the central canvas was to represent
Brescia as a female in the clouds attended by Minerva,
Mars, and Naiads. Minerva was not to be the goddess
of war but the goddess of peace, Mars in classic dress,
armed cap-d-2ne, of powerful frame but with menace
in his glance. Brescia, without the attributes of a
cj[ueen, was to be dressed in simple white, one hand
to hold a golden statue of faith with a cornucopia as
carved on one of the pennies of Trajan, the other to
rest on her bosom. Her form and face w^ere to be
lovely, dignified, and serene. In memory of Hercules
the founder of Brescia, a lion's skin was to grace her
shoulders, a club lie at her feet. Minerva's tresses
w^ere to be auburn floating in the wind, her eyes blue,
the helmet on her head surmounted with a sphinx.
She should bear an olive branch, and near her should
be placed an owl and a crystal shield. The naiads
were to be seated below on the sward, with wreaths of
reeds and water lilies and urns at their side. The
theme of the second picture was described as " Cyclops
forging weapons of ofi'ence near the smithy of Vulcan,"
out of wdiich flames should be seen issuing, whilst Vulcan
himself stood by, and a lion roared sullenly in the
foreground. In contrast to this, the third piece was
to represent Ceres with Bacchus and two river gods.*
Titian had had these canvases a long time on hand,
when the Brescians bethought themselves that they
* See tlie recor.ds in Zamboni, u. s., Ap IV. pp. 132 and ffs.
Chap. IX.] TITL\>^ AXD THE BEESCLVXS. 385
miolit put some pressure on him, l^y means of their
friend the procurator Girohxmo Grimani at Venice.
Grimani did not fail to do their bidding, but Titian
had probably some complaint to make on the score of
advances, for when he ^vrote in June, 1568, to the
deputies to announce the completion of the pictures,
he also asked for immediate payment. Satisfied with
this result, the Brescians no doubt gave Titian the
necessary assurance, and after two of the canvases had
been publicly exhibited in October in the church of
San Bartolommeo at Venice, all three were packed
and consigned to Cristoforo Eosa at Brescia, A short
time after this Orazio set out to visit the deputies, and
there, to his surprise, he met with hostile criticism and
discontent. The Brescians declared that the pictures
were not l)y Titian, the referees to whom they sub-
mitted them for valuation only thought them worth
ii thousand ducats, and Orazio retired in dudgeon,
refusing to accept the proffered payment. For some
days Titian fumed over this mishap. He applied at
last to Domenico Bollani, Bishop of Brescia, with
a request that he should mediate in the matter.
Nothing, however, came of the arbitration. The
deputies remained firm, and Titian was fain at last
to accept the 1000 ducats as a sufficient return for
his expenditure and trouble.* The Brescian allegories
perished by fire on the ISth of January, 1575, two
years before the canvases of the Hall of Great Council
* See Titian to Bollani, Von.,
Juno 3, lo(i9 ; in Zumboni, h. s.,
App. v., No. 4, p. 143; and
Zumboni's text, p. 80.
vol,. II. c c
386
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
at Venice underwent the same fate.* A print engraved
by Cort in 1572 still shows the composition of the forge
of Vulcan ; and judging from this print, in which two
Cyclops armed with hammers are ringing the changes on
the tube of a piece of cannon, the figures were designed
with remarkable boldness, and with due regard to the
horizontal position of the canvas. But it was not to be
expected that a man of Titian's age should execute
pictures, each of which had a square surface of a
hundred braccia,t without assistance from his pupils,
and no doubt there Avas a sood deal of truth in the
statement of the deputies that they were not by Titian,,
if, by saying this, they meant to allude to the work of
his disciples. For years Orazio and Girolamo or Marco
Vecelli and Schiavone had been the mainstay of the
workshop at San Canciano. So long as Titian with
his own hand worked over the ground which they had
previously covered, the picture might properly be called
his. But if it happened, as it sometimes did, that Titian
neglected this duty, the persons who bought his works-
could not be said to have complained unjustly. We
shall presently see that Titian sent a composition of
" Christ and the Tax Gatherer " to King Philip, which
he called his own, and yet, if this piece, which is now
preserved and bears his name, be that which he sent
to Spain, it shows no trace of his hand. In many
respects the old master was labouring under blunted
faculties. But he was perhaps not unaware that his
powers were sinking. In his last letter to the King
* See BroOTioli's Guida di Bres-
cia, ?'. s., p. 58.
t Each canvas was 10 braccia
square. Vas, xi. p. 268.
Chap. IX.]
TITDVX'S TATEXTS.
387
of Spain, be had not ventured to say that he could
finish eight or ten scenes from the Ufe of St. Lawrence
-without large and continued assistance. Many of his
private arrangements point to the conviction that he
thought he could not last much longer. The only
mistake he made was to believe that his favourite son
would live to enjoy his succession, for whom he made
constant provision in view of that contingency. As
early as June 19, 1;3G7, he petitioned the Council of
Teu to transfer his brokers' patent to Orazio, and a
decree was issued in April, 1;3G0, in accordance with
his wishes." In July, 1571, he obtained a patent
from Philip the Second to transfer or will to Orazio-
his pension on the Chamber of ]\Iilan.t The timber
yard at tin- Zattere, where we find the municipality
of Murano taking its supplies in August, 1568,1 ^^'
longed to Titian, though registered in the name of
his son. But it was willed by Providence that Orazio
should not long survive his father. One trait remains
firmly impressed on Titian to the very last. His letters
to princes had never been free from adulation ; but
this adulation had usually concealed some bitter pill in
the form of a demand for money. The last numbers of
his correspondence are, if possible, more fulsome than
* Seo the date of this decree in
Cadorin, Dollo Amore, u. s., pp.
9, 11, & Go.
t The patent is in Gaye, Car-
teggio, iii. p. 297. It was con-
firmed by the senate at Milan on
Juno 4, \o~'2. The record in
among the Jacobi MS. Cadoi-o.
X Order of the Podesta to the
Camerlengo of Murano to pay to
Ora/io Vecelli, " timber merchant
alio Zuttere," 280 lire, and ll>
soldi, ibr wood furnished to the
comitintd of Murano to repair
the Ponte Lungo. MS. T" Jacobi
of Cadore. The order is dated
Aug. 4, 15G8.
c (■ 2
388 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
previous ones, but tliey sliow no diminution in the
old man's powers of calculation, or his canny regard
to his own interest.
TITIAN TO THE KING OE SPAIN.
" Most Invincible and Potent King,
" I finished within the last few days the
picture of ' Our Lord and the Pharisee showing the
Coin,' which I promised to your Majesty, and I have
sent it with the prayer that your JMajesty may enjoy
it as much as earlier works of mine, as I desire to close
these the days of my extreme old age in the service of
the Catholic King my Signor. I am now busy com-
posing another subject of large compass and greater
artifice than I have undertaken for years, and when it
is done, I shall lay it humbly before the exalted
presence of your Majesty. Meanwhile, in order that I
may more freely serve in this matter, and clear myself
of the continual labour and expense to which I am
subjected in res23ect of this blessed order for grain on
the kingdom of Naples, which has never yet yielded any-
thing after so many years, I humbly beg your Majesty
to command that the said order be despatched without
delay, and so that it shall be free from the deductions
or charges of that Chamber ; and this I beg in recom-
pense for the many and continuous interests that have
suffered for years in this business, and in consideration
of my old devotion and service. Such a favour, easy
to grant to the infinite goodness and munificence of
your Catholic Majesty, will be an alleviation to the
great want in which I find myself at this moment, and
Ch-vp. IX.] THE "SAYIOUE AND PHAEISEE."
389
I .shall consider it to have given new life to the soul
Avithin this worn body which is so entirely devoted to
the service of your Majesty. And so, recommending
myself, &c.
" I am of your Catholic Majesty
" Tlie most devoted humble Servant,
"TiTIANO YeCELLIO."
*' i^rom Vexice, 2G(h Oct., Ij68."
If the "Trilmte Money " to which Titian alludes in
his letter be that which once formed part of the
treasure brought from Spain l)y ^larshal Soult, and
now belongs to the National (Collection, it bears the
master's name, yet displays a treatment far more
crude and unsatisfactory than we can concede even to
Palma Giovine in his bad days. Nor can it be
supposed that Titian would send such a picture as his
own to tile King of Spain, unless he secretly dc8})ised,
and could witli impunity challenge the taste of the
I\lonarch.t
That Titian at this period was gradually resigning
• Seo the original in Appendix.
t No. 224 in the National Gal-
lery, on canvas, 4 ft. h. by 3 ft.
4i, signed near the Saviour's
head, " Titiaxo F." Christ is
tru'ned to the left, and points up-
wards with the right hand as the
"Pharisee" presents the coin.
Behind the latter is a man wear-
ing goggles. A stone wall to the
right, sky to the left, form the
background "f the ])icturo. The
flesh is of u bricky red, ill painted,
smear)', and raw. The figures aro
at the same time altogether below
the elevated standard of Titian.
Martin Eota has engraved this
piece, and his plate is inscribed,
" TiTiAXVS ixvENTOU, Martino
Euota Sebeuzan F." The picture
was bought at the sale of Marshal
Soult's collection in 1852. But
there is another engraving, in-
scribed ' ' Titian pinxit : Corn. Gall,
sc. et exc," which points to an-
other now missing composition
of Titian, where Christ addresses
the I'hariseo in the presence cf
three others.
390
TITIAN: HIS LIFE .VND TBIES. [Chap. IX.
himself to a life of less activity and movement tlian
that to which he had hitherto been accustomed, might
be inferred from his transaction of Cadorine business
at Venice. On the 18th of September, 1568, we find
him making an order of legitimacy in favour of
Antonio and Giovanni Battista, the two sons, aged
seventeen and nineteen respectively, of Pietro Costan-
tini, curate of San Vito, in Cadore. Emmanuel of
Augsburg, Titian's disciple, is named amongst the
witnesses to the order.'-'
Little that can be called eventful occurs in the
painter's life at this time, and we hardly know of his
existence, except by squabbles with the Brescian de-
puties, or the disputes of Stoppio, Ott, and Brachieri.f
On the 27th of November, 1570, Jacopo Sansovino
died at the fine old age of ninety-one, and was buried
in the church of San Basso, whither perhaps Titian,
who was two years his senior, followed his remains to
the grave. The death of this industrious sculptor and
architect severed the last of the links which united
Titian to the artists of the previous century. It left
him the last of the triumvirate which ruled for so
many years over hterary and artistic circles in Venice.^
To the letters — now few and far between — which
Titian addressed to Philip the Second, resjDonses no
* A copy of the order is in
Ticozzi, Yecelli, p. 241.
t See antea.
X There is a " portrait of San-
sovino by Titian," No. 576 in the
UfEzi at Florence. But the face
and figure are altogether diflPerent
from those of another portrait of
the sculptor by Tintoretto, No.
638 in the same collection. As to
the authorship of the likeness
numbered 516, it is impossible to
give any opinion in consequence
of the state to which the canvas
has been reduced by repainting.
Ch-\p. IX.] "LUCEETIA AND TAEQUIN." 391
longer came, except through the mcdiuni of ministers.
Yet he persevered, and though lie no longer received
any commissions, he persisted in sending pictures, and
urging, we might think ml nauseam, his claims on the
treasuries of Naples and Milan. Pliilip, unfortunately
for Titian, was hardly in a condition to devote either
time or money to luxurious expenditure. His rule in
the Netherlands, being upheld by force and terror, was
naturally costly. His relations with France being
unfriendly, were necessarily productive of expense.
The Turks, too, had declared war against Venice, and
threatened the peace of Europe. In spite of all these
complications, Titian again sent pictures, and wrote to
the King of Spain in the summer of l."37l.
TITIAN TO I'lIILll' THE SECOND.
" ^losT Potent and Invincible King,
" I think your ]\Iajesty will have received
by this the picture of ' Lucretia and Tarquin,' which
was to have been presented Ijy the Venetian am-
bassador. I now come with these lines to ask your
Majesty to deign to command that I should be in-
formed as to what pleasure it has given. The cala-
mities of the present times, in which everyone is
suHerincT from the continuance of war, force me to
this step, and oblige me at the same time to ask to be
favoured with some kind proof of your Majesty's
grace, as well as with some assistance from Spain or
elsewhere, since I have not been able for years past to
obtain any payment, either from the Naples grant, or
from my ordinary pensions. The state of my affairs
392 TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
is indeed sucli that I do not kno'SY how to live in this
my old age, devoted as it is entirely to the service of
your Catholic Majesty, and to no other. Not having-
for eighteen years past received a quatnno for the
paintings which I delivered from time to time, and of
which I forward a list by this opportunity to the
Secretary Perez, I feel assured that your Majesty's
infinite clemency will cause a careful consideration to
be made of the services of an old servant of the a2:e
of ninety-five, by extending to him some evidence of
munificence and liberality. Sending two prints of
the design of the heato Lorenzo, and most humbly
recommending myself . . .
" I am your Catholic Majesty's
" Most devoted humble servant,
*' TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
*' From Venice, Auyust 1, 1571."
There is no reason to doubt that Titian entrusted a
picture of Tarcpiin and Lucretia to the Venetian
ambassador, or that the envoy delivered it to the
monarch to whom he was accredited. But from that
day forward no clue to the canvas has been preserved.
A replica probably remained at Venice, and it was
perhaps from this that Cornelius Cort produced his
print of 1571. In the seventeenth century, the Lord
Marshall, Earl of Arundel, presented a picture, the
counterpart of Cort's print, to Charles the First, and
this piece it is which we find passing into the gallery
of Louis the Fourteenth. But whether that again is the
canvas which went to Spain, and thence fi^om hand to
Chap. IX.] "TAEQUIN AND LUCRETLl." 393
Land into British collections of our time, it is impossible
to say.* The " Tarquin and Lucretia " of Charles the
First is described in contemporary manuscripts as
defaced, in Lepicie's catalogue as "greatly injured."
The Northwick "Lucretia" commends itself neither
in form nor in treatment to modern taste, and the
damage which it has received from patching and re-
j)ainting is considerable ; but one still sees that it was
a work of Titian's advanced age. Luerctin, surprised
all but naked on a couch, resists the assaults of a man
in a green doublet and crimson hose, who grasps her
right arm with his left hand, and threatens her life
Avith a dagger. A man peeps into the room to the left
by raising a corner of a green hanging, Lucretia's
slippers lie to the right at the foot of the couch, and
one of them bears the name of Titian. Considerable
liberty, it will l)e seen, is taken with the traditions of
costume. Nature is strained beyond limit in the
stride and action of Tarquin. Yet tlie picture is still
• TiziancUo's Anonimo tells of Louvre in 17o2-4 as a canvas
the possession of " Tarquin forcing 6 ft. h. and Ji broad. (Catalogue
Lucretia" by the Earl of Arundel. , raisonne, folio, No. 12 of the re-
The catalogue of Charles the ' gistered Titians.) How it left
Fii-st's collection (Ashmolo MS.) the Louvre is not known; but it
states that the king received a i is not there now. We might
•' Tarquin and Lucretia," " entire \ therefore infer that it is the same
figures so large as the life, 6 ft. i^icturo which reappears to view
3 h. by 4 ft. 3, from the Lord , in the collection of Joseph Bona-
Marshall " (Earl of Arundel) as a parte, from whence it goes by
present. (Bathoe, n. s., i>. 96.) ' purchase to Lord North wick (No.
At the sale of the "Whitehall col- STl of the Northwick Catalogue),
lection, Jabach bought the canvas, and thence to Mr. Conyngham,
which ho sold to Louis the Four- , at whose sale it was bought for
teenth. (Villot's Catalogue, p. , the Marquis of Hertford for 250
xxii.) Lt'piciu describes it at the guineas.
394
TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
remarkable for its contrasts of colour, and for a certain
boldness of touch in stiff impasted pigments.*
Not without cause had Titian complained to King
Philip of the sufferings inflicted on the Venetians by
a state of war. Since May, 1570, Venice had been
engaged in hostilities with Sultan Selim, and had lost
Cyprus and numerous jilaces in the Adriatic. The
Venetian envoy, who took with him the pictures of
Titian, had been bound on a much more weighty
errand than that of delivering a " Tarquin and
Lucretia." Barbaro the haile at Constantinople had
been thrown into gaol, and lay there in danger of
his life. Turkish cruisers insulted the coasts of
Greece and the Ionian islands, and the Sultans
squadrons were sailing so near to Venice that the
forts had to be armed, the passes blocked with
sunken ships, and the sands of Malamocco dug up
into redoubts. It was very necessary to press the
preparations of Spain, which had signed a treaty in
May, 1571, and in August had not sent a single ship
to the rescue. At last the moment of action came.
Phihp ordered Don John of Austria to the Straits of
Messina with a fleet. Two hundred men of war
rounded the capes and steered for the coasts of
Greece, and there, on the 7th of October, near the
classic promontory of Actium and within sight of
* The picture, now belonging
to Sir Eichard Wallace, to whom
Lord Hertford's collection de-
scended, is patched all round, and
measures 7 ft. 2 in height, by
4 ft. 8. The surfaces, where com-
paratively free from repainting,
are dulled by age and abrasion.
On the slipper we read " Titianys
F." Cort's inint is inscribed,
" Titian inven. Cornelio Cort, fe.
1571."
Chap. IX.] BATTLE OP LEPANTO. 395
Sapienza, where Antouio Grimani liad met with defeat
and disorace, was fonolit the celebrated batthi of
Lepanto, in which the Turkish armada was anni-
hilated at a single blow, and universal joy was spread
throuQ-hout the lands of Christendom. Sebastian
O
Venier, who commanded the Venetian division of the
Spanish force, despatched Giustiniani, one of his
captains, to carry the news of victory to Venice. He
entered the pass of San ^lartino at six in the evening
of the 17th of October, his crew wavino; Turkish
banners and his rowers wearing the spoils of their
enemies. The people quickly learnt the glorious
intelligence. All the powder that could be purchased
was burnt in squibs and fireworks in honour of the
great event. ]\Ien and women paraded the streets in
an ecstasy of joy. Ciiusthiiani, when he landed, was
carried in triumph to San Marco, whither the Doge
and council and foreign ambassadors proceeded in
state to hear a Te Deum. All the shops were shut,
and some of them chalked with the words : " Closed
for the death of the Turks." The debtors' prison was
broken open, and the inmates escaped to share in the
general jubiUxtion.'"' Was Titian there to take a part
in this universal festivity '? We may think that a
man of his spirit would not be likely even at ninety-
five to let these popular demonstrations go by, and
remain a passive spectator of them. The Doge and
council had not been a fortnight in possession of the
news of the battle of Lepanto, when they thought of
* See a contemporary descrip-
tion of these scenes in Yriarto's
Vic d'un Patricien de Venise, 8vo,
Paris, 1874, pp. 20S-'J.
396
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. IX.
illusti-ating it hy a, picture. The council met on the
8th of Novemher and passed a patriotic decree :
declarii]g that, " if ever a noted action of bygone
times deserved to be represented and kept alive in
the minds of the people, none was more entitled to
such a distinction than the victory of the Holy
League over the Turkish armada." It was therefore
decreed that the chiefs of the Ten should be em-
pow^ered to select one or more painters in Venice or
elsewhere to paint the " Battle of Lepanto" in the Hall
of the Library in the Ducal palace,""'' and Eidolfi relates
that Titian was chosen to perform this distinguished
service, and that Salviati was selected to assist him ;
but delays occurred, and Tintoretto painted the "Battle
of Lepanto. "t That Tintoretto, as a reward for a
canvas representing that victory, was endowed with a
Sanseria bv the Council of Ten in 1574, admits of no
doubt whatever.;}: But there is no reason to think
that Titian would have refused a commission for such
a picture from the Venetian government, if his time
had not been engaged upon work of a similar nature
for a more exalted patron ; we shall presently see that
in 1574, Avhen Tintoretto delivered his canvas to the
Council of Ten, Titian was composing " A Battle "
for Philip the Second, w^hich is probably the same
composition as that of which the following anecdote
is told by Martinez in his life of Sanchez Coello.§
* See the decree in full in Lo-
renzi, p. .372.
t Eidolfi, Maray. ii. 205-7.
J Eidolfi, u. s. But the original
decree of the 27th of September,
1574, is in Lorenzi, u. s., p. 391.
§ See postea, and Titian to A.
Perez, Dec. 22, 1574, in Ajj-
pendix.
Chap. IX.] "ALLEGOEY OF LEP.SJN'TO."
391
Pliili]) tlie Second having written to Titian to prepare
a canvas equal in size to that of his equestrian portrait
of Charles the Fifth, sent for Coello and asked him to \
sketch the design which Titian was afterwards to use. ^
Notwithstanding his aversion to such an order, Coello
was obliged to obey. Under the special directions of
his Majesty he represented the king standing with
his first-born son in his arms, and the boy stretching
his hands towards an angel, who was to be seen
descending from heaven Avitli a palm and a crown,
whilst a prostrate ^loor lay l)Ound in the landscape
below. Besides this sketch, which measured about
three palms, Sanchez took sittings from Philip, and
painted his portrait of life size, and both were sent by
the shortest road to Titian at Venice. On seeing the
head and the sketch, and learning what he was
expected to do with them, Titian was generous
cnoudi to write back tliat so clever an artist as the
author of these pieces ought to suffice for the King,
who from that time forward need never send for
pictures abroad. But Philip, though he acknowledged
the compliment, declared that he should like to have
the work from Titian's hand, and Titian accordingly
])roceeded to execute it."'- The canvas of " Philip pre-
sentino- his Son to an Angel," is now in the jMadrid
* Juscpe Martinez, Discursos
practiciibles del Nobilisimo Arte
de la rintura, in Don Pedro de
Madrazo's Catalogue, u. s., p.
343. Don Pedro disbelieves this
anecdote, chiefly because it si)eaks
of Philip as presenting his " first-
born " son, when it is clear that
the picture was painted after the
battle of Lepanto, and therefore
more than three j'ears after the
death of Don Carlos. But Mar-
tinez no doubt alludes to the
first-born of Philip's last marriage
with Donna Anna of Austria.
JiOS TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
JMuseum, and clearly displays the style of Titian in
liis old age. Its size is within a couple of inches that
of the portrait of Charles the Fifth at Miihlberg. It
is done quickly at one painting and without impasting,
showing that Philip not only ordered the piece, but
asked Titian to finish it quickly. Two months after
the Battle of Lepanto, the Queen Anna of Austria
presented Philip with a son known as the Infante
Don Fernando. At a; time when all Europe was
rejoicing over the heroism of Don John of Austria,
and exaggerating the consequences of his victory,
nothmg could be more natural than that Philip
should sua'oest to a painter the theme which forms
the subject of Titian's composition. The picture is
full of allusions to that great engagement. Philip
stands at an altar covered with crimson cloth, his
frame defended by armour, his legs in crimson hose.
He holds aloft the naked babe, who stretches his hands
towards the angel bearing the crown and a palm with
a scroll inscribed : " Maiora Tibi." At the foot of
the altar a Turk kneels half naked, with his arms
bound behind his back, his turban, a kettledrum,
quiver, and flag, and the crescent and star of the
Ottomans lying at his feet. But Titian, whether he
accepted Coello's sketch or not, was iU inclined to
devote much care to this allegory, and the angel who
drops from heaven is drawn in a bold but unnatural
action, whilst the rest of the picture is thrown oif
with a certain amount of haste. Imperfect as the J
work appears on this account, the portrait profile of
Phihp is fine and spirited ; the remaining parts are
Chap. IX.]
"CHRIST DERIDED."
399
designed with a playful skill, and the figures are full
of life-like impulse, as they show themselves strongly
relieved by trenchant light and shade, and glowing
with a warm richness of colour.''
An artist, even if he has grown grey in his j^ro-
fession, cannot be expected to put forth his strength
in a subject dictated l)y others, with the same
spirit as when the theme is suggested entirely Uy his
own thought and feeling. The contrast between
official and original painting at this late period of
Titian's life is well illustrated by a comparison lie-
tween the '''Allegory of Lepanto" and the ''Christ
Crowned witli Thorns" at ^luuidi. In the one we
detect the artist's want of natural inspiration, in the /
other we sec Titian labouring for his own satisfaction.
The "Christ Crowned with Thorns " was not commis-
sioned by any one, it was not composed for any known
patron, but remained unfinished in Titian's workroom
till Tintoretto saw it one day and begged the master
to give it him as a present. Titian did so, and
Tintoretto jmt it up in his own atelier as a model of 1
what a modern picture ought to be. Boschini, who i
saw it in the hands of Tintoretto's son, justly describes
it as " a marvel worthy of a place in an academy to
* This canvas, Xo. 470 in tho
Madrid Museum, is m. S.'.io h. by
2.74, and is known to have been
in the pahico of Madrid at tliu
death of Philip tho Second. Tho
king faces to tho left, he turns
his back to a palatial colonnade,
on one of tho pillars of which a
cartello is fastened, bearing tho
words, "Titianvs Vec. . . . iu.
.^ques Cces. fecit." The colours,
originally thin and painted in at
one sitting, have lost more of
their richness and cleai'ness than
other pieces in which the impast
was more solid. Photograph by
Laurent.
400 TITLIX: HIS LIFE A^B TIMES. [CnAr. IX.
sliow students all the secrets of art, and teach them
not to degrade but to imj^rove nature." '''
The composition differs from that of the Louvre in
lighting, and in the setting of some of the dramatis
personoe. Here the scene is laid in the gloom of a
passage, lighted in part by the smoky flare of a hang-
ing lamp of five branches. The man who spits at' the
Saviour is omitted, and the guard in front to the
right, instead of kneeling and holding fast the Re-
deemer's hands, ascends the steps, trailing a battle-
axe in his left hand, and grasping a wand with his
right, a youth behind him carrying a bundle of reeds.
The dress of the man with the battle-axe is varieijated
and bright, consisting of a green feathered cap, a red
and green coat, and a lemon coloured sleeve. The
treatment, though it is partly lost to view under
accidental injuries and repainting, is similar to that
of the " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence " at the Escurial,
the colouring being richer, the action more powerful
than in the earlier though more finished picture of
the Louvre. It is impossible to conceive bettei' ar-
rangement, greater harmony of lines, or more boldness
of movement. Truth in the reproduction of nature in
momentary action is combined with fine contrasts of
lio-ht and shade, and an inimitable richness of tone,
in pigment kneaded, grained, and varied in surface
beyond anything that we know of this time. Such
a combination might have thrown into despair three
such men as Rubens, Van Dyke, and Rembrandt, two
* Eicclie Miniere, Preface; Eidolfi, Maraviglie, i. 270.
Chat. IX.] YISITOES AT BIEI GBANDE.
401
of whom certainly studied the picture somewliere,
since they almost copied it in canvases at Berlin and
Madrid, whilst the third may have seen it in the
Netherlands, where tradition says that the canv^as was
once preserved. The method, too, would be sympa-
thetic to Eembrandt, being the very converse of that
observed in the "Allegory of Lepanto," displaying
impast frequentl}' repeated in heavy and substantial
coats, tints broken with, pui'e primaries or studdings
of brilliance, toiTnented into variety of surface, and
glazed to diversity of tint.*
Pictures of this merit laid up in store speak highly
in favour of Titian's fertility and power, but they also
indicate his wish to keep for display a certain number
of works of a cood standard. The house in Bui
Grande, we may remember, was known to all Vene-
tians as a ])lacc of exhibition for masterpieces, and as
such was also visited by strangers, whilst Titian
himself had personally acquired such a popular
celebrity that princes on their travels and potent
• This canvas, for a long time
preserved at Schloissheim, is now
No. 1329 in the Munich Gallery,
ami measures 8 ft. "^ h. by o ft.
7.S. There is, as above stated, a
tiiiditiou that it came from the
Motherlands to Bavaria, but the
history of the picture is altogether
obscure. Certain it is only that it
is a genuine Titian. Probability
akin to certainty exists that it is
the picture that belonged to Tin-
toretto, which was sold "to a
foreigner " by Domonico Tinto-
retto (Boschini, Miuiero, Preface).
VOL. II.
The surfaces are extensively re-
painted, ex. gr. the profile of the
man on the right, the hands of
the man in the background hold-
ing a reed in both hands, tho
head of the man with tho battle-
axe, the torso of the figure to the
left, and the right side of Christ's
head. But some of the restoring
is spirited, and looks like the
work of Eubons or Van Dyke.
See Eubens' adaptation of the
subject. No. 783 at Berlin,
Van Dyke's at Madrid, No.
(old numbering).
D D
and
49G
402 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
ministers on journeys of state turned off the road to
see him. We noted that in 1572, when the Spanish
minister Antonio Perez expressed a wish to Leonardo
Donato, the Venetian envoy at Madrid, to possess
two canvases of Titian, the council asked the French
ambassador to go and choose what he thought best in
Titian's paLace;* we recollect that some of the pieces
which Pomponio Vecelli found after his father's death
were executed in Titian's very best form. A well-
known anecdote tells of the coming of Cardinal
Granvelle and Cardinal Pachcco to the painter's house,
and asking themselves to dinner, upon which Titian
flung his purse to a servant and bid him prepare a feast,
as " all the world was dining with him."t Henry the
Third of France showed himself not less curious to see
Titian than anxious to purchase some of his creations.
When that monarch, on his way from Poland to
France, was received with honour by the prince and
people of Venice (June 1574) he stole an hour from
public festivities to see the painter ; and Titian is said
to have made him a present of all the pictures of which
he asked the price. More credible than this un-
accountable generosity is the contemporary statement
that Henry offered 800 scudi to Paola Danna for the
great " Ecce Homo. "J
Titian at this period was not only hale and hearty
enouo-h to receive royal visits, but he was still of
sufficient vigour to write letters, paint pictures, and
superintend the labours of his disciples. No one who
* Antea, p. 293.
t Eidolti, Mar. i. 2V1-2.
J Morelli's Anonimo, p. 89.
Cn-vp. IX.] TITLIN'S LIST OF PICTUEES. 403
reads the following despatch to Antonio Perez will
come to any other conclusion than that he still
enjoyed all his faculties and an indomitable spirit of
enterprise.
TITLIX TO AXTOXIO TEEEZ.
"I have noted with infinite pleasure the
contents of your Illustrious Lordship's last letters, and
rejoice exceedingly to find that my works have in
some measure met Avath approval from your Lordship,
whom 1 shall never be too tii'cd to serve. I am also
thankful for your Lordship's kind oflices both present
iind future with liis C'atliolic Majesty, and in obedience
to your Lordship's directions 1 may say that the paint-
ings, of whicli I liave not as yet had any payment, are
those set down in the annexed iuclosure. But first I
sliould advise your Lordship that I have received 800
scudi of the money paid to Gentile liy the Eoyal
Chamber [of ^ladrid], and that 300 scudi still remain
due to me ; but that 1 have had no moneys from the
Chamber of ^lilan, though I hope from what the Lord
Ambassador tells me that they will be paid. Mean-
while I am not neglecting my duty to his Catholic
Majesty either in respect of the "Battle" or other works
commenced, and particularly the yresepio, which I
began on hearing from the painter who came hither
from Spain to see me the other day that His Majesty
wished for the " Nativity of our Lord," that being the
only subject wanting in all his collection. I am also
reducing to perfection, as far as the season will allow,
the oth(u- pictures of your Lordship and your Lord-
D D 2
404 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX..
ship's wife, which are well advanced. I write also by
this opportunity to his Catholic Majesty in reference
to the payment of the pictures sent him in past years,
inclosing a memorial similar to that which I send your
Lordship. I pray that your courteous wishes may
have effect, as, being in want of many things in these
calamitous times, this will probably l^e the greatest
favour that I can hope to obtain from your Lordship
excepting the continuance of your Lordship's good
grace, of which, though I may not with my humble
powers show myself worthy, yet I shall neglect no
occasion to prove myself deserving, having all the will
to be of service, and so I recommend myself and kiss
your Lordship'.s hands.
" Your most Illustrious Lordship's
" Most obliged servant,
"TiciANO Vecellio.
" From Venice, 2'lnd of December, 1574."
Inclosure in the foregoing.
" Memorial to his Catholic Majesty by Titian and
his son Orazio.
" First, that the Milan pension of my son Horazio
may be put in balance, in order that he may without
trouble, fatigue, or interest enjoy the favour done him
by his Majesty.
" Itein. — The pictures sent to his Majesty at divers
times T\dthin the last twenty-five years are these, but
only in part, and it is desired that Signor Alons
(Sanchez Coello), painter to his Majesty, should add
to the list such pieces as have been forgotten here :
Chat. L^.i TITIAN AND COELLO. 405
" ' Venus. and Adonis ' [1556].
" ' Calisto pregnant of Jove ' [1561].
" ' ActcTBon entering the Bath ' [1561].
" ' Andromeda bound to the Rock ' [1556].
" ' Europa carried off by the Bull ' [1562].
j *' ' Christ in Prayer in the Garden ' [1562].
" The ' Temptation of the Jews wdth the Coin to
I Christ ' [1568].
I " ' Christ in the Sepulchre ' [1561].
" The ' St. :\rary Magdalen ' [1561].
*' The ' Three Magi of the East ' [1561].
" ' Venus, to whom Love Holds a Mirror " [?].
" The ^ Niule,''\\\ih. the Landscape and theSatjT [1567].
" The * Last Supper of Our Lord ' [1564].
** The ' Martyrdom of St. Lawrence ' [1567].
"With many others which I do not remember."*
This letter is interesting in many respects, as show-
ing that Sanchez Coello, when he made the sketch of
the " Allegory of Lepanto " for Philip the Second, did
not " send " it by the shortest road, but actually took
it himself. It leads to the conclusion that the " Alle-
gory " was painted under the name of " The Battle,"
and sent to JVIadrid after Christmas of 1574. It also
explains the existence of a number of Titian's works
at ]\Iadrid of which Titian himself had forgotten the
number and the subjects. There is a fine canvas of
"Christ bearing his Cross," which deserves to be
noted as one of these relics, being the counterpart of
a similar canvas in the Gallery of St. Petersburg. t
* See letter and inclosure in
Appendix.
t This picture, No. 487 in the
Madrid Museum, is on canvas,
measuring m. 0.67 h. by 0.77.
It shows the Saviour crowuod
406
TITIAN: HI.S LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
Equally worthy of remembrance is the large but
almost ruined "Adam and Eve," with which Eubens
was so taken that he made a copy of it, by which
alone the beauty and form of the original are now to
be appreciated or understood.''" But another important
feature in Titian's letter is its confirmation of a state-
ment made by Spanish historians that Sanchez Coello
made a list of Titian's pictures for Philip the Second
with thorns, seen to the waist,
moving to the right under the
weight of the cross, supported in
part by a bare-headed bearded
man in a red and blue di-ess. On
the beam of the cross are the
words, "TITIA]STS ^q. a^s. F."
The man whose head appears at
the angle of the cross above
Christ is a portrait given in the
replica at the Hermitage of St.
Petersburg as Francesco del Mo-
saico (Zuccato). The tones at
Madrid are powerful, the face of
Christ elevated and regularly
moulded. For the replica at
Madrid, see under St. Petersburg,
in a Hst of genuine extant Titians,
jwstea.
* This large canvas, m. 2.40 h.
by 1.86, was obscurely hung in
the first years of the seventeenth
ceutuiy in the sacristy of the
royal chapel at Madrid, where
Eubens doubtless saw it. (De
Madrazo's Catalogue, u. s., p. 247.)
It is now No. 456 in the Madrid
Museum, having been saved —
obviously with pains — from the
great fire of 1734, and restored
by D. Juan de Miranda (Ibid. p.
678). To the right Eve stands
near the apple tree, and holds the
fruit received from the tempter,
whose head appears at the junc-
tion of a bough. To the left
Adam is seated on a bank, and
stretches out his hand for the
apple. The figures are above life
size, altered in shape and contour
by restoring. In the left hand
corner of the foreground are the
words, " TiTiANVS F.'" Eubens'
copy, though it is unavoidably
impressed with his character in
the rendering of form, still enables
us to correct the outlines altered
b}^ retouching in the original
picture. A quaint addition which
Eubens has ventured to make is
a parrot on the tree above Adam's
head. There is a photograph of
Titian's "Adam and Eve" by
Laurent. A variety of the "Adam
and Eve" was left unfinished,
according to Boschini, by Titian.
It belonged to the Procurator
Morosini. Titian only finished
the figure of Eve. Tintoretto
added that of Adam, and a land-
scape distance was painted by
Lodovico Pozzo, of Treviso, into
which animals were introduced
by Bassano. (Boschini, Carta del
Navegar, p. 336.)
Chap. IX.] T1TL\.XS LAST LETTERS. 407
in 1575.'" Duiiiij; the interval which elapsed between
the delivery and final examination of this list, Titian
came very fairly to the conclusion that Antonio Perez,
Philip the Second, and Coello had forgotten his exist-
ence, and he accordingly wrote the following letters,
which are the last that we possess from his hand, one
<jf them beino; dated but six months before his death,
in the ninty-ninth year of his age.
TITIAN TO rniLir the second.
" Catholic and most Potent King my Signor,
" Knowins: the creat kindness with which
your Catholic ^lajesty gave orders that a list should
be made out of the pictures sent at various times by
command of your ^lajesty, I now proceed, with the
confidence of an old servant, to forward a new memo-
rial of the same, firmly hoping that your Majesty's
royal and exalted liberality will desire that your
I\Iajesty's directions for my benefit should be carried
out, to the end that 1 may, with a more joyful heart,
attend to the other works dedicated to the glory of
your Majesty, wdiicli I am now doing in this my last
a^-e. There is so much ill- fortune in the w^orld now
that I feel great want of the power and royal liberality
of a holy prince of the world, such as your Catholic
jMajesty, whom I pray that God may keep for a long
time.
" Most devoted humble servant,
" Titiano Vecellio.
" From Venice, on Christmas Day, 1575."
* See Northcoto's Titian, u. s. ii. 242.
408 TITL^: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
the same to the sa^ie.
"Your Catholic and Royal Majesty,
" The infinite benignity with which your
Catholic Majesty — by natural habit — is accustomed to
gratify all such as have served and still serve your
Majesty faithfully, emboldens me to appear with the
present [letter] to recall myself to your royal memory,
in which I believe that my old and devoted ser-
vice will have kept me unaltered. My prayer is
this : Twenty years have elapsed and I have never
had any recompense for the many pictures sent on
divers occasions to your Majesty ; but having received
intelligence by letters from the Secretary Antonio
Perez of your Majesty's wish to gratify me, and
having reached a great old age not without priva-
tions, I now humbly beg that your Majesty will deign,
with accustomed benevolence, to give such directions
to ministers as will relieve my want. The glorious
memory of Charles the Fifth, your Majesty's father,
having numbered me amongst his familiar, nay, most
faithful servants, by honouring me beyond my deserts
with the title of cavaUere, I wish to be able, with the
favour and protection of your Majesty, — true portrait
of that immortal Emperor — to support as it deserves
the name of a cavaliere, which is so honoured and
esteemed in the world ; and that it may be known
that the services done by me during many years to
the most serene house of Austria have met with grate-
ful return, thus causing me, with more joyful heart
than hitherto, to spend what remains of my days in
CiLiP. IX.] THE PLAGUE AT YEXICE. 409
the service of your Majesty. For this I should feel
the more obliged, as I should thus be consoled in my
old age, whilst praying to God to concede to your
]\Iajcsty a long and hajipy life witli increase of his
divine grace and exaltation of your Majesty's king-
dom. In tlie meanwhile I expect from the royal
benevolence of your Majesty the fruits of the favour
I desire, and with due reverence and humility, anel
kissing your sacred hands,
" I am your Catholic Majesty's
** Most liumble and devoted servant,
" TiziANO Vecellio.
" From Venice, 27^/* February, 1576."
Titian's appeal to the benevoh^nce of the King of
S]>ain looks like that of a garrulous old gentleman
proud of his longevity, Init hoping still to live for
many years. Yet, as he himself observed, there was
much ill-fortune then threatening the world, ill-for-
tune particularly threatening Venice ; not politically,
for after Lepanto there was peace between the re-
public and the Turks ; but a plague was beginning to
rage which threatened to carry off more people than a
similar visitation in i.")iU. The seeds of this plague
had been sown in 1575, when deaths began to occur
ill increasing numl^ers. In I.ITG the mortality be-
came so great that a general panic ensued. The fear
of contagion, though but a s[)ur to exertion in minds
seasoned with charity or strengthened by feelings of
<luty, oidy called forth the most abject display of
.selfishness and cowardice in many classes of the
410
TITLVN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. IX.
community. Such as had the means withdrew to the
mainland. Those who remained were in danger not
only of catching the contagion, but if they fell sick,
of dying for want of attendance. It was fatal to any
one at the time to fall ill, for whatever his ailing
might be, he was doomed. In doubt as to the nature
of symptoms " fathers forsook their sons, sons aban-
doned their sires, wdves their husbands, husbands their
wives, and the bodies of the dead were carried un-
accompanied to the Lazzarettos." * All that human
ingenuity could discover as a remedy for so fearful an
evil was attempted by the government of the day.
Hospitals were established in the islands of the
lagoons; and at the Lazzaretto Vecchio, towards
Malamocco, or the Lazzaretto Nuovo, and San Gia-
como di Palii, between Murano and Mazzorbo, it was
a familiar sight to see the daily transport of clothes
and furniture from houses affected by contagion, and
the destruction of infected apparel by fire.t But
nothing that care and forethought could devise ap-
peared to control the plague. It w^ent its way and
marked its path by the destruction of 50,000 souls in
a population of 190,000 people. The Venetian Senate
vowed to build a church to the Redeemer, and then
pity was extended to the helpless city, which, it is
said, suddenly reverted to a state of health. |
Titian had never suffered from any serious or
* Sansovino, Cose Notabili,
u. f., p. 32.
t Cicogna, Isc. Yen., u. s., t.
495, vi. 549.
X Sansovino, Cose Notabili,
u. s., p. 32; and see the history
of the founding of the church
"del Eedentore alia Giudecca,"
on the plans of PaUadio in 1577.
Chap. IX.] TITIAN'S LAST PICTURE. 411
(lanoerous sickuL-ss, nor had lie stood face to face
with death under any circumstaucurf, yet as he grew
old he was not unmindful of the common lot of man-
kind, and he prepared, after the fashion of the age,
for the disposal of his remains. Tie sent to the
Franciscans at the Frari and barijained with them for
a grave in the ehapcl '" Del Crocifisso," paying for
the privilege of resting in the church so nobly de-
corated by two of his fin.st works with a ])romisc of
a third great composition of the " Clirist of Pity."
The friars accepted the otier, and Titian undertook the
picture, which he nearly finished before he died. But
ditferences anjse, a (piarrel ensued, and Titian left his
work unlinishjjj^ and willcfl tliat his cori)S(^ should be
taken to Cadore and buried in tlie chapel of his family
at the Pieve.* Pmt tlie nobln canvas of the " Pictii"
was rescued from loss by tlie pious care of Palma
Giovine, who fjave some finishiiiLj strokes to it, and
wrote upon a tablet the well-known lines : —
" Quod Titiunus inchoutum reliqixit,
Palma loveronter absolvit
Dooq. dicavit opus."t
It is doulttful whether due attention has been
bestowed on this remarkable piece, the touchstone
to Titian's art in his very last days, though time
and repeated restoring have greatly increased the
ditliculty of distinguishing the labours of the master
from those of Palma Giovine and his less gifted
followers.
* Tizianello's Anon", and Ridolfi, Mar. i. 'J(J9. f Ridolfi, i. 269.
412 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Ch.ip. IX.
The Saviour rests in death on the lap of the Vii'gin,
who grieves as she supports the head and the stigma-
tised hand. Joseph of Arimathea kneels to the right,
looking up at Christ's face, and holding his left arm.
In tragic action, with dishevelled hair and arms out-
stretched, the Maodalen comes in to the left and
wails, whilst an angel on the ground stoops over the
vase of ointment. A second ansfel hovers in the air
and bears a lighted torch. The gilt mosaic niche
behind the group, emblazoned with a pelican stripping
its breast, is skirted and roofed with marbles, on
which seven crystal lamps are burning. On marble
plinths at the sides of the niche are statues of Moses
and the Hellespontic Sibyl, and on a scutcheon at the
Sibyl's feet we see the arms of Titian, a set square
sable on a field aroent, beneath the double eao;le on a
field Or. A small tablet leanino^ ao-ainst the scutcheon
contains the defaced portraits of Titian and his son
Orazio, kneeling before a diminutive group of the
"Christ of Pity." Tlu'ough the various deposits of
former ages, fragments of this splendid composition
may be discerned from which we judge of Titian's
work in its latest development. Here, as in the
"Scourging of Christ" at Munich, the touch is massive,
broad, and firm, telling still of incomparable readiness
of hand. It is truly surprising that a man so far
advanced in years should have had the power to put
together a composition so perfect in line, so elevated
in thought, or so tragic in expression. We cannot
tell how far Titian was supplemented by Palma, or
Palma's strokes were concealed by those of later
Ch-\p. IX.] TITLVXS LAST PICTUEE. 413
craftsmen. But no injury produced by centuries of
neglect and destructive ac^encies can conceal from us
the jxirpose of a modelling carried out with pigments
of abundant impast, or hide the searching after form
in primarie.-s kneaded into shape like the clay under
the tool of a sculptor. Even the subtle rubbings and
glazes by which life and morbidity were given are not
as yet all lost. We see the traces of a brush mani-
pulated by one whose hand never gi'cw weary and
never learned to tremV)le. The fiijures and faces
which display their passion before us, are those which
grew with Titian's gi-uwth from the iVcsh idyllic days
when the bloom of youth lay on all his canvases, to
the later period when iiiaturer charms and swelling
shapes were favourite creations, and the final stao-e
when a masculine realism prevailed. The Virgin,
Joseph of Arimathca, and the Magdalen are all types
which have ripened and expanded to the full. The
IVIagdalen of the Mantuan "Entombment" and that of
the Pietil of 157G, are as it were the first and last '
rungs of a ladder, the intennediate steps of which
wo have all seen the master ascending. It may be .
that looking closely at the "Pietil" our eyes will lose
themselves in a chaos of touches ; but retiring to the
focal distance, they recover themselves and distinguish
all that Titian meant to convey. In the group of
the Virgin and Christ — a group full of the deepest
and tiiiest feeling — there lies a grandeur comparable
in one sense with that which strikes us in the "Pietil"
of Michaelangelo. To the sublime conventionjdism by
Avhich P>uonarroti carries us into a preternatural
414
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
atmospliere, Titian substitutes a depth of passion almost
equally sublime and the more real as it is enhanced
by colour.*
And now the time came when the great master
was to be called away. The plague entered the house
of Titian at Biri Grande, and on the 2 7th of August,
1576, he expired in the midst of a population stricken
with terror and heartless from panic. Swiftly the
news spread through the city that the greatest of all
Venetian artists had died. Swiftly the loss was com-
municated to the supreme authorities. Laws had
been passed to meet the plague then afflicting Venice,
which forbade the burial of a victim of the contas^ion
in any of the churches of the city. This law was
quickly set aside in Titian's case. He had once
* The " Pieta," now No. 33 in
the Venice Academy, was removed
to that place from the suppressed
church of Sant' Angelo at Venice.
It measures m. 3.50 h. by 3.93,
and is painted on canvas. Injured,
it is said, by the daubing of one
Veglio, it was restored in 1825 by
Signor Sebastiano Santi, whose
work is easy to recognise in the
long strip of modern repainting
which runs down one vertical side,
along the base, and up the other
vertical side. Most of the figures
are more or less injured by re-
touching, but some of the dra-
peries, and especially the blue
mantle of the Virgin and the
green mantle of the Magdalen,
are quite darkened by superposed
pigment. The angel in the fore-
ground has lost some of Titian's
contour, as well as much of
Titian's colour ; and the angel in
the air is Titian's only in the
movement. It is a pity that the
inscription on the tablet with the
portraits is rubbed away. On
the pedestals of the statues we
read, ' ' moises " and ' ' helespon-
TICA." Moses stands, horned,
with his right on the tables of the
law, which rest on the ground,
with his left holding a small staff.
Above his head are the words,
" M0YSH2IEP0N." The sibyl
supports a large cross, and wears
a crown of thorns. Above her
head are the words, " GEOS ANOS
ENE2TIKH." A line engraving
by Viviaui will be found in Za-
notto's Pinacoteca Veneta ; con-
sult also Boschini, E. Miniere.
Sest. di S. Marco, p. 93 ; and Za -
notto's Venetian Guide, u. s.
CiLVP. IX.]
TITLVX'S DEATH.
415
desired to be buried at the Frari, and later had
expressed a Avish that his bones should be taken to
Cadore. It was ordered that he shoidd find a place
of rest in the "Chapel of the Crucified Sa^nour" at the
Frari, for which he had been preparing his last picture.
On the 2 8 til of August the canons of St. Mark came
in procession to San Canciano ; the body was taken
.solemnly to the Frari and laid in the eartli, wherc^
now a stately monument, tribute of wonder and ad-
miration of the latest generation of Titian's admirer.^,
stands in all the splendour of marble to do honour to
his memory. W hen Perugino died of }»lague he was
ob.scurelv buried in a field. Ohirlandaio, who perished
of the same di.sease, was taken to his rest hurriedly
and in the dead of nigrht. Titian, a man of greater
fame than cither, was better treated by his gi-ateful
countrymen. He was taken to his grave by day, in
presence of the highest dignitaries of the church, and
the shell which once held a life so strono; and rcsistini'-
that it seemed able to withstand all the a.ssaults of
time, reposes near one of the finest creations of the art
of all auces, the " .Madonna di Casa Pesaro." "
The scenes which occurred m Titian's house after
his death were melancholy beyond description.t It
is not known whether Orazio was attacked by plague
* See as to tho facts in the
text the records in Cadorin,
Dollo Araoro, pji. 74, 95, & 102 ;
and compare 15 irghini, Eiposo,
.Svo, Sionua, 1787 (the original
edition was publi.shod in 1584),
vol. iii. p. 80.
t The comjiany of painters
])lanuod a grand funeral ceremony
in honour of Titian, in emulation
416
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND THIES. [Chap. IX.
during liis father's lifetime, but lie certainly died of
tlie contagion almost immediately afterwards, and lie
died, not in his father's dwelling but in the Lazzaretto
Vecchio, near the Lido.* No one was left to take care
of the painter's place. Thieves broke into the house,
and before Pomponio or the officers of j^ublic security
could interfere, many precious relics were stolen and
destroyed.! What was spared besides the master-
pieces enumerated in the foregoing pages may be
condensed into a short space. The following list is one
which cannot pretend to absolute completeness, though
it may be accepted as very nearly exhaustive :
Venice Academy : Private IMeeting-hall. — In this hall are
nineteen panels containing cherubs' heads and the symbols of
the Evangelists by Titian, originally in the Scuola di San
Giovanni EvangeKsta at Venice. They are finely coloured,
of golden tone, and executed with great mastery, but some of
them — the cherubs especially — are injured by stippling.
Two of the heads of angels are imitations by the Venetian
painter, Giuseppe Lorenzi. Titian's orginals are noted in
their place by Sanso\'ino (Pitt. Ven. p. 284), Ridolfi (Mar. i.
267), and Zanetti (Pitt. Ven. p. 171). The picture of the
Evangelist John, in the ceiling, was greatly damaged, and
sold, according to Zanotto (Pinac. Ven.) to a private collector
at Turin. Line engravings of the above-mentioned pieces (the
Evangelist John excepted) are in Zanotto's Pinac. Veneta.
Ragusa: San Domenico. — "St. Mary Magdalen" between
*' St. Blaise" and the "Angel andTobit"; in front to the right
of that whicli the Florentines had
carried out as a token of respect
for Michaelangelo. But the times
were not favora-able for such a
spectacle, and it was abandoned.
See Eidolfi, Mar. i. 275.
* Cadorin, Dello Amore, u.
95-6.
t Cadorin, u. s., 97, 98.
CiiAr. IX.] GEXUIXE TITLVXS. -ilT
is a kneeling figure of Count Gozzi ; canvas, figures as large
as life. This picture, of Titian's late time, was seen by the
authors in the studio of Signor Paolo Fahris, who was engaged
in restoring it.
Genoa : Balbi Palace. — At the foot of a wall which
partly intercepts a pleasant landscape, the Virgin Mary sits
with the naked infant Christ standing on her knees. She
looks ^Wth kindly grace at a donor in black silk dress, who
kneels to the right recommended by St. Dominick. To the
left is St. Catherine, partly concealed by a carved marble
screen. Canvas, with figures under life size. This charming
picture of the time of the l)acchanals is thrown out of focus
by abrasion, washing, and repainting ; l)ut is still pleasing
on account of the grace of the attitudes and the beauty of
the landscape.
Florence : Pitti. No. 02. — Portrait of a man in black,
his left hand on his haunch, his right holding a pair of
gloves ; canvas, half-length, of life-size. This portrait is one
which ought to have found a place in the life of Titian, being
one of the finest and grandest productions of his best time.
But we know iKuther the date of execution, nor the person
represented. The dress is black silk, showing white linen at
the neck and wrists, with double sleeves hanging from the
shoulders. The face is that of a man in the prime of life,
with short curly chestnut hair and beard. There is life in
everj' feature of this grand likeness, life in the eye, life in
the pose, but life displayed in its most elevated form, and
with all the subtlety of Titian's art in his best days.
Florence : Pitti. No. 228. — The " Saviour," a bust on
canvas from the collection of the Dukes of Urbino. The
Saviour is almost in profile to the left, long hau-ed and
bearded, in red tunic and blue mantle, his right hand of
beautiful shape on his breast. The distance is a landscape
under a sky streaked with cloud. This handsome picture of
Titian's earlier time, was painted apparently without a
model, and on that account without the subtle delicacy of
some of his hotter works. A copy under Titian's name is in
the Christchurch Gallery at Oxford. The Pitti canvas has
VOL. ir. E K
418 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
been photographed by the Photographic Company, and by
Alinari.
Florence: Pitti. No. 80. — "Portrait of Vesalius the
Surgeon." Canvas, half-length, of life-size. Yesalius here
is a fat old man with a full beard, seated, resting his elbow
on the back of a chair, and supporting in the right hand a
folio. The left hand holding a pair of goggles, rests on the
arm of the chair. The figure and head are turned slightly to
the left, the frame being dressed in a black vest and fur
pelisse. An authentic portrait of Yesalius, by Calcar,
engraved in " De Humani Corporis Fabrica," printed in folio
at Bale, in 1543, represents the great anatomist at the age
of about 40. It is possible that years and fat may have
changed his appearance to that which marks the Pitti like-
ness. But the surface of this piece is so injured, that
hardly anything remains to test the authorship of Titian,
though fragments here and there would justify any one in
assigning the picture to him. Under these circumstances, it
is hardly practicable to give a decided opinion. It may be
worthy of remark, that the so-called portraits of Vesalius all
differ in features, ex. gr. Vienna : Belvedere by Morone,
though assigned to Titian. Vienna : Ambras Gallerj^,
erroneously ascribed to Tintoretto. Munich : Pinakothek,
falsely given to Tintoretto and Padua Gallery, attributed to
Calcar. The Pitti canvas has been engraved in reverse by
T. Ver Cruys.
Rome : Doria Palace. 1st Gallery, No. 14. — Portrait of
a man at a table, on which a jewel is lying. His right hand
is on the table, which is covered with a green cloth. In his
left he holds a pocket-handkerchief. The head finely set on
the shoulders, is turned three-quarters to the left. The hair
and beard are grey. The figure, a half-length of life-size on
canvas, is dressed in black silk. Though much repainted,
there is evidence that this was once a very fine likeness by
Titian. On the upper part of the brown background we
read : " mar. polvs, yen." But these letters are a recent
addition to the picture. The canvas is patched all round
with strips of new stuff.
Chap. IX.] GEXUIXE TITLVXS. 419
Rome: Dor'ia Palace. 2ncl Gallery, No. 5*2. — "Portrait
of Jansenius," This is a likeness of a mau iu an arm-
chair, turned to the left, but lookiuj.^ at the spectator ; on
canvas, seen to the ancles, and large as life. The man
wears a dark r^rey triangular cap and a black silk furred
pelisse, his left hand is on the anu of the chair, his right on
a book Ijnng on his knee, his elbow on a table covered with
a Persian cloth. Behind him is a deep crimson hanging.
The face is long and bony, the eye bright and sparkling, the
forehead high, the l)eard short, but deep bro\ni, though the
hair on the temples is turning to gi'ey. Much of the picture
has been touched up ^^'ith new paint, and particularly so the
hands and the beard. AMio "Jansenius" may be it is
impossible to say, but the picture is clearly by Titian.
Home: ]h)riiJirse Palace. Room X., No. 10. — ''St.
Dominick; " half-length, on canvas. St. Dominick is stand-
ing, and points upwards with tlie fore-finger of his right
hand. With the left he holds the l)lack mantle which winds
round his waist. The face inclined, and seen at three-
quarters to the right, is encircled with a nimbus, a ray falls
on the figure from the left. The track of the brush laying in
the colour, the bold free touch of Titian, are to be seen in this
piece, which is executed at one painting with great masteiy.
The treatment recalls that of the "13aptist in the Desert" at
the Venice Academy. The eyes glisten with life, and ouo
sees the bilious humours in the sacks of the lower eyelids.
Home : Colonna Galleri/. — " Onufrius Panvinius." — Portrait
of a Franciscan friar seated and turned to the right ; canvas,
knee-piece, large as life. The head is fine, — in features,
which are those of an ascetic, the hair of whose tonsure is
already grey, — in treatment, being painted with strong im-
pasted pigment without much glazing — in a warm brown
general tone. On what grounds the name of Panvinius was
given to this picture, it is hard to say. We have here a fine
study from nature by Titian in the years of his prime.
There is no reference in contemporary literature to Titian's
portrait of a friar. But a letter exists, dated June 1549, in
which Aretino sends Titian's remembrances to " the Reverend
K E 2
420 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX,
father Feliciano at Chioggia," and expresses the master's
impatience to see him, that he may "paint his portrait and
hear him preach in St. Mark at the bidding of the Doge."
(Aretino, Lett. u. s. v. 124), Who this father Feliciana
may be, whether identical with Bernardino Feliciano, a public
speaker and professor at Venice during the Dogeship of
Francesco Donate, Ave cannot at present ascertain.
Rome: Sciarra-Colonna Palace. — Room 1. The Virgin in a
room hung with green curtains, stoops over and fondles the
infant Christ on her lap. Canvas, 1 ft. 9 in. high, inscribed
on a footstool to the left in gold letters, " titianvs." This-
is a beautiful little specimen of Titian's art, the right hand
holding the back of the infant is of a lovely pearly tone
beautifully contrasting with white drapery.
Madrid Museum, l:soA63. — "Portrait of a Maltese Knight ; "
knee-piece, on canvas, m. 1. 22h. by 1.01. This is the
likeness of a man of about 35, bare-headed, and bearded,
standing at a table on which a clock lies. The dress is black
silk trimmed with satin, and the vest is embroidered with a
large Greek cross. This noble portrait has not yet been
identified. It has lost some of its delicate finish in the head,
but is still a very fine example of the master's middle time.
Particularly admirable is the way in which the black dress is
detached on the lighter yet still gloomy background.
Madrid Museum : (not exhibited, but numbered 435, in
the catalogue of 1845) "Ecce Homo," on panel 3 ft. 7 in,
square. The Saviour, crowned with thorns, turned to the
right stands holding the reed in his bound hands. In front
to the right, a soldier in chain mail with his back to the
spectator, rests his arm on a parapet of stone, whilst Pilate
in a red jewelled cap raises his hand and speaks. Just above
the parapet to the left, the head of a man in an orange cap
appears, whose outstretched hand raises the fold of Christ's
red tunic. In the background to the left is a window with
a lattice of bars. The eye of the last-mentioned figure, a
fragment of Christ's shoulder, is all that can be seen of the
original colour in this picture, which appears to have suffered
irreparable injury from accidents and repainting. But these
Chap. IX.] GENUINE TITLVNS. 421
fragments show that the panel was once a fine work of Titian.
An old and feeble copy of this piece without the soldier in
chain mail, is No. 694, in the gallery of Hampton Court. A
duplicate of the latter is catalogued in the Dresden Museum,
(No. 239) as by Francesco Vecelli.
Louvre, No. 473. — " L'Homme an Gant ; " canvas,
m. 1.0 h. by 0.89 half length, of life size inscribed "ticiaxvsf."
This is a portrait of a young man three quarters to the right,
bare-headed, dressed in black, the left elbow on a console,
the hand bare holding a glove, the right hand gloved. The
black pelisse is crossed over a frilled white shirt. This is a
noble portrait of Titian's middle period, strongly impasted
'with pigment of deep ilesh tone. Light and shade are
'Contrasted with great mastery, the touch is broad and free,
the hand admirably modelled. This picture belonged to
Louis the Fourteenth. A copy of it is in the gallery of
Brunswick signed : " titianvs." lint the signature is merely
copied, and by no means proves that the picture is a
duplicate by the painter himself. Photograph by IJraun.
Louvre, No. 47'i. — Portrait of a man ; canvas, m. LIB h.
by ().!•('.. I'ortrait of a man in l»lack, the right hand on the
haunch, the thumb of the left in the l)elt of the doublet.
The face is turned slightly to the left, and the hair cut
straight across the forehead. This grand piece also belonged
to Louis the Fourteenth. It is of the same period as
" L'Homme au Gant," and suggests the same remarks. It
is also copied in a canvas of the Brunswick Museum.
I*hotograph by liraun.
Louvre, No. 400.— " The Virgin and Child, St. Agnes
and the Young Baptist;" canvas m. 1.57 h. by 1.60, but
enlarged with a strip of stuft' at the left side. The Virgin
sits to the right near a pillar in fnmt of a hanging. The
infant Christ stands pensive on her lap. She looks round
at St. Agnes prostrate before her, and presenting with her
left hand a palm, whilst with her right she caresses the Iamb
led in to the left by the infant Baptist. The distance is a
Cadorine landscape. Large developed forms, marked outlines,
and sliai-p tints create the impression that Titian was assisted
422 TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
in this picture by Cesare Vecellio. The colour is rich and
well modelled, but not so harmonious as usual. This canvas
was in the collection of Louis the Fourteenth, is engraved in
Landon, and photographed by Braun.
St. Petersburg : Hermitage, No. 102. — Canvas m. 1.3 h. by
1.19, representing Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini, a prelate,
who died in 1507, but who seems to have been painted
posthumously by Titian about the time of his stay at Rome
in 1545. The prelate is seated in a chair in white surplice
and red cap and cape. His left hand is on the arm of
the chair, his right on a book on his knee. Through a
window to the left a landscape is seen. On a pillar behind
the chair one reads " antonivs pallavicinvs cardinalis s.
PEASSEDis." The treatment is broad, and the forms are
largely presented as if under the influence of Michaelange-
lesque reminiscences. But the colours have less than usual of
Titian's brilliancy and richness ; whilst the landscape appears
somewhat leaden. The picture, however, has suflered from
stippling, which produced opaque and blind surfaces. It comes
from the Crozat collection, and was engraved in reverse by
Ai'nold de Jode. (See Farnese collection, jiostea.)
St. Petersburg : Hermitage, No. 97. — Christ, crowned with
thorns, bears the cross which he supports with both hands on
his left shoulder. Behind him Simon of Cyrene. Canvas
m. 0.89 h. by 0.77. This piece, from the Barbarigo col-
lection, is supposed to represent Francesco Zuccato under
the garb of Simon. The face differs from that of the so-called
Zuccato in the portrait at Cobham. Like others of this class,
this picture is in Titian's latest style, and executed in his
broadest manner. It is a duplicate of a canvas at Madrid,
but injured by restoring and old varnish, the dress of the
Saviour being altogether renewed.
St. Petersburg : Hermitage, No. 95. — Christ in benedic-
tion with the orb in his left hand ; half length, on canvas
m. 0.96 h. by 0.78. This picture belonged to the Barbarigo
collection, and is one of the pictures found in Titian's house
after his death. It is much repainted, but stiU shows the
treatment of the master's latest time.
CiLVP. IX.] GEXUIXE TITLVXS. 423
St. Petershurg : Hermitafie, Xo. 94. — Christ crowned with
thorns, holds a reed between his bound hands. To the left
in rear, Pilate in red, to the right the executioner. Canvas
m. 0.06 h. by 0.78, from the Barbarigo collection, and in the
master's latest manner. But these half-lengths are at best
coarse and hastily executed. And time has not improved
their look — the colours being dim from ago, and changed by
retouching.
St. I'cttrshimj : Hermitage, (not exhibited). — St. Sebas-
tian, full length on canvas, bound to a tree, with an arrow in
the middle of his breast. This figure, largo as life, and once
no doubt fine, was originally in the Barbarigo collection, but
is now 80 injured that it cannot be shown. It may have been
the original example of the " St. Sebastian," once in the
Escorial, but now lost, of which Kidolfi says (Mar. i. 240),
that it was painted for Charles the Fifth.
St. Petersbiini : llrrniitage, No. 1)0. — The Virgin holds
the infant Christ on her knee, and receives a small vase from
the kneeling Magdalen on the left ; half lengths on canvas,
m. 0.98 h. by 0"8*2. This too is a Barbarigo Titian replica,
with a slight variety, of one at the UtKzi, and ono in tho
Naples Museum. The colour is rich and the faces are pleasing,
but the execution seems to have been entrusted in a great
measure to a pupil of the class of Marco Vecelli, whose forms
are always fuller, and whose colours are invariably sharper
than those of Titian. This is an heirloom of tho ]3arbarigo
family, the original no doubt of a picture in the Farnese Col-
lection, noted in the Farnese inventoiy of 1G80. (See Cam-
pori, liacc. n. s. p. 224).
Drcadrn. Gallery, No. 228. — Portrait of a man carrying
a palm leaf; canvas 4 ft. 10 h. by 3 ft. 2, a knee-piece,
originally in the palace of the Marcello family at Venice,
where, according to the Anonimo (ed. Morelli, p.GG ), there
was a collection of pictures, some of which were by Titian.
Tho person represented is tall, bony, and sallow, very bald,
but with short black hair still visible behind the temples,
and a short dark beard. He looks to the right though turned
three-quarters to the left, and sits, dressed in black silk, at a
424 TITLVX: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
table on which a shallow box with a pallet-knife or an apothe-
cary's spatula is lying. Through an opening to the left a
landscape is seen. Eound the head, and dimly traceable
tinder a repainted background, is the line of a circular nimbus.
The whole surface of the picture has been more or less re-
touched, but the landscape suffered less than the rest of the
canvas, and there as well as in small spaces of the flesh, we
distinguish the hand of Titian. It must have been a fine
likeness in its day ; so fine that attempts were made to give
the person represented a name, and this was done by help of the
following inscription: mdlxi || inm. petrvs aretinvs || ^etatis
SVA(!) XXXXVI II TITIANVS PICTOR ET || ^QVES C^SARIS. As it WaS
clear that the face was not that of Aretino, clear likewise that
the inscription was forged, the letters were recently washed over,
and an inscription as follows recovered : mdlxi. || anno., i.
APT..A. NATVS || ^TATIS SVA XLVI || TITIANVS PICTOR ET || iEQVES
c^SARis. The first line is darker in colour than the second
and third, in which the character also differs from that of the
fourth and fifth line. The letters are written by a house
painter, sharp cornered, and crossed at the ends. They are
probably not of Titian's time ; yet the picture, as above
remarked, is a fine and genuine work of Titian.
Munich Gallery, No. 587. — The Virgin sits under a tree
in a landscape, holding the infant Christ on her knee, who
turns to look at the boy Baptist on the left. To the right a
donor in a black pelisse is kneeling. Canvas, 2 ft. 3f h, by
2 ft. 10. The head and foot of St. John, and the head of the
Virgin are damaged by abrasion and retouching ; yet the
picture is still a lovely one of Titian, and the landscape to
the right, with blue mountains and nearer ranges dotted
with church and campanile, is beautifully painted. The date
of this masterpiece may be set dov,Ti as between 1520 and
1525 ; and the treatment in the style of that period is perfect.
The profile of the donor, a man in the prime of life, is very
fine.
The same subject, with a figure of St. Catherine in place
of the donor, is catalogued as a Titian in the Fenaroli collec-
tion at Brescia. We read the words '.' titia. pin." on a
Ch-U-. IX.] GENUINE TITLVNS. 425
corner of the canvas. But the handling is not Titian's, but
that of an imitator of his manner.
MuiiicJi Gallery, No. 591. — The Virgin sits in front of a
building in a landscape at sunset, and holds in her arms the
naked infant Christ. The movements of the figures are
grand, and the treatment odiibits Titian still in possession
of great power, though in the period of his old age. The
colours are brushed in with bold freedom, and shaded with
dark tones. l^ut the surfaces are partially rubl)ed down.
This picture is said to have been brought to Munich from
Spain ; it measures 5 ft. 8 J h. by 4 ft. 1 . It is signed with
& dubious signature : ** titiaxvs f."
A variation of the same motive is in a small Madonna in
the Sciarra Colonna Palace at Rome. (See (intai).
Munich (itillcry. No. 407. — Portrait of a man in black
turned to the right, but looking out to the left, bare-headed,
with his right hand on a table, his left on a dagger. A white
«hirt shows its plaits at the breast, the coat is of black silk.
This noble portrait is painted with great force and finish,
and looks like one of those aristocratic creations of Titian
which Van Dyke liked to study, in the gallery of Diisseldorf
where it was long preserved, it was called erroneously a
likeness of Aretino (see Georg Forster's Ansichten voni
Kiederrhein, &c., 8vo. Leipzig, 1808, I*'' Tlicil, p. 77).
Vienna Gallery. — Portrait of " Titian's Doctor, Parma,"
turned to the left, a beardless old man, with fine gi'ey hair,
in black silk robes, the left hand grasping the hem of the
dress at the breast. This masterly portrait is one of the
noblest creations of its kind, finished with a delicacy quite
surju-ising, and modelled with the finest insight into the
modulations of human flesh. Though some of the minute
details have been removed by abrasion, enough remains to
produce a magic effect. The hair, where preserved, is of such
gossamer texture that one fancies it might be blown about
by the air. Notwithstanding all this the touch and the
treatment are utterly unlike Titian's, having none of his
well-known freedom, and none of his technical peculiarities.
Yet if asked to name an artist capable of painting such a
426 TITIAN: HIS LIPE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
likeness, one is still at a loss. A piece was added to the
bottom of the canvas at no very distant date. This and clean-
ing, to which we may add some retouching, may have altered
the picture materially. In its present state the canvas
measures 3 ft. G h. by 2 ft. 7. It is considered to be
identical with the portrait mentioned by Ridolfi as that of
"Parma" in the collection of B. della Nave (Marav. i. 220).
But this is not proved ; nor is there any direct testimony to
show that it is by Titian at all (engraved in Teniers' Gallery).
Vienna Gallery. — Portrait of " Philip Strozzi," the body
and head turned three-quarters to the left ; the dress, a black
silk vest, partly covered by a black pelisse with a collar of
white and black fur. Canvas, 3 ft. 6 h. by 2 ft. 7. The
hair and short beard are coal black, the complexion bronzed
and bilious. The right hand at the waist is well preserved.
There is no proof that the person represented is Philip
Strozzi. But the picture, though much over-painted (fore-
head and vest), looks as if it had once (1540) been a fine one
of the master. The colour is broadly laid down on a plaited
canvas.
Vienna Galleri/. — Portrait of "Benedetto Varchi ; " a
bearded man, whose body is turned to the left, whilst the
head looks round to the right. The right elbow leans on
a console ; the left hand holds a richly bound book. Near
a pillar of veined marble is a fall of burnt-red drapery.
Here again the person represented is not proved to be
the Florentine Benedetto Yarchi. But the portrait is fine,
the glance of the eye is hvely and bold, the attitude grand.
The colours are stiffly impasted on a coarse canvas. Time,
circa 1550. Unfortunately there are touches of new paint
about the face. Canvas, 3 ft. 8 h. by 3 ft.
Vienna Gallery. — Lucretia striking at herself with a
dagger. Canvas, 3 ft. 2 h. by 2 ft. 4, half length in full
front, of a woman with curly yellow hah-, and bare neck
pointing the dagger in her right hand at her bosom. A
striped veil on one shoulder, a burnt crimson pelisse with a
fur collar on the other, a white sleeve, make up the picture,
which is rubbed down and injured to a considerable extent.
CiLvp. IX.] GEXUIXE TITIAXS. 427
Some years ago the words : " sibi titl\.nvs pes'xit." -nere
legible on the dark ground beneath the arm holding the
dagger. The picture was probably executed in the master's
later time, if we judge of the fragments still free from
retouching, but it was not at the best a veiy fine or attractive
production.
Vienna: I [arrack Collection. — "St. Sebastian," of life size
in a niche, his hands bound behind his back, looking up to
heaven ; canvas stretched on panel ; of life size. A white
cloth covers the hips ; one aiTow pierces the breast, another
the left leg. The bend of the niche is coloured in mosaic,
with a line in Greek, of which we read the letters: *'oAy —
'77105." This picture is corroded by time, the shadows of the
head and the pigment on the feet and legs being almost
eaten awav. liut the attitude is finely rendered, and the
execution seems worthy of Titian. There is a trailition that
this piece was once in the sacristy of the Salute at Venice.
But the Harrach collection was brought together partly at
Naples, and partly in Spain, and it may be that the picture
is that described in liooks as once existing in the Escorial.
(See Sir A. Hume's Titian, p. 8'2).
Casscl Gallcrij, No. 25. — Portrait of a man, full length,
large as life, on canvas, 7 ft. 2 h. by 5 ft. ;">, in the plumed
cap of a Duke, standing in a red striped doublet and red
hose, in a hilly landscape. His left hand is on his haunch,
his right grasps a spear. At his feet on the right is a dog ;
on the left a winged Cupid raising aloft a plumed helmet,
whilst a bow and quiver lie on the ground. Signed to
the right of "Amor," " titlusYS fecit." This figure is
stated to be Davalos, Marquis of Yasto, which requires con-
firmation. It brings to mind Aretiuo's sonnet to Titian's
portrait of Alva in lo 19 :
" La effigio ndoraiula doUa paco
L'imagino tremonda ilcUa gucrra."
(Aretino, Lottcre, v. If o.)
But the face is not that of the Duke of Alva, although the
figure may be that of a Spaniard. The style is that of Titian
428 TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
in 1549-50. The treatment is rapid and bold. The sitter
is a man of fort}^ close cropped, with a short black beard,
losing itself in the frill of a white shirt collar ; the figure is
slender and well made. Sword and dagger are belted to the
waist. Photograph by Gustav Schauer of Berlin.
London: National Gallery, No. 4. — "Holy Family with
an Adoring Shepherd;" canvas, 3 ft. 5h h., by 4 ft. 8.
To the left, under a rocky bank, the Virgin sits on the
ground with the infant Christ nestling in her lap. St. Joseph
is seated to the right with one hand supported by a staff.
He looks at a shepherd kneeling on the right foreground in
yellowish hose and red jacket. In the distance a blue sky
with few clouds, a hilly landscape, in which the angel appears
to the shepherds. This picture, once in the Borghese Palace,
is painted in Titian's early style, and recalls at once the
schooling of Giorgione and Palma. But there is more empti-
ness in the forms than we like to admit in Titian, and much
in the picture would seem to indicate the hand of Lotto. But
these are only conjectures, and it is still possible that Titian
was the painter. The picture was bequeathed to the nation
by Mr. Holwell Carr. Engraved by J. Rolls.
Dudley House. — " Virgin and Child." This fine canvas
was in very much better condition when at Piome in the
Bisenzio Collection. It represents the Virgin seated on the
ground near a brown curtain, giving the breast to the infant
Christ, whose waist is covered with a white cloth. Much of
the old power and freedom of Titian's later style was visible a
few years ago, but is now lost in cleaning and repainting.
Hampton Court, No. 964. — The " Marquis of Guasto and
Page." Ilnee-piece of life-size on canvas. This is a portrait
of a captain in armour, turned slightly to the right, with the
right hand on a table, on which his helmet lies. A bearded
servant in profile to the right, dressed in striped yellow, ties
the laces of the breastplate. Here, as at Cassel, it is hard to
say on what grounds this captain is called Marquis of Guasto.
Drawing, modelling, and colour are lost in abrasions, and the
surfaces are so injured that Titian's handling is hardly to be
recognised ; yet fragments, such as the profile and hand of
Chap. IX.] GENUINE TITL\NS. 429
the " page," are worthy of Titiau, who is probably the painter
of the picture. As regards the person represented, it is
worthy of remark that the features are not unHke those of the
Duke of Alva, as painted by Antonio Moro in a picture at
Windsor Castle ; not unlike those of a portrait erroneously
ascribed to Titian, but called the *' Duke of Alva," in the col-
lection of the Duke of Bucdeuch at Dalkeith. "NVe should be
better able to judge of this matter if we had a clue to Titian's
original portrait of Alva, or even to the copy of that original
executed by Rubens. (See Sainsbur}''s Papers, u.s., p. 237.)
JIdinpton Court GtiUrrif, No. 114. — "Titian's Uncle."
Portrait of a man, tuniod to the right, standing at a table,
bare-headed, and dressed in black, with a book in his right
hand, a piece of fruit in his left. To the left, on a bracket,
is a statue ; through an opening to the right a tine land-
scape. Most of the picture is repainted, but fragments of it,
and particuhirly the landscape, display the bund of Titian
about his middU' period. The person represented is about
fifty years old, but on what grounds he is called Titian's
uncle it is impossil)le to say.
Cobham JLill. — "Christ in Benediction." Bust on panel.
Though much injured, this seems to have been a good and
genuine picture by Titian. The parts about the collar bone
are the best preserved. An inscription on the panel would
suggest that it belonged to Domenico lluzzini at Venice, and
we tind in Bidolti ['Shir. i. 2(51) that this senator owned a
picture of " Christ in Benediction."
London : latv I^^orthuick Collection. — Portrait of a lady of
life-size in a turban, holding in her left hand a fan made
of feathers. On canvas, 3 ft. 3 h., by 2 ft. 8. Tho
dress of the lady is Lombard, and recalls that of Isa])ella
d'Este at the lielvedere of Vienna; the turban yellow with
whitt^ braiding, the boddice cut square and variegated in
black, yellow, and green. The shoulder puffs l)lack and
white and yellow, a chemisette, and a chain round the bare
neck. The form is full, the bend of the head, seen at three-
quarters to the left, slightly affected. The treatment is like
that of Titian, but the surfaces are almost entirely concealed
430 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
by repainting, and tlie result of this is an appearance of feeble
execution.
Late Northwick Collection, No. 872. — " Henry Howard,
Earl of Surrey." The identity of this portrait is not proved.
It represents a man of middle age in a black plumed cap, and
bottle green damasked doublet, with red sleeves. The right
hand is on a dagger at the belt, the left fondles a dog. Some
fragments of this canvas, which is almost entirely repainted,
show a treatment akin to that of Titian.
Viscount Poicerscourt. — Amongst the pictures exhibited at
the first Dublin International Exhibition, was one belonging
to Lord Powerscourt, representing a bare-headed youth of life-
size to the knees, in a black dress, with his right arm on a
table strewed with books and papers, with his left hand
holding a plumed cap ; a chain hangs from his neck and
supports a medal. Over the dark brown ground to the
right a hanging of green stuff is falling. The youth is
about twenty, of agreeable character, and natural. This
figure may be acknowledged as fairly displaying the' style of
Titian .
Omnia Vanitas. — Under this title, two or three pictures
are preserved, which bear the name of Titian. A drawing
also exists, from which these pictures seem to have been
executed. But doubts may be entertained as to its genuineness.
Equally doubtful is the question whether Titian ever carried
out in person the pictures representing the subject.
Diisseldorf Academy. — The drawing represents a female
lying (with her head to the left) on a couch, half-raised on one
arm, and looldng up so as to show her face in foreshortened
profile. At her side to the right is a vase, behind a fall of
drapery. The drawing is washed in sepia, and outlined with
a pen on rough paper, and has some of the characters of an
original Titian.
Rome : Academy of SanLuca. — The figure above described
is painted reclining on a couch, with a vase near the shoulder,
and a crown and sceptre at the feet. In the distance to the
left a landscape represents Cadorine hills, and above the
whole is a tablet inscribed " Omnia Vanitas." The canvas is
Chap. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITIAXS. 431
much injured by flaying and repainting. It is not bandied
with the mastery of Titian, but looks as if it had been executed
by some of his disciples or imitators, perhaps by Cesare
Vecellio. It is said that this piece was once in the Capitol,
and was presented by Gregory the Sixteenth to San Luca.
From it obviously Le Febre took his print of the Omnia
Vanitas, and if so, the picture was then in the Yidman
Collection at Venice. The same piece was also engraved by
O. Saitcr. (C(mipare Sir A. Hume's Titian, p. 05.)
Glns(j<)w Museum, No. 23G. — The same subject is here
called " Danae." On the edge of the white couch, besides the
vase, there are some golden pieces. On the tablet above,
instead of " Omnia Vanitas," wc read " titlvx cadvihu."
The execution is very free, the pigment thin, as if some bold
executant had imitated Cesare Vecelli. The canvas has been
injured, and the flesh has gained a yellow tinge from time and
varnish. The signature of Titian is of dubious antiquity. In
a catalogue of pictures for sale at Venice at the close of the
sixteenth century, wo find the "Omnia Vanitas." (See this
catalogue in Stockbauer's Kunstl)estrel)ungou am IJayrischen
Hof, U.S. vol. viii. of Quellonschriftcn, p. ■V^.)
Kinrfston Lacij. — Hero is a third replica of the same piece,
with " Omnia Vanitas " on the tablet. The Hgure is large as
life, on canvas, liut of uniform tone and thin colour. The
execution is exactly similar to that of the Glasgow example.
It is natural that tliere sliould lie a wish on tlic part
of numerous collectors to assisjn to Titian works of art
whieli sometimes closely, at others but distantly, recall
the treatment of the master. Tlie f(jllowino; is a list
of pictures in which the authors have not been able to
discern the distinctive marks of Titian's style.
Venice: Zecca. — " Virgin and Child." This is a fresco on
the gi'ound floor of the old Zecca, showing a certain form of
aft'ectation in the attitude of the Virgin, which looks like a
reminiscence of the Virgin and Child of luaphacl's " jM;i-
432 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
donna di Foligno." The fresco has lost much of its colour,
and it is impossible to express an opinion as to the author.
Venice Academy, No. 350. — Portrait of the Procurator
Priamo di Lezze. This portrait was taken from the Procuratie,
and patched and restored. The head, with short white hair
and full heard, is all that is not absolutely new, but even that
is changed by stippling, and now looks like work from the
hand of Damiano Massa. Canvas bust in red, m. 0.52 h. hy
0.53.
Venice : Prince Giovanelli. — Two pictures in this collection
are assigned to Titian, " St. Roch and the Angel," which is
an undoubted picture by Lotto (see Hist, of N. Ital. Painting,
ii. p. 526), and a " St. Jerom " by Basaiti. (lb. i. 269.)
Venice : Santa Caterina. — " The Angel and Tobit," on
panel. The position of the figures and the dog is the same
relatively as that of Titian's original in S. Marciliano, but the
style is not the masculine and powerful style of Titian, and
we may believe that Pddolfi is less correct in assigning it ta
Titian (Mar. i. 197) than Boschini in ascribing it to Santo
Zago. (Ricche Miniere, S. di Canaregjgio, pp. 19, 20.)
Venice : S.S. Ermarjora e Fortunato. — Christ with the
Orb, on a pedestal between the standing figures of St. Andrew
and St. Catherine ; a Titianesque panel in the style of Fran-
cesco Vecelli, or Santo Zago, but not a genuine Titian. (Com-
pare Boschini, Ricche Miniere, S. di Canareggio, p. 58, and
Moschini, Guida di Venezia, ii. 361.)
C adore : {Pieve di) Casa Coletti. — Here is the house once
inhabited by Tiziano Yecelli, the orator, Titian's kinsman.
A hall in the basement of the house is painted with arabesques
and figures, one of the latter an old woman spinning, with a
cat plapng near her. Renaldis (Pittura Friulana, u.s. p. 65)
ascribes these wall-paintings to Titian, but they are work of
a later time.
Venas iCadore) Church. — The Virgin adoring the infant
Christ on her knees, between two angels in a landscape ; on
two canvases at the sides St. Mark and two saints in converse.
This pretty and gracefully executed picture is by some painter
of the school of the Vecelli of the seventeenth century.
CuAP. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITLiXS. 433
Vinir/o CJinreh. — The Virgin enthroned with the Child in
Benediction erect on her knee ; at h r sides St. John the
Baptist and St, John the Evangelist ; an angel seated on the
step of the throne plays the tambourine. This canvas, ^ith
figures of life-size, is greatly injured by restoring, but is
clearly not by Titian. (Ticozzi, Vecelli, ii. s. p. 95.) The treat-
ment })oiuts to a disciple of the schools of Francesco or Cesare
Vecelli.
Doinrfifie : Casa Bcrnaho. — Church standard, representing
the Virgin and Child between St. lloch and St. Sebastian,
with an angel on the step playing a taraliourine. This also
is assigned to Titian, but is executed by an artist of the
seventeenth century, whose work is almost completely lost in
subsequent daubing. A copy of this piece, assigned to Orazio
Vecelli in the church of the Picve at Cadore, is inscribed
with thf? date of 1047.
Pozzalc : Church of San Tomniaso. — Church standard,
with a figure of St. Thomas. The surface of this canvas is
covered with repaints, but it was never executed by Titian,
whose name it undeservedly bears.
Candida Church. — The Virgin and Child enthroned, with
an angel playing a tambourine, St. Andrew and St. John the
Baptist, — a set of three canvases in this church, assigned by
Ticozzi to Titian (Vecelli, p. 1)4), are by Cesare Vecelli.
Md, in Cadore. — In past years there stood on the high
altar of the church of Mel an arched canvas, with life-size
figures of St. Andrew, St. Sebastian, and St. Paul, set on a
base or prcdella, with hexagonal panels representing the
Samaritan woman before Christ at the Well, the Resur-
rection, and the Epiphany, each of these little subjects
being parted by a square panel containing an angel's head.
The central piece is now in the choir, a copy of it being in
the sacristy, where we likewise find halves of the Samaritan
Woman and llesurrection put together as one picture,
together with the Epiphany and Angels. According to the
tradition of Mel, the altar-piece now in the choir is by Titian,
but the work does not confirm the tradition. It is boldly
painted, incorrect in drawing, and discordant in tone. In the
vol.. ir. F F
434 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
white haired central figure of St. Andrew, there is much to
remind us of Andrea Schiavone. St. Sebastian bound to a
pillar on the left recalls the school of Paris Bordone. The
little panels in the sacristy are better than the principal
canvas. The style of all is that which prevails amongst the
painters of the Titianesque school at Belluno, and particularly
that of Niccolo de' Stefani of Belluno. (Compare Ticozzi,
Vecelli, p. 96, and Beltrame's Titian, p. 33.)
Cencenighe hy Agordo. — On the high altar of the church of
this village, a picture of St. Anthony enthroned between St.
Eoch and St. Sebastian is described as a work by Titian. On
close examination, it seems to be by a Bellunese disciple of
Niccolo de' Stefani.
Lentiai : Santa Maria. — Composite altar-piece. The As-
sumption between St, Paul and St. John Evangelist and St.
Peter and a saint in episcopals. Above in half lengths the
Pieta between four saints. This picture, assigned to Titian,
betrays the hand of his assistants, and more particularly that
of Cesare Vecelli, who painted the whole of the ceilings of this
church in company of Jacopo Constantini in 1578.
Serravalle : Casa Carneliutti. — The house called Casa
Carneliutti is that which was inhabited of old by Lavinia
Vecelli and her husband Sarcinelli. Here the wall of an
apartment is still covered with remnants of a fresco represent-
ing a nude female figure in a recumbent position, with a
basket of flowers near her. She lies with her head to the left,
her right elbow resting on a white cushion, and her head sup-
ported by the fingers of her right hand. The left hand, as at
present seen, is extended horizontally in a somewhat meaning-
less manner. It is hard to say whether this picture was
really executed, as alleged, by Titian. The left arm is quite
modern, the other is retouched. Fragments of old colour
crop up through the newer flesh tint of the face, showing the
eyes and features in a difierent form from the present ones.
Similar discoveries may be made in other parts, and it is
evident that whoever may have been the author of this
painting, his work is effectually concealed by that of a later
and less competent hand.
Chap. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITLYXS. 435
San Salvatore di Colalto. — Fragments of frescoes, chiefly
heads, originally in the canonry of Castions. 1. Titian '? 2.
Pierio Vuleriano. 3. Urbano Bolzanio. These pieces, though
assigned to Titian, are painted in the bold manner of Cesare
Vecelli. A portrait of '* Valeriano," the counterpart as regards
face and features of the above, is preserved under the name of
Titian in Casa Palatini at Belluno. It is probably also by
Cesare.
Belluno: San Slrfatw. — "Adoration of the Mairi." This
picture, ascribed by Ticozzi (Vec. p. 98) and IJeltramc (u.s.
p. 33) to Titian, is by Cesare Vecelli.
FonzuHo : Cusa Ponfr. — The " Nativity" till IbUG in the
suppressed church of Sun Giuseppe of IJelluno. This canvas,
assigned by Ticozzi to Titian, is by Francesco Vecelli his
brother. (See Ticozzi, Vecelli, ii. .s\ p. 73-1, and compare
Count Florio Miari's Dizionario Bellunese, fol. Belluno, 1843,
p. 113.)
Castelddido : Cumi Piloni. — Portrait of Oderico Piloni,
half length on canvas turned to the left; an old man with a
grey beard, white frill and brown dress, holding a glove in his
left hand. This portrait is not by Titian, but probably by
Cesare Vecelli. — In the same collection, two fragments of
frescoes, representing a boy of six and a boy of seven years, are
probalily l)y the same hand. (See Alnwick).
lU'Unno : Casa Paridni. — Head of a youth : inscribed An-
tonio (Piloni) on panel ; two heads on canvas of Scipio and
Gio. Maria (Piloni). These are part of a series of which the
rest — two in number — namely Ciesar and Paul Piloni, re-
spectively aged six and three, are in the Casa Agosti at
Belluno. All these pictures are assigned to Titian, but are
probably by Cesare Vecelli.
Belluno : Casa Piloni. — A single head of a female — a fresco
— is shown in this house, which once belonged to a fresco of
the rape of the Sabine women, of which there is an engraving
inscribed: "Opus Titiani Vecelli exiisten^ in atrio, D.D.
nobilium Comitum Piloni in civitate Belluni, G. G. F." The
fragment now preserved shows pretty clearly that the painter
must have been Cesare Vecelli, the treatment being similar
F F 2
436 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
to that of the wall paintings of Cesare's last period, in the
Pieve di Cadore and elsewhere.
Sjnliniherg : CasaMonaco — Portraitof" Guglielmus Monaco
Bergomensis " with the date mdl, at a table, pen in hand,
turned three quarters to the right ; on the table is a book with
the word, "p. f. comedia." The name and date above
given are on the brown background of the canvas, but they are
either repainted or modern. The picture itself is erroneously
assigned to Titian, being by a feeble disciple of Pomponio
Amalteo.
Pat: Casa Manzoni. — Profile bust to the right of a man in
a black cap, falsely assigned to Titian. The real painter of
this piece may be Niccolo de' Stefani, whose pictures are
numerous in the neighbourhood of Pat.
Rovigo Gallery, No. 8. — Portrait of a bearded man in a
black cap, pointing with the right hand to a passage in a book
which he holds in his left. Half length on canvas turned to
the right. The picture is in too bad a state to warrant an
opinion. It looks as if it might have been originally a work
of Bernardino Licinio.
Rovigo Gallery, No. 2. — " Virgm and Child " a copy of a
picture by Titian in the Belvedere of Vienna. (See antea, i.
p. 56.)
Rovigo Gallery, No. 118. — " Apollo and Daphne." A
picture by Andrea Schiavone.
Rovigo Gallery, No. 9.—" Death of Goliath." No. 10,
"Portrait of Titian by Himself." Both very poor, and
spurious productions.
Vicenza Gallery. — "Virgin and Child." Half length in
front of a landscape, in part concealed to the right by a green
curtain ; panel, with figures of life size. This picture is more
in the style of Francesco Vecelli than in the style of Titian.
Vejvna Gallery. — " Virgin and Child and young Baptist."
This canvas, with figures of half the life size, was bequeathed
to the Verona Gallery by Mr. Bernasconi as an original
Titian. It is however a pretty creation of Cesare Vecelli.
Photograph by Nay a.
Feltre : Episcojml Palace. — Portrait of a bearded man at a
Cn.vp. IX.] UXCEETIFIED TITLINS. 437
table, on which a pair of gogf,des is lying. The figure is on
canvas, half-length, large as life and turned to the right. It
is by Tintoretto and not by Titian.
Padua: Casa Maldara. — The Virgin with the Child
naked and recumbent on her lap, in front of a green curtain,
beyond which to the right a landscape is seen. This canvas,
with half lengths assigned to Titian, and much damaged by
restoring, looks like a work of Cesare Vecelli.
Lovere : Tadini Collection, No. 78. — " Portrait of Gabriel
Tadino" turned in profile to the left, with a white cross
and a medal hanging from his neck. On the medal are
fragments of letters which are all but illegible, and the
date Mcccccxxxviii ; on the lower part of the picture :
"GABRIEL TADINO." This may once have been by Titian,
but is now repainted to such an extent that the original
pigments are no longer visible.
No 4()3 in the same collection is a portrait of a man in a
dark pelisse looking to the right with a paper in his right
hand, and his left on the hilt of his sword. It is a copy
imitating Morctto rather than Titian. — No 380 represents
Titian. A bust with (!) the Order of the Golden Fleece. A
modem work of the 18th century. No. 34. — "Portrait of a lady
with a lapdog on her knees." Much injured piece of a time
subsequent to Titian's death. In the same gallery is a copy
of the " Woman taken in Adultery," which wo shall find as-
signed to Titian in Saut' Afra of Brescia.
hrescia : St. Afra. — ''Christ and the "Woman taken in
Adultery." The Saviour turns to address one of the Pharisees,
a bearded man in a turban on the left of the picture, whilst
to the right the woman bends before him as she stands
surrounded by her accusers. In the distance a grove and a
temple. To the left in the foreground two figures stand,
portraits probably of members of the family for which the
composition was designed. Canvas, half-lengths of life size.
This picture is painted in the Venetian manner, but by a pro-
vincial and not by Titian, and there is a modern polish in the
colours and a weight in the forms which betray the hand either
of Pietro Kosa or of Giulio Campi. The latter is probably tho
4 33 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
author of the picture, which till quite recently hung ahove
the lateral portal inside St. Afra, hut within the last two
years has been withdrawn, and has passed into private hands.
Photograph by Giacomo Eossetti of Brescia, engraving in line
by Sala. A feeble copy in the Tadini collection at Lovere.
The same subject with figures in full length and with the
variety of Christ pointing to the sentence on the stone at his
feet, which one of the Pharisees stoops to read, was 20 years
ago under Titian's name in the Casa Pino Friedenthal at
Milan.
Brescia: Erizzo-Maffei Gallery, Xo. 21. — Portrait of a
man in a plumed cap dressed in j^ellow and green damask,
turned to the left near an opening, his left hand on the hilt
of his sword. Behind the figure — a half-length of life size
on panel — is a gi-een curtain. The picture is much repainted,
but may still be recognised as a work of Moretto.
Brescia: Erizzo-Maffei Gallery. — Portrait of a grey-
bearded man, with the left hand on his haunch, in a black
cap, half-length. This portrait is not by Titian, but by
Tintoretto.
Brescia : Fenaroli Collection. — " The Zingara," a woman
in a black silk mantilla turned to the left near a table with a
vase on it. In the distance a view of Venice and the lagoons.
This fine picture is by Savoldo.
Brescia: Fenaroli Collection. — "Venus and the Organ-
player." An old copy of Titian's picture in the Madrid
Museum (now No. 459).
Bagolino {Province of Brescia) : ParisJt Church of Sail
Giorgio. — Vu-gin in glory attended by angels and adored
by a kneeling saint. Below, St. Roch, St. Mark curing the
shoemaker, and St. Sebastian. Arched canvas with figures
of life size on the 3rd altar to the right of the portal. This
picture, though assigned to Titian, is probably by Pietro Rosa
of Brescia.
Bergamo : Locliis Carrara Gallery, Xo. 133. — " Virgin
and Child ; " half-length, on panel. Ascribed to Titian, but
by Santo Zago.
Bergamo: Lochis Carrara, No. 111. — " The Return of the
Cn.vr. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITLVNS. 439
Prodigal Son." The son kneels before his father, in the pre-
sence of numerous spectators, in a landscape in front of some
houses. The style is like that of Andrea Schiavone, but is
even too hasty to be his. On a scutcheon to the right are
the arms of the family of Colalto.
Bergamo: Lochis Carrara, 'So. 132. — A kneeling votary
before a crucifix in a landscape ; small panel inscribed with
the date 1518. The treatment is that of a local Brescian
painter.
Fano : Casa Moutevecchio. — Portrait of Julius, Count of
I\Iontevecchio, in armour and mail, bareheaded, with his
right hand on a helmet, and his left on the hilt of a sword.
In the l)a(kground to the left a hilly landscape is represented
with a fortress, troops, and cannon ; canvas, knee-piece of
life size. On the old frame of the time is the following
inscription: '".Julius comes Montisveteris Urbini PrO[veditor]
armorum reipublicju Plumbiui contra Turcos ct in Tuscia
contra Sonenses Dux, et locurateues generalis anno mdliii."
Thin pigments and hasty execution would show that Titian,
if he painted this picture at all. of which no opinion can here
be given, produced a portrait beneath his usual powers.
Genoa: Dnrazzo Palace. — Venus initiates a Bacchante (five
figures). This is a variety of the composition of which a
repetition is in the gallery of Munich (No. 524). It is greatly
injured, but was apparently executed by some imitator of
Titian.
Mnde)ia Gallery, No. 114. — Portrait, half-length, of life-
si/e of a man past the middle age, sitting. He wears a black
cap, and rests his right arm on a table. This picture,
purchased at Venice by Francis the Fifth of Modena, is on
canvas stretched on panel, and little of it except the head
and shoulders is original. But even this part is much
damaged, and so a mere rehc of what may once have been by
Titian.
Moiloia Gallery, No. 117.— " La Morctta." This is a
Bolognoso copy of the portrait of the Duchess of Ferrara,
with the negro page, so often alluded to in these volumes.
The word " tic . . anys " on the bracing of the sleeve to the
440 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
left can only point to the existence, at some unknown period,
of an original from which this picture was copied. (See
Stockholm.)
Modena Gallery, No. 131. — Portrait-bust of a man in a
black cap and dress, turned to the left on a green background ;
canvas m. 0.54 h. by 0.45. This portrait is not by Titian,
but executed in a manner reminiscent of Cesare Vecelli.
Modena Gallery, No. 130. — Portrait-bust of a man in
black with a white shirt-collar ; canvas, m. 0.42 h. by 0.34.
In the style of Appollonius of Bassano, or some similar
disciple of the schools of Tintoretto and Bassano.
Milan : Amhrosiana. — Christ carrying his cross, preceded
by St. Veronica with the sudarium, and groups of soldiers.
To the right the Virgin faints in the arms of the Marys.
This small canvas was once attributed to Diirer, is now
assigned to Titian, and was probably painted by Cariani.
Milan : Br era, No. 234. Profile -bust of a bald man with
a large beard, turned to the right. A picture of the school of
Bologna.
Milan : Brera, No. 265. — Bust-portrait of a man, profile
to the left; injured by restoring, but still Titianesque in
style.
Florence : Uffizi, No. 590. — The Virgin Mary, in a halo
of cherubs' heads, suppo."+,s the infant Christ erect on her knee.
He leans his face on hers, whilst the boy St. John to the left
holds his foot ; canvas, knee-piece. On the Baptist's arm a
scroll is lying, on which the words are written : "Ecce agnus
Dei." Too feebly drawn and modelled, as well as too thin and
raw in its pigments for Titian, this picture is by a follower
and imitator of Titian, whose treatment is less telling than
that of the copyist, who painted the same subject in a similar
form at Bowood. Engraved in the Florentine Gallery.
Florence : Uffizi, No. 1002. — Virgin and Child between
two angels, in a glory of cherubs' heads. Panel, knee-piece.
This picture is not a Venetian, but a Lombard production,
and therefore not properly assignable to Titian.
Florence: Uffizi, No. 625. — The Virgin holds the naked
infant Christ on her lap, whilst St. Catherine to the right
Chap. IX.] UNCEETIFIED TITLiNS. 441
ofifers him a pomef,Tanate. This composition is but a variety
of that numljered 96 in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, the
Saint there being a Magdalen oflering flowers. The picture
is Titianesque, but in the style of Titian's disciples, and par-
ticularly of Marco Vecelli. Another but inferior replica we
shall find in the Naples Museum. Engraved by Picchianti.
Florence : Pitti, No. 17.—" Marriage of St. Catherine ; "
canvas. This graceful picture is a curious illustration of the
habit which painters had of preserving and repeating certain
combinations of figures. The Virgin holds the infant Christ
on her lap, and St. Catherine leans over the child and plays
with it, whilst the boy St. John kneels to the right, and rests
on the reed cross. Titian painted the principal group early
in a picture now (No. 635) at the National CialliTv, placing
the boy Baptist to the left. The replica here under his name
may have been executed in his atelier, but there are signs
that it was not handled by himself, but by Cesare Yecelli.
The figures are too feebly drawn, the colours are too shaq?
and untransparent, the balance of light and shade is too
unequal, and the drapery too poor for the master himself.
The distance is a landscape of trees and hills, where a shep-
herd in a turban tends his flock. A picture representing this
subject is noted by Ridolfi (Mar. i. 260) as then existing in
the Gussoni Collection at Venice.
Florence: Pitti, No. 83.— Portrait of " Luigi Cornaro '*
seated and turned to the right. This line likeness is not by
Titian, but by Tintoretto.
Jionw : Corsini Pnhicr, No. 55. — "Jupiter and Antiope."
This is a copy with varieties in the landscape distance of
Titian's composition at the Louvre, representing the Satyr
looking at Venus asleep. The style is that of a painter of
the seventeenth century.
Rome: Corsini Palace, No. 36. — Bust-portrait of a lady
with a book in her hand. This, though much injured by re-
painting, is not a genuine Titian, but a work of a Venetian of
the seventeenth century.
Piomc: Corsini Palace, Room 7, No. 30.— "The "Woman
taken in Adultery." This picture is not by Titian, but
442 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. IX.
one of the numerous varieties of the subject by Rocco
Marcone.
Rome : Corsini Palace, Room 4, No. 28. — " St. Jerom "
turned to the left, kneeling, with the stone in his right. In
the foreground is a skull and the Cardinal's hat. This is a
Venetian picture of the seventeenth century.
Home : Corsini Palace. — " The Sons of Charles the Fifth."
Two youths in a room, one to the left leaning on a sword, the
other to the right offering flowers. Both are richly dressed ;
canvas, with figures half as large as life. By a painter of the
seventeenth century, who was surely not a Venetian.
Home : Sc'iarra — Colonna Palace. — " La Bella di Tiziano."
This is a fine portrait by Palma Vecchio.
Rome: Barherini Palace. — "La Schiava di Tiziano."
This is a j)icture by Palma Vecchio.
Rome : Colonna Palace. — " Virgin and Child in a landscape,
with Saints." The Virgin takes fruit from a basket carried by
an angel, near whom, to the right, is St. Lucy. To the left
St. Joseph also brings an offering of fruit, and in front of him
is St. Jerom reading. This is not a Titian, but a picture by
Bonifazio. Photograph by Alinari.
Rome : Academy of San Luca. — Bust-portrait of a lady
with a dog, on panel. This Venetian picture is not by Titian.
The ruddy flesh tones and bold treatment, combined with
a certain neglect of drawing, might point to Alessandro
Maganza.
Rome: Spada Gallery. — Portrait of a man turned to the
left, with a violin, the handle of which only is visible. This
canvas, assigned to Titian, is not original, but might be the
portrait of Battista the violin player, whose likeness, ac-
cording to Vasari (xiii. p. 36), was executed at Rome by
Orazio Vecelli.
Rome : Spada Gallery, No. 31. — Portrait of a man in a
black feathered cap, turned to the right, and dressed in a
black pelisse. The left elbow reposes on the pKnth of a pillar,
on which a crown is placed. On a table before the figure is a
flute and music. The right hand rests on a book, the edge of
which lies on the table. This fine picture of the Venetian
ClL\p. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITLINS. 443
school is hunf^ in a liigli place and in a bad li,tTlit. It looks
at a distance like a good portrait by Girolamo da Treviso. It
is painted on canvas, and is of life-size.
Home : Spnda Gallery, No. 6G. — " Orazio Spada ; " round,
on copper. If this bust really represents Orazio Spada, who
was bom in IGGO, it cannot be by Titian. The treatment is
like that of Scipione Pulzone of Gaeta.
Rome: Spada Gallery, No. 17. — ''Cardinal Spada and
his Secretary." No. 51. — " Cardinal Paolo Spada " seated at
church, turned to the left. None of the Spadas were
Cardinals till after the death of Titian. Their portraits here
are not by that master, but in the stylo of Scipio of Gaeta.
Rome-. Spada Gallery, No. 0.— "Paul the Third." This
is a copy of Titian's great portrait in the Naples Museum, by
fi painter of the seventeenth century.
Rome: Bonjhesc Palaee, Room 11, No. 3. — An angel
bends to the right over the sleeping infant Christ, which he
holds on a cushion. To the left the boy Baptist kisses one
of Christ's feet, and in rear the Virgin kneels with her hands
joined in prayer in front of a dark hanging. Distance, a
landscape. Canvas, life-size. A picture similar to this at
Alnwick Castle is catalogued under the name of Orazio
Yecelli. The repetition at the Borghese Palace seems
executed by a German or a Fleming imitating the Venetian
manner.
Rome: Borghese Palace, Room 11, No. 17. — Samson
bound naked in a niche, the jawbone at his feet ; canvas,
over life-size. This canvas has been patched at the bottom.
It is much injured by repainting, yet still imposing, but the
superposed colour precludes a decided opinion.
Rome: Doria Palace, 1st Gallery. — "The Sacrifice of
Abraham." It is curious to find the name of Titian attached
to a picture which bears all the marks of being a work of
Rembrandt's contemporary and colleague, Jan Livens. The
same subject by Livens is in the Brunswick Gallery (No. 515).
Here the figures are large as hfe.
Rome : Doria Palace, Room 5, No. 22. — " The Virgin and
Child, with St. Josei^h, St. Catherine, and Shepherds;" panel,
444 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
with figures one quarter of the hfe size. This picture is
described as a youthful production of Titian, hut it is nothing
of the kind. Though injured, it still shows the manner of a
Trevisan painter of the schools of Palma Vecchio and Paris
Bordone.
Rojne : Doria Palace, 2nd Gallery, No. 80. — " Titian and
his Wife ; " half-lengths on a brown background. A lady is
seated ; her husband to the right rests both hands on her
shoulder. These are cleverly painted figures in the manner
of Sophonisba Anguisciola.
Borne : Doria Palace, 3rd Gallery, No. 10. — " Titian's
Wife." This likeness of a female is by a painter of the 17th
century, and does not even distantly recall the portrait No. 80
of the 2nd Gallery in this palace.
Rome : Doria Palace, 2nd Gallery, No. 17. — Portrait of a
man turned to the left, standing and leaning his left hand on
a book resting on a table. The red flesh tones of the full
face fronting the spectator remind us of similar work by
Eomanino.
Rome: Doria Palace, 2nd Gallery, No. 57. — Portrait of a
poet with a sprig of laurel in his right hand. This repainted
picture is so disfigured by restoring, that no opinion can be
given in respect of it.
Naples Gallery : Venetian Scliool, No. 11. — Portrait of a
lady of twenty, turned to the left, bare-headed, in white muslin
with bodice, sleeves, and sldrt of green velvet slashed with
white ; canvas half-length of life size on a brown ground.
This picture is so injured by restoring and varnish that one
can only guess that it was once a work of Titian. The
features resemble distantly those of Titian's "Danae," at
Naples. The Farnese lily is on the back of the canvas.
Naples Gallery : Venetian School, No. 21. — Portrait of a
lady ; half-length, three quarters to the left. She wears a
light veil, and is dressed in black. In her right hand she
holds a handkerchief, in her left a yellow glove. Behind to
the left a bas-relief represents the Judgment of Paris. The
treatment here is careful, but it is difficult to find in it the
hand of Titian.
Chap. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITLiXS. 445
Naples Gallery : Venetian Scliool, No. 43. — "Virgin and
Child, with the Magdalen to the left offering the hox of
ointment." Half-lengths on canvas. This is a copy of a
picture assigned to Titian in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg
(No. 9G), and much inferior to the Russian example. It is
no doubt the same that is found catalogued in the inventory
of the Farnese collection (1G80). See Campori, Raccolta,
n. 8., p. 224.
Naplts Gallery : J'oirtidn Srliool, No. 57. — Profile of a
young prince in red, embroidered with gold, turned to the
left, with the right hand on the breast, the left on the hilt of
a sword. Canvas, m. O.SO h. by O.dO. On a table to the
left is a crown, and the order of the Goldiii P'leece. This
picture is altogether daubed over with modern repaint, and
bailies criticism on that account. On the back of the canvas
is the Farnese lily.
Naples Gallery (not exhibited). — " The Allocution." This
is a copy of the " Allocution " representing the Marquis of
Vasto addressing his soldiers in the Madrid ^ruseuni — u copy
not by Titian but interesting as confirming that the portrait
of the Cassel Museum (see under that head), supposed to be
a likeness of Del Vasto, cannot represent that general.
Besides this copy there exists a second in the same place
representing another general addressing his soldiers.
Spain: Escorial Saerisfy. — " Christ crucified;" life size on
canvas. This picture being high up, and in a dark place,
cannot be properly seen ; apart from these considerations it
looks as if it had been seriously injured and restored, and if
a genuine picture, is a feeble one of the master.
Madrid ^[llseum, No. 472. — " Rest during the Flight in
Egj'pt ; " canvas 1.55 h. by 3.23. The Virgin rests with
the child on her lap, under a red cloth hanging between two
trees. The infant Christ lays his hand in that of Joseph,
who stands to the right, leaning on his staff. To the left a
boy presents cherries to the Virgin, whilst a young girl
further to the left pulls the fruit from a tree. The ass
grazes in the background, and the ground in front is en-
livened with two ducks and two rabbits. A picture like this
446 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX,
is minutely described by Vasari (xiii. p. 42) in the Assonica
collection in Padua. But Eidolfi, who mentions every other
Titian in that collection, is silent respecting this one. It
is fair, on that account, to suppose that the Madrid can-
vas, which was taken to Spain by Velasquez in 1651 (see
Madrazo's Madrid Mus. Catalogue, w. s. p. 681), is identical
with that which Vasari describes. Yet the composition of the
Madrid canvas is very much below Titian's powers, and the
technical treatment seems likewise unworthy of him, the style
being a mixture of that of the disciples of Titian and Porde-
none such as Zelotti, or Polidoro Lanzani. An engraving,
the counterpart of this picture in reverse, bears the following
inscription: "Titian inventor, 1569; Martin Rota." Another
engraving, the reverse of Eota's, is marked "Julio B. F."
Madrid Museum, No. 480. — Bust portrait of a man in a
pelisse trimmed with ermine, turned three-quarters to the
right. This is a fine portrait by Tintoretto.
Madrid Museum, No. 481. — Bust portrait of a bearded
man in a dark coat, turned to the left and seen at three-
quarters. This fine portrait of a young man is not quite as
finely modelled or as powerfully touched as it would have
been by Titian. It betrays the comparatively lower art of
Pordenone.
Madrid Museum, No. 486.—" St. Margaret ; " half-length
canvas, m. 1.24 h. by 0.93. The Saint raises her arms in
terror before the dragon, who twines his form on the fore-
ground. In her left hand she holds the cross. This figure, if
animated in movement, is not executed with the full power of
Titian, but may have been thrown ofi" mtli the help of Titian's
assistants. The surfaces are here and there seriously
damaged. This picture was in the sacristy of the Escorial.
Stockliolm : Royal Palace, No. 265. — Full-length of the
" Duke of Urbino " in a black plumed cap ; the right hand
on the haunch, the left leaning on the pommel of a double
handed sword. Behind, to the left, a red curtain, to the
right an opening through which a landscape is seen ; on the
foreground to the left, a dog. This picture is so much
daubed over that no opinion can be given respecting it.
Chap. IX.] UXCERTIFIED TITLiXS. 447
Stockholm : Jloyal Palace. — Portrait of a little girl of four
years of age ; full-length, wdtb a basket of fruit, inscribed :
yETATIS SV.E 4. NEL MAID. . . PER TITIANO E FATTO A CADGED
. . . 1518. Panel of the seventeenth century, not even by a
Venetian.
Stockholm: Ii(ji/al Value. — Portrait of the Duchess
of Ferrara with a negro page. This is a copy of the picture
engraved by Sadcler (sec antca, vol. i., p. 18G), of which
there is a copy in the Modena Gallery, and another in posses-
sion of the painter, Signor Schiavone, at Venice. But none
of these copies dates earlier than the eighteenth century.
Stockholm : Royal Palace, Xo. 102. — Bust of a man
turned to the left. ^Inch injured by repainting, and not
genuine.
Stockholm: Royal Palace. — "Don Carlos as a Boy;" canvas,
of life-size. A boy of six or seven years old is here repre-
sented accompanied by a dog. The style is not that of
Titian, l)ut that cither of Pantoja de la Cruz or of Sanchez
Coello.
Dresden Muxciim, No. 22;3. — The infant Christ on the
Virgin's knee is supported on the left by St. John the
Baptist, and presented to the adoration of St. Paul, Mary
Magdalen and St. Jerom. Half-lengths of life-size on a
panel measuring 5 ft. h. by G ft. 10. The clouded sky,
upon which the face of the Virgin and the heavily bearded
St. Paul are seen, is intercepted to the left by a green
hanging, to the right by a plinth and colonnade. The
Magdalen is in profile to the left, splendidly dressed in white
and green. St. Jerom behind her in red, looks up at the
crucifix, which he holds in his hand. This celebrated picture
is very brilliant and highly coloured in sharp bright tones.
It is executed at one painting, on a canvas primed with
white gesso, the light ground of which is seen through the
flesh tints. The drawing is resolute without being correct.
Most like Titian in cast of form as well as in type and
colour, is the infant Christ, whose oblong head is thrown
against a lozenge-shaped halo of rays. The Virgin's face
distantly recalls that of the "Assunta" of the Frari. But
448 TITLIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
neither her shape nor that of the Saviour is as lovely as we
should expect from Titian. Though gracefully posed, the
Maofdalen is not without affectation, and a curious dis-
harmony is apparent between a profile of small features and a
bust and frame of large dimensions. The coarse face of
St. Paul, the colossal build and wild air of the Baptist, are
in contrast with the sleekness of the Virgin. The whole
piece is a mixture of Titian and Sebastian del Piombo. The
technical handling, the mould of form, the bold but imperfect
folding of the drapery, are all things that point to another
hand than Titian's. The modelling is not subtle enough for
the great master. We miss his delicate transitions of half
tone, his transparent shadows, which are here replaced by
bold dark planes of pigment. No doubt some of these
appearances may be due to restoring, for the panel is not
free from retouches, and the profile of the Magdalen has been
ground away, whilst the face of St. Paul was made opaque
and hea\y. Still the character of the painting is clear
enough, and it seems rather to be a fine firstling work of
Andrea Schiavone when in Titian's atelier than a master-
piece of the consummate artist, Titian. Originally in the
Casa Grimani at Venice ; it was engraved by Jacob Folkema,
and lithographed by Haufstiingl.
Dresden Museum, No. 231. — Portrait of a lady in a dress
of madder- red stuff, with narrow sleeves, the left hand on the
brown cloth of a table, the right holding a marten boa, with
a golden clasp. Knee-piece, on canvas, 4 f. 9 h. by 3 f. 1|.
This picture is of a peach-red tone, unrelieved by shadow,
but injured by stippling. Yet it is still sufficiently well pre-
served to display the manner of Bernardino Licinio. The
hands are fairly preserved. Originally in Modena ; it was
restored at Dresden in 1826. Lithographed by Hanfstangl.
Dresden Museum, No. 227. — Portrait of a lady in mourn-
ing with a veil and rosary. Knee-piece, on canvas, 3 f. 8 h.
by 3 f . 1 ; from the Modena collection. Here again we have
the name of Titian covering the treatment of an imitator of
Tintoretto and the Bassanos. Engraved by Basan.
Dresden Museum, lHo. 234. — " The Angel and Tobit."
Cii.vr. IX.] UXCEPwTIFIED TITIAXS. 449
Canvas, 6 f. b, by 4 f. 1. Tbis is a copy of Titian's picture
in San Marziale at Venice by a Venetian.
Dresden Museum, No. 22G. — Portrait of lady, ber auburn
bair plaited witb pearls, her tbroat bare, a strinf:^ of pearls
round ber neck, bare amied in a red plain dress witb a laced
bodice. She holds with both bands a Greek vase. Tbis
canvas, 3 f. 8 h. by 3 f. 1 is so completely covered over with
modern repainting? that it is bard to say whether it was ever
an ori;?inal by Titian. It may be a work of one of Titian's
pupils, Enj^raved by Felice Polanzano. Lithographed by
llanfstiingl.
Dresden Museum, No. 224. — •■ I'he Virgin and Child, and
St. Joseph adored by a kneeling donor, bis Wife and Child."
Tbis is not an original Titian. l>ut work of a disciple. (See
antea, note to vol. i.. p. 188.) Frdiu the Modena Collection,
engraved liy Jac. Folkeraa (aim. 17')2) and K. Fessard.
Lithogrupbcd by llimfstiingl. Canvas, 4 f. 1 li. liy ") f. 1).
lirilui Museum, No. 102. — " Epiphany."' wood. 1 f. T.j h.
by 2 f. li. No. 1()4.— "The Visitation," wood, 1 f. (i| h.
by 1 f. fij. No. ICH. — "The Epiphany." wood, IQi in. h.
by 1 f. 2. No. 171.—" The Epiphany." wood, lOJ. in. by
1 f. 3. No. 172.—" The Circumcision," wood. 1 f. OJ b.
by If. 6|. Sketches, in themst'lvcs spirited, and Titiancsque
in style, partake of the character of the school of Titian
and ]}onifa/,io, and more particularl}' of that of Schiavoue
or Santo Zago ; the best is No. 102, the poorest No. 172.
Berlin Museum, No. 170a. — " Parable of the Steward;"
canvas, 10 in. h. l>y 2 f. 03- ; signed " Titianus." The
steward comes into the room, and the rich man sits at the
table. Through a doorway to the left, the steward talking
to the debtors. No. 170b., companion to 170a. — " Parable
of the Vineyard." The owner of the vineyard stands witli
his back to the spectator, pointing to the busl)andmen, and
sending out two servants on the left. In the distance to the
left a group stands round a changer's table. These are
]»retty and clever sketches of a pleasant tone in the style of
Lorenzo Lotto.
Berlin Museum (not exhibited). — Portrait of a doge seated
vnr,. II. (5 0
450 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES. [Chap. IX.
and turned to the right. This picture on canvas, half-length
of life-size, was purchased as a Titian, but is a fine example
of Tintoretto.
Berlin Museum, No. 159 and No. 160. — Wood, each
2 f. 2^ h. by 2 f. 3g-. The first of these panels represents two
figures of Eros wrestling, the second two figures of Eros also
wrestling in the presence of a third, who is seated, holding
an apple. They are freely executed with a brush full of
liquid pigment, but in a rubby and sketchy manner. The
shadows are dark and slightly opaque. The treatment is
very like that of Schiavone.
Berlin Museum, No. 202. — The Virgin enthroned between
St. Peter and Paul on the right, and St. Francis and Anthony
of Padua on the left. An angel plays a guitar at the foot of
the throne, and two angels above support the folds of a green
curtain. Distance landscape. Canvas, 8 f. 11 h. by 6 f. 3.
There are several points in this picture which preclude the
authorship of Titian ; the hea\'y cast of form and coarse
extremities, bricky untransparent tone, opaque shadow, and
sharp drapery tints. The execution is like, but beneath
that of Damiano Mazza or Lodovico Fiumicelli, pupils of
Titian.
Cassel Gallery, No. 23. — Cleopatra naked to the Avaist,
lying insensible on a couch in a grotto. To the right,
through the opening of the cave, are figures of Roman
soldiers, and close to the shore of the INIediterranean, galleys
lying at anchor ; canvas, half-length of life-size. The right
hand of Cleopatra on the blue lining of her coverlet is fine ;
equally so the left, the fingers of which grasp the coverlet.
A snake winding under the armpit to the bosom explains
the subject of the picture, which is a well painted though
not well preserved specimen of the art of Cesare Vecelh. The
head and right arm are particularly injured. Photographed
by G. Schauer of Berlin.
Cassel Gallery, No. 20. — Canvas Imee-piece representing
a lady turned to the right, holding a cross in the right, a
book in the left hand. This is a much injured picture
recalling the manner of Padovanino.
Chap. IX.] imCERTIFIED TITLVXS. 451
Cassel Gallery, No. 24. — Portrait of a lady in black in a
liat. The raw pigments disfigured by retouching were not
laid on by Titian.
Cassel Gallerj/, No. 2*2. — Virgin and Child adored by a
kneeling man, St. Joseph and St. Catherine attending.
Background landscape. This picture has no claim to the
name of Titian, which it bears.
lininswirk MiiseiDii, No. 227. — " Cleopatra ; " panel.
This is not a Venetian picture. No. 10. — A girl in a
feathered hat ; bust on canvas. This looks like a Spanish
picture by a follower of ^lurillo.
/vc Rincrl.rr Collection, Wiirzhnr;!. — The Virgin under a
tree, on which a green drapei-y is hanging, adores the infant
Christ on her knee. Two angels bend in adoration at the
sides. Distance, a mountainous landscape and a city. This
beautiful composition is not executed in the manner of
Titian, but betrays the feebler handling of Polidoro Lanzani.
When in possession of Mr. Artaria at Mannheim, the picture
was engi'aved by Anderloni. and so became widely known. It
is on canvas, m. 0,10 h. by O.T)!.
Mai/cnre (iallvrji. No. 182. — A JJacchanal, in which a
man is seated drawing wine from a cask, whilst two females
are sleeping and one dancing, and a man in the foreground
presents his back to the spectator. In the distance to tho
left, a man holds a cup aloft, and another cames a standard ;
on a wall to the right, we read : ** titiani." This picture is
by some unknown artist of the eighteenth century.
Darmstadt Museum, No. 519. — Portrait of a nobleman,
bareheaded, bearded, turned three-quarters to the right, his
right hand on his haunch, in a black silk dress trimmed with
silk. On the dark ground to the right are the words :
" MDLXV DIE OCTOBRIS ANNO .T,TA SVA LX . . . XI." This is
not a Titian, but a fine though not uninjured Tintoretto.
Sfuttiiardt (hdlcri/, No. 10. — The Virgin sits in a land-
scape and presents the infant Christ to the kneeling St.
Jerom, behind whom the lion couches. To the left St.
Piosalie takes flowers from a basket at her side ; canvas,
1 f. 7 li. by (>. f. 7.5. This picture is a duplicate of one
G (; 2
452 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
catalogued in the Museum of Glasgow as a copy from Titian
(No. 159). It is gi-eatly disfigured by repaints, but still
sbows some reminiscences of Palma Yecchio and Titian. It
may be by Polidoro Lanzani.
Stuttgardt Gallery, No. 162 ; canVas, 2 f. 4^ b. by 1 f. 8.
— The Virgin giving tbe infant Christ flowers out of a basket.
Eepainted copy or imitation of some Titianesque picture.
No. 148. — The same subject in another form is likewise a
spurious Titian.
Stuttgardt Gallery, No. 94. — Much injured canvas, by a
follower of the manner of Schiavone and Bonifazio. The
subject is the Virgin holding the Child, who gives the ring to
St. Catharine.
Stuttgardt Gallery, No. 205. — Bust of a young man. Not
genuine.
Stuttgardt Gallery, No. 187. — Shepherds and their flocks
in a landscape, at eventide. This is a picture altogether out
of the sphere of Titian's practice.
Munich Gallery, No. 450. — The Virgin adoring the infant
Christ on her lap. St. Anthony the Abbot, to the right,
supports one hand with his staff and takes the foot of Christ
with the other. To the left is St. Jerom, with St. Francis in
front of him, bending before Christ. Distance a landscape.
Though this canvas is handed down to us as a genuine Titian,
having been, we may believe, in the Van Uffel Collection at
Antwerp in the seventeenth century (Ridolfi, Mar. i. 259), the
execution is not that of the great Venetian master. Notwith-
standing hea\'y repainting, we still discern the style of an
artist much akin to Francesco Vecelli. What distinguishes
the treatment from that of Titian is a certain affectation of
grace, a combination of small features with large thick-set
forms, unctuous medium, and a reddish uniformity of flesh-
tint. Amongst the parts more evidently disfigured by re-
touching we should note the head and hand of St. Anthony,
and the foot of the Infant, and the hands of St. Francis, and
the sky. The picture is on canvas, and measures 3 f. 2 h.
by 4 f.'s^.
Munich Gallery, No. 524. — "Venus initiating a Bac-
Chxp. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITEiNS. 453
chante." This canvas is a reminiscence of the " Education
of Cupitl " at the Borghese Palace and the Davalos " Alle-
gory " at the Louvre. The sharp contrasts of the colours
and the developed forms of the figures show it to he a pic-
ture of a date subsequent to Titian's time. A similar subject
similarlv treated ^\•ill be found in the Durazzo Palace at
Genoa.
Munich Gdllrri/, No. 480. — Portrait of a noble with his
right hand on a long wand of office ; his left on the handle of
his sword ; half-length, turned to the left, and dressed in a
dark pelisse. This is a splendid portrait, injured by repaint-
ing, but originally by Tintoretto.
Mimich Gallery, No. 1*24. — Portrait l)ust of a man in full
front behind a parapet on which are the ciphers mdxxiii.
This portrait, long held to be Titian, is now catalogued
under the name of Moretto ; but in spite of restoring still
looks like a work of Paris liordone in his earlv style.
Pnifiue Kiinstvcrcin, No. 37. — " Portrait of the Duchess
Anna Catharina Gonzaga ; " canvas, representing a life-sized
figure of a little girl in white. She stands near a table, on
which she lays one hand holding a rose. Near her on the
table a little dog and a book. In the upper corner to the
right, a curtain. Inscribed: "anna catherina gonzaga, ann.
jx JiENS . . . MDLXXV CAL. MAI. This picture is neither good
in itself nor is it by Titian.
Prague Kunstvcrcut, No. 51. — Portrait of a man in a
black silk dress and cap at a table, holding a music-book.
Though much repainted, this piece still recalls the manner
of Paris Bordone.
Vienna Gallenj. — "Christ and the Woman taken in
Adultery ; " canvas, 3 f. 3i h. by 4 f. 2. On the left, Christ
is mo\'ing away, but looks round to the right as he hears the
charge. His hair is dark and long, his beard close cut, his
complexion l)lanched, his features full and plump. The
tunic, which should be red, is washed down to the grey pre-
paration, and the right hand, lying on the breast, is partially
lost in a chalky after-tint. Close to the right of Christ, and
staring, as with one hand he holds up the scroll engrossed
454 TITIAN: HIS LIFE iVND TBIES. [CHAr. IX.
with a copy of the law, an old grey-beard appears ; next him,
to the right, a man pressing forward grasping the arm of the
adulteress, his face in profile looldng at the Sa-s-iour. Be-
neath the green pigment which tints the cap on his head are
traces of red and sweeps of brush indicating an ear. This
man's dress is of a reddish-brown. He drags the adulteress-
towards the Sayiour whilst his companion at the other side,
holding the woman by the skirt, moves away in an opposite
direction, presenting his back, clad with a gown of indistinct
yellow. Between the two the adulteress, with bare throat
and bosom, her white under- garment surging up out of a grey
bodice, advances with downcast head and eyes. In rear of
her, two men show their heads above the press — one to the
right in shadow against the sky, one to the left half concealed
by the dark fall of drapery which relieves the form of Christ
and the lawj^er. The whole composition has an unfinished
and sketchy aspect, with traces of corrections half carried out,
thin washy pigments, and impast touches here and there. A
strip added to the canvas above and below seems to counter-
balance the loss of strips cut off the vertical sides of the
picture. The questions which arise in respect of this piece
are multifarious. Is it a genuine Titian? Was it ever
finished ? Is it a finished picture injured and but partially
retouched ? A copy of the piece in its original form assigned
to Varottari, but probably by his sister, Chiara Varottari,
exists in the GaUery of Padua; canvas, m. 0.98 h. by 1.50.
Here the colours are preserved. The dress of Christ is red
and blue, the mantle held up and passing through the fingers
of his right hand. The man dragging the adulteress forward
wears a red cap and a red mantle with a striped lining. The
bodice of the adulteress is green, the gown of the man on the
right red, over green slashed hose. The head of the man in
rear to the left of the girl is not concealed in any part by
the curtain. The whole of the shoulders of Christ and of the
man at the opposite side of the composition is seen. If it be
correct to assume that the Paduan duplicate is a copy of the
original at Vienna, it is clear that the latter has been cut
do^^'n, washed away, and retouched. If we inquire whether
Cii.vp. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITIANS. 455
the Vienna canvas is an original Titian or not, there is some
reason for thinking that it is not so, the forms being much
below those of Titian in elevation, and the style of rendering
less grand. The execution, too, looks more modern, whilst
the arrangement betrays none of the consummate skill which
we acknowledge m the master. It may be presumed that the
Vienna example was an imitation of Titian by Varottari,
altered by some unfortunate subsequent manipulation. The
attempt at restoring betrays the hand of a Fleming, whose
style is not very far removed from that of Van Dyke. The
presumption that Varottari originally executed the picture at
Vienna is strengthened by such of his pictures as are met
with in galleries ; for instance, his copy of Titian's " Salome
v.ith the Head of the Baptist," No. 287 in the Paduan Gal-
lery, and the head of a female, No. 343 in the Museum of
Dresden, There is an cngi-aviug of the Vienna example in
Teniers' GalleiT work. Photograph by Miethke and "NVawra.
Vienna GdUcr/i. — Portrait of a young girl of twenty ; on
canvas, 5 f. h. by 2 f. 1. The girl, in full front view, wears
a dark claret-coloured dress with a jewelled girdle, a boa is
wound round her wrist, and in her left hand she holds a pair
of gloves. Her auburn hair is plaited and twined round her
head. The surface has been rubbed down to such an extent
that the flesh parts look empty and feeble ; and this may
cause the impression at present derived from the picture, that
it is not an original Titian but a canvas by Andrea Schiavone.
The gloves in the left hand arc repainted.
Vienna Gallery. — Portrait of a sculptor; canvas, 2 f. 8 h.
by 2.2. Profile view of a man in a black silk dress on grey
ground. He turns to look at the spectator, and holds in
l>oth hands a small torso. This was long considered to be a
jiortrait of the surgeon Vesalius by Titian. But no likeness
can be discovered between it and the half-length engraved
in the Anatomy of Vesalius, and the painter is not Titian
Itut Morone. Krafft (Hist. krit. Catalogue, v.s.) and
AVaagen (Kunstdenkmiiler in Wien) cling to the identity of
Vesalius, but suggest the authorship of Calcar, which cannot
be sustained.
456 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
Vienna Gallery. — Portrait of a man in a black cap and
black silk dress with his left hand on the hilt of his sword ;
canvas, 3 f. G h. by 2 f. 7. This picture has been damaged
by repainting, but fragments, such as the ear and hand, dis-
play a treatment different from that of Titian.
Vienna Gallenj.—'' ChriBt with his Hand on the Orb," 2 ft.
7 h., 1 ft. lOL The figure is seen nearly in full front and
down to the breast, on a dark ground. There are reminis-
cences in this piece of Titian and Bonifazio, but it is too
feeble for either. The outlines are in part re-touched, but
one still traces the hand of a modern of the class of Padova-
nino. There is a duplicate of this work in the Hermitage at
St. Petersburg ; supposed to have been in the collection of
Rubens. (See Krafft's Catalog.)
Vienna Gallcnj. — " Amor playing a Tambourine ; " on
canvas 1 ft. Q\ square, a naked boy seated in a landscape,
bought in the Netherlands by the Archduke Leopold William,
and engraved in Teniers' Gallery work. All the surface glaz-
ing having been removed, the flesh looks white and stony, and
unrelieved by shadow of any kind. It is hard under these
circumstances to say more than that the picture is not by
Titian. The landscape is certainly more like the work of a
Fleming than that of a Venetian.
Vienna Gallery. — "Adoration of the Kings." Wood 1 ft.
10 h. by 1 ft. 6. This is probably the original sketch of
«n altar-piece by Cesare Vecelli in San Stefano of Belluno,
which many judges have held erroneously to be an original
Titian. (Compare Krafft, u.s., and Waagen's Kunstdenk-
maler, p. 211.)
Vienna Gallery. — " Jacob's Dream;" on canvas, 3 ft. 5 h.,
by 5 ft. 3. Under a black stormy sky and to the left of a
group of high trees, the ladder is seen stretching from the
ground into the clouds. There are figures on the foreground
of shepherds and cattle. This is not a Titian, but a charac-
teristic work of Pedro Orrente, a Spaniard who vras born at
Montealegre, and died in 1644 at Toledo. Orrente studied
under Domenico delle Greche at Toledo, and from him
probably acquired a partiality for the works of Bassano, which
CiL\p. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITIANS. 457
he successfully imitated. His lauclscape eifects are described
as "worthy of Titian," and this is true of the "Dream of
Jacob."
Vienna Gallery. — Portrait of a jeweller iu three difterent
views. Busts on canvas, 1 ft. 7 h. by 2 ft. 5. This picture
is by Lorenzo Lotto.
Vienna: Academy of A)ii<, No. 383. — "Winged Cupid"
with the quiver slung to his shoulder, the bow in his hand,
seated in a landscape. This smiling child is plump in form
and hastily painted on canvas, lint the surface of the whole
work is altered by washing and re-touching, and doubts may
well be entertained as to its genuineness.
Vienna: Czcruin Collection. — "The Duke Alfonso of Fer-
rara kneeling before an angel, who presents a green cloth, on
which the crucitied Saviour is depicted." Background, land-
scape. This panel — 2 ft. G h. by 2 ft. 1) — is not by Titian,
l)ut by Paris Bordone.
Vienna: (^zernin Collrcticn. — "The Magdalen." Half
length, with the arms crossed over the bosom, a book and a
vase in front. This is not a genuine Titian, for whom it is
much too tasteless and coarse.
Menna : Lichten)itci)i Collection, No. 300. — " The Virgin
and Child, attended by St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine."
Half lengths on canvas, m. 0.05 h. by m. 0.94. The Virgin
sits to the right with the infant Christ on her lap in front of
a red curtain. To the left St. John, bareheaded in a green
tunic, next him St. Catherine in profile. A very bright little
picture of the early period of Andrea Schiavone. Finely
photographed by Miethke and Wawra.
St. Petcmbuni : Ilcrniitayc, No. 93. — "Virgin and Child,"
half length, in a niche, on panel but transferred to canvas.
With the exception of the forehead and mouth of the Virgin
most of the surface of this work is defaced. If by Titian
at all, it is a picture of his early period.
»S7. Petershtur/ : Leuchtemhcry Collection, No. 82. — The
Virgin, seated on the ground, is turned to the right, and
holds on her knee the infant Christ, who gives a hand to the
kneeling St. Paul. To the left, St. John the J^aptist is
45S TITIAX: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chai'. IX.
seated. Distance, trees and landscape. Canvas 2 ft. 4 h. by
3 ft. 10.4. This picture shows a mixture of the styles of
Palma Yecchio and Titian. The contours recall Pordenone.
The colour is uniform and of a ruddy tinge ; the total
impression is that of a work by Bernardino Licinio. The
head of the Virgin, looking round at the Baptist, is injured ;
that of the Baptist equally so.
St. Petersburg: Leu chtemherri Collection. — Portrait of a
man turned to the left, standing near an opening through
which a landscape is seen, with an open folio on a table
before him. He wears a cap and is heavily bearded. The
left hand clings to the hem of his coat ; canvas 3 ft. 2 h.
by 2 ft. 7^. This picture looks most like the work of a
Bergamasque of the stamp of Cariani.
St. Petersburg : Leuchtemherg Collection. — The Virgin sits
at the foot of a stone plinth, with St. George holding his
lance on the right, and St. John the Baptist on the left
sitting and giving his hand to the infant Christ, who lies on
his mother's lap. Canvas, 2 ft. 9.4 h. by 3 ft. 8|. This is
a graceful picture by Paris Bordone.
St. Petersburg : Lazareiv Collection. — " Ecce Homo be-
tween two Soldiers;" half lengths, on canvas, of life-size.
This is an imitation of Andrea Schiavone in the manner of
Pietro della Vecchia. (But Compare Waagen, Hermitage,
p. 429, who inclines for Tintoretto.)
St. Petersburg: Collection of Count Paul Stroganoff. —
" The Virgin in Lamentation " (bust, turned to the left),
wringing her hands, a white veil on her head. This canvas
looks like an imitation of Titian by a painter not an Italian.
Louvre, No. 475. — " A Knight ei the Order of Malta ; "
canvas, m. 0.60 h., by 0.51. Bust of life-size, three-quarters
to the left. The man has a red beard and a pelisse with a
collar of white fur spotted with black. The treatment is not
that of Titian. The rawness of the tones and thinness of the
pigment recall Calisto da Lodi or some similar imitator of
the pure Venetian manner.
Louvre, No. 463. — " Christ between a Soldier and Execu-
tioner." Wood, round, m. 1.14 in diameter, Christ is
Chap. IX.] UNCEETIFIED TITLVXS. 4o9
almost in proiilc, with bis hands bound behind bis back.
The behneted soldier in armour is on the left, the executioner
on the right. This is a fine work in the style of Scbiavone.
Louvre, No. 407. — " The Council of Trent." This is a
Titianesque sketch of prelates with a guard of officers and
soldiers listening to a bishop. The style is that of Andi'ea
Scbiavone.
Louvre, No. 474. — Portrait of a man half length ; can-
vas, m. 0.01) b. by 0.82. This portrait represents a bare-
headed nobleman with a long beard, bis left elbow on the
plinth of a column, his right on the hilt of his sword. It is
a grand creation in the style of Pordenone rather than in the
manner of Titian.
lioucn Miisi'tini, No. 857. — Portrait of a man turned to
the left, in a black cap. The ])laitod shirt falls into a square-
cut vest ; canvas, m. U.47 h. l>y 0.85. This injured picture
is retouched, and possii>ly taken from some older picture ;
but whether of Titian or another artist it is bard to determine.
Li the same collection is an old and poor copy of the " Christ
of the Tribute Money " at Dresden.
Lomhm : National Gallcr//, No. 32. — "The Rape of
Ganymede." This octogou canvas, 5 ft. 8 in diuuictcr,
may have been executed from one of Titian's designs. It
was probably painted by Domenico Mazza. (llidolti Mar. i.
2'.)0.) It represents Ganymede carried upon the back of the
eagle. Engraved by G. Audran, D. Cunego and J. Outrim ;
it was once in the Colonna palace at Rome, and in remote
times, perhaps, in the collection of Francesco Assonica. It
Avas brought to England in 1800 by Mr. Day, passed into the
bands of Mr. Augerstei% and was bought for the nation in
1824. It has been frequently restored, and once by Carlo
Muratta. (See Catalogue of the National Gallery.)
London : National Gallery, No. 3. — " A Concert," on
canvas. Five figures, half length, 3 ft. 2 h., by 4 ft. 1.
This picture was in the Mantuan and Whitehall Galleries,
and also belonged to Mr. Angerstcin. It is almost a coun-
terpart of a similar piece in the Brunswick Gallery, and
is far below Titian's powers, betraying rather the band of
460 TITL:^: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAP. IX.
Schiavone or Zelotti, than that of a better master. Engraved
by H. Danckerts, J. Groensvelt, and J. Garner. (Compare
Bathoe's Catalogue, and Darco, Pitt. Mant. ii. 160.)
Late Northivick Collection, No. 52. — " Portrait of Bra-
maute ; " half length on canvas, 3 ft. 2 h. by 2 ft. 4.
This is the likeness of an old grey-bearded man, in a pelisse,
with a pair of goggles in his right, and gloves in his left
hand. He leans one elbow on a table — ground, brown.
There is reason to think that this was a very faithful portrait
of some one, but some one that is not Bramante. The
features are the exact counterpart of those of Oderico Piloni,
painted by Cesare Yecelli, and still preserved in the Villa
Piloni near Belluno. To the question whether this is a
portrait by Titian or his nephew, the answer may be that it is
too good for Cesare, though but moderately good for Titian.
But we may think Cesare in his early time and under the
direction of his uncle, might paint such a likeness, and it is
to be observed that the face of Piloni is younger than it
appears in Cesare's canvas.
Late Northivick Collection, No. 107. — " The Virgin and
Child with St. John the Baptist and the Magdalen presenting
a Chalice." This picture, on wood, is a group of half-lengths
ascribed to Titian, but with some marks of the treatment of
Palma Vecchio.
London : Lahoucliere Collection. — The Virgin and Child
in a landscape, with St. Joseph and the ass and St. Anthony
the Abbot reading a book on the left. In front, to the right,
the boy Baptist runs up holding the lamb and the reed cross,
and behind a bank a boy is peeping. The scene is laid in a
landscape of hilly character, with nutnerous figures at various
distances. This richly toned and agreeable piece is not by
Titian, but by Paris Bordone. It was formerly at Stratton.
The figures are about half the life-size. (Compare Waagen,
Treasures, ii. 419.)
London : Mrs. Butler- Johnstone, lateMunro. — " St. Jerom,"
a small canvas, is wrongly assigned to Titian, being painted
in the manner of the Bassani and Paolo Veronese.
London : Mrs. Butler- Johnstone, late Munro. — Virgin and
Chap. IX.] UNCEETIFIED TITLVKS. 461
Child, with the young Baptist and St. Joseph, on panel, once
assigned to Giorgione, now called Titian, is in the style of
Schiavone.
Loiuhm : Lord Yarhorouf/Jt, No. 47. — The Virgin and
Child hetween St. Anne and Elizabeth, and St. Catherine and
an aged male saint in a landscape. This pictiu'e, on panel,
with figures of half the life-size, is either a copy from an
original by Bonifazio, or an imitation of that master.
Loudon : A}>diij llouar. — " Or|iheus charming the Beasts
>nth Music,"' upright canvas ascribed to Titian, is quite in
the style of Padovanino, the principal figure being seen almost
in back view. The picture as a whole corresponds in many
respects with a similar one in the Gallerj- of Madrid (No. 310),
which l)elonged to (^neon Isabella Farnese. and was for many
years held to be by 'I'itian, Itut is now properly catalogued as
a work by Varottari.
London Mr. //o//b/v/.— Portrait of "A Duke of Milan,"
with a falcon in his left hand, and a dog looking up to the
falcon. l''ull face ; figure to the knees on dark-brown ground.
This portrait, on canvas, is Titianesque in style. A more
decided opinion would require a renewed examination.
London : Mr. J I nl ford. — Female portrait, full face, on
canvas, with one hand the lady plays with pearls. She
wears a hat. This is a thinly painted Venetian picture, but
not a genuine Titian.
Loudon : GroHvenor House, No. 108. — " Christ and the
"Woman taken in Adultery ; " canvas 4 ft. 4 h. by 5 ft.,
with twelve figures of life size seen to the knees. This large
jucturc of the same class, reminds us of one once in Sant'
Afra at Brescia, and there called Titian, though it was ob-
viously by a Brescian painter. The florid style, sharp colours
;ind conventional treatment, recalling Schiavone on the one
hand and the Brescian works of the Ilosas on the other, point
to Lattauzio Gambara as the real author of this piece. (Ex-
hibited 1871, at the Royal Academy.)
No. 110 in this collection is a copy of the female in the
])icturc of the Louvre called " Titian and his Mistress."
London : Karl Dudhy. — A nude goddess on a couch, much
462 TITLIN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
in the character of the Venus in Titian's "Venus and Adonis,"
reposes on a bank covered with a red cloth, behind which two
men are spectators, one of whom holds a mirror to the goddess.
Distance, a landscape with a flock. This canvas, with figures
large as life, is not by Titian, but displays some of the pecu-
liarities common to the disciples of the mixed school of Titian
and Pordenone. It is probably by Giulio Campi.
London : Lord Coicper. — " Portrait of Calvin." This is a
bust of a man in a black cap, with a white shirt-frill, in-
scribed in Roman letters with the name of Calvin and the
date 1530. The treatment is not even Venetian.
London : Lord Mnhneshury . — " The Duke Alfonso of
Ferrara and Laura Dianti; " half-lengths on canvas, 2 ft. 11 h.
by 2 ft. 5. A bearded man in profile, dressed in blue
with a feathered toque on his head, is looking up at a lady
with her neck and bosom exposed, her hair golden, and partly
covered by a turban headress. He holds a ring on her finger
and presses his right hand to his heart ; she leans a hand on
his shoulder. This canvas, once in the Fesch Collection, is
said to have been brought from Venice by General Bonaparte,
in 1796. It is probably by Pietro della Vecchia, the clever
imitator of Giorgione, under whose name this piece was sold
(July 1, 1876) in London for £367 10s. It is almost need-
less to say that the male figure does not represent Duke
Alfonso of Ferrara.
London : Lord Malmcshury. — " Liicretia." This piece,
called a Titian but really a copy by a Bolognese artist of a
canvas assigned to Titian in the Gallery of Hampton Court
(see that heading), was sold by auction in London on the 1st
of July, 1876, for £47 5s.
London : Marquis of Bute. — Portrait of a lady, on canvas
to the knees, large as life, and turned to the left. The hair
is dressed with jewels, a collar with pearls over a red dress,
and pufied sleeves. In the distance a pillar. Here we have
the technical treatment, not of Titian, but of Bernardino
Pordenone, whose manner is more akin to that of Paris Bor-
done than to that of Titian.
London : Marquis of Bute. — Portrait of a grey-bearded
Chap. IX.] UXCEETIFIED TITLiXS. 463
■ ■ — ~~*" — " " " " ■ ■ ■ ■ » '
man, turned to the left, in a black beret cap and pelisse, near
a table. Much injured canvas of the late Venetian School.
London: Lord Ashhurton. — Herodias' dauijhter followed
by an old man, and carr}"in']j the head of the Baptist on a
plate. School of Ijcruardino Licinio or Beccaruzzi of Cone-
gliano.
London : Stajfnrd Ilousr, No. 18. — " Education of Cupid ; "
canvas, with three tipures of the size of life. Venus to the
left, with a sweep of yellow drapery round her hips, is standing
in a grove of trees, and looking on as Cupid reads in a music
book held up to him by Mercury. The left hand of Venus
is on Mercury's shoulder. He is seated with the winged cap
on his head, the caducens at his back. Cupid's liow and
arrows arc on the ground. This picture belonged to Queen
Christina, who hold it to be a genuine Titian. (Campori, Rac-
colta, p. 339.) It passed into the Orleans Collection, at the
sale of which TiOrd (lower bought it for t'800. The picture
is Titianesquo indeed, but in the style of Schiavone, to whom it
should be assigned.
London : Stafford Jlonsr, No. 20. — St. Jerom in the
wilderness, his head resting on his left hand, his body turned
to the left. This canvas rei>resents the saint of the full size
of nature. It is quite as much in the style of Schiavone as
the "Venus nnd Mercury."
Londoti : Stafford IFoiinf, No. 36. — Portrait of a cardinal.
Here we have the brush-stroke of a Bolognese of the seven-
teenth century.
DnUdch Gallen/, No. 81.—" The Infant Jesus." Neither
this nor any other picture assigned to Titian in this gallery is
genuine.
Hampton Court, No. 44. — Portrait of a man in armour,
with a sword belted to his waist and a black cap on his head.
Half length on a brown ground, and turned three quarters to
the left. This piece, on canvas, is of the Venetian School,
but not by Titian. The treatment points to a follower of
the schools of Tintoretto and Bassano.
Hampton Court Gallcrii, No. 405. — Panel with figures
liiilf the life size. The Virgin, turned to the left, is seated
464 TITL-^JN": HIS LIFE AND TIIVIES. [Chap. IX.
in a landscape, plucks a flower with lier riglit hand, and
holds a similar one in her left. The infant Christ lying in
her lap also holds a flower. In the distance to the right, the
angel accompanies Tobit with the dog. In the foreground is
the scutcheon of some noble family. This picture corre-
sponds to the description of one noted by Ridolfi (Mar. i.
262) in the Reinst collection. Reinst's pictures we know
were in part purchased by the Dutch States, to be presented
to Charles the Second. The panel is injured, and the head
of the Virgin is retouched, but the drawing is less clever and
appropriate, the execution less skilful than Titian's, and we
can scarcely err in assuming that the author is Santo Zago, a
pupil of Titian. Engraved by Yischer.
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 111. — " Ignatius Loyola."
Knee-piece on canvas of a man turned to the left, bare-headed
in black with his right hand on a table on which is written ;
" AN XXV. 1545." Dark ground. The attitude is Titianesque,
but the treatment is feeble, and although the surfaces are
much damaged by time and retouching, the picture should
rather be assigned to a disciple of Paris Bordone than to
Titian. The inscription too is suspiciously renewed. En-
graved in oval by Vignerson.
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 118. — "Portrait of a Gentle-
man ; " canvas bust of life size. The head is in profile and in
the style of a later Venetian, such as Sebastian Ricci.
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 124.— " Portrait of Titian."
A copy.
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 706. — Virgin and Child
adored by St, Catherine and John the Baptist. This piece is
not by Titian. It recalls the manner of Palma Vecchio.
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 410. — " The Death of
Lucretia ; " canvas, with a full length, half the size of life, of
Lucretia, nude, standing with a sword in her right hand, with
W'hich she is preparing to stab herself. A long red drapery
floats about the head and shoulders. In the background is a
landscape. This figure has none of the grace or tone of
Titian's creations. The coarse herculean form, and a flush
of brown tinting, point to a Venetian disciple of the master.
Chap. IX.] UXCERTIFIED TITIAXS. 465
Yet the picture is doubtless identical with that described in
the Ashmolean catalogue (Bathoe, u. s.) as follows : " A
Mantua piece by Titian, a standing Lucretia holding with
her left hand a red veil over her face, and a dagger in her
other hand to stab herself, an entire figure half so big as
the life, 3 ft. 2 h. by 2 ft. 1." This piece was appraised
and sold by order of Cromwell for £200 ; but reappears in
the catalogue of James the Second's collection (No. 480 of
Bathoe's catalogue). A copy of it was in the collection of
Lord Malmcsl)ury (see under that head). A similar picture
ascribed to Titian is noted in a Mantuan inventory of the year
1027. (See Darco, ii. p. 155.)
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 70. — " Alessandro de'
Medici." This is a bust portrait on canvas of a man turned
to the left, with his hair parted in the middle and l)rushed
behind the cur. A slight moustache fringes the upper lip,
the chin is beardless, tiie vest is cut low and shows a frilled
shirt. Over all lies a dark brown pelisse with a fur collar.
The right hand is on a book bound in red, lying on the para-
pet in front. That this portrait was engraved by Peter de
Jode and A. Jjoncnfant as '* Giovanni I3occaccio " by Titian,
hardly helps us in identifying the person portrayed. The
modelling of the head is lost in retouches, and the forehead
and temples are especially injured. For this reason it is im-
possible to decide whether the picture is by Titian or not, or
to determine to which of his disciples it can be assigned.
Hampton Court Gallery, No. 213. — " David and Goliath,"
a small panel, is apparently by a feeble disciple of the school
of Schiavouc.
Manchester ExJiibition, No. 210. — A portrait of Yerdi-
zotti, property of Mr. Francis Edwards. This picture was
clearly painted after Titian's time.
No. 228. — " Girl making Lace," property of Mr. Richard
Baxter (photographed) ; canvas, with the figure of the girl
turned to the left, a little dog at her side, on her lap a lace
cushion. Work of some painter of a later time than that of
Titian.
No. 231.—" The Dog of Charles the Fifth; " property of
V«M,. II. H II
4fir, TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [CnAr. IX.
J. Smith Barry, Esq. This is a Bolognese, not a Venetian
picture.
No. 241. — "Marriage of St. Catherine," property of G. P.
Grenfell, Esq, The style of this picture is aldn to that of
the Venetian Pohdoro Lanzani.
Blenheim. — "St. Nicholas" and "St. Catherine," of life
size, on canvas, — two figures copied from Titian's "Madonna"
of San Niccolo de' Frari now at the Vatican, and painted in
reverse, — seem the work of a German copyist of the stamp of
Christopher Schwarz.
Blenheim. — " St. Sebastian," of life size, with his right
arm over his head. The figure, covered at the hips with a
cloth, is seen in full front in a landscape. This is a fine
picture without the masculine strength and power of Titian.
It has been injured by repainting.
Christchnrch : Oxford. — "The Duke of Alva;" canvas,
half-length large as life. The figure, bare-headed and in
black, wears the collar of the Golden Fleece, and stands near
an opening through which a landscape is seen. The left
hand on a table is fairly executed in the Venetian manner,
but the rest of the picture is utterly ruined by repainting,
and it is impossible to recognize the style of Titian.
The " Virgin and Child," half-length, assigned to Titian,
is a very feeble and not genuine production.
Chatsirorth, seat of the Duke oj Devonshire. — " St. John
the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness." The Saint to
the right under a tree speaks with outstretched arm to a
crowd seated in the centre of the picture ; near him the lamb
is resting. To the left several women are standing. In the
distance Christ is seen approaching. Distance, hills and sky.
This is a fine spirited sketchy piece of Andrea Schiavone's
best time. Some dulness of tone is due to retouchins: and
old varnish, and the sky especially is repainted. The canvas
is large, but the nearest figures are under a quarter of life
size. (Compare Waagen's divergent opinion in Treasures,
iii. 347.) A picture with this subject was once in the
Muselli collection at Verona. (See Campori, Raccolta di
Cataloghi, p. 187.)
CnAr. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITLINS. 467
Cliatsworth. — A girl presents fruit to her father and
mother, the latter standing in the foreground at the side of
the former, who is seated. This canvas, with figures to the
knees, is by Paris Bordone, to whom it is properly ascribed
by Dr. Waagen. (Treasures, iii. 351.)
Chatswortli. — The Virgin and Child with St. Joseph in a
landscape. The boy St. John approaches from the right.
This picture is not by Titian, but by a painter of the seven-
teenth century.
Chatsnorth. — "A Mastiff Dog and Cubs." This large
canvas, originally in the Coraaro Palace at Venice, was
acknowledged by Sir Joshua Pieynolds as a genuine Titian.
It is much repainted, yet still displays the hand of an artist
of the seventeenth contur}' such as Philip Pvoos or Benedetto
Castiglione.
Lnnfiford Casth', No. 133. — Full-length of a man standing
near a pillar on the top of which his helmet is lying. On the
helmet he rests his hand, the head being turned to look at
the spectator. On the ground to the right is a book. This
picture, ascribed to Titian, is by Morone.
Lonriford Castlr, No. 146. — Half-length of a sculptor with
his hand on the head of a statue. The face is that of a
young man. The painter is not Titian but Tintoretto.
Boicood. — The Virgin is seated with the infant Christ
standing on her lap. She gives the Child some fruit, whilst
the young liaptist on the left holds up a scroll inscribed with
the words " Ecce Agnus Dei." A glory of rays and cherubs'
heads surrounds the group. This is a duplicate -w-ith varieties
of a similar piece (No. 590) at the Uffizi in Florence, where
the Baptist holds the foot of the infant Christ, and the
Virgin is not presenting a fruit. The style is easily recog-
nised in both pictures as that of Marco Vecelli. The Bowood
duplicate corresponds to the description of a canvas noted by
Kidolfi (]\Iarav. i. 262) in the Vidman collection at Venice.
(Compare also Sansovino, Ven. Descritta, p. 376.)
Alnwick. — Portrait of an admiral in a feathered cap and in
armour seen to the knees at three-quarters to the left, with
the left hand on a chiselled dagger, and the right on a helmet
II II 2
468 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
resting on a table. This likeness, of life-size, was originally
in the Barberini, then in the Camuccini, collections in Rome.
It looks more like a Morone than a Titian.
Almcick. — "Portrait of a Member of the Barbarigo
Family" {?). The treatment is too thin and empty for Titian,
and recalls Morto da Feltre or Pellegrino da San Dauiele.
Ed'mhurgh : JRoyal Institution, No. 65. — "Adoration of
the Magi ; " on canvas, 7 ft. 9 h. by 6 ft. This picture was
formerly in the Palazzo Balbi at Genoa, and is clearly a work
of Bassano.
Edinburgh : Royal Institution, No. 157. — A landscape on
panel, 6 ft. 6 long, by 1 ft. 3. Bought from the Duke of
Vivaldi Pasqua. This is a Flemish and not a Venetian
picture.
Edinhurgli : Ttoyal Institution, l^o. 1G6. — Panel, 1 ft. 7 h*
by 1 ft. Sj. Virgin, Child, and St. Catherine presenting
flowers. This picture, ascribed to Titian, is nearer the level
of Polidoro Lanzani, though feeble even for him.
Longniddy, scat of the Earl of Wemyss. — A girl initiated
to the mysteries of Venus. Near her to the right Venus and
the boy Cupid with an arrow. A satyr behind raises aloft a
basket with a couple of doves ; and another a bundle of fruit.
The same theme is worked in another way in a picture
assigned to Titian at Munich (see Munich), of which this is a
variety. But the execution here is very modern.
Dalkeith Palace. — " The Duke of Alva in Armour ; " half-
length on canvas. The body is turned to the right, the face
to the left. The right hand holds a helmet, the left is in the
act of pointing. This is not a genuine Titian, though a
careful and interesting picture and probably a true likeness of
Alva.
Portrait of a little giii in leading strings, with a dog near
her. To the right is the hand, arm, and part of the figure of
a person holding the strings. The distance is architecture.
The name of Titian is not justified. The treatment is that
of a Bolognese craftsman.
Hamilton Palace, near Glasgow. — Philip the Second stand-
ing with the emblems of his dignities, near a pillar at the
Chap. IX.] UNCERTIFIED TITIANS. 469
entrance to a temple. Near him to the right the kneeling
figure of Fame. This canvas, with figures of life-size, seems
to have been executed by a German or Fleming who had
some personal intercourse with Titian. The forms are too
poor and slender, the dra\\-ing and modelling are too trivial,
for the great master, the colour too liquid and thin. Profuse
ornament reveals a taste foreign to the Venetian school.
Jlamilton Pulace. — Half-length on canvas of an admiral in
armour, with one hand on his hip, the other near a helmet
resting on a table. The figure is turned to the right. In
the background is a pillar ; and a red curtain partially
intercepts a view of a galley floating on the sea. The style
is that of Paolo Veronese.
IlaiidUon Palace. — Full-length of life size on canvas of a
captain in armour. He stands near a table, on which his
right ai-m reposes. Near the arm a helmet. This picture,
once under the name of Giorgione, is now called a Titian,
and reminds us of Morone, but it is injured and unworthy of
any one of the artists named.
I lionilton Palace. — Portrait of an old man seated and
turned to the left. His hair and beard are white, his features
are dry and bony ; on the book we read "L. Cornaro m. sua.
. . . 1566." According to the chronologies Luigi or Alviso
Cornaro of Padua died in 1565. If this signature be
genuine, he died a year later than is generally supposed.
(See vol. i. of this Life, p. 130.) The picture is not by Titian,
but by an imitator of Tintoretto and Bassano.
Hamilton Palace. — Portrait of a man in a dark pelisse and
bare-headed. This bust on canvas, though carefully painted
by a Venetian artist, is not a genuine Titian.
Dnhlhi International Exhibition. — Portrait of a friar facing
and looldug at the spectator whilst pointing at a human
skull. This picture, though assigned to Titian, is by an
artist of the class of Gaspar de Grayer, that is, by a follower
of Van Dyke and Rubens.
In the same exhibition, No. 67, was a portrait of a man in
a plumed cap and rich dress called Cesar Borgia, and assigned
to Titian. The picture is not genuine.
470 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. IX,
The following is a list of pictures noticed in books
as works of Titian. A few of the pieces registered
may be identical with some of those noted in fore-
going pages, but there is no means of proving their
identity : —
Venice : S. Andrea della Certosa. — Christ carrying his
cross. This piece was seen by Sansoviuo (Veu. clesc. p. 79),
hut must have been removed before the middle of the
seventeenth century, as Boschini does not notice it. Gesuati.
— Pope Urban gives the dress of his order to the heato
Colombini. This was a canvas on the organ shutter of the
Gesuati assigned by Yasari (xiii. 110) to one Jacopo
Fallaro, but by Boschini (Miniere Sest di D. Dure, p. 19) to
Titian. S. Fantino : Scuola. — St. Jerom. (Vas. xiii. 29.)
This picture perished by fire. S. Gio. e Paolo. — Virgin and
Child, S. Anna, and other saints. This monochrome, origin-
ally on the tomb of the Doge Trevisani, was seen by Zanetti
(Pitt, Ven. p. 169) in a room of the convent, and has since
been missing. Casa Pisani. — Portrait of a lady. (Vas. xiii.
43.) Casa C. Orsetti. — Two portraits and Christ at the
column. (Kidolfi, Mar. i. 263.) G. B. Rota. — Virgin.
(Kidolfi, Mar. i. 268.) B. della Nare.—l. Virgin, Child,
and Saints. 2. Christ and the Woman taken in Adul-
tery. 3. Portraits. (Ridolfi, Mar. i. 263.) Casa Zuan
Antonio. — •Yenier. Two half-lengths of men assaulting each
other. (Anon. Morelli, p. 73.) Casa Giovanni Danna. —
Virgin and Child, with portraits male and female, including
children. (Vas. xiii. 21 ; Sansov. Ven. desc. p. 212.) Casa
M. P. Servio. — St. Jerom. (Anon. 89.) Casa Orimani a
Santa Maria Formosa. — Portrait of Cardinal Domenico
Grimani. (Cicogna, Isc, Ven., i. 190.) Casa Grimani a S.
Ermagora. — Portrait of a Senator. (PJdolfi, Mar. i. 220.)
Virgin and Saints. (lb. i. 260.) Casa Assonica. —
Portrait of Francesco Assonica. (Vas. xiii. 43.) Casa
Odoni. — Virgin and Child, young Baptist and a female
saint in a landscape. (Anon. Morelli, p. 62 ; and see National
Chap. IX.] MISSDsG PICTUEES. 471
Gallery, antca, i. p. 208.) Sif/iior Cristofon Orohoni (seven-
teenth century). — Christ crowned with Thorns with a Soldier.
2. A Woman with auburn Hair, (liidolli, Mar. i. p. 375.)
Girolamo e Francesco Contarini. — Portrait of Charles the
Fifth. (Ridolli, Mar. i. 456.) Casa AVoyj.— Portrait of
Zuanne Paim with his back to the spectator. (Anon. ed.
Morelli, 79.) Palazzo dell' Abate Grimani. — The Flight into
Egypt. (Sansov. Yen. desc. 375). llenicr Cull. — St. Sebas-
tian bound to the column. — Portrait of a lady with blonde
hair, dressed in blue. Portrait of a widow with a beautiful
hand called Clelia Farnese, wood. St. Francis, full length
in a landscape, holding a cross. (See Reinst Coll.) Piound of
an angel ilyiug in air having struck a man who lies on the
ground with a sword and shield. (Campori, Piacc. 443.)
Sifjnor Bernardo Giunti. — A ^lale Portrait. (Kidolfi, Mar. i.
262.) Casa Frnnreschi. — St. Sfl)astian. (llidolli, Mar. i. 263.)
Casa Gussoni. — The Virgin and Child and an aged man in a
black vest with his hand on his haunch. (Ridolli, i. 260.)
Portrait of Cardinal Ippolito d' Este. (lb.) Half length of
a female with two men in armour, (lb.) Casa Francesco
Contarini. — The Virgin and Child. (Anon. ed. Morelli, 230 ;
Ridolfi, ]\Iar. i. 260; Tizianello's Anon. 11.) Casa Malipiero
a San Saviuele. — The Virgin and Child. (Ridolli, Mar. i.
262.) Portrait of Caterino Malipiero, who died in a naval
encounter in 1571. (lb.) licinst Cull. — Portrait of a
Senator. St. Francis in tears looking at a crucifix in his
hand, with a landscape distance. (Ridolfi, i. 262.) Barharigo
Coll. — Pan and Syrinx. This picture was still in the Bar-
barigo collection in 1845.
Viccnza : Casa Ner/ri. — Virgin and Child seated with the
boy St. John, St. Joachim and St. Anna. Half length of
the Saviour. (Mosca, Descr. di Vicenza, 8vo, Vicenza, ii. 74.)
Padua : Monsif/nor Bonjio. — Magdalen. (Ridolfi, Mar.
i. 259.) Palace of the Dogaressa Grimani. — Christ bearing
his cross, near him the executioner with a dagger at his side,
(lb.) Casa Galcazzo Orolugiu. — Female with an orb of
crystal in which a small child is seen, a youth with snakes
in his hand and a monster with fruit. (lb.)
472 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX
Mantua Palace in 1527. — 1. Virgin and Child with a donor
and his two sons. 2. Lucretia. 3. Nativity. 4. Virgin,
Child, and St. Catherine. 5. A naked boy. 6. A
dishevelled woman and a boy with an orb. (Darco, Pitt.
Mant. ii. 154—163.)
Verona: Casa Miiselli. — 1. Virgin and Child, to whom
St. Catherine kneels and gives the ring ; at the other side the
boy St. John ; half lengths, a httle under size of nature. 2.
Virgin and Child caressed by the young Baptist ; at the side
St. James. Figures of more than one braccia. 3. Charles the
Fifth in a brocade dress with a pelisse of ermine, holding a
sceptre, and one hand on the hilt of his sword, more than half
length of life size. 4. A Magdalen with dishevelled hair ;
life size. 5. Portrait of a man without a beard wearing a
cap leaning his head on one hand ; life size. G. Virgin and
Child turned to St. Catherine, who gives the ring ; St. Joseph
holding the Child ; 1 braccia and j h. by l^^. 7. Virgin with
the Child turned towards a saint kneeling with her arms
crossed over her breast with St. Anna and St. .Joseph at the
sides (the Child and Virgin's mantle injured). 8. Landscape
with St. John preaching ; ascribed to Titian because Hke his
style in the trees and figures, size I5 braccia h. by 1|. (See
Chatsworth.) 9. A Venus lying on the ground, her head on
her arms, and Amor at her feet ; " ascribed to Titian." 10.
Portrait of a jeweller — according to Ridolfi, Pietro de' Bene-
detti — at a table on which are lying tools and a gilt helmet
surmounted by a white eagle holding in its beak a column and
a medal inscribed with the name of Sigismund Augustus,
King of Poland. Distance, architecture and landscape. 11
and 12. Portraits of a man without a beard in the black dress
of a prelate, and a bearded man with one hand on a pedestal
and a bundle of letters in the other, dressed in a pehsse, both
2 braccia square. (Campori, Raccolta di Cataloghi, pp. 178 —
92 ; Eidolfi, Mar. i. 252—258, ii. 238 ; and ScanelH, Micro-
cosmo, 222.) Moscardo Coll. (1672). — 1. Portrait of a man
with jewels in his hand. 2, Portrait of a captain in armour.
3. Portrait of an old man. 4. Virgin, Child, and John the
Baptist. 5. Sacrifice of Cain and Abel. 6. The Virgin and
Chap. IX.] MISSING PICTUEES. 473
Child on the ass with St. Joseph. 7. Venus, Mars, and
Cupid. (See the Curtoni Colh) 8. A head of the Virgin.
9. A nude Venus. 10. Head of an old man. 11. Christ
crowned with thorns. 12. Small portrait of the Doge Sebas-
tiano Venier. (Note . . del Museo Moscardo, 4to, Verona,
MDCLXXii.) Cdsa P. Curtoni. — Virgin and Child with St.
Catherine and the Baptist. The same subject with full
lengths. The Sanour. A bust of St. Sebastian. Lot and
his daughters. Fragment with a likeness of a doge and two
other half lengths. Venus, Mars, and Amor. Venus. Venus
and Amor (bis). Jove hurling thunderbolts. Sacrifice of
Calchas. A SatjT. Portrait of a Senator. A doge of
Venice. Shepherds with an ox. Virgin and Child with
St. Joseph. Virgin and Child, St. Josei)li, and St. John.
Virgin and Child, St. Joachim and another saint. Head of
an old man. Head of a youth. Figure of Troy. Death of
Hector. (Ridolti, Mar. ii. 304, and Campori, Raccolta di
Cataloghi, pp. 201—2.)
Frrrnru : Cduonki Coll. (1G32). — 1. liust of Christ
crowned with thorns carrying his cross. 2. Magdalen re-
pentant. 3. Virgin, St. Anna, St. Joseph, the infant Christ,
and liaptist both playing with the lamb, all in a landscape.
4. Virgin raising the covering of the infant Christ, before
whom a shepherd kneels with a bound lamb. Behind him a
shepherd taking oft' his cap and holding a bagpipe, and close
by a peasant with a pair of fowls and two dogs. Seated near
the Virgin is St. Joseph, asleep. 5. Virgin, Child, and St.
Joseph, half length, large as life. G. Titian's portrait by
himself. (Campori, Raccolta di Cataloghi, pp. 108, 115 — 16,
121 and 120.) Coccajmni Collection (1G40). — Virgin and
Child, and St. John with the lamb. (Campori, Race, di Catal.,
p. 150.) A nude Venus. (Ridolfi, Mar. i. 257.) Cardinal
of Fcrrara. — 1. Sacritice of Iphigenia. 2. Sacrifice of Helen.
8. Fountain of Chastity. (Ridolti, Mar. i. 2G8 — 9.)
Parma : Farnese Coll. (1G80). — 1. A man in red, with his
head turned to the left, an ink-bottle and a pen are on the
table. (Campori, Cataloghi, p. 209.) 2. Lucretia in red
with a landscape to the left. (lb. p. 210.) 3. Portrait of a
474 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TBIES. [Chap. IX.
female seated with a bust of Charles the Fifth near her. (lb.
211.) 4. A shepherd in a dress of skins. (lb. 220.) 5.
Portrait of a man full length in armour to the Imees, the left
hand on a helmet on a pedestal. (lb. p. 229.) C. Portrait of
a woman at a table on which are a skull, a mirror, a comb
and scissors. She is dressing her hair with both hands.
Her dress yellow. (lb. 231.) 7. A woman in black, her
right hand with two rings on the fingers lying on her bosom.
Auburn hair, antique collar, and girdle of gold buttons. (lb.
233.) 8. A woman pointing with her right hand at her face,
dressed in a black veil which covers her head and part of her
shoulders. (lb. 233.) 9. A man in a black dress and cap, and
a collar round his neck with the order of the Golden Fleece,
holding a paper in his right hand, which is alone visible. (lb.
235.) 10. A female in gi-ey with a pearl hanging from a
golden braid in her right hand. Her dress and sleeves
flowered white ; her hair blonde. (lb. 236.) 11. Portrait
of a cardinal in a red cap, a ring on his right hand
which rests on the arm of a chau-, and in his left a prayer-
book, distance landscape. (lb. p. 25.) This description
exactly suits the Cardinal Palla"sicini of the Hermitage at
St. Petersburg.
Modena : Count Giulio Cesare Gonzaga di Novellara
(1676).— St. Peter Martyr. (Camp. Cataloghi, p. 204.)
Bevilaequa Coll. — Virgin and Child, St. Joseph and
the boy Baptist and tw^o angels in glory. (Ridolfi, Mar. i.
257.)
Milan : Domenico Pclosi. — Virgin and Child adored by St.
Thomas Aquinas. (Ticozzi, Vec. 136.)
Borne: Aldohrandinl Palace. — 1. Two shepherds playing
the flute in a landscape. 2. Virgm and Child, St. Jerom,
and St. Lawrence. (Ridolfi, Mar. i. 257.) Palazzo Giustiniani.
— The Virgin and Child and young Baptist. (lb. i. 258.)
Collection of Prince Pio of Savoy (1742). — 1. Virgin and
Child. 2. Danae and boy. 3. Nude Venus recumbent. 4.
Nude Venus recumbent with a boy and a soldier. 5. Venus
nude on a couch, Cupid, a man playing an organ, and a little
dog. (Citadella, Notizie relative a Ferrara, u. 8. p. 566.)
Chap. IX.] MISSING PICTUEES. 475
Scanelli notes the Pio collection and its Titians in the Micro-
cosmo, p. 221. Card'uuil S/ondrato (1595). — 1. Christ at
the column, half lenf,^h. 2. A Virprin, Child, and a man
carrying fruit (Coradusz to Emperor Eudolph the Second,
in L. Urlich's article in Zeitschrift, f. 1». Kunst, u. s. v. p. 49.)
Savelli Coll. (1650).— Portrait of Charles the Fifth. (Campori,
Cataloghi, p. 105.) Coll. of Cardimd d'Kste (1624).—!.
A landscape with St. Jerom. "J. A St. Jorom on panel.
3. Duke Alfonso the First (copy). (Campori, Race, di Catal.
63, 71.)
Genoa : C<dlection of the Darin FamUi/. — Adonis. (Anon.
Tizianello, p. 5.)
London : J)nkc of Somerset (seventeenth century). —
Venus, orifjinally in possession of Daniel Nys. (Sainsbuiy
Papers, n. s. p. 274.) Collection of the Earl of A run del. —
Portrait of Constahle de liourhon. This portrait is only
known by Vorstermann's print, showin^j a man in a rich
dress with a jewelled toque on his head, and a helmet on a
table before him; the face seen at three quarters to the rifjht,
the whole inscribed : " Screnisi. Caroli Ducis Jiorboniie . . .
Connestabilis vera effif^ies in presentia Caroli V. Imperatoris
depicta a Titiano, qu.T latent Londini, tire. . . . Sculpta,
Vorstemiann." Beneath the portrait : " omnis salvs in ferro
EST," and on the background, '' Obyt. Roma, 1257."
Antwerp: Van Vffel Coll. — 1. Death of Pyramus, with
Amor breaking his weapons. 2. The Virgin adoring the
infant Chiist with St. Jerom in cardinals, St. Francis and
the archangel Michael. 3. St. Jerom in prayer in a cave. 4.
Ecce Homo. 5. Portrait of Aretino. 6. Portrait of a
Greek patriarch. 7. A jeweller with a string of pearls. 8.
Virgin and Child, St. John and St. Joseph. (Piidolfi, i.
258—9.)
Jliihcns' Coll. — Psyche with a bottle in her hand. (Saius-
bury Papers, u. s. p. 230.)
Lisbon (sixteenth century). Christ scourged. (Vas. xiii.
40.)
PortraitH. — Tasso's mistress, (llidolti. Mar. i. 255.) Siuistri.
(Vas. xiii. p. 41.) Marquess of Pescara. (lb. 38.) Niccola
476 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
Crasso and Luigi Crasso. (Ridolfi Mar. i. 131, 253.) Andrea
Doria and Gastaldo. (Lomazzo, Trattato, p. 636.) Aretino
and his daughter. (Ridolfi, Mar. i. 228.) Cardinal Gonzaga
(Vas. xiii. 31.) Paul Manutius. (Aretino, Lett. i. p. 236.)
Don Carlos. (Vas. xiii. 37.) Titian and his confessor.
(Ridolfi, Mar. i. 120.) Martin the sculptor as a j'oung man.
(lb. 263.) A shaven man with jewels in his hand. (lb.
263.) Girolamo Miani. (Cicogna, Isc. Ven. v. 375.)
Mistress of G. B. Castaldo. (Bottari, Raccolta, v. 59.) Del-
fini, belonging to the sculptor Danese. (Vas. xiii. 42.)
Gio. Francesco di Rubeis, a bishop. (Flaminio Cornaro, in
Cicogna, Iscr. Ven. iv. 137.) Marco Mantova Bena^ddes.
(Anon. Morelli, p. 152.) Monsignor Bonfio. (Ridolfi, Mar.
i. 259.) Portrait of Cardinal Ardinghello. (Borghini, Riposo,
iii. p. 89.) Julius the Second. (Vas. xiii. 32.) Sixtus the
Fourth. (lb.) Marini q. Francesco Garzoni. (Cicogna,
Iscr. Ven. vi. p. 892.) Hannibal the Carthaginian. (Urbino
inventory in Gotti's Gall, di Firenze, p. 334.) Giulia Gonzaga.
(Campori, Race, di Cataloghi, p. 148.) Cardinal Accolti. (Vas.
xiii. p. 42.) N. Zono. (lb.) Dame Gattina. (Ridolfi,
Mar. i. 219.) Francesco Filetto and his son. (Vas. xiii.
42.) Girolamo Fracastoro. (lb. ; Ridolfi, Mar. i. 252, and
Brognoli, 210.) Torquato Bembo and his wife. (lb.)
Titian is reputed to have been jealous alike of his
pupils and of his own brother Francesco. Ridolfi
indeed says that when Titian saw an altar-piece
completed by Francesco Vecelli for a Cadorine church,
he trembled for his own fame, and diverted Fran-
cesco's activity into a new channel.''' But it is hard
to reconcile this statement with that of Vincenzo
Vecelli, which tells of Titian's affection for the truant
* Eidolfi, i. 285.
CiLVP. IX.]
FE.\NCESCO YECELLI.
477
who once gave up painting for the profession of
arms."'' We may believe that if Francesco Vecelli
at last preferred the ease of country life at Cadore,
it was because he felt and acknowledged his own
inferiority. The earliest picture with which his name
is connected is that which represents the Vii'gin
and Child, between St. Roch and St. Sebastian in the
Gen ova Chapel at the Pieve di Cadore, a tempera on
canvas dubiously assigned by Tizianello's " Anonimo "
to Titian and Francesco.t Though injured by re-
painting in oil, this firstling work is quite in the
character of that shown in the galler}' of Vienna as
one of Titinn's juvenile efforts. It bears the impress of
a Venetian composition carried out by an independent
craftsman wlio seorns to swear fealty to any one
master. It displays a decorous and well calculated
arrangement of figures, appropriate action, good pro-
portion and careful outline. Light and shadow are
fairly distributed, and drapery aceurately studied.
Smooth finish and some inequality in the mode of
realizing form, testify to the youth of the artist.
The Virgin is large and plump, the Child on her lap
small and puny, St. Sebastian, to the right, is tall,
slender and dry, whilst St. Roch, leaning on his staff
and showing the plague-boil, is more developed, and
recalls a similar figure in Titian's altar-piece of St.
Mark at the Salute.j If Francesco Vecelli painted
* See antra.
t Tizianello, Anonimo, p. 7.
X This picture is not on panel ,
as Tizianello's Anon, asserts, but
on canvas, and the figures, of full
length and under life size, are in
a landscape. Many parts are
daubed over with oil pigment,
and the Virgin's mantle is almost
black from this cause. The can-
478
TITIAN: HIS LIFE ^VND TIMES. [CHAr. IX.
this picture in the earliest years of his career, he
began with almost as much promise as Titian himself.
In later days it appeared that he was not of the wood
of which great painters are made ; for when he
produced in 1524 the Madonna with saints at San
Vito di Cadore, his style had acquired its full expan-
sion, yet showed vastly below that of Titian's. Here
again unhappily the canvas is patched at the top,
enlarged at the bottom, and retouched in many of the
most salient places ; but what remains of Francesco's
original conception and execution tells as much as
any creation can reveal of the stuff in the creator
himself. The Virgin sits on a throne in front of a
green curtain between four saints, of whom two are
bishops — Modestus and Gottardus ; the third, to the
right, is St. John the Baptist with the lamb at his
feet, and the fourth St. Vitus, who recommends the
Imeeling figure of a priest. The step of the throne
is partly covered by a cartello on which we read
" F. V. P." [Francesco Vecelli pinxit ?] mdxxiiii. At
this date, let us recollect, Titian had finished the
" Madonna of San Niccolo de' Frari," and was com-
pleting the "Madonna di Casa Pesaro." Francesco
must have had before him his brother's portrait of
Baffo, so strong is the reminiscence of that master-
piece in the patron of the San Vito altar-piece. But
the treatment, though it be Titianesque, is inferior to
that of Titian. The grouping is skilful, the action of
vas is now in the choir, to the
left of the high altar. It was
stoien in 1853, and recovered for
VOO fr. at a village near Mestre
in the same year.
Chap. IX.]
FEANCESCO "VECELLT.
4T9
the personages telling enough, the drawing is bold, and
the finish sufficient, but the figures are mere models,
thrown off Axith freedom of hand, but without accuracy
of detail or breadth of touch, and without tlie subtlety
or delicacy of Titian in its wide stretches of uniform
flesh.*
An earlier altar-piece in the parish church of Sedico
on the highroad between Belluno and Feltre — if
shown to have been executed l)y Titian's brother —
would prove that Francesco in his first form was
.sim[tler and more distrustful of conventional ease
than in l.";24. The Virgin enthroned with two boys
in the foreground playing pijx' and tabor, and angels
flying with tiie crown of glory above the \'irgin's
head ; — the dead Christ with a seraph above, St. Se-
bastian and St. Roch fidl length, and St. Nicholas and
St. Anthony half length at the sides, make up one of
those combinations of i)anels which were still much
prized in the Alpine country north of Venice at the
opening of the eighteenth century, an altar-piece in
which, under a mixture of styles recalling Titian
and Palma Vecchio, we apparently discern the true
type of Francesco Vecelli's art before he ventured on
imitations of his l)rotlier's bolder and more impulsive
style. Figures of youthful shape and short stature,
unctuous pigment uniformly spread, but not without
* This canvas is now at the
buck of tho high altar, having
boon removed from its original
placo and sent to tho painter
Bortani, at Venice, to be "re-
stored" in 1780. The upper
cuiTe of tho picture and its base,
with two angels on tho altar step,
are modern additions, and much
of tho rest of tho surface is re-
painted.
480
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
sharpness of tint, careful and blended treatment are
distinctive features of the picture, which is the work
of an artist unable or unwilling to apply the subtle
methods of impasting, glazing, and breaking which are
so familiar to us in the technical handling of Titian.'^'"
That Francesco Vecelli, in the opening years of the
sixteenth century, should have been employed to paint
altar-pieces for country churches whilst his abler
brother was busy on works of magnitude at Venice,
seems natural enoucrh when we consider the relative
O
value of their productions. It may indeed be pre-
sumed that Titian and Francesco at this time lived
together, dividing the town and country practice
between them. But Francesco was not left without
commissions even in Venice, though we may think he
received them chiefly after 1524. He painted a fresco
of the Resurrection in the well of the staircase leading
from the Ducal Palace into the cathedral of St. Mark,
from which much of the colour has now disappeared,
but in which the outlines and action of the Redeemer
and guards are suflicient evidence of the painter's
resolution in drawing the human form on a large and
muscular scale. t He then produced the "Annunciation'^
for San Niccolo di Bari now in the Venice Academy,
which displays novelty and elevation of feeling, espe-
cially in the action of the angel pointing to heaven
and in the face and expression of the Virgin.J
* The side panels are all dis-
figured by vertical splits, but tbey
are clean splits, which do not
affect the painting materially.
t Boschini, E. Min. S. di S.
Marco, p. 54.
J No. 523 at the Venice Aca-
demy ; canvas, m. 2.37 h. by 1.85.
Boschini (Min. S. di Castello,
p. 11} describes this picture,
CnAP. IX.] FEAXCESCO ^'ECELLI. 481
In 1528 he completed for the SciioLi de' Zoppi a
processional standard on which there were two
figures of cripples symbolizing the duties of the
brotherhood, and an angel and Vii-gin annunciate.
He also delivered at some uncertain date a church
standard for San Stau at Venice and a similar work
for the brotherhood of the Bombardieri, with a Viririn
of !N[ercy on one of its sides.* P^ut the most im-
portant labours with which he was connected about
this time were tlie frescos decoratinn; tlio cloisters and
sacristy of San Salvatore of W'liice, and tlic pictures
of "St. Theodore" and "St. Augustin," with the
"Resurrection"' and "Transfiguration" on the shutters
of the organ set uj* in l.l^O above the lateral portal,
of wliich Sansovino was tlic an-hitect.t Boschini in
attempting to gauge the comparative merits of the
Vecclli, says that the work of Francesco at San
Salvatore was so fine that it micfht have been con-
founded with that of Titian ; J and there is no doubt
that he showed more power, more freedom of handling,
and greater spirit in these than in any other works of
his that arc now extant. But there is no denying at
the same time that his creations lack distinction,
whilst his figures are marked by strained action and
overweight of muscle ; and it is very probable that the
which is now greatly injured by
repainting. The Virgin kneels
at a desk and looks up at the
augel flying down. Above the
alcove to the right two boy angels
arc flying. To the left is a land-
scape. Engraved in line in Za-
notto's rinac. Venota.
♦ Boschini, Ricche Miniere, S.
di S. Marco, pp. 94, 95. Ridolfi,
Mar. i. 2S1.
t Eoschini, E. M. S. di. S.
Marco, p. 105 ; Ridolfi, Mar. i.
284 ; and the Guides of Selvatico
and Zanotto.
X Boschini, Miniere, Preface.
VOL. II. I I
482
TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX,
qualities wliicli Boscliini detected in these pieces
were such as Francesco could only display when in
company or in partnership with his abler and more
gifted brother.* He certainly never improved after
he left Venice for Cadore ; and of all the pictures
attributable to him in Cadorine or Bellunese churches^
none equal in power those of San Salvatore ; as the-
list which follows will sufficiently show.
Fonzaso near Belluno : Casa Ponte. — " The Nativity ; "
canvas, with figures under life size. The infant Christ lies
on a cushion in the middle of the foreground, adored by
the Virgin (right), St. Joseph (in rear), and two shepherds
(left) . In a hut to the right are the ox and the ass ; and in
the sky above a landscape. Three angels sing " Gloria in
excelsis." Very little of the original surface in this canvas
remains free from repaints. Ticozzi assigns it to Titian
(Vec. pp. 73 — 5), but Count Florio Miari, in the Dizionario-
Bellunese (4to, Belluno, 1843, p. 143), affirms that it is by
Francesco, and in this he receives confirmation from records
discovered by Doglioni. (Compare Lanzi, Roscoe's transla-
tion, Bohn's ed. 1847, ii. 167.) The picture was originally
painted for San Giuseppe of Belluno, a church suppressed
in 1806. (Miari, u. s.) It is a Titianesque creation, which is
* The best of these four can-
vases is that of St. Theodore, who
stands in armour, lance in hand,
before the prostrate dragon, in
front of a temple ; an angel of
Titianesque type, but heavier in
shape and more rotund than
Titian's, flying in the air and
carrying a palm leaf. The op-
posite canvas represents St. Au-
gustin reading from a book held
■up to him by a priest, in front of
two kneeling canons. Here again
"we see Titian's feeling in the
execution, but the canvas is-
heavily repainted. Worse pre-
served, and more seriously da-
maged by re-touching, are the-
' ' Transfiguration " and ' ' Eesur-
rection," where, however, the-
weight and unwieldiness of the
figures are more striking than
ever. So far as one can judge of
colour dimmed by time, varnish,
and suj^erposed pigment, it was
deep, but rather sharp than glow-
ing. The shadows particularly-
are verv dark.
Chap. IX.] FILVNCESCO VECELLI. 4S3
all that can now lie said of it. A small copy called an
original sketch, as much repainted as the altar-piece itself, is
shown in the Casa Par]:ani at Belluno.
Berlin Museum, No. 173. — Arched panel with figures of
life size (8 ft. ".» h.. hy 4 ft. 9^), representing the Virgin and
Child enthroned in a church, attended l>v St. Peter and
St. Jerom, and two angels on the foot of the throne plaj-ing
the ^iol and tambourine. This picture was once in Santa
Croce of lielluno (Doglioni, Notizie di I^elluno, 8vo, Belluno,
181G, p. 3() : Miari. //. .v. 141, and Cadorin, Dello Amore,
p. 61), and was bought hy Mr. Solly. It is remarkable for the
short stature of the ligures. and their coarseness of type. The
execution is Titianesijue, but not of a high class, and it is
probable that Francesco was assisted in his labours by a
lielluuese artist, such as Francesco degli Stefani. The altar-
piece is injured by restoring, and this is particularly the case
with regard to the figure of St. Peter. The colour of the flesh
tint is uniform and Hushed with red. The drawing and
chiaroscuro are alike defective. The church of Santa Croce
was suppressed in 180(3, and subsequently demolished.
Venice Anidemi/, No. 41G. — "Rest during the Flight into
Egyjit ; " canvas, m. 1.00 b. by 1.51. The Virgin Mary
sits with the infant Christ on her lap in a hilly landscape ;
near her, likewise seated, is St. John the l^aptist, and in the
distance St. Joseph with the ass. If this be a genuine
canvas by Francesco, of which one can hardly give a decided
opinion on account of repainting, it is beneath his usual level.
(Jrin(i(> CJiurch. — Canvas, originally arched, now enlarged
to a rectangle. Christ as a gardener appears to the ]\Iagdalen.
An angel leans on the side of the sepulchre, out of which
another angel is leaping. The best part of the picture, and
that most like Francesco, is the kneeling INIagdalcn in profile.
The Saviour to the left is long, lean, and false in action.
The angels are heavy and grotesque. The whole piece
makes the impression of a work of the close of the Kith
centuiy, but this may be due to the spotty and daubed
condition of the surface. (Ilidolfi, Mar. i. 285.)
Modena GdJlcrij, No. 133. — Half-length on canvas of a
J I 2
484 TITL4N: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
bearded man in a brown cap and black pelisse with a fur
collar. His left band on a parapet in front grasps a glove.
Tbis picture was doubtless a fine one before it was injured by
repainting. It is quite in the feeling of Titian's school, and
may well be by the artist to whom it is assigned. It may be
tha^ this is the portrait described by Ticozzi (Vecelli, p. 262)
as a portrait of "a Duke of Urbino " once in possession of
the Marquis Antaldi at Pesaro. (Size, m. 6.80 h. by 0.67.)
Dresden Museum, No. 239. — " Pilate presents Christ to
the people;" canvas, 3ft. h. by 2 ft. 0^. Christ with his
arms bound is seen to the hips in front of Pilate, who stands
in a red cap and dress to the right, whilst the gaoler to the
left raises the Saviour's dress and gives him a reed. This
picture, of the 17th century, is similar to one at Hampton
Court, copied, with the exception of one figure in the right-
hand foreground, from a canvas of Titian at Madrid.
Venice : SS. Ermagora e Fortunato. — Christ with the
orb, on a pedestal between St. Andrew and St. Catherine.
This panel, ascribed to Titian (see aiitca), may be a work of
Francesco Vecelli's youth. But it also recalls the manner of
Santo Zago.
Vicenza Gallery. — " Virgin and Child;" half-length of life
size. This panel, ascribed to Titian, is executed with
decisive but neglectful ease, and produces the impression of
an early work by Francesco Vecelli.
Titian, towards the close of a long and glorious life,
disposed of almost all he possessed in favour of Orazio
Vecelli, his second and favourite son. But Orazio
survived his father's death by a few months only, and
died in 1576 at the plague lazaretto in Venice
without distinguishing himself as an independent
artist.* We saw how constantly he served as Titian's
assistant. When he painted pictures w^iich passed
* See antea, and Cadorin, Dello Amore, 55.
CiiAi-. IX.] OE.VZIO A'ECELLI. 485
into circulation as his own lie no doubt had advice
and help from his father in producing them. In
every case it was Titian wlio gave life and breath to
the clay kneaded by his son. It was commonly
asserted in I.jGG that the "Battle of C'astel Sant'
Angelo " composed for the Hall of Council in competi-
tion with Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese by Orazio,
*' was done with the assistance of Titian."* Numerous
works of less compass were probably ushered into the
world under simihir conditions ; and it is a melan-
choly confession to make — we fail to distinguish the
work of Drazio from that of the school generally, and
can only suggest that where the style of Titian is not
strongly impresscfl on })icturi's of a Titianestjue
character, we have to jtresunie the co-operation of
Orazio, thoujjh we cannot atlirm that he was not
assisted or even superseded on occasion by Girolamo
di Titiano, Cesare or Marco Vecelli.
The only pictures iu existence, the authorship of which is
undoubtedly assignable to Orazio Vecelli, are the shutters of
the altar iu 8au ]:5ia<,'io of Calalzo near Cadore, a set of
canvases painted on both sides with figures of Sts. Peter,
Paul, Vitus, and Anthony the abbot, backed by the four
subjects of the Annunciation, Circumcision, Nativity, and
Epiphany. None of these pieces are free from extensive
abrasions and ovei-painting, but such as they are, they show a
regular but formal and lifeless style of composition, whilst
they display defective modelling, inequality of balance in
light and shade, and absence of transitions. It is curious to
obseiTC that in spite of these drawbacks the pictures have a
• Vasari, xi. '.i22-'<i. Lorenzi, p. 320. The picture perished in the
fire of 1 .577.
486 TITL\N: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. IX.
Titianesque air ; but this only proves that Orazio, who must
have been familiar with every turn of Titian's thought and
every trick of his brush, was in practice unable to use any of
his advantages. In the "Annunciation " we see Mary turned
to the right and Imeeling at a desk, but twisting round to
look up at the angel flying down from the clouds to the left.
Behind this subject is a fine St. Peter. The " Circum-
cision " is a composition of six figures, with the Virgin to the
right, Simeon to the left, St. Joseph in rear, between both ;
the infant, a coarse and heavy nude. St. Anthony is at the
back of the canvas. Similar heaviness of shape is apparent
in the "Epiphany," where the king kneels to the right and the
Virgin sits to the left with the infant on her knee, and in the
"Nativity," where the child lies on the foreground to the left.
Behind the "Epiphany" is St. Vitus. Most of the drapery in
all the canvases is repainted. Orazio's receipt for payment
is dated February 4, 1566.*
As a portrait painter at Rome, Orazio was praised by
Vasari.f A specimen of his art in this branch is to be found
in an altar-piece representing the Virgin adoring the child on
her Imees, in the church of Sorisole near Bergamo. At the
sides of this picture there are half-length portraits of the Doge
Lorenzo Priuli and his wife Zilia Dandola, the Doge Girolamo
Priuli, and an unknown member of the Priuli family whose
initials are "Pz.P." carrying a compass and square in his hand.
Girolamo Priuli succeeded his brother Lorenzo as Doge in
1559, and died in 1567 ; and one of the portraits must for
that reason have been executed after 1559 ; yet on a tablet
above the Madonna we read the words: "op. or. v. 1556." J
It may be that the portraits were taken at difi'erent periods.
In any case the canvas is a school piece with every evidence
of being by a disciple in Titian's workshop — a disciple who
lacks neither skill nor individuality, but who certainly has
neither the spirit nor the power of Titian himself.
At Vienna, we find a portrait assigned to Orazio represen-
* Jacobi MS.
f Vasari, xiii. 36.
J Itmaybethatthisinscriiitioii
is more iq( dein than the picture.
<:n.\p. IX.] CES.\JIE YECELLI. 487
ting a bearded man in a black cap and pelisse, with the
thumb of his left hand in his belt, and his right on a paper
lying on a table. On the brown background we read : " 1538
NATvs AXNOS 35." It is sufficient to recall the fact that
Orazio Yecelli was a schoolboy in 1534,* and could not paint
a picture four years later which displays mature if not ex-
traordinary power. The Virgin adoring the infant Christ,
whose foot the boy Baptist kisses, whilst an angel supports
it on Mary's lap, is a picture attributed to Orazio at Alnwick.
The original of this composition in the Borghcse Palace at
Rome is apparently by some transalpine student of late
Venetian art.
Conte Vecelli, gi-audfather of Titian, had a In-other
named Antonio, whose son Ettore was tlie father of
Cei=?are Veeelli, the painter. Cesare Vecelli was a
native of Cadore.+ Accordini;^ to the death re<]jister
of San Moisc, at V^eniee, he died on the 2nd of March,
Kjui, at the age of eighty,J and we infer from this that
he was twenty-seven years old when he attended Titian
at Augsliuro-, in l.")48. The baptismal register of San
jNIoise contains the names of Cesare's children, born in
1.579 and 1590, Titian-Fabrizio and Cecilia, by Lam-a
^loro, niece of Piero Moro, " scudiere " or " donzello "
{es(pure) of the Doge Alvise Mocenigo. A letter
from Piero Moro, addressed to " liis nephew " at
Cadore, on the 3rd of October, 1570, shows that
Cesare lived habitually in his uncle's house at
Venice. §
* Soo Titian to Veudranio, iu | J Cicogna, Isc. Ven. vi. 887.
Ticozzi, Vecelli, u. s., p. ;JOS. § lb., and registry of San
t Piero Moro to Cesare Ve- Moisc', in a letter from Abate
colli, from Venice, Oct. ;J, 1570, Cadorin to Dr. T. Jacobi, in MS.
in MS. Jacobi of Cadore. I Jacobi at Cadore.
488 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
The earliest record of Cesare Yecelli's practice is a ducal
privilege giving him the monopoly of the issue of a print of
the " Adoration of the name of Jesus," on the 28tli of October,
1575.* The next is an authentic proof of his activity as a
monumental draughtsman, in a series of paintings in the
parish church of Lentiai, between Belluno and Feltre, where
a panelled ceiling is covered with twenty episodes of the life
of the Yirgin certified in one place (the Presentation in the
Temple) with the name " CiESAK vecelivs," and in another
Tvith the following inscription : "c^sar vecell, pinxit et ia^*^'
coNSTANTiNi iwENis D. c. 1578." Cesare also covered the
ribbings of the panelling with gospel subjects in monochrome,
— all of which is in part abraded, in part injured by time,
neglect, and retouching. The most notable features in these
compositions is a general appropriateness of distribution of
groups, and of figures, and good perspective lines. The
human form is always cast in a large, muscular, and fleshy
mould which produces an exaggerated impression of weight
and herculean strength. The handling is rapid and bold, the
pigment copious, the flesli tint deep in tone and relieved with
dark shadow remijiiscent of Schiavone and Tintoretto rather
than of Titian. Cesare was clearly a man of great skill who
stood in the same relation to Titian as Giulio Romano stood
to Raphael. He was an enterprising yet on the whole a shallow
disciple of a great master. In an earlier form than that
which distinguishes the ceiling pieces of the church of Lentiai,.
Cesare, in conjunction perhaps with other artists of the
following of Titian, probably helped to execute one or two of
the vrorks of art which decorate the church in question, and
principally the pictures of the high altar, still assigned to
Titian, which hang in one frame on the walls of the choir-
Here we have the Assumption of the Yirgin on lines
similar to those of Titian's great composition in the cathedral
of Yerona, a Christ in the tomb supported by two angels,
reminiscent of the same subject in the church of Sedico, and
figures in full and half length of several saints, amongst which
* In full in MS. Jacobi of Cadore.
Chap. IX.] CESAEE YECELLI. 489
we note, iu the tirst class, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John Evan-
gelist, and a bishop, iu the second, St. George, St. Anthony,
St. Mary ^lagdalen, and a female with the palm and crown
of martyrdom. The date of the transfer of these pieces to their
present position is given in an inscription on a framing of the
period : " ad. mdcclxxxxiv." The canvases are all so rotten
as to threaten the very existence of the pigment upon them.
But enough is visible to show that the treatment is Titian-
esque, though made up of various elements suggesting recol-
lections of Francesco, Marco, and Ccsare Vccelli. In almost
all the tigures we shall notice energetic character, bold move-
ment, and varied expression, combined with shape of a large
and tleshy kind ; — work tolling of Titian's intervention iu the
execution, if not directly, at any rate indirectly by means of
assistants, at whose head Cesare Vecelli may have been.
Another large canvas in the same editice, " Christ supported
in death by ihv ^larys," bears the initials of Cesare C. V. P.
with the addition: "refeclvto sotto il s'' anduea cristixi."
Though in u very bad state it leads to a natural inquiry
whether Cesare was not at some period of his life under the
influence of the school of Parmegianino, to which Schiavone
at one time was so partial. Judging from these productions as
the result of a series of visits of Cesare Vecelli to Lentiai
between 1552 and 1578, wo become very fairly acquainted
with his style ; and venture to assign to him several pictures,
of which it will be sufficient to give the locality, the subject,
and the probable dates.
Candide in Cadorc. — The parish church of this village
boasts of an altar-piece assigned to Titian, representing the
Virgin enthroned with the infant Christ in benediction on
her knee. A yellow damask curtain behind the throne in-
tercepts the sky and a landscape of hills. On the marble
floor at the Virgin's feet an angel plays the tambourine. On
side canvases are the figures of St. John the Baptist and St.
Andrew, both about a quarter of the size of life, and in a very
bad state of preservation. Though it has become dark from
restoring and old varnish (the sky, the curtain, the Virgin's
490 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX.
mantle and the tambourine being daubed with new paint) the
Madonna of Candide gives a fair idea of what Cesare Vecelli's
art may have been in its first development. It combines the
weight of Pordenone with Titianesque contours, but displays
coarse types and a certain crude depth of colour which points
to an artist who strove to imitate Titian's tone without apply-
ing Titian's subtle method of producing it. It appears from
the papers of the notary Bartolo Gera Doriga at Candide
that the picture was purchased at Conegliano in 1649 for 435
ducats from " Signer Zuane Pigatto, a carver."
Verona Museum, No. 450. — An illustration of the form
observed in the altar-piece of Candide may be found in a
picture in this museum, of the Virgin adoring the infant
Christ on her knees, whilst the boy Baptist leads his lamb to
her presence. The scene here is laid in a rich landscape of
wood and hills. This graceful piece, with figures half the
size of life, was attributed to Titian by Dr. Bernasconi, who
bequeathed it to the gallery of Verona. But it is at best a
fair example of Cesare, a low toned and somewhat crudely
coloured canvas in fair preservation. (Photograph by Naya.)
Padua Maldura Coll. — The Virgin, half length, holds the
infant Christ recumbent on her lap. A green curtain behind
her conceals in part the distance of sky and landscape. This
canvas is attributed to Titian, and though repainted in several
places, still shows a certain richness of tone. But the puffy
outline and uniform flesh tint point to Cesare Vecelli, and
the di'apery is quite too conventional for any but a pupil of
Titian.
Vienna Gallery. — The "Epiphany"; panel, 1ft. 10 h. by
1 ft. 6, under Titian's name. The Virgin Mary sits to the
right under the shade of a penthouse attended by St. Joseph.
The infant Christ on her knee gives the blessing to one of
the kings prostrate before him. To the left are the two com-
panion kings with their suite on the foreground of an Alpine
landscape enlivened by a calvacade of knights. The realism
which characterises this piece is akin to that of Titian's old
age, or to that of Paolo Veronese or the Bassanos. The
treatment is rapid and effective, the colours being laid on with
Cir-vr. IX.] CESARE ^-ECELLT. 491
deep toned unctuous pigments, and effect being given at last
by strongly picked out lights. (Engraved in Teniers' Gallery
work.) Dr. Waagen, it may be observed (Vornebmste Kunst-
denkmiiler in Wien, p. 211) follows Kraft't (Hist. Kritiscb.
Catalog) in tbinkiug tbat tins panel is a copy from '" Titian's
altar-piece at Bt'lluno." But it is probably tbc original sketch
by Cesaro for the altar-piece of Belluno.
Belluno: S. Strfdiio. — Arched canvas with figures of Hfe
size ; the; subject is an exact counterpart of that in the sketch
at Vienna. The landscape is a view of the Alps as seen from
the military hospital or Casa dei (xesuiti at Belluno, and the
arras of the families of Piloni and Persicini are on scutcheons
at the corners of the foreground. Tlic ])icture is disfigured
by extensive repaints, but amidst the patches of daubing some
fragments of tlie original painting are apparent which point
to the technical handling of Cesaro Voci-lli. Nor is there any
reason why he should not have painted the picture, which
Giorgio Piloni (Hist, di Belluno, 4to, Venice, IHOT, p. 1C)[) and
Ticozzi (Vecelli, ]). 1)8) assign to Titian, since he says himself
in his work on costume tbat he was well acquainted with the
family of the Piloni, with whom be lived for some years,
having written his book at Casteldardo, their country seat
near Jielluno. Is it necessary to recapitulate the features of
Cesare's style which are apparent here? — the large fleshy forms,
the brown-tinged flesh tints, and dark alu-upt shadows, the
defective modelling and absence of transitions. A small copy
of the altarpiece is called a " Sketch by Titian" in the Casa
Pagani at Belluno; together with this is a copy of the "Pieta"
on the altar-piece of Lentiai.
Casteldardo : V'dhi of tJie Piloni fa mill/ near Belluno. —
Portrait of an old man with a grey beard in a dark dress
with a white frill, seated near a windoAv, inscribed in the
right hand corner " odoricivs tilonvs i. v. [juris utriusque]
ASCKSSOR ET ANTiQV.viuvs." This fine portrait is executed
with great freedom in the style of Tintoretto or of Titian in
his old age. It represents Oderico at about 70 years of age,
and as he was born in 1503, its date would be 1573. (Genea-
logical tree of the Piloni, and registers of the cathedral of
492 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES. [Chap. IX.
Belluuo, examined for the authors by Professor D. Francesco
Pellegrini of Belluno.-) The flesh tints are of a low brownish
tinge, but spare in ijigment, defective in modelling, in fact,
in the style of Cesare Vecelli. The hand is injured by scaling;
and part of the canvas was folded back on a new framing
so as to conceal some of the letters of the inscription. A
counterpart of this portrait will be found catalogued as a like-
ness of Bramante by Titian in the North wick collection.
]3ut in the Northwick example, which is also by Cesare,
Oderico is not so old as at Casteldardo. In this villa again
two fragments of fresco are presented, heads of boys aged six
and eight respectively. They are portraits, probably by
Cesare, of Cesar and Scipio Piloni, of which there are
likenesses in oil in the Casa Agosti, and Casa Pagani at
Belluno.
Belluno: Casa Pagani. — Portrait of a boy on panel, three
quarters to the left, bust, inscribed antonivs an. xiiii. D". of
a boy on canvas three quarters to the right : ' ' ioan*^^ maria.
AN. X." D". of a boy full face : " scipio. an. viii." (From the
tree of the Piloni family and notices of Professor Pellegrini,
«.. s.) These busts must all have been done for Oderico Piloni,
the children's father, in 1552. They are injured here and there
by abrasion, but painted carefully and minutely in a warm
rosy flesh tone, but not without meaningless uniformity*
Though assigned to Titian, they are far beneath his powers,
especially at the period above indicated. In the same style
two other portraits of the series are in —
Belluno: Casa Agosti. — Bust on canvas, full face, inscribed
"PAVLVS AN. iiii." and Cesare in profile: " a^SAR. an. vi.''
The probable author of these works is Cesare Vecelli, who is
likewise to be considered the painter of a fresco of the Rape
of the Sabine Women, of which a fragment is preserved — a
head of a female of life size, three quarters to the right, look-
ing up — in Casa Piloni at Belluno. We may add to the list
of Cesare 's works the following :
Cedola, nearBelluno: Parish Church. — The Virgin and Child
enthroned between St. John Evangelist and St. Jerom, with
two boy angels on the step of the throne, inscribed : " c.^sar
Cn.vp. IX.] FABEIZIO ^TICELLI. 493
VECELrv'S F. 1581." Canvas with figures of life size. — Two
an<,'els iu prayer are flying at the sides of the throne.
Tai : S. CinuUdo. — Virgin and child enthroned hetwecn
St. Candidus and St. Oswald ; an angel playing an instrument
at the foot of the throne ; inscrihed : " c.t.s. vec. f." — Figure
of St. Apollonia inscrilied : " s. roLOXiA. ora. pro. no. 1582
c. V. F." St. Maurice inscribed : " s. mavritio ora pro so. cjf.s.
V. F."
But even such curt notices as these would take up too much
space, and it will be enough to mark as work of Cesare the
following : VinKjo. — Virgin and Child between St. Anthony
and St. Margaret. Ctistiotis Church. — The Assumption, in-
scribed on the canvas folded beneath a lU'W framing with the
date of 1585. lielluno : S. linccn. — The same subject as at
Castions, in the same form. Ca.^tel Colalto. — Fragment of
portraits in fresco, from the canonry of Castions. (See antea, p.
435.) Jidluno CathedrnL — The Virgin in (ilmy. with the
Podesta Giovanni Loredano kneeling on the foreground before
St. Sebastian, St. Gregory the Great, and another saint — an
altar-piece proved by local records tohave been executed in 1584.
lielluno: San Stcfano. — Meeting of Abraham andMelchizedek.
Ccneda Cathedral. — Virgin and Child enthroned between St.
Roch antl St. Sebastian, with a kneeling patron in front to
the right, who is supposed to be one of the Sarcinelli related
by marriage to Titian. Cadorc: Picve. — Organ shutters with
the Annunciation, St. Peter, and St. Paul. The "Last Supper"
of 1585, 14 ft. G h. by 14 br., on the lines of Titian's " Cena" at
the Escorial. The Virgin and Child with St. Mark, and
allegorical figures, emblematic of Venice and Cadore, 1599.
Padola CJiurch. — Pope Sylvester.
In 1579, Cesare Vecelli christened his second son Titiano
Fabrizio, after his teacher Titian and his brother Fabrizio.
Fabrizio was a painter whose death, as proved by notarial
records (MS. Jacobi of Cadore), occurred in Venice in 1576.
lie left but one picture behind, which shows the degeneracy
of his race. It represents allegorically Justice, ]\Iercy, and
494 TITIiiX: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. [Chap. IX,
Virtue, and was painted in 1542 for the Comuue of Cadorc,
where it still remains. There is hardly a reminiscence of the
Titianesque in this feehle work, the style of which we trace in
pictures scattered about in Cadoriue churches, i. c, the
Eternal, St. Lucy, and St. Apollonia, in San Kocco of Perarolo,
the Assunta, a single figure of the Virgin, in a choir of
cherubs in Sant' Orsola of Vigo.
The best artist of the name of Vecelli, after Cesarc, is
Marco, the son of Titian's cousin and bosom friend, Toma
Tito Vecelli. Marco is said to have been bom in 1545, and
to have died in 1611.* He was assistant to Titian in his
old age, and acquired the style of his master at that period,
which he varied with imitation of Orazio Vecelli. His Avorks
after Titian's death are so numerous that a fair description of
them would require considerable space. But of this they
are certainly unworthy. The earliest composition certified by
his name, and accompanied by a date, is the " Virgin in Glory"
with St. Anthony, attended by St. Lucy and St. Agatha, in
the Chiesa di Cristo at Pieve di Cadore, ordered in 1584, and
paid with 31 lire. (MS. Jacobi.) The latest is the " Martyr-
dom of St. Catherine" of 1G08 in the choir of the church
of Pieve. But the best is the votive " Madonna " of the Doge
Leonardo Donato (1606 — 11), in the Sala della Bussola in
the public palace at Venice, and the " Charity of St. John the
Almsgiver," with a portrait of Doge Donate, in San Giovanni
Elemosinario at Venice. It may suffice, to characterise
Marco's style, to say that it has some of the elements peculiar
to Andrea Schiavone and Palma Giovine, though it is inferior
to both.
The last descendants of the Vecelli family who cultivated art
are Tizianello, the son of Marco, whose edition of Titian's life
by an anonymous writer has been often quoted in these pages.
and Tommaso, who was Tizianello's cousin, having been the
* Eidolfi, Mar. ii. 342 ; Ticozzi, Vecelli, 289-96.
CuAP. IX.] TOMINLVSO ^^ECELLI. 495
son of Marco's brother Graziano. The contribntions of both
these painters to the art of their country' are too uninteresting
to be noticed. It is only necegsary to saj' that Tizianello was
sentenced to two years' imprisonment by the Inquisition in
1635, and was still living when Kidolii wrote his Maraviglie
in 164G *
Tommaso Vecelli was born at Pieve di Cadore on the 14th
of December, 1587. One of his pictures in the Pieve of
Lozzo in Cadore, a "Last Supper," is inscribed ^Nith his name
and dated 1G19.
♦ See Cicogna, Isc. Yen. vi. OJl ; and Eidolfi, Maniv. ii. 343.
APPENDIX.
[UiipubliKlied.] ir)37, 3 Settembre.
Benkdetto Agnello al Duca Federico Gonzaga.
M. Ticiano in' ha detto che fra otto di alia pii'i lunga mi dara tre
<liiadri ilc imjteratori da niandare a V. E. et che andara drieto finendo
jjdi idtri, quali promette di dare molto presto.
Venetia, 3 Settembre, 1537.
(Copied by Canon Bi-aghirolli in the Archives of Mantua.)
[Unpublished.] 1537, 9 Settembre.
Benedetto Agnello al Duca Federico Gonzaga.
Ho visti) li trt' <(ua(lri de imperatori che fa M. Ticiano, li quali sono
molto belli et in terminu che penso poterli mandare a V. E. fra sei over
otto di.
Venetia, alii 9 Settembre, 1537.
(Copied by Canon BraghiroUi in the Archives of Mantua.)
lUnpuhlished.] 1538, 13 Agosto.
Il Duca Federico Gonzaga a Benedetto Agnello.
Vi diciamo che dobbiati far intendere a Titiano per parte nostra che
noi siamo per parti rsi per Casale al principio di Settembre, et sel
potesse venire inanti la partita nostra con li quadri delli Imperatori, mi
saria di graiidissima soddisfazione, e lo vederessimo volontieri quand
'anco non gli havessi comoditii, forse perche li f[uadri non fossero forniti
al tempo detto, di venirci, che alnu-nci usi ogni sollecitudine accio che
alia tornata nostra tutti siano forniti.
Mantue, alH 13 Agosto, 1538.
(Copied by Canon BraghiroUi in the Archives of Mantua.)
VOL. II, K K
498 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
[Unpubluhed.] 1538, 23 Agosto.
Bknedetto Agnello al Duca Federico Gonzaga.
Ho detto a M. Ticiano quanto la E. V. m' ha fatto scrivere de li
Im])eratori ; egli dice che non attenderii ad altro et che saranno finiti al
ritorno di V. E. di Casale.
Perche altre volte V. E. cercava di havere im ritratto del signer
Tiirco, ho voliito dirli che M. Ticiano hora n' ha fatto uno cavato se non
me inganno da ima medaglia et da un altro ritratto, qual si dice di
iiiolti che sono stati a Costantinopoli esser tanto simile al natnrale, che
pare il medesimo Turco vivo, pcro volendone V. E. uno la me ne fara
dar aviso che M. Ticiano ha detto che lo fara subito.
Venetia, 23 Agosto, 1538.
(Copied by Canon Braghirolli in the Archives of INIantua.)
[Un2mblished.] 1538, 27 Agosto.
Il Duca Federico Gonzaga a Benedetto Agnello.
Non mancate di sollicitar presso a Tiziano li nostri quadri, et di piii
pregatilo per parte nostra a fame \in retratto del Tnrco, come il se vi
ha oflerto di fare, che 1' haverenio gratissimo.
Mantue, 27 Augusti, 1538.
(Copied by Canon Braghirolli in tlie Archives of Mantua.)
[Unimhlished.] 1538, 3 Settembre.
Benedetto Agnello al Duca Federico Gonzaga.
Ho fatto intendere a M. Ticiano quanto la E. V. m' ha fatta scrivere
delli Imperatori e del ritratto del Turco ; egli dice che non mancara,
ma che volendo V. E. esser ben servita bisogna che la faccia a quello da
la pensione che non gli dia molestia, perche ogni di lo fastidisce con
lettere domandandogli denari, et che per non haver modo de pagarlo,
tanto e il fastidio che ne ha che non puo operar cosa che li stii bene.
Venetia, 3 Settembre, 1538.
(Copied by Canon BraghiroUi in the Archives of Mantua.)
[Un^nMished.] 1538, IS Settembre.
Benedetto Agnello al Duca Federico Gonzaga.
M. Ticiano ha in bonissimo essere il ritratto del Turco, et da
speranza de finir anche presto li quadri di Imperatori, ma dubito che la
APPENDIX. 499
cosa andra piii in longo Ji quel che egli dice ; la causa e che il signor
Duca d'Urbino lo mena seco a Pesaro, ove S. E., dice di voler audar
que-sta settimana ad ogni raodo.
Venetia, 18 Settembre, 1538.
(Coi>it'd by Canon BraghiroUi in the Archives of Mantua.)
[Unjnifilisheil.] l.')38, 20 Settembre.
If. Duca Federico Goxzaga a Benedetto Agxello.
Ni ac'ria grato d' aver pn-.-^to il ritratto del Turco che fa Tiziaiio, e
peri) soUicitatelo. ne disi)iace ben che ne sia interotta I'opera delli nostri
iinporatori e pen') parendovi coUecitarli pres.-<o al predetto Tiziano inanti
.>«i i>arti.
Mantue, 2i) Ottol>re, 153S.
(Copied by Ciinon P.rnghirolli in tlie Aichivis of Mantua.)
[UtipnUishai] .")th .TiuiL', l.'}42.
Adi .') Ziigno 1542, Vexezia.
lo Titian VfciUio ho ricei)uto dix la niagnificenzia di Ms. Donienego
Justinian p nonn- it. S. Comunita Ducati diuse a lire sei e soldi (|uattro
P ducato p capara di far una palla p la gesia nova d Serravalle.
(Copied from the original in the Archives of Senavalle.)
[Unpublished.'] 23rd Oct. 1542.
Titiano at, Podesta di Serravai.le.
MA(i<^'' et Cl«" Sig",— Jo disidcro suinamcnte servire vril ]\rag''" et
quosta Sp'^ Comunita circha la pala gli iinpromossi e al iircsL'ute in buon
termine del modello, se (picllo non mancheni de [illegible] conoscerette
co' 1' effetto V affetione et amore gli porto, et essendo el spatio di d" pala
troppo grande, jo gli voria far un fornimento attorno di mezzo pie p
bada come e qui di sotto. V" Sig" adoni[. mi rescrivoru el suo parere.
Di Venm:/ia, alii xxiii Ottubrio, moxlii.
Di y. S. Titiano.
[( >n the back of the sheet is a drawing of the area of the altar-piece.]
(Copied fii'in tlie original in the Archives of Serravalle.)
K K 2
500 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES.
[Unpublished.] 1542, Venice.
M° Titiano "VeceUi pictore in Venezia A havere per la pictura d' una
Pala da esser da lui fatta come consta p iino scritto sopra cio fabricato
Due. dosento ciuquantada essergli dati in li ter"' infiasti . . . [illefj;il)l(']
due. 50, et iinita I'opera due. 50, et il resto L 200 al anno alu feste de la
S* Pasqua d la Resurezione come in ditto scritto se contiene. Yal.
1. 1550.
M" Tizian VeceUi Pictore effa D.D. adi 13 9^''", 1542 per conto in
la Ostaria di L. Zuan Batta Franzaso . . . due. cinquanta Val. 1. 310.
(Copied from the original in the Aixhives of Serravalle.) See 1548.
\_Unpublislied.'] 1544-75, Castel Roganzuolo.
[The following Memoranda were made for Dr. Taddeo Jacobi, of
Cadore, by Gio. Antonio Nicolai, curate of Domegge, after an examina-
tion of the parish registers of Castel Roganzuolo. But it is necessary to
state that Beltrame (Tiziano Vecellio, u. s., pp. 48 & 66) disputes the
correctness of the earliest of these dates, and states that the contract is
of 1549, and the price 100, and not 200 ducats,
1544. Titian contracts to paint an altar-piece in three parts for 200
ducats, and finished it in September of the same year, without asking
for any earnest of payment. [The contract gives no instructions as to
subject, as might be inferred from Ciani, Storia del Popolo Cadorino, ii.
324].
1546. A deed Avas signed by which the Fabbriceria admits its
indebtedness, and binds itself to liquidate in eight successive years, by
delivering annually 5 measures (stara) of wheat at the price of Lire 8
per staro, and 16 measures (conzuoli) of wine at the rate of Lire 55 per
measure. The Fabbriceria also undertakes to carry stones "of Fre-
gona," for the building of the Casino planned by Titian in Col di
Manza, and furnish manual labour at the rate of 4 soldi per man jier
diem. The account closed at the expiration of the time, leaving the
Fabbriceria still in debt to the amount of 26 lire, which were jmid in
cash. The following entries are from the books of the Fabbriceria : — ]
Page 59. " Noto fazo io Celso S. Fiore como in questo giomo che
sono adi 13 Marzo, 1555. Mg. Tician Vicelio a fatto saldo co' il Zurado
de Castel, Zandomenego barazuol, Dona barazuol, Piero Tomasela
niariga, et altri homini de la villa li quali U restano debitori g conto d
la palla lire dosento e trenta una. Val L. 231
Io Celso soprascritto f. nome d Ms. Ticiano fece il soprascritto saldo
prete.
Page 60 contains all the items of the carriage of 2O0O of bricks, 1000
filabs (tavole), and a cartload of " coluna" (?), all for Lire 46. Further,
APPENDIX. 501
in ifarch, 1557, 333 copi (I) for Lire 10, and Lire 15 lor the carriage of
the same to Col di Manza.
Page 188. Contract of Orazio \'ecellio -with the men of Castel Rogan-
zuolo for a gonfalone, to compiise one tigure on each side, namely,
St. Peter and St. Paul. Paynuiits were to In* made by the signers of
the contract and the priest (pinvani)) ; :2o ducat.s were paid in advance,
and are acknowledged by Orazio. The contract is dated August 10,
1575. No otlier notice of this gonfalone, or its e.xistence, was obtain-
able at Roganzuolo.
Titian, in an income-tax riturn of 1566, notes the possession of ten
fields and a cottage at Col de Manza. (See Cadurin, DuUo Amore, u. s.,
p. ;.i.)
[UnpublUluJ.] 1544, Venice,
[Sinianca-s Estado Leg" N" 131 S, In. 42.]
S. C. Mata_
Al SOr Don Diego di Mendoza hn cunsignato li dui ritrati della
Ser"" Imperatrice, ne i (jualli ho fatto tutta la diligentia che mi e
statta po.ssibile. Haveria voluto portarle jo stes.so se la longheza dil
viag^'io et 1' eta mia nu 1 conceiUs.sen ; prego a V. Ma" mi mandi a dir
li falli et mam lianieiiti, rimandanclomeli in dietro aceio clii li emendi ;
et non consents V. Ma'" ch' un altro mctta la man in essi. Nell resto mi
riporto a ([uello che dira il S"' Don die^o circa le cose mie, et basciando
imhinevolmenti li piedi et man della Ma" V. nella bu[L']ona gratia di
cs3a huniiliiiente mi racco''".
Da N'kneha, alii 5 di Ottob. d 1545.*
Humilli-ssimo et pptuo servo della Ma" V".
TiTIANO.
Sobre. Alia S. C. Ma" del Imperador mio Seiior.
Altar-piece of Seiravalle.
[Unpublished.] 1548—1553 [see 1542].
"Di ult" Genaro, 1548. M" Francesco Vecellio f" (fratello) del so-
prascritto M" Ticiano Pic"' da M. Antonio Panzetta Sindico per conto,
ut supra a la presentia del Mag'" Do. Polo P«a Due. 30 v[ale].
L[ire] 186
Como appar nel ricever sul scritto.
• This (late should bo 1544 ; ami 1545 is probably an error of the copyist.
502 TITIAN: HIS LIFE .\XD TIMES.
Adi 9 Marzo, 1548. Ricevete M. Francesco soprascritto del Mag*^"
M. Kiccolo Baldii\, li (jiiali haveva coiitato la Ecc. nob. Dofnco Gins-
tiniuno a conto ut supra Lire cento venti c|uatro, cioe appar in una tra
de man di detto M. Francesco et sottoscritto dal Mag" posta . Lire 124
II d. d. per resto de pivl havuto da Antonio de Marchi, como lui disse,
et appar alia partita del detto Antonio a c[arta] 47 lire diese , Lire 10
II d. d. de 24 April, del 50 per con. dal S' Domcnego Justinian
D° et Sindico appar da suo ricever sottoscritto de nome de D' Francesco
suo fratello in filza, et alia partida di D. I\L Domenego in questo a C.
63 Lire 372
II d. d. del 16 Zugno, 1552, per cons, da M. Anloiiici da Yenezia
Sindico, quali havere M. Celso da Sanlior suo nepote et Procur. de M.
Francesco fratello de detto ^I. Titian, como in la procura appresso de
M. pred" como appar da ricever appresso al pred° M. Antonio in fin del
suo lib" della Sistrada della Fabbric* de S'° Andrea, lire dusento.
Lire 200
D. d. dei 23 Febro, 1553, j? . . . [illegible] ut su})ra li liavuti il
sopranominato M. Celso Procurator ajipar ut sujjra di suo ricever lire
cento et diese . . . L. 110
D. d. Dei 20 Marzo, 1553, per cent, ut supra li havuti il sunominato
M. Celso appar ut supra R"^ Lire trenta otto . . . Lire 38
Sotto il di p° [rimo] Zugno, 1552.
Per concessi per la Sentenza arbitraria nasciuta tra la Spet. Comunita,
et lo Agent, di M. Titian sojuasto como nel Libro a c. 19 . Lire 200
Lire 1550
(Copied from the books of the Church of SerraA'alle for the late
Dr. Taddeo Jacobi of Cadore.)
1548, Ceneda.
CODXT GiROLAMO DELLA ToRRE TO THE CARDINAL OF TrENT,
AT Augsburg.
Illmo Rmo Monsignor mio, —
Havendo io inteso Y. S. Illma esser gia partita di Roma et ritomata
alia Corte di Sua Mta la occasione del lator presente qual e Messer
Titiano Pittore et il primo huomo della Christianita, ho voluto fargli
riverentia con questa mia supplicandola voler havere per raccomandato
il dito ilesser Titiano in tutto quello gli potra far favore, utile et
comedo, lo vogli fare quanto alia persona mia propria, che la mi fark
singiilarissimo piacere. Esso messer Titiano viene de li chiamato da S.
APPENDIX. MS
M*^ per far qualche opera. Altro nou mi resta, salvo raccomandarnu
alia buona gratia cli V. S. Ill"*, supplicandola a volersene servir ili lue
in ogni occorrenza sua cuiue <li uno mininn) servitore.
Di Ceneda il vi Genaro del mxlvhi.
Di V" S. Ill"* e R"-
Servitor, Hieronimo della Torre.
Ab extra. All 111"" et R"" S'* il Si}^' Cardinal cli Trento Sig' mio
osservandissimo.
(Copied from the Colex Mazzettiano, iv. 1306, at Trent, but once
printed in the Calendario Trentino for 1854, by T. Gar and B. Malfatti.)
[Unpuhliihed.] 1548, Inspruck.
Titian to Kino Ferdinand.
6kr'> et poTEN»»f' Re, S"R S"* clementissimo ; Ix-nche vostra Rej^ia
MaestA D. sua rcf,'al bonta me ha fatto },Tatia «lu; del h-gnanie clie io
comduro ju-r aiini tre die del datio me sia rimesso [word illegible here]
cento al imno nou di meno S"' ^^Tatio"" sollicitando <iui la expi-ditiuue
me pareiio <jui li consiglicri de la camera dilficultar la litientia de
tagliare ; in la selva detta mrbolt impero che V. M'" in la dispositione
de la sua aiguoria non ne fa meutione at dicano che la selva sia dedicata
al uso tie le minere, il the mi anno fastidito al(|Uanto iiij)eroche non mi
jiersuadeva die dovessino detti consiglieri re.-istere al online di V.
M^"' tiiito piu the Io non son homo da fame marchantia nia solu per
mio servitinetfabriche et ho servito et servo V. M**' com tanta diligentia
ot fede (|ualle sevi certha in imo sviscerato servitore, et come ben quei^ti
S'' ne possono se vcdeno se dar buona testimonianza si che humilmeute
eupplico V. M'" at cometer che non me enpedistono al tagliar in detta
selva tanto pii\ che altri per il passixto lurno tagliatto tome ben se puol
justifichare et apreso de la quale non sono minere vicine a venti miglia
tedeschi et pii\ et i)uoi facendomi V. M" gratia in cio non li sai-o ingrato
sei-vitore ma me attbrzaro cum tute mie forze et super di recognocela.
Li retrati di le 8er°"= figliole fra duj zorni sarano finite et jo li com-
durt) a Yenetia dove che li tom ogni diligentia et mio saper li forniro et
com presteza mandarli a V. M'" et (piell visti die le arano mi rendendo
zertto che la M^ii V'" mi farano molto mazor gratia che no e questa che
la me anno fatto et a V. M*''^ humilmente me recomando.
De Ispruch ali xx di Otob. de 48.
D. V. :MtA
el fidel Servitor,
Titian o.
504 TITLiN: HIS LIFE AND TMES.
[On tlie margin of this letter is the following partial translation inta
German by one of the secretaries of the King.]
— " imd hab als ain trewer dienner gedient iind noch dienne wie dan
des Si) di heixn Camerrat, wo si wellen, guette Khuiidschafft geben
nnigen. Daraiif siippliciert Er iindterthanigst, di Khu[nigkliche] M'
[Majestat] welle berethen, das Er nit verhindert werde in dem berurten
waldt holtz zu hawen. Sonderlick weill auch andere hievor darin holtz
zu hawen vergundt worden sey. Wie man soliches woll darbringen vnd
justificiren muge, und auch dabei biss in 20 meill wegs khain perckh-
werck sey. Solches welle Er in vndterthenigkeit mit allem vleyss zue
dienen sich befleissen. Di entwerfung der Kliu [nigklichen] M' geliebt-
sten Tochter werde innerhalb zwaien tagen vertig, und Er wels mit gen
7ennedig fueren, daselbst gar fertigen, vnd alsdan auffs peldist Iwev
Khu M' zueschigken und versiht sich, wan Ir Khu M'dieselben besehen,
werden Ime nit allain die sender ain merere gnad gnedigst beweissen."
(From the original, 1867, in possession of ]\Ir. Rudolph Weigel at
Leipzig.]
[ Unpublished. J
1550. Milan Pension.
1550. Ind" viiL 3 Felib" Ferdinandus Gonzaga Caesa* maiestatis
Capitanus gentis et Locumtenens, &c.
Stii Rever. et Mag'^' nobis dilectissimi. Ne tempori defectu No-
bilis Titianus Vecelius cujus est presentibus inserta suplicatio remaneat
privatus benef" Pensionis a Coes* Maiestate ei concessanim (?), eum ad
V03 remittimus, ut ad petendum approbationem memoratorum pri-^nlegio
nunc ipsum admittatis, allegato tempori lapsu non obstante modo earn
intra mensem petat.
In MiLANO alii 3 di Febb° 1550.
Ferdinandus Gonz*, m. p.
V. Taberna, T. Royonos.
Stt° Reverend' et Mag"' D. Presidi et Senatoribus Cesarei Senatus
Mediolani nobis dilectissimis.
(Copied from authentic extracts last in possession of Signor Luigi
Mozzi of Serravalle.)
1550 — 1551, Augsburg.
Armentas de la Casa de D. Phelipe de Austria, Principe de Espana.
" A Tiziano 60 escudos de oro, 19 Dec. 1550.
" A Tiziano Yezelli pintor 200 due. de Merced 6 hebr. (February)
1551.
APPENDIX. 505
" A Ti9iano Vezelli 30 due. para pagar ciertas colores que se han
traido de Venef;ia para mi semcio 6 hebr. 1551."
(From the Archives of Simanca-, in the Gazette des Beaux Arts for
1869, i. p. 88.)
[UnpMhhed.] 1552, Venice.
[Simancas, Arch. Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to thk Prince of Spain.
MoLTO alto et molto P0DER080 siONORE, — Essendouii nouainente
peruenute alle nmni vna Regina di Persia du la maueraet qualitacom' e
r \v) ininifdiate iudicata degna di coniparere a 1' alta presenza di vostra
Altezza, Et co>i di subito I'lio inuiata a K-i con CDmmissione, sino che
ceitu mie altre opcre si asciuganu, che riverenttiuenle in nonie mio
faccia alcune anibusciate al' Altezza Aostra, acconijiagnando il Paesaggio
et 11 ritratto di S'" Margarita mandatoui per avanti jut il signor Am-
bassiidor Varga.s racomandato al Vescovo Segnvia. Et cosi il nostro
signor Iddio guardi et pros]:K*ri la niolto alta et niolto podorosa iicrsona
e stato di vostra Altezza con ogni felicitii et jjrosperita secondo chel
ileuotissimo penio di vostra Altezza Titiano desidura.
Di Venetia, alii 11 clc Ottnbrio, 1552.
Molto alto et niolto i)odero3o signor
Senio di V. A. die bascia li suoi piedi,
Titiano Vecellio.
[Un'puhlishetL]
Titian (ni<l I'hilii) of Spain, 1553.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1330.]
Titian to the Prince of Spain.
Molto alto et moi.to tutente Skjnor, —
Ebbi la lettera dc V. Altezza de 12 decembre tauto gratiosa et
fauorabile die essendo uecchio mi son ritornato jiouane de modo che V.
Altezza ha fatto miraculo in me, ma non e marauigla ([uando non e
altra cosa il grande essere di vostra Altezza et tutte le sue actione alia
([uale desiderii tanto seniire die per solo (juesto iiavero cara la uita gia
dedicata et consacrata a V. Altezza, et cosi non puo uscir ne per bocca
ne per ctiore senon il grande Filippo mio signor in testimonio dello
quale (interim che metto al online le pocaie) niando ... * V. Altezza
se stesso per uno seruidore del Signor Imbasador Vargas . . . t ha fatto
Here is a rent in the paper. t Rent in the paper.
506 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
con me tanto huon offitio che per <|uesto in.sieiue con li altri tanti
grancli fauori et quelo die Don Giouanni de Benanidos mi scrise bascio
li piedi de V. Altezza la ([ual Dio conserui per intiniti anni, et mi lascia
uedere anzi clie mora.
Di Venetia, a li 23 Marzo, 1553.
Molto alto et molto potente signer Lasia li Piedi de V'*
Altezza suo umile,
TiTIANO.
[On the back of this letter is the following minnte in the hand of
Philip of Spain.]
" Para Italia a 18" de Junio, 1553.
Con Don Antonio de bineros de Madrid.
Respondida.
A Ti^'iano.
Amado y fiel nuestro, —
Con Ortiz criado del embaxador de Venet^'ia icciljimos una carta
Tuestra y el retrato que con el nos embiastes que es como de vue.stra
niano y por el cuydado (|ue tumistes dello os damos muclias gra^ias y
assij podeis tener cierta nostra voluntad para lo que se os offresciere
como es razon."
[Un2}ublished.] 1553, Brussels.
[Simancas, S"" di Estado Leg" 1321, f" 123.]
Charles the Fifth to Francesco Vargas.
Aqui se ha dicho que Ticiano era fallecido, y auncpie no habiandose
despues couiirmado no deue ser assi, todaiiia nos dareis auiso de la
verdad y si ha acabado ciertos retractos que lleuo a cargo de liazer
quando partio de Augusta o los terminos en que los tiene.
De Brusellas, ultimo de Mayo, MDLiij.
[Unjmhh'shed.] 1553, Venice.
[Simancas, S"^ de Estado Leg" 1321, f" 22.]
Francesco Vargas to Charles the Fifth.
Ticiano es vivo y esta bueno y no poco alegre por saber que V. Mg'"*
se acueroa del el me hauia hablado antes del quadro de la Trinidad e yo
solicitadolo y assi eutiende en el y dize que lo dara acabado en todo
Septiembre. Helo uisto y parexeme que sera obra digna del, como lo
es un quadro que tiene ya al cabo para la serenissima Reyna Maria de
la aparicion en el huerto a la Magdalena. El otro quadro dize que es
APPENDIX. o07
una tabla de Nuestra Seuora ygual del ecce homo »|ue V. Mg""* tiene y
que por no liauersele eniljiado el taniauo como se le dixo no esta hecho
que en viniendo \o porua por obra.
Venecia, ultimo de Junio de lo53.
1554, Venice.
Titian to the Duke of Mantua.
Air Eccelh-ntis-simo ed Illustrissimo Signorv e Padrone
niio ortservandissinio,
II Si;,'iinr Duca l)i Mantova.
ECCKLLENTIS.SIMO KU ILLUSTRISSIMO SkJNOR PaPRONE MID OS:>ER-
VANiJi.ssiiio, — Da poi rlie nacqui, die soncj niolto anni, sempre sono
stato servitore dell' Illustrissima (Jasa di V. Ecc, servendola in quello
clie per me si \m!<, e piac<iue, tra gli altri, all' Ecc. del Signer Diua
Federico padre suo mostranni niolti si-gni d' aniore, facendnini tra gli
iiltri grazia del beneticio di S. Maria di Meldule iK-r un inio tigliu, 11
quale, Hicconie io vorrei, mi par non sia molto inclinato ad esser uomo
di Cliieaa, eppero hu pensato di collocare quel beiielicio in persona atta
a reggerl(j ed ofliriarlo con satisfazione di V. Ecc. e mia : e questa e uu
mio nipotc, al cjuale lo daro, avi-ndone la buona grazia di V. Ecc, alia
quale n<in vorrei dispiact-iv in cosa alcuna, e sjueialmente in (juesta
cli' io riconosco ed ho dalla lllustris.s. sua Casa. Eppero supjdico lei a
contentarsi di questa mia delibi-razioiif, tenendomi jut (piell' obligate
servitore die suno stato alii suoi inaggioii, e siiro aiidie a lei lindic avn*
\'it{X. E a quella umihiniite Ijacio la mano, che il Signore Iddio le doni
ogni felicitii.
Di Venezia, alU -Id Aprile, l.")54.
Di V. Ecc.
Devoto Servitore,
TiziANo Vecellio, I'ittore.
(Reprinted from Canon Braghirolli's Lettere Inedite.)
[Unpublished.] 1554, Venice.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 133G. ]
Titian to Charles the Fii"tu.
Sacratissima Cesauka Maesta,—
Mi Fu gia assignato per ordine di V. C. M. una i)i'oui.sione in ^lilano
di ducento V * I'anno et dipoi una tiatta di ga-ani iiel regno di Napoli ;
• Scuti.
50S TITLVN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
nella quale mi trouo hauer speso centenara di scuti in mantenere un
uno homo nel regno ; et nltimaniLaite mi fu concessa una naturalezza in,
ispagna in persona de un niiu ligliuolo di scuti 500 Fanno di pensione le
qual cose tutte non hauendo mai hauuto effetto alcuno per colpa della
mia mala sorte, ho noluto liora dime una parola a V. M. C. con cpiesta
carta sperando cliel liberalissimo animo del maggior Imperator christiano
che fosse mai non vorra patire clie i suoi ordini non siano eseguiti da i
suoi ministri, et per che se tale esecutione hauesse effetto in questo
tempo tornaria in me il beneficio opera di charita trouandomi in qualche
necesita per essere stato infermo et per liauere maritata una mia figliuola ;
ho supplicato la Regina celeste che interceda gratia per me ap])resso di
V. M. C. col ricordo della sua imagine che hora le viene inanzi con
quello addolorato effetto che le ha saputo esprimere nel uolto la qualita
de miei trauagli. Mando anchora a V. C. ]\I. la sua opera della Trinita,
et nel uero se non I'ossero stati i miei trauagli I'havei fornita et mandata
molto jjrima, anchora che pensand(j io di sudisfare a V. M. C. non mi
son curato di guastare due et tre nolte il lauore di molti giomi per
ridurla al termine di mio contento onde iii ho posto piu tempo che non
si conveniva ordinariamente. Se io hauero sodisfatto a V. M. C. mi
terro assai felice, se ancho no la supplico ad accettare lardente mia uolonta
in servii-la, la quale non stima altra gloria in questo mondo che il com-
piacerla : alia quale con tutta la deuotione et humilta del cor mio bascio
la inuittissima mano.
Di Vexetia alii x de Settembre, M.D.Liiij.
II ritratto del Signor Vargas posto nella opera, ho fatto di comando
suo : se non piacera a V. M. C. ogni pittore con due pennellate Io potra
conuertire in altro.
Di V. M. C.
Humilissimo seruo,
TiTiANO, Pittore,
[Uiqyuhlished.] 1554, Venice.
[Suuancas, S"» de Estado Leg" 1322, f" 191.]
Francesco Vargas to Charles the Fifth.
A V. Mg"*, ho embiado los dos quadros grande y pequeiio de Ticiano,
partieron de aqui quatro dias ha. El se ha detenido mucho en hazerlos-
y no es ]3oco hauer hecho con el los acabase pero todo se le ha de j^er-
donar por la voluntad y deseo que tiene de servir a V. Mag**, y bondad
de ellos que cierto el mayor es obra de grande estima. Nuestro seiior la
imperial persona y estado de V. Mag** guarde y prospere por largos-
tiempos con acrescentamientos de mas reynos y senorios.
Di Venecia xv de Octubre, 1554.
APPENDIX. 509
[Unpublished.] 1554, Reggio & S. Andrea del Fabbro.
Precis of a power drawn on the 29th of October, Iml. XII. 15o4, at
Reggio, by the notary Erasmus <[■" Petri Je Burgo, in the house of
Canon P. Fr. Martelli of Reggio, and in the presence of the same as well
as of Signor Paolo 4"' Giovanni de' Bocchiani, citizen of Reggio.
In the terms of this power Signor Nicoh'j Talamin, priest of Reggio
and rector of the parisli cliurch of Sant' Andrea del Fabljio, in tlie
diocese of Treviso, appoints to be his proxy, special, general, and iiTe-
vocable, Signor Tiziano Vecelli, pictor pnedanis, layman, living at
Venice, and then absent, authorizing him to claim all incomings and
returns, present, p;Lst, and future, of the benefice above-named, and
dispose of tlie same at his pleasure, without further accounting for the
i>&nie, and with tlie faculty of transferring his powir to one or more
pro.\ie8, and, in fact, to t;ike the plact- of the original liolder, who pro-
mises .solemnly never to interfere or make any claim whatever. The
power concludes as follows : " Ego Enusmus cj. Dni P'' de Burgo civis
Regis pub S. A. Not. Regiensis suprascr' uibus dum sic agerentur inter-
fici, ea<|. sic fieri villi et audivi, ac rogatus scripsi ; ideo in prrcmis-
8orum fidem hie me subscripsi signumn. meum tabellionatus apposui
consuetum."
This power was read and copied from the registers of Sant' Andrea
del Fabbro for the family of Filomena at Sen-avalle ; the same registers
containing a record of IT).")?, from which it appears that at that date,
Pomponio Vecelli was incumbent of the ])arish. The original precis of
the above-mentioned documents, aa taken from the genuine papers, is
now in possession of Signor Luigi Mozzi of Serravalle.
The following record also gives account of the incumbency of
Pomponio : —
"Estimo di Mestre, 1558, 19 Genu", Villa di Quero (on the Piave,
province of I'cUuno). El I'enef' al prisente posseduto da xMons""' Pom-
ponio i" di M. Titiano e\c° pittore stu nel coitivo ed una casa di muro
coperta di copi."
[Unpid)lishcd.] London, 1554.
[Simancas, S''» de Estado Leg" 1498, i" 17.]
The Prince of Spain to Francesco Vargas.
El quadro de Adonis que acabo Ticiano lia llegado aqui y me paresce
de la pcrficion que dezis aunqiie niuo maltratado de nn doblez que haya
al traues por medio del, el (pial se deuio liazer al cogelle, verse ha el
remedio que tiene los otros quadros que me haze le dad prissa che los
acabe y no me los embieis sino auisadine quando estimieren liechos para
<iue yo OS mande lo que .sc haura de ha/.er dellos.
From London, December G, 1554.
510 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TBIES.
[UnjmUished.] 1555, Adi 20 Marzo, Venice.
Lavinia's Marriage.
Al nome sua cli lo Eterno Iddio et de la Gloriosa Vergine Maria et df
tutta la Corte Celestial, et in buona vent . . .
El se dichiara come in <[uesto giorno si fa fratello et concluso matri-
monio fra il Sp" M. Cornelio, figlio del g-^ M. Marco Sarcinello, Cittadino
Cenetensi subabitanti in Serravalle, da una parte, et la discritta Madonna
Lavinia, fiola del Sp" ]\I. Tiziano Vecellio, pittore di Cadore subabitanti
Venezia, da I'altra, si come comanda Iddio et la santa Madre Giesia p
parole et ptti et 5 conto dote il Sp" M. Titiauo suo padre sopraditto>
11 promette et se obbliga a dar al pfato M. Cornelio due 7 mille e quat-
trocento al ()04 & due 7 In questa forma 23 al dar de la man due
7 sei cento al 004 ^ due 7 et il restante dctratto il valor et ramontar delli
beni mobeli p uso de la ditta sposa li promette a dar in tanti contanti ^
tutto I'anno (155G) mile cinquecento e cin(|uanto sie qualli siano in tutto
P lo amontar et suma delli p detti due 7 mille e quattrocento ut sujira.
La qual dote il pfatto ^I. Cornelio con Madonna Caliopia sua madre
simul et insolidum togliono et accettano sojira tutti li suoi beni imti et
fut'. Li ([uali obbligauo in ogni caso et evcnto di restituir et assicurar
la ditta dote. Et cosi il pfato M. Titian a manutenzion della sopra-
ditta dotta promette et obbliga tutti li suoi beni piiti et fut' usque ad
integram satist'actionem, et cosi I'una parte et I'altra di sua mano si
sottoscriveranno g caution delle sopradicte cosse cosi promettendo esse
parti p se et suoi eredi quanto ut supra continetur et osservatur.
Et lo JuANXE Alessakdrino ]:)E Cadori pgado dalle parte.
lo Titian Vecellio saro contento et aftermo et approbo quanta
si combina nell' oltrascritto contratto.
Jo Cornelio Sarcinello son contento et affirmo et aprobo
quanto se contien nell' oltrascritto contratto.
1555, Adi 19 Zugno in Venezia.
1>: lo Cornelio Sarcinello soprascritto dal Sior Titiano soprascritto, mia
Socero, schudi cinquecento e cinquantacinque d'oro a 1. 6,414 I'uno quali
sono Ducati siecento d'oro a 1. G04 I'uno et questi 0 ricejiuto per parte et
a bon conto di dota promessa, et ut supra.
1556, Adi 12 Settembrio in Venezia.
11 lo Cornelio Sarcinello dal S"'' Titiano soprascritto, mio suocero, in
xmo fi.1 de perle et ori et contado p 1' amontar di sesto della dota promes-
sami et cosi son pago et contento.
(Copied from the original in 1864, in possession of the heirs of Dr.
Pietro Carnieluti of Serravalle.)
APPENDIX. 511
[Unjyitllished.] 1556, Brussels.
[Simancas, S''" de Estado Log" 1498, f" lo7.]
Phiup the Second to Titian,
El Rey,
Aniado nuestro vuestra carta de vij de Mar^o lie recibido y -sisto por
ella conio tcneis aiabada'* alguna" pintiiras r|ue iios he mandado liazer
de <iiie he liolgado mucho y os tengo eii seruicio el cuydado y diligencia
que en ello aueys vsado. Bien i[uisiera que me huuierades scripto
particularinente (juales eran estas pinturas que teneis acabadas y pues el
dano que recibio el Adonis st- le hizo a^ui quando lo dcscogieron para
verle. Y agora las pinturas que nie embiaredes estaran libres de correr
este peligro yo os encargo mucho que luego en recibiendo esta embolnays
muy bien las pinturas «|ue tumieredes acabadas de manera que se puedan.
traer sin que reciljan dafio en el camino y las entregueys al Embaxador
francisco de Vargas a fpiien yo scriuo y mando ([ue eon el jirimer correo
que viniere si ser pudiere, o por la mejor via y manera ([ue le paresciere
me las enibie con la mayor breuedad (^ue sea posible. Vos hareys de
niancraqui- ]ior lo fjUe se tumiere de hazer de vuestra parte no se difiera
este que en ello me hareys mucho seruicio.
De lo <iue toca a vuestras cosns me auisareys si se han complido
pon|ue a no Imuesse heclio yo mandare scriuir al (lui|ue Dalua de
manera que se cumplan.
I)i I'.RUSSEiAS a iiij" de Mayo de m.d.lvj.
Yo EL Rey.
GoNZ.VLEZ PkREZIUS.
[Unpublishi'il.] 1556, Brussels.
[Simancas, S"» de Estado Leg" 1498, f" 108.]
Philip the Second to Francesco Vargas.
El Rey,
Francisco de Vargas del nuestro consejio y nuestro embaxador.
Ponpie yo escriuo a Tiriano lo que vereys por la coi)ia de su carta, <iue
ira con esta para i[ue os de algunas pinturas mius que tiene acabadas, yo
OS encargo y niaudo <|ue dandole mi carta luego las cobreis y me las
encamineis a buen recamlo con el primer correo que viniere, si se
pudieren traer por la posta sin recibir daiio o por la mejor uia y manera
que OS paresciere para <|ue yo las tenga aij^ui con breuedad, que (piauto
antes me las embiaredes, tanto mas plazer y seruicio me hareys.
De Brussellas iiij" de ^layo m.d.lvj.
Yo EL Rey.
512 TTTL\X : HIS LIFE AXD TEMES.
[Unpublished.] 1558, Yenice.
Church Standard of St. Bernardino.
'•1558, 11 Giugno, fu fatto far il stendardo per metter aU' abati il
giomo della festa di S. Bemardin, da Tizzian "\'eceUio, Cadorin, pittore
famoso, e costi scndi 17 Veneziani come in libro Cassa Veccliio a carta
8 e 9 il quale si conserva in nostro Oratorio," — AxcluTio di San Giobbe.
(MS. in Morelli's and Cicogna's annotated copy of MorelU's
'•' Anoninio," now m tbe Venice Library.)
[Unpublished,] 1559, Brussels.
[Simancas, S^ de Estado Leg^ 650, P 121.]
Phtlip the Secoxd to CorxT de Lrrjf a.
Ticiano YeceUi, que reside en Venecia, mi embio al principio del
mes de Xoviembre del ano de Ivij vn quadro que el aula acabado para
mi con gran cnydado y perfection en que auia un Ckristo en el sepulckro
con otras cinco figura? y reniitiola por mano de garcia bemandez
secretario de mi eml:>axador en Tenefia a Lorencio Bordogna de Tassis
maestro de postas de Tiento el qual lo recibio y encamino con la estafeta
ordinaria, segun La scripto, pero basta boy no ba llegado a mi poder ni
se ba podido auer rastro del, por mncbo que se ba procurado, y porque
yo gueriia questa eosa se llegasse al cabo, assi para que parezia el dicbo
quadro, como para que se sepa en quien ba estado la rruindad y sea muy
bien castigado, vi encargo mucbo que aunque sea diciendolo a su Mag"* si
05 paresciere que sera menester veais de bazer la diligencia posible, que
escriuiendo vos sobrello en mi nombre al maestro de postas os dara bos
de como quando y aquien lo entrege, para que me lo truxesen y saber de
aquel que lo recibio aquien lo dis y assi de vno por los maestres de postas,
que paresce es el mejor medico que puede auer, porque desta manera se
uendra al fin a entender en quien quedo o de otra que alia jurgaredes
ser mas a proposito a tal quel dicbo quadro se baUe y auisareisme de
lo que in ello se biziere porque bolgare de saberlo.
De BRrssELAS a 20 de Enero, 1559.
[Unpuhlished.'] 1559, Venice.
[Simancas, S"^ de Estado Leg* 1336.]
TrriAX TO Phtup the Secoxd.
IXVITISSIMO Cathouco Re, —
Ho gia tomite le due poesie dedicate a V. M", 1' una de Diana al fonte
popragiunta da Atbeone, V altra di CalLsto pregna di Gioue spogliata al
fonte per comandamento di Diana dalle sue ninfe. Pero quando parera
a V. M- di baverle, queUa comandi per cui eUe se le babbiamo a
mandare j accio cbe di quelle non auuenga quelle che auuenne del
APPENDIX. 513
Ckristo morto nel sepolcro, il quale si smarri per uiaggio. Spero che
1' opere saranno tali, che se mai cosa alcuna delle niani mie le e paruta
degna deUa sua gratia, queste non le pareramio indegne. Dopo le
liauer mandato queste, mi daro tutto a fomir il quadro del Cliristo nell'
horto et 1' altre due poesie gia iucominciate, 1' una di Europa sopra il
Tauro, 1' altra di Atlieone lacerato da i cani suoi. Nelle quaK opere io
niettero medesmamente tutto quelle poco di sapere che iddio mi ha
donato, et che e stato e sara sempre dedicate a i servigi di V. M*^* se cosi
le piacera fin ch' io reggero queste m^embra per il carco de gli anui
homai stanehe il qual peso hen che da se sia grauissimo nondimeno mi
si alleggerisce non so a che modo miracolosamente ogni uolta ch' io
ni' aricordo d' esser uiuo al mondo per servirla e far la cosa grata.
Fo sapere ancora a Y. M. come la mia trista foi-tuna non mi ha dopo
tanto tempo, trauagli, e fatiche per cio fatte, coneeduto ancora di poter
godere un poco delle prouisione mie, le quali mi si doueuano pagare per
le cedule di Y. M. da gli agenti suoi di Genoua che ad altro non so
dame la colpa che alia mia eattiua sorte, poi che la benignita sua mi e
stata serapre tanta cortese in fargli solleciti a questo pagamento et nondi-
meno il suo seruo Titiano e a quel di prima senza alcun godimento di
quelle. Pero humilmente la supplico a far fare quella deuita prouisione
che a questo le parera piu opportuna. Et a Y. M. con ogni termine di
riuerenza offerendo et raccomandandomi le bascio la reale e CathoHca
mano.
Di Yexeha, aUi 19 di Giugno del 59.
Di Y" M" Catholica
Humilisstmo Seruo,
Titiano Yecellio, PHtore.
\^Unpublishcd.'\ 1559, Yeniee.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
• Assassinaiion of Orazio Vecelli.
Titian to Philip the Secohtd.
IntITISSIMO CaTHOLICO PiE, —
La maluagita di leone Aretino suo seruo indegno e dell' honorato
uome di caualiere e di scultor Cesareo e cagione che douendo scriuere
alia M. Y. di oose a lei piii grate e piaceuole, hoggi io dispensi I'ufficio
della penna nello scriuerle et le sue cattiue owrationi et le mie querele,
Essendo questa quadragesima passata Oratio suo seruitore et mio figliuolo
andato a Milano in uece mia per esser io stato chiamato dal Duca di
Sessa et non pot-endoiii andar come all' hora mezo infermo, et quelle che
importa piii, come impedito nelle pitture di Y. M. e occorso che il detto
Oratio dopo I'hauer ispedita aleuna facendetta scodesse le pensioni mie
di Milano assignatemi gia dalla munificentia et liberalita della gloriosa
memoria di Cesare suo genitore, et che mi se doueano pagare per comau-
VOL. II. L L
514 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
damento di V, M. della quale egli portaua le lettere d' ispedittione.
Donde sapendo esso Leone Aretino della esattione di tali jjrouisioni
mosso da Diabolico instinto si mette in pensiero di assassinaiio, e torgli
la iiita per torgli il danaro. Et quella sera ch' egli haueua destinato
di far qnella sua impressa mostrandosi a lui Oratio piii de mai cortese et
allegro in uolto 1' inuita e prega a restar in casa sua per poter eseguir poi
comodamente quanto liaueua disegnato il suo mal animo. Ma ricusando'
esso Oratio di uolerui rimanere, 1' inimico di Dio et il scelerato suo
figliuolo gia bandito dalla Spagna per lutherano fu sforzata dal suo
crudele appetito di dar' opera con alcuni compagni pari sui inanzi al
dessinato tenij)o al pensato assassinamento et mostrandogli tuttauia di
far careze mentre egli di casa sua si uolea partire ecco uno de i ribaldi
riuersargli la cappa in testa, et tutti insieme esserli attorno con 1' espade
e con i pugnali nudi in mano. Doueche il pouero Oratio colto nel capo
air improuiso, come quello che del tradimento nulla sapeua, ne si
poteua imaginare, se ne casco tutto stordito in terra, e riceue j)rima che
mai si risentisse appresso alia prima sei altre acerbissime ferite. Et
sarebbe restato del tutto morto se iin seruitore ch' era con lui, il quale
per portar I'uori di casa all' hora certi quadri gia si partiua, non si fosse
uolto a dietro, et non hauesse messo mano alia spada sgridando a i
traditori ; da i quali resto uulnerato anch' egli di tre ferite miseramente.
Tal che se non fosse stata questa posa di difesa che per lo grido da i
uicini udito fu cagione di leuar all' assassino la speranza del desiderato-
guadagno gli' haurebbe con i compagni traditori spogliati e priue della
uita e de i danari insieme nel mezo della 111"'^ citta di Milano et in
casa sua propia. sotto pretesto di arnica hospitalita in ricompenso de i
tanti e tanti beneficii da me et da tutti i miei riceuuti nel tempo delle
sue maggior calamita la qual cosa solamente fa ch' io prendo e dolore
e marauiglia grandissima et non per ch' io stimi esser impossibile che
succedi un tale effetto uerso alcima persona per man d' un tale percio h' io
conosco bene la sua maluagia natura ; per la quale e in bando di tutta
il dominio de' Venetiani per mandatario et fu condannato al foco del
duca di Ferrara per falsario di monete ; donde poi il suo diauolo il fece
fuggire per adoperarlo come suo istrumento in altri catiui portamenti,
come fece in Eoma donde fu condannato finalmente sotto Papa Paulo
III. alia morte per altri enormi delitti como si fara chiaramente uedere
alia maesta uostra per li process! che le manderemo le qual tutte pene
il tristo caualiere per sua mala uentura ha fuggite, perche la M. V.
hauesse occasione di hauer con tante altri meriti appresso la M'" di Dio
questo ancora di punir ella o far punire un tal scelerato il quale s' imagi-
naua di uoler col priuar noi della uita, priuar la M. V. di quella seruitu
che da noi tutti se le deue per uoler diuino. Per che se esso Oratio fosse
restato morto io le giuro per la mia fede, che dal dolore io che tutta la
uita e la speranza mia ho coUocata nella sua salute in questa mia impo-
tente uecchiezza, sarei restato ancora priuo da spirito e conseguentemente
di poter seruire al mio inuitissimo Re Cattolico per seruir il quale io mi
repute di uiuer felice e fortunatissimo. Pero supplico alia M. V. per
APPENDIX. 515
quella uirtti che la rende tanto ammirabile al mondo et accetta a Dio
ch' ella si degni di esegiiir quella giustitia in questo caso, clie alia
accerbita di quello et alia sua infinitabonta si richiede o facendo scriuere
al Duca suo luogotenente di Milano ouero ad altri nel territorio de quali
questo ribaldo si ritroui o comandando ella stessa quanto le par che
meriti il piii scelerato huomo del mondo. Et alia buona gratia di V. M,
humilmeute raccoraandandomi le bacio la Reale e Catholica mano.
Di Venetia alii 12 di Giuglio, m.d.lviiij.
D. V. M.
Humilissimo seruitore,
TiTiANO Vecelio.
[Unpublished.'] 1559, Venice.
[Simancas, S"'' de Estado Leg" 1323, f" 262.]
Secretary Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second.
Ticiano tendra in perfecion los dos quadros de Diana y Calisto dentro
de XX porque como son grandes y de mucha obra quiere satisfazer a
algunas cosillas que otros no mirarian en ellas, juntamente con estos me
dara otro de Christo en el sepulchro mayor que el que embiaua a V" M**
que tiene las figuras enteras y otro pequeno de una turca o persiana
hecho a fantasia que todo es ex™".
Estos quadros con los vidros cristalinos para hazer las vedrieras que
todo sera acabado a un tiempo y los vasos de vidro que he comprado
para beuer agua y para beuer vino de la manera que escriuo al S"°
Gonzalo Perez los embiare muy bien empacados al embaxador de
Genoua con persona de recaudo como V. Mag"* me manda, para la paga
de lo qual no he tornado dineros a cambio porque la hare de los que yo
tengo de vra. ma"* cuya S. C. y real persona y estado guarde y prospere
nuestro seiior por largos tiempos con acrescentamiento de mas Reynos y
Senorios.
De VENE5IA iij de Agosto, 1559.
[Unpublished.] 1559, Venice.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuitto et Catholico Re, —
Mando a V. M'* le pitture che sono Atteone, Calisto et 11 Saluator
nostro nel sepolchro in luogo di quello, che gia si smarri per uiaggio
et m' allegro che oltra che questo secondo e di forma piii grande che non
era il primo egli mi sia nel resto ancora riuscito meglio assai che non
fece queir altro et manco lontano dal nierito infinito di V. M. il qual
miCTlioramento in buona parte attribuisco al dolore della perdita del
L L 2
olG TITIAN: HIS LIFE AXD TIMES.
primo clie mi e stato nel far questo et gli altri quadri niedesimameiite
un gagliardo stimolo a sforzarmi di rifar quel danno con doppio
auantaggio. Se contra la sua aspettatione et il creder mio ho indugiato
si lungamente a finirle et mandarle (clie nel uero confesso esser tre anni
et pill clie li ho cominciato) non lo ascriua V. M'" a niia negligenza che
anzi potrei dire con uerita di non liauer atteso gran fatto ad altro come
il suo secretario Garcia Hernando clie continuamente benche non
bisognasse a cio m' ha senipre sollicitato ne puofar fede, ma diaue prima
la colpa alia quantita dell' opera che ricercanano ancc quantita di tempo
et poi air ardente desiderio ch' io tengo di far cosa che sia degna di V.
M"* dal che procede che io non m' appago mai delle niie fatiche, ma cerco
sempre con ogni mia iudustria di polirle et di aggiunger loro qualche
cosa ; et perche disgratia non debb' io piii che a tutte le altre cose del
iiiondo studiare a ben servire V. M'*. Perclie anzi non debb' io come faccio
hauer cio per solo fine proposto alia mia uita restante rifructando la
seruitii d'ogui altro Prencipe per seruir lei sola ? Qual pittore antico o
moderno si puo uantare et gloriar piii di me essendo da un tal Ee beni-
gnamente detto et dalla mia propria uolonta consacrata a seruirlo 1 Io
certo me ne tengo tanto buono et do ad intendere a me stesso d' esser da
tanto che oso dire non hauer inuidia a quel famoso Apelle cosi caro ad
Alessandro Magno et dicolo con ragione impero che s' io considero alia
dignita del signore da noi seruito non so vedere qnal altro sia o fosse
mai dopo lui piii a lui simile di V. M. in tutte quelle parti che sono
marauigliose et degne di lode in nn gran principe ; quanto poi alle per-
sone vostre benche nel uero il mio poco ualore non sia di gran lunga
da esser paragonato alia eccellenza di quel singolare huomo a me basta
pero che si come egli fu in gratia del suo re cosi io parimente mi sento
essere in quella del mio. Percioche 1' authorita del suo benigno giudicio
congiunto alia magnanimita ueramente Reale che usa meco di continuo
mi fa simile et forse anco da piii che non fu Apelle nella opinione degli
huomini. Onde io per dimostrarmi grato a V. M. per tutti quel modi ch'
io posso imagiiiarmi le maiide oitra gli altri quadri anchora il ritratto di
quella che e patrona assoluta dell anima mia et che e la uestita di giallo
della quale nel uero benche sia dipinta, non potrei mandarlo i^iii cara
et pretiosa cosa. Ma eccomi testinionio grande della humanissima et
gentilissima natura di V. M. poi che ella porge ardire a me, che son
rispeto al suo alto grado cosi bassa persona di giuocar con lei per letere
et cio basti quanto alle pitture. Scrissi i di passati alia M. V. in
materia del brutto assassinaniento fatto in Milano da leone Aretino a
mio figliuolo Horatio et delle mortal feiite dateli supplicandola a farlo
meritamente castigare secondo il costume della sua giustitia. Si formo
bene processo contra lui et fu usata instanza grandissima da mio figliuolo
da poi clie fu guaiito per la gratia di N. S. Dio perche fosse spedito, et
per cio fu necessitato anchora a spender molti delli daiiari scossi in
Milano dalla cortesia di V. M"' ma quel tristo e tanto cauilloso et fiiuorito
per il nome che spende indegnamente di statuario di V. M. et per il
contrario mio tigliuolo mentre fu in Milano forestiero et poco conosciuto
APPENDIX. 517
die le cose si sono tirate e tirano tuttauia in liingo et anderanno facil-
mente in fumo con macchia et infaniia della ginstitia e tanto piti qiianto
mio figliuolo e tomato a casa ne e alcuno in Milano cbe si possa opporre
alle astutie et opere et fauori di quel reo liuomo. Per la qual cosa prego
humilissimamente et aflfettuosissimamente la M. V. che ci degni far
scriuere a quell' lUustrissimo Senate che debba espedire un caso di cosi
mala natura com' e questo con quella esemplar giustitia che si coniiiene,
mostranda che ella me habbia nel numero de suoi serui. II suddetto
mio figliuolo Horatio (che me I'hauea dimenticato) le manda insieme
con li miei i:n suo quadretto con un Christo in croce da lui dipinto.
Degnisi V. M. d' accettarlo come un picciolo testimonio del gran desiderio
ch' ha de imitar suo padre nel seruirla et farle cosa grata et a lei con
tutta la inclination del cuor mio insieme con lui raccomandandomi le
bascio la Reale et Catholica mano.
Di Venetia, a xxvij di Settembre, m.d.lviiij.
Di Tostra Maesta Catholica
Huniilissimo et diuotissimo seruo,
TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1559.
[Simancas, S"" de Estado Leg" f° 245.]
Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second.
Minute of despatches of Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, 1559.
" Que hauia remitido a Genoua los vidrios, vedrieras y retratos de
Ticiano conforme a lo que V. M"* le embio a mandar."
" El Ticiano escribe en una de 23 (22) de Setiembre los quadros que
le embia a V. M'^ y uno de mano de Horatio suo hijo que es al que
leon Aretino hizo dar las heridas, y supplica a V. M*^ con istancia mande
escriuir con la misma al senado que Je hagan justicia conforme a la
fealdad del delicto."
[Unpiiblished.] Venice, 1560.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Serenissimo e Catholico Ee, —
Id mandai molti giorni sono a V. M. le pitture che io feci di suo
ordine, E non hauendo insino a questo di inteso cosa alcuna, sono
indoto a dubitare o che V. M. non le habbia hauute ; overo che piaciute
non le siano, la qual cosa se cosi fosse mi sforzerei rifiaccendole di far si
che V. M. ne rimanesse sodisfata. Stimo che di gia haura inteso la
518 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
ofFesa a me fatta da Leoue scultore nella persona di mio figliuolo il
quale mio figliuolo non e maucato da lui di leuar di uita in Milano
senza veruna cagione con brutto assassinameuto insino nella propria
casa. La cui morte, se come costui disidero e cercava, fosse seguita
senza dubbio ne sarebbe anche seguita quella del suo seruitor Titiano
clie lo ama quanto padre del amar figluolo uirtuoso e giouene buono et
innoceute. Que in contrario Leone e conosciuto persona cattiua e
scandalosa si come quelle clie per le sue maluage opere in Roma fa
condannato a perder la testa, e poi per gratia fatagli alia galia : e sbandito
per monetario di Ferrara e di Veuetia per altre ribalderie simile e di
altri luoghi. E si pi;o atribuire a gran uentura cbe Cesare di gloriosa
memoria che fu principe di tanto giudicio gli fece fauor di riceuerlo per
scultore il quale hauesse a rappresentar la sua imagine trouandosi per la
Italia dozzine di scultori clie ne sanno piii di lui ma rendendomi certo
che la giustitia di V. M. non lasciera impunito un delito tale quantunque
egli si confido ne i fauori di molti Prencipi della corte di V. M. a tale
che gli par di poter commeter qualunque sceleratezza senza esser punito,
faro qui fine baciando humilmente le mani a V. M. Catolica che Iddio
la esalti e prosperi sempre.
Di Venetia, a 24 di Marzo, 1560.
Di V. Catolica Maesta
Humil Seruitor.
(Not signed.)
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1560.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuitissimo e Potentissimo Ee, —
Sono hoggi mai sette mesi che io mandai a V. M. le Pitture che mi
furono da lei ordinate e non hauendo insino a qui hauuto auiso del
ricapito mi sarebbe singolar gratia a intender se elle sono piaciute, che
quando non fossero piaciute al perfetto giudicio di V. M. mi afaticherei
col riforniarne di nuoue, di emendare il j)assato errore e quando le fossero
piaciute mi porrei con migliore animo a finii- la fauola di Gioue con
Europa e la historia di Christo nell 'orto, per far cosa che non riuscisse
del tutto indegna di si gran Re. Le cedule delle quali V. M. mi fece
gratia per i danari assegnati a mia mercede in Genoua V. M. sara ragua-
gliata che non hanno hauto efi"etto onde pare che ella che so vincer
potentissimi e superbi niniici con I'inuitissimo suo ualore non sia obedita
da suoi ministri in guisa che io non ueggio come posso sperar di ottener
giamai questi danari diputatemi dalla detta sua gratia. Pero humil-
mente la suplico che con la Sua Regal Maesta uoglia uincer la ostinata
insolenza di costoro o commettendo ch' io tosto fossi sodisfatto da loro o
uolgendo a Venetia o doue piti le piace la espedition del pagamento in
APPENDIX. 519
modo clie la sua liberalita producesse nel suo liumil sernitore il frutto da
lei ordinate. Mi astringe anco la diuotion mia a ricordarle che V. M
sia seruita di commetter die siano dipinte a memoria de posteri le
gloriose et immortali uittorie di Cesare. Delia quali io disidero di
■essere il primo a fame alcuna per segno di grato animo uerso i niolti
benefici riceuuti da sua Maesta Cesarea e da V. M. Catolica onde mi
sara singolar fauore che ella mi degni di farmi intendere il lume,
secondo la qualita e condition delle sale o camere nelle quali haura a esser
riposta. Et in buona gratia di V. Catolica Maesta humilmente mi
raccomando.
Di Venetia, alii 22 di Aprile, mdlx.
Di y. Catolica Maesta
Humil Seruo.
(Not signed.)
Date of Francesco VecelWs death.
Cadore, 1560.
Deed of May 21, 1560, drawn by Toma Tito Vecelli, and signed at
Pieve di Cadore before Gio. Alessandrini, notary, and Giovanni de Lupi
of Valvasono, in which Orazio Vecelli, acting for his father on the one
hand, and Lazaro and Dionisio quondam M. Burei of Nebbiii on the
other, come to terms as to the contested ownership of land sold under
conditions of re-purchase by the late {fu) Francesco Vecelli.
[The deed, of which the foregoing is a description, is on parchment,
and was transcribed by Dr. Taddeo Jacobi of Cadore. It shows that
Francesco Vecelli was at this time dead, and it so far confirms the notice
of his death conveyed by the funeral oration of Vincenzo Vecelli,
publicly read as alleged at Cadore in 1559.]
[^Unpublished.'] Venice, 1561.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Serenissimo e Catolico Re, —
Ho inteso per lettere del Delfino che a V. M. Catolica sono piaciiite
le pitture che io le mandai cioe la poesia di Diana alia fonte, la fauola
di Callisto, il Christo morto e i Re d'Oriente di che ho presso quella
contentezza che si ricerca al desiderio ch' io ho di servirla riputando a
graudissima felicita che le cose mie piacciano a un tanto Re. Hora
ringratio da capo V. M. de i due mila scudi di i quali gia tre anni sono
ella mi fece gratia commettendo che mi fosser pagati in Genoua ancora
che la sua molta liberalita uerso me non habbia hauuto luogo onde il
non esser V. M. stata obedita me le stato cagione di non picciol danno
520 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
percioclie appoggiandomi sopra la speranza cli questi danari comperai
una possessione per sostegno di me e di niiei figliuoli la qual mi e poi
conuenuto com mio grau dispendio uendere et alienare. Supplico
adunque humilmente la V. Altezza che poi clie con la grandezza del suo
liberale animo s'e degnata di farmi merce di detti due mila scudi i quali
per maluagita della mia fortuna non ho potuto hauere sia seruita di
commettere che mi siano pagati qui in Venetia. E per interceditrice di
questo lio apparecchiato una pittura della Maddalena la quale la si
appresentara uinanzi con le lagrime in su gli ocelli e supplicheuole per
li bisogni del suo diuotissimo seruo. Ma per mandarle questa, aspetto
da V. M. esser raguagliato a cui debbo consegnare accio non uadano di
male come e auenuto del Cristo in tanto apparecliiero il Christo nel 1'
horto la poesia della Europa e le prego quella felicita che merita la sua
real corona.
Di Venetia a 2 di AprUe mdlxi.
Di V. Catholic Maesta
. Humil Seruo,
TiTIANO.
On the bottom of the sheet is the I'ollowing memorandum in Philip
the Second's hand :
" Paregome que he ordenado ya esto y se ha escrito si pasen a erase y
acordadme lo que aqui dice."
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1561.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuitissimo Catholico Ee, —
Poi che merce della singular benignita della M. V. ho par al fine
riscosso il pagamento delli danari di Genoa hora uengo con questa ad
inchinarmele humilmente e renderle quelle gratie che da me si ponno
maggiori e poi che (per) quello io sono in parte sgrauato di alcuni miei
trauagli, spero di poter spendere piii quietamente e largamento il resto
del uiuer mio in seruitio di V. M. mio solo siguore, al quale io mi sento
devotissimo et obligatissimo insieme. Vero e ch' io ho hauuto di tal
pagamento dugento ducati manco di quello che la M. V. haueua
ordinate per le prima sue cedule non essendo speciticato nell' ultima
che mi si douesse pagar tal danaro in tanti scudi d'oro donde e
auuenuto che ho hauuto a ragion di ducati. Pero se cosi piacesse alia
sua dementia di far dechiarire questo io haurei il supplemento che mi
sarebbe di non picciolo giouamento. Io sto in aspettando che la M. V.
anchora mi mande a commettere a cui debba consignare il quadro della
S'* Maria Maddalena il quale gia molti giorni le ha promesso et fornito
in mode che se la M. V. si e mai compiaciuta d' alcuna delle opere mie
APPENDIX. 521
di questa non si compiacera meno. Quella potra clunque mandar a
suo piacere persona fidata acciocche egli non si sniarrisca como ho inteso
che e auuennto del Ckristo morto et de altri quadri gia molti di sono.
In tanto andro riducendo a compimento il Christo neU horto, I'Europa
et altre pitture clie ho gia disegnato di fare per V. M. alia quale humil-
mente offerendo e raccomandandomi bacio la Eeale e Catholica mano.
Di Venetia alii 17 d' Agosto, mdlxi.
Humil Seruo,
TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
[The following memo, is on a slip attached to the above].
Lo que dize Tigiano en una carta de xvii de Agosto, 1561.
1°. Supplica a V. M"" mande que le sean pagados dozientos escudos
que se le que dan deuiendo de los dos mill escudos que V. M"* le mando
pagar in Genoua (jue se le descontaron per no dezii' en la cedula scudos
de oro in oro.
2°. Que a quien manda V. M. que entregue la Magdalena que esta
acabada para que benga a buen recaudo.
3". Que queda haziendo otros quadros que contentaran mucho a V. M"".
[On the margin in the king's hand].
1°. Yo mandare darlos aqui que sera de menos embarago, y se lo haveis
embiar.
2". Entreguela a garci heruandez y al se escriba que me la embia a
buen recado y que me embie de aqueUas vidrieras que embio los otros
dias otras tantas cajas y de la misma manera no se me acuerda que
orden se tubo en la paga dellos para que la misma se tenga agora y
escreuilde vos que os ainse de lo que cuestan particularmente porque
quiero ver quanto mas es que las de aca.
3°. A Ticiano que de priesa a estos cuadros que dice y los entregue
tambien al secretario y que sembien a muy buen Recado y embiesele
carta para que desde Genoua los embien al mismo Recado.
[U7ipublished.] Madrid, 1561.
[Jacobi MS.]
Philip the Second to Titian.
Don Philippe per la gracia de Dios Rey de Espaiia, etc. Amado
nuestro. Holgamos de entender por vuestra carta de xvii de Agosto que
tenniesedes ya acabado el quadro de la Magdalena, y que vos estime esse
del tan satisfecho del como dezis, porque desta manera tenemos por
cierto que deve estar en toda perfection, y porque sendo tal quetriamos
mucho tenerle aca con brevedad, y bien travado, osemcargamos que vos
de vuestra mano lo adreseis, y pongeis de manera, que no se pueda
daiiar en el camino,y que lo ensegnais al secretario Garci Hernandez mi
criado, que ay reside, que yo le ombis a mandar y me lo encamine a
o22 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
recaudo, y al mismo envegareis los otros quadi'os de Christo e nel huerto,
y la Eiiropa, y los Irmas, como los fueredes acabando porque el tambien
me los vaga ombiando, y reciboie mucho plazer, y servicio, en quo os dels
en ellos toda la mayor prissa que sen pudiere.
He visto lo que desis, que per nos essere specificado escudos de oro
en la cedula de los dos mill, que os mande librar en Genova sees dieron
doziento menos y porque mi volontad fue, y es que se os paguen enter-
iimente los dichos dos mill escudos mandave que a qui seos den luego
los dicos dozientos, que faltaron parag".
Seos remitan de Madrid a xxii de Octubre, 1565 [1561].
A Tergo. A su mag. Ticiano,
[Unimblished.] 1561, Venice.
[Simancas, S"* de Estado Leg" 1324, f" 10.]
Garcia. Hernandez to Philip the Second.
S. C. R. M.,—
Luego que recebi la letra de V. M"^ de xxij del passado di la suya a
Ticiano con que holgo infinito, el quadro de la Magdalena aunque
escrivio que estaua acabado, todauia labia en el, en dandomelo que sera
<Ientro de ocho dias lo embiare al Marques de Pescara con la letra de
V. M"" que me paresce el mas gierto y breue camino encargandolo muy de
veras a algun correo como es de creer que lo hara, dizen los que se
entienden del qties la mejor cosa que ha hecho Tigiano en los otros dos
([uadros trabaja poco a poco como hombre que pasa de ochentos anos,
•tlize que para hebrero los terria in orden y que los embiara a V. M'' con
el Ambaxador Venegiano que ha de partir entonces, yo lo solicitare
perche no se pierda tan buena occasion. V. Mag"* sera seruido mandar
c|ue se le paguen 400 V""* ciiie ha de auer del entretenimiento que V. M"*
le haze merced de dos auos passados que como viejo es un poco codicioso
y con ello terua mas cuidado, cayas tiene el cargo y recaudo para los
cobrar del Tesoro.
Las vedrieras de cristal se estan haziendo y se acabaran al fin deste
mes y luego las embiare a Genoua al Embaxador Figueroa con la letra de
V. M** yran en dos caxas con otra de vasos de vidrio para beuer vino y
por beuer agua y le escreuire y solicitare hasta que se hayan embarcado
porque las otras con los quadros estuuieron alii un ano y de loque
costaren con lo demas que gastado en seruigio de V. Mag*" embiare la
quenta, cuya S. C. R. persona y estado guarde y prospere nuestro senor
per largos tempos con acrecentemiento de mas Reynos y senorios.
De Venecia, xx de Nouiembre, 1561,
S. C. R. M''
Criado de V. M'' que sus reales pies y manos besa,
Garcia Hernandez.
APPENDIX. 523
lU7ipublished.'\ Venice, 1561.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
I. C. E. -
Sogliono tutti i sudditi e fedeli seruitori d' alcun prencipe dar a certo
tempo alcuna cosa al loro signore e testimonio della loro fedelta ogni
anno continuamente ; pero anch' io in queste giorni che si suol dar la
raanza altrui in segno dell' affettione che si porta alia persona a ciii si
dona, hora clie ho fornito 11 tjuadro delia S'* M. Maddaleua lo mando alia
M. V. come cosa della quale maggiore non puo uscire dalle mie picciole
ibrze consignatolo al Secretario Garzia Hernando, si come ella mi ha
commesso per sue lettere. La il. V. si degnera dunque di accettarlo e
goderlo per favorire il suo fidelissimo seruitor Titiano come una arra
della deuotion mia uerso lei, della qual deuotione ella contemplera
r esempio da quella che espressa nel uolto di questa santa uerso Dio et
cosi le potra esser una uiua memoria dinanzi a gli occhi catholici e
benigni del buono affetto mio mentre andro riducendo a compimento
r aitre pitture che gia sono in buon termine con quell' amore e caldezza
d' animo, la quale ha fatto destinare tutta la mia uita al seruitio suo. Et
alia buona gratia, &c.
Di Venetia, il primo giorno di Dicembre, 1561.
Di V. M. C.
Humilissimo, &c.
Titiano Vecellio.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1561.
[Simancas, S"» de Estado Leg" 1324]
Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second,
El quadro de la Madalena me dio Ticiano y lo embio al Marques de
Pescara con la letra de V. Mag'* es de creer que le mandara da buen
recaudo. Las vedrieras iran a Genoua con la primera conduta que ya
estan en orden y son muj' Ijuenas.
De VENE9IA, xij de Diciembre, 1561.
Nuestro Senor, tfec.
Garcia Hernandez.
Same to the Same,
Venice, 1562.
[Simancas, S"» de Estado Leg" 1324, f" 169.]
Ticiano acabara presto otro quadro pequeno que haze para V. M'' el
«[ual embiare al maestro de postas de Milan por donde yra mas seguro y
524 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
breuemente y le screuire que lo hago por mandado de V. Mag^ y que lo
encamine con el primer correo que de alii se despachare.
De Veneqia, x de Aliril, 1562.
Nuestro Seiior, &c.,
Garcia Hernandez.
l^Unpuhlished.] Venice, 1562.
[Simancas, Estado L" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Serenissimo e Catholico re, —
Ho finalmente con I'aiuto della diuina bonta condotto a fine le due
pitture ch' io cominciai per la Catholica M* V. I'una e il Christo che ora
nell' orto I'altra la poesia di Eiiropa portata dal Toro le quali io le
mando. E posse dire che elle siano il sogello delle niolte altre che da
lei me furono ordinate e che in piu uolte le mandai. E benche quanto
all' ordine che dalla V. Catholica M" mi fu imposto non mi resto a far
altro ; e che io mi sia deliberate per la mia uecchia eta di riposar
quelli anni, che dalla M'' di Dio rai saranno conceduti, nondimeno ha-
uendo dedicate quelle ingegno ch' e in me a seruigi di V. M* quando io
cenesce come spero che queste mie fatiche all' ottimo sue giuditio siano
grati, perro similmente tutto le spatie della uita che mi auanza in far
niolto spesse alia V. M* Catholica riverenza con qualche mia nueua pit-
tura afFaticandemi che 1' mio penello le apperti a quella sodisfattione ch'
ie desidero e che merita la grandezza di si alto Re e faro tanto che
V. M^' mi comandi, andro facendo una imagine di nostra signora col
bambino in braccie sperando di adoperarmini in guisa che quella nen
piacera meno delle altre pitture e nella buona gratia di V. M" humil-
mente, &c.,
Di Venetia, a xxvi di Aprile, mdlxij.
Deuotissimo humil seruo,
TiTIANO.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1562.
Titian to Vecello Vecelli of Cadore.
.... P.S. — Horatio vi manda il vostro quadretto d' Adonis, il qi;ale
e bellissime, e lo godrete per fino che si attende a fornir 1' altro di nostra
donna.
Alii comandi vostri
TiziANO Vecelli.
Di Venezia, 24 Maggie, 1562.
[Copied from the original in possession of the late Dr. Taddeo Jacobi
of Cadore.]
APPENDIX. 525
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1563.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuitissimo et potentissimo Ee, —
Dopo molti inesi ch' io non ho fatto liumil riuerenza alia M* V.
eccetto che con 1' aiiimo come faccio contiiiuamente, hora son uenuto a
farlo con queste letere, spinto dalla infinita allegrezza cli' io sento della
sua gloriosa vittoria la quale nostro signor degni per sua bonta di
crescer maggiormente di giorno in giomo a gloria del rnio gran Re et ad
utile di Cliristianita ; et per montrar alia M. Y. quanta sia la mia deuo-
tione uerso di lei et quanto di continuo desidero et mi afi'atico di piacerle
seruendola coniunque io posso, le faccio insiememente intendere che
quantunque non mi reste piii a far cosa alcuna di quelle che ella gia si
degnu di comandarmi nondimeno son per ridurre a compimento fra
poclii giorni un quadro di pittura gia sei anni da me incominciato con
intentione che V. M. Catholica dopo molte pitture di fauulosa inventione
godesse di mia mano una materia historica di deuotione per ornamento
de alcuna sua sala, et questa e una cena di nostro signore con li dodici
apostoli di larghezza di hraccia sette et de altezza di ([uatro et piu ;
opera forse delle piii faticosse et importanti ch' io liabbia fatto per V.
M., la quale quanto prima sara fornita le inuiaro per quel mezi die le
piacera di comraettermi. In tanto siipplico humilmentc la M. V. per la
•sua alta pieta che auanti ch' io mora ella mi faccia gracia di sentir
<pialche consolatione e frutto di quella tratta di formenti di Napoli gia
tanto tempo concessami dalla gloriosa memoria di Cesare suo genitore ;
et oltra di questo di alcuna pensione che a lei piacesse per dar effetto a
(piella naturalezza di Spagna che gia mi fu donata nella persona di mio
figliuolo degnandosi anchora d' esser seruita che per alcnna sua efBcace et
ualida cedula indrizzata al Duca di Sessa io possa riscuoter le niie ordi-
narie prouisioni dalla camera di Melano, le quali mi restauo di gia piti
di quatro anni ch' io non ho scosso pur un quatrino acciocche con
(pialche opportuno tratenimento io possa sostentarmi in questa mia
ultima uecchiaia mentre io mi sforzo con uiuer lietamente di j)roluiigar i
termini della morte solamente per potcr seruir il mio gran signore, alia
cui &a.,
Di Venetia, il xxviij giomo di luglio, mdlxiij.
Di V. M. Catholica
Denotissimo humil seruo,
Titian© Vecellio, pittor.
526 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
l^Unpublished.'} Venice, 1563.
[Simancas, S"» de Estado Leg° 1324, i" 193.]
Garcia Hernandez in account with the Spanish Government.
Cuenta de lo que costaron los vidrios y vedrieras y colores que ha
emMado Garcia Hernandez a su Ma"^.
(Inclosure in despatch of G. H. to Philip the Second, dated Venice,
Oct. 1, 1563.)
Lo que se ha gastado en Vene9ia en los vidrios y vedrieras
que Garcia Hernandez ha embiado a su Mag"" y por
su mandado es lo siguiente :
En V de Octubre de 1559 embie a Genoua quatro caxas
de vasos de vidrio para bever agua y para beuer vino
y dos de vedrieras de christal lustradas para ventanas
costaron las vedrieras que fueron 450 piezas ciento y
uno que suman ....... 320 V°'*
Costaron las caxas y ponerlas en orden con el da(,"io quinze
escudos . XV V*"*
Gastaronze en Ueuar estas caxas a Genoua con otros dos
en que fueron los quadros de Christo en el sepulchro
y Diana y Calisto que embio Ti§iano a sn Mag"^ veinte
y cinco escudos y quinze que di a un hombre que
Ueuo cargo dellas y consinarlas al embaxador
Figueroa e que se detuno un mes, y cinco escudos que
pague a Ti§iano que gaste en poner en orden los
quadros suman quarenta y cinco escudos. . . . xlv V°*
En primero de Agosto de 1560 pague a Ticiano tres
escudos que gasto en poner en orden el quadro de los
tres reyes que embie a su M"* con los embaxadores
venegianos ........ W] „
En XV de Diciembre del dicho anof pague a Ticiano dos
escudos que gasto en poner en orden el quadro de la
Magdalena que embie por uia del Marques de
Pescara per orden de su M"* ij >r
En XV de Septiembre de 1561 pague por dos ongas de
azul ultramarino y otros colores que compro Ticiano
por mandado de su M"^ treinta y ocho escudos . . [blank.]
En XV de hebrero de 1562 compre 450 piezas de
vedrieras lustradas por mandado de su M'' costaron
ciento y noventa y seis escudos cxcvj „
Pague por las caxas y caxetas en que fueron algodon,
dagio y otras cosas trece esc^ xiij ,,.
* Escudos.
+ This date is wrong. It is clear from the correspondence that the Magdalen
was sent to Spain in 1561.
APPENDIX. 527
Pague a un hombre que las lleuo a Genoua con los
cuadros de Christo en la oracion y la Europa que
Ti9iano embio a su Mag"* veinte y 9mco escudos y
cinco que se gastaron en poner en orden los dichos
quadros suman ........ xxx V*
En XX de Mar90 de 1563 com pre seis centas pieijas de
vidrieras de christal lustradas y una caxa de vases de
vidrio para beuer agua y para beuer vino costo todo
con da9io caxas y conduta hasta Genoua trezientos e
dezisiete escudos y medio cccxvij 5 „
Que suma todo nuevegientos y setenta y nueve escudos y
medio de oro DccccLxxix^ ,,
Garcia Hernandez.
lUnpuhlished.] Venice, loGS.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
POTENTISSIMO ET InUITTISSIMO Ch.\TOLICO Ee, &C., —
Non hauendo gia molte e molte man di lettere mandate insieme con
le pitture a V. M. hauuto mai da lei risposta alcuna, io temo grande-
mente che 0 le pitture mie non le siano state di sodisfattione o che '1 sua
seruo Titiano non le sia piu in gratia come gli pareua di esser prima.
Pero mi sarebbe oltra mode caro di esser certo o dell' una cosa 0 delF
altra perche sapendo le intentione del mio gran Re mi sforzarei di far si
che per auentura cessarebbe ogni cagione delle mie doglianze dunque le
infinita benignita di V. M. si degni de esser seruita ch' io resti consolato
al meno di ueder il suo sigillo se non sue letere che le giuro per la deuo-
tione mia uerso di lei che se queste fia sar^ possente a giunger diece anni
di piu a questa niia ultima eta j^er seruir la M. del mio Catholico Signore
oltra che questo sara un eccitamento a mandarle con piu lieto e sicuro
animo la cena di Christo con gli apostoli della quale altre uolte le ho
scritto. Questa pittura e un quadro lungo braccia otto et alto cinque et di
corte sarii fornita. Pero la M. V. si degnara similmente di esser seruita ch'
io sappia a cui douerlo consignare accioche la materia di questa deuotione
possa esser a V. M. un testimonio della mia uerso di lei. Et perche delle
ante altre mie pitture mandate fin hora a V. M. non ho hauuto mai pur
un minimo danaro in pagamento io non ricerco altro dalla sua singolar
benignita e dementia se non che al meno mi sieno pagate le mie pro-
uisioni ordinarie dalla camera di Milano per comandamento di V. M. di
quella maniera che la sua benignita sa imponere quando uuol souueuir
efficaceniente i suoi deuotissimi seruitori. Della qual cosa siipjilicaiKlo
o28 TITL\N: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
humilmente V. M. Catholica et dedicandole il resto di questa mia ultima
uecchiezza in suo seruitio mi raccomando in sua buona gratia.
Di Venetia, il 6 giomo di Dicembre del mdlxiij.
Di V. M. Catholica
Humil seruo,
TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
[Unpublished.] Barcelona, 1564.
[Simancas, S"» de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Philip the Second to Garcia Hernandez.
{Minute.)
Barcelona, March 8, 1564.
A Tigiano respondo a dos cartas que me ha escripto lo que vereis que
serabien que vos se lo declareis porque lo entienda mejor (sobre loque a
el le toca escriuo a Milan y a Napoles tan encarescidamente que tengo
por ^ierto se cumplira lo que alii ha de hauer y assi se lo podeis dezir y
con esta yran las cartas) que vos le ayudareis a encaminallas y yo por
aca escriuire lo mismo encargando el cumplimiento dello.
Y porque el me escriue que tiene acabada \'na pintura de la cena de
Christo nuestro seiior de vna grandeza que deue * cosa rara y siendo de
su mano y que yo le auise como me la ha de embiar le scriuo que dan-
doosla a vos me la encarainareis yo os encargo mucho que vos la recibais
del como os la diere empacada y de manera que no pueda recibir dano
la embieis d Genoua a mi Embaxador para que desde alii me la encamine
con las galeras 6 en algun nauio que venga a alicaleo cartagena que en
ello me seruireis.
[Unpuhlished.'] Barcelona, 1564.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Philip the Second to Titian.
(Minute.)
A Ticiano. Barcelona, March 8, 1564,
Don Phelippe, &c.,
Amado nuestro, — Dos cartas vuestras he recibido la postrera de vj de
deziembre la qual no ha sino quatro o cinco dias que Uego y he holgado
con ella mucho por saber que teneis salud y que siempre atendeis a
liazer cosas que me deu contentamiento como lo sera la pintura de la
cena de Christo y en tal grandeza y perficion como sera de vuestra mano
y assi os tengo en seruitio lo que en esto haueis trabajado que yo terne
dello la memoria que es razon la pintura podreis dar a gargi hernandez
So in the original.
APPENDIX. 529
muy bien en ordea y puesta de manera que no reciba diuo en el camino)
en lo que toca a vuestras cosas escribo a napoles y milan como os dira
gargi hernandez y me pesa que no se cumpla con vos como es razon
pero yo lo mandare de manera que no aya falta que en esto y en todo
conoscereis siempre la voluntad que os tengo.
De BAR9EL0XA. '
[Unpuhlislied.] Barcelona, 1564.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 133G.]
Philip the Second to the Viceroy of Naples.
Al Visorey de Napoles, —
Auiendo cntendido que no se cumple bien a Ticiano Vecellio Pinter
Veneciano vna trata de grano de que el Emperador mi senor y padre
que esta en gloria le hizo mer9eo en esse Reyno muchoz auos ha y desse-
ando yo que en esto no aya falta assi pon^ue se cumpla la voluntad de
su mag'' como 03 razon como por la que el temo y yo tengo a Ticiano
por los agradables serui^ios que nos ha hecho y nos haze os lo aueinos
(^ue vido dar a entender por esta y encargaroz y mandaros que
luego que se os de veais la patente o cedula que el dicho Ticiano
tiene de su Mag'' que aya santa gloria y proveais y deis tal orden en la
execucion y cumplimiento della assi de lo passado como en lo poruenir
que el tenga causa de quedar contento y que no sea menester scriuiros yo
otra vez sobrello (porquo demas de ser esta mi uoluntadme hareis en ello
muy arcepto seruicio y como tal os lo escriuo tambien en otra carta de
negocios de la data desta como nereis) la qual restara al presentante.
Datum en Barcelona a viij" de Margo, 1564.
[Unpublished.'] Barcelona, 1564.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Philip the Second to the Duke of Sessa.
Al Gouernador de Milan, —
Ya deueis saber como Tir;iano Vecellio Pintor Veneciano tiene
^ierta prouision ordinaria consignada en essa nuestra camara y porque el
nos ha hecho y haze tan agradables seruicios que holgaria yo muclio que
le fuese mejor pagado (|ue hasta ac^ui pues segun he entendido se le
deuen mas de quatro anos que por mucho que lo ha instado y prociirado
no los ha podido cobrar segun entiendo os he querido escriuir esta para
encargaros y mandaros cjue luego f^ue la rocibais veais el priuilcgio 0
cedula que el dicho Tigiano tiene de la dicha su prouision y averignado
lo que en virtud de ella se le deue de lo corrido deis tal orden que con
eft'ecto se le pague todo aquello a el 0 a su procurador sin que en ello
aya falta ni dila9ion de qualesquier dineros desa nuestra camara ordi-
VOL. II. M M
530 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
narios o extraordinarios y en falta de ellos de algun otro expediente de
que a vos alia os parerea que se podra mejor cnmplir y con mas breiie-
dad lo que assi liuuiere de auer el dicho Ti9iano y para lo porvenir
dareis assi mismo tal orden que a sus tiempos y tandas del ano se le deu
sus pagas sin que se le alarguen ni sea menester que yo os escriua mas
sobre ello que esta es mi voluntad y de que sere muy seruido. Datum &c,
Barcelona, a 8 de Margo de 1564.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1564.
[Simancas, S"" de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second.
S. C. R. M.,—
A Tigiano di el despaclio que vino con la carta que V. Mag** mando
scriuirme en viij" del pasado que lo estimo en lo que es razon, lo de
Napoles es cosa vieja y no se acuerda, como estan viejo, donde tiene los
recaudos de la merced que el Emperador de gloriosa memoria le liizo
en hallandose le dii'e lo que ha de hazer y en esto y en lo demas le ayudan
y encaminare como V. Mag"* me manda, el se contentaria por agora
conque se le pagase lo que ha de hauer en Milan a lo qual emhiara
persona propria tambien suplica a V. Mag'' sea seruido mandar que se
le pague lo que ha de hauer en essa corte del entretenimiento que V.
Mag'' le haze merged en cada vn ano.
El quadro que haze para V. Mag"* de christo nuestro sehor en la cena
es muy grande y no esta acabado como el escriuio dize que trauajara de
tenerlo en perfection por todo mayo y yo lo soligito y solicitare cada dia
hasta que lo acabe y en estando en orden bien empacado como conviene
lo embiare al Embajador de Genoua como V. Mag** me manda.
En xxiiij" del passado remiti al dho Embaxador tres caxas con 700
vidrieras todas de vna grandeza que el secretario Gonzalo Perez me
scriuio en xxvj de agosto passado embiasse para seruigio de V. Mag"* y
escreui que las encaminasse con la primera ocasion que se offresciesse
V. Mag** sera seruido mandar que se le scriua lo mismo.
En xxj de julio del ano passado embie a Genoua entre otras dos caxas
con 600 vedrieras de tres tamanos para V. Mag'' y el secretario GonQaiO
perez me serine que no resgibio mas de la vna con 300 menos quatro y
la otra se deuio quedar por descuydo en Genoua porque todas se
descargaron en la duana y mostraron y consinaron a francisco de vgarte
secretario del Embaxador figueroa como V. Mag'' mandara ver por la
copia de la certifigacion que dello dio que embio a Gonzalo perez supplico
a V. Mag'' le mande scriuir que la busque y embie a buen recaudo y que
lo de mejor de aqui adelante que por el passado.
El coste de las 700 vedrieras que vltimamente embie a Genoua sacare
a pagar al Thesorero Dominego de Orbea como V. Mag'' me manda a quien
suplico humilmente sea seruido mandar que se cumpla con quien lo
APPENDIX. 531
liuuiere de hauer y mande que se paguen los 929 escudos y medio de oro
con mas el cambio f[ue costaron los vidros y vedrieras y colores y otras
cosas que embie los aiios passados para seruicio de V. Mag"* que aunque
V. Mag'' ha mandado que se paguen, no tienen auiso los mercaderes que
aqui los han. de hauer que se hayan pagado.
Assi raismo suplico <i V. IMag"* mande que se pague lo que he de hauer
de mis quintus hasta en fin del ano de 62 que lo he mucho menester para
pagar lo que deuo aqui. Juan de Trillanes esta en la corte del Empe-
rador negogiando de voluer a seruir a su Mag"* en constantinopla y
prin^ipalinente per seruir a V. Mag"* segim me escriue pero hasta los 2
deste no liauia liauido resolucion. Nuestro seiior la S. C. R. persona y
estado de V. Mag"* guarde y prospere por largos tiempos con acrescenta-
miento de mas Reynos y seiiorios.
De Venecia, xvj de Abril, 1564.
S. C. R. M.,
Criado de V. M. <[ue sua reales pies y manos besa,
Garcia Hernandez.
[Unpithlisked.] Venice, 1564.
[Simancas, S"" de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second.
(Draft.)
Venecia d 11 de Junio de 1564.
Tigiano labra con diligencia en el quadro grande de Christo nuestro
seiior en la gena que haze para V. Mag"* pero aunque se de mucha prisa
no lo acabara en tres meses, yo le solicito y solicitare hasta que le acube,
antiyer me dio vn retrato de la Serenisima Reyna de Romanes bien
empacado, el qual con la ocasion deste correo embio d Don Gabriel de la
Cueua, para que lo remita d V. Mag*' con la primera buena ocasion y le
escriuo que tengo orden de V. Mag'' de hazerlo assi V. Mag'' sera seruido
mandarlo escriuir que tenga dello cuydado, sino lo embiare antes.
[Unpuhlished.] Madrid, 1564.
[Simancas, S"" de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Philip the Second to Garcia Hernandez.
(Minute.)
July 15, 1564.
A Tigiano dircis que le tengo en seruigio la diligengia que vsa en
acabar el (|uadro de la c;ena de Christo nuestro Redentor y la que vso en
el retrato de la Reyna mi hermana que tengo por gierto sera tan perfecto
M M 2
532 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
como las otras cosas de su mano y el auerlo vos remitido a don Gabriel
de la Cueua fue muy bien porque el me lo embiara a recaudo y con este
correo le hermandado scriuir sobrello y sobre lo que mas ocurriere que
me hayais de remitir por su mano, que lo hazeis por mi orden y que lo
reciba y embie todo de manera que A'enga con seguridad y bien tratado y
en esta misma substancia se serine taiubien al Embaxador figueroa para
que en lo venidero ponga mas deligencia que por lo passado que ya
scriuio que se liauia hallado la caxa de vidrios que faltaua que se hauia
quedado alia i^or inaduerten9ia.
[Unpublished.] Madrid, 1564.
[Simancas, S"" de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Philip the Second to Garcia Hernandez.
(Minute.)
August 31, 1564.
Los quadros que remitistes a don Gabriel de la Cueua ban llegado aqui
bien tratados y me ban contentado mucbo y assi lo direis a Ti(;iano,
encargandole de mi parte que en los que tiene entre manos se de la mayor
prisa que pue diere y auisadme en que disposicion esta para trauajar
porque querria que me biziese vna. imagen de senor sant loren9io.
[Unpiiblishecl.] Marlvid, 1564.
[Simanca?, S"" de Estado Leg° 1325.]
Philip the Second to Garcia Hernandez.
(Miiiute.)
Madrid, Sep. 20, 1564.
Holgado be de entender (|ue ticiano buuiesse acabado el quadro de la
^ena de Cbristo nuestro Redentor porque tengo por Qierto que deue tener
la perfection que las otras pinturas que salen de su mano vos le agra-
descereis de mi parte la diligengia y trabajo que en ello ba puesto. Si
fuera de tamano que pudiera venir por tierra y por la posta como los de
el otro dia pudierades embiarlo a don Gabriel de la Cueua que me lo
remitiera pero creo que es tan grande que no se sufre y asi escriuo y
embio a mandar al Embaxador figueroa que vea de remitirmelo con el
primer buen pasage de mar y porque podria que lo bubiesse presto de
algunas galeras sera bien que sino buuieredes embiado el dicbo quadro
y no pudiere venir por tierra, lo remitais luego a Genoua para que se
pueda traer por mar y auisareisme de lo que en esto buuiere.
Yo no sabia que en Milan se deuiesse a Ticiano lo que dezis de su
pension de ginco anos que si se me huuiera dicho de buena gana selo
bubiera mandado pagar como lo embio a mandar agora a don Gabriel
APPENDIX. 533
de la Cueua en la carta que yra con esta para el y en la de negocios se
le ha puesto en capitulo sobre lo niismo para que entienda que se lia de
cumplir luego y assi podreis dezir a Tic^iano que le embie mi carta y le
haga soligitar que no habra en ella falta.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1564.
[Siniancas, S"" de Estado Leg° 1325.]
Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second.
Ticiano tiene acabado el quadro de Cliristo nuestro senor en la cena
y en boluiendo de Bressadonde fue mas ha de xv dias me lo dara que
se aguarda de hora en hora y luego lo embiare al Embaxador de
Genoua y le soUcitare que de principio al del glorioso eant laurengio que
bien puede trauajar pues por ganar dineros va de aqui a Bressa. Nuestro
senor la S. C. R. persona y estado de V. Mag'' guarde y prospere por
largos tiempos con acre8(;ent;imiento de mas Ileynos y senorios.
De Venecia, viij de Octubre, 1564.
S. C. II. M.
Criado de V. M. que sus reales pies y manos besa.
Garcia Hernandez.
[Unpublished.'] Venice, 1564.
[Simancas, S''" de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Garcia Hernandez to Antonio Perez.
Ill Senor, —
He rescebido la carta de v. m. de primero del passado con otra para
Ticiano, la qual di y ley a su hijo por estar el fuera de la ciudad y se
aguarda aqui de hora en hora en viniendo le dire lo que v. m. manda
eii lo de la imagen que embiaua a francisco dolfin que sea en gloria no
ay que hablar, pues el fue muy content© que v. m. se seruiese della como
he scrito, el qiuidro de Christo en la cena que tiene hecho para su Mag**
es cosa maravillosu y de las buenas <|ue ha hecho en su vida, segun me
dizen maestro de F arte y quantos lo veen y esta acabado y me lo hauia
de dar a xv de settiembre jiara embiar a Genoua y quando se fue dixo
que en boluiendo lo acabaria y me lo daria lo que sospecho es segun su
codicia y auaric^'ia que lo entretieiie y entreteriia hasta que venga el
despacho de su Mag'' en (^ue mande se le pague lo que lia de hauer y
si en boluiendo no me lo da lo entendere assi, yo trauajare de sacarsele
y (jue de principio al de san lorenro fiue aunque es tan viejo trabajo
y ])uede trabajar y si viesse dineros haria mas de lo que requiere su
edad que por ganarlos fue de aqui a Bressa a ver cierto lugar donde se
ha de poner cierta obra que quierende su mano v. m. acordara a su Mag''
o34 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
que niande se cumpla con el lo que tantas vezes le lian escrito, que yo fio
que no se cause y si v. m. quisiere alguna cosilla de su inano con esta
occasion la hara de buena gana. En vn monesterio de esta ciudad esta vn
quadro de san lorengo que hizo el muchos aiios ha, el qual es de la
grandeza y manera que v. m. apunta en su carta y los frayles me ban
diclio que le dieron por el dozientos escudos y lo copiaria por cinquenta
Geronimo Ti^iano dendo o criado suyo que estubo en su casa mas
de treinta aiios y es el que mejor lo haze aqui despues del, aunque
no tiene coraparacion }' si su Mag'' quisiere dos este se haura mas presto
V. m. mandara auisarme de lo que sera seruido.
La niitad de los quadros de mano estan hecbos y presto se acabaran
todos, las tres lamparas estan acabadas y en una caxa que la binchen
toda por no poder yr desbecbas por ellas se baran alia las demas v
embiando de aqui los \'idros como screui a v. m. que costaran mucho
menos.
El Ruybarbo he buscado con gran diligencia en compaiiia de un medico
y dos boticarios amigos y en toda Venecia no se halla vna drama de la
calidad que contiene la memoria y todavia se busca si se hallare jra, con
esta y sino embiare vn poco del mejor que huuiere para muestra y que
sirua si fuero bueno en el entretanto que uiene de levante, todo esto
cuesta dineros y yo no los tengo, sino la necesidad que he scritto a v. m.
por otras muchas y si su mag"* no manda que con effetto sea pagado lo
que ban de bauer los mercaderes de alia y lo que yo deuo a los de
aca no se que me hazer suplico a v. m. quan affectuosamente puedo
lo acuerde a su Mag'' y me perdone si soy importuno que la pura nece-
sidad me costrLue a ello.
Por la de su Mag** vera v. ui. lo poco que bay de nueuo cuya UK
persona y estado guarde y prospere nuestro senor por muchos aiios.
De Venecia, viiij de Octubre, 1564.
Besa las manos a v. m. su muy cierto seruidor,
Garcia Hernandez.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1564.
[S"» de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Garcia Hernandez to Philip the Second.
Ticiano vino anocbe oy le mostre la letra de V. Mag"* el quadro de
cbristo nuestro seiior en la cena estara acabado y encaxado dentro de
ocho 0 diez dias y lo eml)iare a Genoua, comengara luego en el mismo
telar el del glorioso sant laurencio y dize que no al^ara la mano hasta
que lo acabe y suplica a V. Mag*" sea ser\ido mandar que se le pague lo
que ba de hauer del entretenimiento que le haze merced en esa corte y
en milan que hasta agora no ha querido don Gabriel de la cueua pagarle
lo que V. Mag*" le mando ; el esta gallardo y puede trabajar bien y si
V. ^Mag'' es servido que haga alguuas otras cosas de su mano sera
APPENDIX.
menester auisarselo con tiempo que segun dizeu personas que ha muclios
fiuos le conogen va Qcrca de los 90 aunque no lo muestra y per dineros
hara toda cosa. Nuestro seuor la S. C. R. persona y estado de V. Mag''
guarde j prospere por largos tiempos con acrescentamiento de mas Eey-
nos y seuorios.
De Vexecia xv de Octubre, 1564.
S. C. R. M.,
Criado de V. Mag** que sus reales pies y manos besa,
Garcia Hernandez.
[Unpublished.] Madrid, 1564.
[Sinianca-s, S"" de Estado Leg" 1325.]
Marginal Kotes of Philip the Second to precis of Garcia Hernande^
despatches of Oct. 9 and 15, 1564.
Lo de Mylan he mandado escribyr a don Grauise en carta de negocios
que le pague y lo de aqui no se en que cstados esta.
Acuerdeseme que yo mandare que sea con breuedad y haga sacar del
pariente de Ticiano el quadro de sau Lorenzo por los 50 ducados y no
l)or este de este Ticiano de hacer el otro mas que haga que sean diferentes
el uno del otro que desta niauera puede aver dos.
Esta bien todo esto capitulo, &c., &c.
No se lo que es lo del lluybarbaro . . .
[Unpublished.] Venice, July 28, 1565.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Potentissimo et Inuitissimo Re, —
La malignita della niia fortuna mi costringe a ricorrer alia infinita
benignita di V. M'" la quale come mio signore e munificentissimo uerso
i suoi deuotissimi seruitori mi puo aiutare et fauorire malgrado ancliora
del mio destino. Questo io dico alia M. Vostra perche ne i giorni
a dietro uolendo riscotere dalla camera di Milano alcuni resti delle
mie ordinarie prouisioni mi e stata ritenuta la somma di alcune annate
si ch' io uengo a patire cotal incommodo oltra che nel pagamento
del restante mi e stata asignata una tratta di riso della quale uolen-
done cauar il dinaro mi e conuenuto perder piii di cento ducati pero
son venuto con questa a supplicar humilmente la M'* Vostra a degnarsi
di esser seruita in far commettere all' ecc. del signor gouernator de
Milano ch' io sia rii'atto di quello che per lo sudetto accidente io
uengo a patire accioche non hauendo io per quanto si puo uedere altro
tratenimento io possa uiuere in seruitio di V. M. con quel poco di
prouisiono che la gloiiosa memoria di Cesare suo genitore et la M'*
Vostra medesima mi ha conceduto. Io staro dunque aspettando 1
Buffraggio delle infinita benignita del mio clementissimo Re i tanto
536 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
andro ridxicendo a compimento la pittura del beato Lorenzo la quale
credo che sara di sodist'attione alia M. V. Alia cui buona gratia luimil-
mente mi raccoiuando.
Di Venetia, alii 28 di Luglio m.d.lxv.
Di R. M. Catholica
Humilissimo et deuotissimo seruo,
TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
lU7ipublished.'] Madrid, 1566.
[Simancas, S"» de Estado Leg« 1325.]
Philip the Second to Garcia Hernandez.
(Minute.)
Por lo que escriuistes a c;ayas entendimos lo que os dixo Ticiano que
en toda esta quaresma acabaria el quadro de sanct loreii^io de que hol-
gamos y assi se lo agradescereis de mi parte y le solicitareis, si fuere
menester y en estando en perfection me le embiareis puesto de su mano
i todo buen recando.
De Madrid, a 26 de Mar^o de 1566.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1567.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuittissimo et Potentissimo Ee, —
Dalle letere di V. M. Catholica scrite al secretario Garcia Ernando di
buona memoria ho compreso il grandissimo desiderio ch' ella ha della
pittura del beato Lorenzo la quale gia molti mesi sarebbe giunta in
spagna se non fosse stata la tardezza et 1' indispositione et per la morte
seguita del detto secretario suo ma hora la consignero al consolo della
natione che 1' indrizera a camino oltra di cio ho inteso che V. M.
Catholica desidera di hauer distesa in pittura tutta la uita del detto
santo la qual cosa se e cosi la supplico a degnarsi d' esser seruita ch' io
intenda in quante parti essa la xioglia et I'altezza et larghezza de i qnadri
con 11 lume loro perch' ella potrebbe esser fatta in 6 in 8 et in 10 pezzi
oltra questa parte della sua niorte la quale e larga braccia 4 et mezzo et
alta braccia 6 et quando hauro inteso la sua uolonta io metero ogni
opera perch' ella resti presto seruita non restando di adoprar in questo
oratio mio figliuolo et suo seruitore insieme con un' altro niolto ualente
giouine mio discepolo accioche in quella breuita ch' ella mi comandera
1' opera si eseguisca ; poi ch' io son disposto di sjaender tutto quel poco
di uita che mi r^^sta in suo seruitio. Ben sujiplico humilmente la
Maesta Vostra a degnarsi di souenirmi ne i miei bisogni in questa eta
3e non di altro almeno d'imponer a suoi ministri che mi siano pagate le
APPENDIX. 537
mie prouisioni senza alcuna dilatione perch.' io non riscoto un quatrino
che la meta non mi uada in spese et interesi cosi di procuratori et altri
doni come ne i cambii et pur la camera di spagna mi sia debitrice delle
rate de anni tre et mezo et di molto pin quella di Milano la quale nelli
mesi passati mi ha ritenuto certt* annate cosa ch' io non aspettaua da
quel ministri essendo la mia seruitu continua con V. M. Catholica oltra
ch' in pagarmi escuti 4(i0 mi ha dato ima tratta di risi di some 400 delle
cpiali uolendone cauar il dinaro ho conuenuto perder due reali per soma
che importii di dauo piu di 80 scuti in circa. Aggiungendo a questa mia
disgratiach'della tratta di Napoli non e stato fatto esecutione alcuna gia
tanto e tanto tempo non ostante le infinite cedule d'irapcsitione della M.
V, pero la supplico luimilmente a degnarsi d' esser seruita che sia scritto
a quei ministri che (|uando non .si troui estratione alcuna di detta tratta
quantunque li originali sieno smarriti mi sia fatta I'espeditione il che
prego Dio et V. M. Catholica che sia accioche un giomo io possa rin-
francamii delle infinite' spese che per quella lio fatto tin hora di modo
ell' ho sentito di danno quasi piu che non imposta essii tratta in salari
et presenti I'atti indamo a diuersi gentirhuomiui et miei procuratori et
supplicando di nouo humilmente la M. V. Catholica ad hauer per
raccomandato il suo seruo Titiano et ad hauermi per iscusato se per
colpa de suoi ministri ho tardato fin hora a mandarle la tela del beato
Lorenzo, 1' auiso come insieme con detta tela le mando una pittura
d' una Venere ignuda la quale ho fatto da pui che liobbi fornita la sudetta
fin a questo tempo et con ogni atfetto di diuotione et de riuerenza le
ba^io le catholice mani.
Di Venetia, alii 2 di Dicembre, mdlxvij".
Di V. M. Catholica
Humilisimo seruitor,
Titiano Vecellio.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1568.
[Simancas, Estailo Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuittissimo et Potknti.ssimo Re, &a.,
Hauendo in questi ultinii giorni riduto a compimento la pittura di
nostro signor col fariseo, che gli mostra la moneta la qual' io le promessi
altre uolte 1' ho inuiata alia M'" Vostra et la supplico a degnarsi di goderla
con le altre pitture di mia mano che le ho mandato per 1' adietro et
perch' io desidero di chiuder li giomi di (juesta mia estrema uecchiaia
nel seruitio del Ee catholico mio signore le prometto ch' io uado
componendo un' altra inuencione di pittura di molto maggior fatica et
artificio di quante io habbia forse fatto da molt' anni in qua ; et subito
clie sara fornita 1' appresentero humilmente al suo altissimo cospetto.
In tiinto accioche piii liberamente, et senza il continuo trauaglio espesa
ch' io sento di quella benedetta tratta di grano del Regno di Napoli non
538 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
anchora eseguita mai in tanti e tanti anni in seruir la M. Vostra nella
sudetta pittura la supplico liumilissimamente a degnarsi di osser seruita
che la sudetta tratta mi sia espeditta quanto prima senza dilatione alcuna
et mi sia espeditta libera da ogni grauame et spesa di quella camera in
xicompenso di tanti et tanti continui interessi per molti anni partiti per
tal negocio et per la antichissima mia deuotione e seruitii la qual gratia
si come e ageiiolissima da essermi conceduta dalla infinita benignita et
munificentia di V. M. Catholica cosi mi souueniri di maniera ch' in un
grandissimo bisogno nel quale al presente mi ritrouo riputero essermi
tornata 1' auima in questo afflitto corpo tutto dedicate al suo seruitio. Et
riuerentemente a Y. M. raccomandandomi le bacio le catholiche mani.
Di Venetia, il xxvi d' Ottobre, m.d.lxviij.
Di Vostra M'^ Catholica
Deuotissimo et liumilissimo seruo,
TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
[Unpublished.l Venice, 1571.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1 336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Inuittissimo et Potentissimo Ee, «S:a.,
Credo clie fin liora la M'* Vostra liabljia riceuuta la pittura di Lucretia
Romana uiolata da Tarquino, la quale 1' Ambasciator de Venetiani le
doueua presentare pero son uenuto con quests a supplicarla humilmente
a degnarsi di esser seruita ch' io intenda come ella se ne sara compiaciuta.
Et per che la calamita de tempi presenti ne i quali per la continua guerra
ognuno patisce mi sforza a questo supplichero insieme la M. V. a
degnarsi di suffragar il suo seruo Titiano di qualche benigno fauore della
sua clementissima gratia o con qualche aiuto di costa o con quale altra
niodo le paresse poi che ne la tratta di Napoli ne pagamento alcuno delle
mie prouisioni ordinarie ho potuto riscuoter gia mai da molti anni in qua.
Di mode tale ch' io non so come trouar modo di uiuere in questa mia
iiltima eta, la quale io spendo tutta nel seruitio di V. M. Catholica senza
seruir altri non hauendo mai da 18 anni in qua hauuto pur im quatrino
per pagamento delle pitture che di tempo in tempo le ho mandato il
memorial delle quali mando con questa occassione al secretario Perez et
stando sicuro che la sua infinita dementia sia per mostrar di hauer grata
la seruitii d' un suo seruitor di eta di nouanta cinque anni con qualche
testimonio della infinita sua munificentia et liberalita mandandole due
stampe del disegno della pittura del beato Lorenzo, humilissimamente
mi raccomando in sua buona gratia.
Di Venetia, il primo giorno d' Agosto m.d.lxxi.
Di V. M. Catholica
Humilissimo et diuotissimo seruo,
Titiano Vecellio.
APPENDIX. 539
[Unpublished.l Venice, 1574.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Secretary Antonio Perez.
MoLTO Illustre Signor mid Osseruandissimo, —
Con infinita mia contcntezza ho ueduto quanto V. S. ill""* mi serine
iielle sue idtime letere onde mi rallegro sommamente cli' ella si sia in
l)arte compiaciuta dell' opere mie fate in seruitio di lei, per seruir la
(juale mai non mi trouaro stanco ne satio. Cosi la ringratio dell'
iifficio fatto dalla sua cortesia per me con S. M. Catholica et di quelle
ch' ella e per fare et per ubidir a quanto in questa materia ella mi serine
le dirt) die le pitture delle (juali non lio mai hauuto alcun pagamento
.sono le infrascritte, cio e dopo la carta seguente. Ma prima 1' auisaro
conK! ho riceuuti scuti 800 delli dinari ch' ha riscosto il gentile da
cotcsta camera regia et me ne restauo de haucr fin a quest' hora scudi
300 ma non gia quelli della camera di Milano pero spero per quanto mi
jiromette il signor AniLasciatore che mi saranno pagati. In tanto non
manco di seruir in ((ualunque modo io posso S. M. Catholica si nella
hataglia et altre pitture cominciate, come nella pittura del presepio ch'
ho cominciato hauendo inteso dal pit tore ch' e giuuto qui a me in questi
giomi uenuto di spagna che S. M. desiderarebbe la natiuita di nostro
signore la quale sola le manca tra le sue pitture. Similmente uado
riducendo a fine per quanto computano i tempi di (|uesta stagione le
altre pitture di V. S. et deUa S" sua consorte le quali pero sono ridotte
a buon termine. Io scriuo con questa occasione il S. M. Catholica
secondo I'amoreuole ricordo di N. S. Ill"'" intomo a i pagamenti delle
pitture a lei mandate gli anni passati et mando nelle letere incluso il
luemoriale conforme a questo ch' io maudo i'l N. S. Ill""* pero la supplico
ad etfetuare la sua cortese uolonta perche hauendo in questi tempi cala-
mitosi bisogno di molte cose questo sara il maggior fauore ch' io possa
per auentura aspettar da ley accettuando la buona gratia sua. Della
<|Uale s' io non potro con le debili forze mostrarmi degno almeno non
jiretermettero occasione per la quale io possa mostrarle d'essere meri-
teuole per la buona uolonta ch' io ho di seruirla con che facendo fine
iiifinitamente me le raccomando et baccio le mani.
Di Venetia, li xxij di dicembre, mdlxxiiij.
Di V. S. molto illustrissima
seruitor obligatissimo,
TiciANo Vecellio.
{Inclosurc in the foregoing.)
;Memoriale a SUA Mta Catholica per Titiano et Horatio suo
FIGLIOLO.
Primo, che sia posto nel bilanzo la pensione in Milano di Horatio mio
figliolo accio senza'tanti trauagli et fatiche et interessi possi goder la
c^ratia fatta da sua M".
540 TITIAN: HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
Item, le pitture mandate a sua M" in diuersi tempi da anni vinti-
cinque in (|ua sono queste et solamente parte et non tutte in cio jjI
desidera dal signer Alons pittor di sua M" sia agionto quelle che man-
cano per non racordarmelle tutte :
Venere con Adonis.
Calisto graueda da Gioue.
Ateon sopragionge al bagno,
Andromeda ligada al saso,
I'Europa jjortata dal toro.
Christo nel horto alia oratione.
La tentatione de i hebrei con la moneta a Cristo.
Christo nel sepolcro.
La S. Maria Madalena.
Li tre maggi d'oriente.
Venus con Amor gli tien il spechio.
La nuda con il paese con el satiro.
La cena del nostro signor.
II martirio di S. Lorenzo con le altre molte ch' non mi
aricordo, &c.
[Unpublished.] Venice, 1575.
[Simancas, Estado Leg" 133G.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
Catholico et potentissimo Re mio Signore, —
Sapendo con quanta somma benignita V. M'* Catholica gia ordino
che le fosse ricordato la recognitione delle pitture mandatele di suo
ordine in diuersi tempi uengo hora con la confidentia del suo antico
seruo Titiano a dargliene nouo memoriale conferma speranza che la sua
regia et alta liberalita verso me uora che si eseguisca il gia ordinato
da lei a beneficio mio, accio che con animo piu lieto possa attendere alle
altre opere dedicate alia gloria di V. M. che io uado facendo in questa
mia ultima eta, la quale nel uero per le fortune catiue del mondo ho
gran bisogno della poteuza et molto reale liberalita di tanto Principe del
mondo come e V. M. Catholica la quale nostro Signor Dio guardi longo
tempo si come deuotissimo lo prego ogni hora et deuotisdmo me le
inchino.
Di Venetia il giomo di natale di Nostro Signor Jesu Cristo 1575.
Di V. M. CathoUca
deuotissimo et humilissimo seruitor,
Titiano Vecellio.
APPENDIX. 541
[Unpublisheil'l Venice, 1576.
[Simanca, Estado Leg" 1336.]
Titian to Philip the Second.
S. C. R. M^T _
L' infinita benignitii di V. M»* Cattolica colla quale per suo natural
costume suol gratificare tutti quelli che fidelineute I'hanno seniita et
tuttauia la se-ruono mi da aiiimo di comparirli auanti con la presente
cot>i per rinuuarmi nella .sua Real mcuioria, ntlla quale senz' altero io
mi persuado che I'antica et diuota seruitu mia mi tenghi ancora con-
seniato come anche ptT supplicarla de mia gracia la quale e questa. Sono
passati gia circa x.w anni che in ricompensa di molte pitture ch' in
diuerse occa-sioni ho inuiato alia M'» Vostra non ho mai liauuto cosa
alcana hauendo pero hauuto relatione per letere del Signor secretario
Antonio Perez dolla huona uolonta di V, M*» uerso la pei-sona mia in
gratificamii onde essendo gia ridotto ad una ctii niolto graue et non
seuza mia grande necesita con ogni huniilta uengo a .supplicarla che
con la solita sua pieta si degni sopra cio dar a suoi ministri quell' ordine
che le parent pii'i cspediente per rimedio del mio l>isogno accio haucn-
domi la gloriosa memoria di Carlo (piinto suo felicissimo Padre ascrito
nel numero de suoi familiari o per dir nieglio fideli.ssiuii serui con
hauermi oltre ogni mio merito honorato del nome di caualiero possi
anche con il fauore et protectione di V. M. uero ritrato di quel immortal
imperatores'istcntarcome conuiene questo nomedi caualicre tanto hono-
rato et dal miindo cosi stimato et perche si conosca insieme che le mie
fatiche fatte tant' anni alia .serenissima casa d'Austria siano state grate
il che sara causa che con piu lieto aniino passato il rimanente di miei
giorni en senxitio di V. M. C. ne cpiali ^sxvb tanto piu obligate ueggen-
domi con la sua gracia in questa mia uecchiazza consolato di pregare il
signor Dio che le conceda felice et lunga uila con I'accrescimento della
sua diuina gracia et essaltatione de suoi Rogni in questo mentre stato
aspettando dalla Real benignita di V. M. il I'rutto della desiderata gratia
et con quella riuerenza et humilta ch' io debbio le bascio le sacre
mani,
Di Venktia li xxvij Febraro, 1576.
Di Y. M'" Catholica
Humilissimo et Deuotissimo seruo,
TiTIANO VeCELLIO.
Albemarle Street, London,
January, 1875.
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