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Titian

Name: Titian

Nickname/Alias: born: Tiziano Vecellio

Achievements: 16th-century Italian painter, draughtsman and printmaker, the greatest painter of the Venetian school.

Born: 1488-90;t Pieve di Cadore, northern Italy

Died: August 27, 1576; Venice, Italy (Aged around 86)

Field & Discipline: Art; Painter

Language: Italian

Father: Gregorio di Conte dei Vecellio

Mother: Lucia

Siblings: Francesco

Spouse: Cecilia (m. 1525, d. 1530)

Children: Pomponio (b. 1524); Orazio (b. 1525); Lavinia (b. 1529/30); another who died in infancy

Education: Apprenticed to Sebastiano Zuccato and Giovanni Bellini

Major Work:

“Assumption” (1516-1518)

Life & Times:

At the age of nine Titian joined the workshop of [taught by] Giovanni Bellini*, the greatest Venetian painter of the day, where he received the best training then available and formed a close artistic association with another follower of Bellini, Giorgione of Castelfranco.

Titian's first independent commission came in 1511, for the frescoes of three miracles from the “Life of St Anthony” at the Scuola di San Antonio in Padua.

In 1514 he produced his earliest surviving masterpiece, “Sacred and Profane Love,” a masterly fusion of romantic realism and classical idealism, which is roughly contemporary to three other technically similar and important paintings, the “Noli me tangere” (c. 1512, London, National Gallery), the “Three Ages of Man” (c. 1515), and the “Baptism of Christ” (1515, Rome, Capitoline Museum), in all of which the figures are lyrically interrelated with the beautiful landscape.

Titian's status as the most important painter in Venice was confirmed in 1513, when he was granted permission to contribute to the redecoration of the Doge's Palace. In the spring of 1516, Titian was invited to the Este castle at Ferrara by Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, to contribute to a series of bacchanalian subjects.

Back in Venice in the summer of 1516, Titian began work on his highly dramatic and monumental seven-metre high altarpiece of the “Assumption of the Virgin” for the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari at Venice.

This work, in which the restrained postures and colouring of his earlier work gave way to a dynamic composition where bright colors are contrasted in a spiral composition, showing the Virgin's triumph as she ascends heavenward, accompanied by a large semicircular array of angels, while the startled Apostles gesticulate in astonishment at the miracle. The style was unprecedented in Venice and on its installation in May 1518 it had a huge impact.

Titian was then commissioned to produce a second altarpiece for the Frari, the “Madonna of the Pesaro Family” (1519-26), the main novelty of which is the creation of dynamism in a static subject by the asymmetrical placing of the Virgin's throne in order to catch the gaze of the spectator from the central aisle. This acknowledgement of the spectator's existence was an important inspiration for such Baroque masters as Annibale Carracci and [inspired] Rubens*, who did variants of the painting.

Alfonso's sister, [commissioned by] Isabella d'Este* of Mantua commissioned both portraits and religious paintings, as did her daughter, Eleanora, Duchess of Urbino.  Titian also received patronage from other nobles through his close friendship with [a pal of] Aretino*, who from the 1530s became Titian's publicity agent.

For Federico II Gonzaga, Titian produced one of his greatest works, the “Entombment,” his first tragic masterpiece, and a series of eleven pictures of “Roman Emperors.”   From 1530, Titian began working at the court of Urbino, where he produced many portraits and his famous “Venus of Urbino” (1538, Florence, Uffizi), in which the goddess becomes for the first time a full-blooded woman. In Venice he did a series of ceiling paintings for the Church of Santo Spirito of Old Testament subjects, “Cain and Abel,” the “Sacrifice of Isaac,” and “David and Goliath.”

In 1530, Titian first met [painted] Charles V*, the Holy Roman Emperor, when he painted a portrait entitled “Charles in Armour” at the time of the emperor's coronation in Bologna, and three years later painted the emperor again during his meeting with Pope Clement VII in the winter of 1532-33. Charles was so pleased with his work that he created Titian Count Palatine and Knight of the Golden Spur, and tried in vain to persuade him to come to Spain.

Titian painted several portraits of the emperor, including the striking equestrian “Charles V at the Battle of Muhlberg,” through whose influence in 1543 he met Pope Paul III at Bologna. This led in 1545-46 to Titian's only known visit to Rome where he painted portraits of the Farnese family including Pope Paul and his nephews, and met [met] Michelangelo* who, according to [met] Vasari* (whom he met),  criticized his draftsmanship, but praised his colouring.

In late 1547, Charles V summoned Titian to join him at Augsburg, where he painted, among other subjects, the “Last Judgement” (or “Trinity”), known as “La Gloria”  which was not finished until 1554 and was later taken by Charles to his retreat at the monastery of San Yuste in Spain.

Soon after his return to Venice, he was called to Milan to meet the Crown Prince, the future [patron was] Philip II of Spain*, who would be his principal patron for the rest of his life. In 1550 he was then again summoned to Augsburg, where he met the great painter [met] Cranach* , and painted a series of canvases of subjects from classical literature for Philip known as the “Poesie,” which included “Perseus and Andromeda,” “Diana and Callisto,” “Rape of Europa,” the “Death of Actaeon,” and the “Diana and Actaeon.”

These paintings reveal Titian's “late style,” in which the colors are deeper and more brilliant, and  the figures are larger in relation to the surroundings. Meanwhile, during the late 1540s and 1550s Titian continued to produce religious works, including a huge “Last Supper” for Philip, and three important altarpieces for churches in Venice and the mainland - the “Pentecost” (for Santo Spirito, Venice), the “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” (for Santa Maria Assunta dei Gesuiti, Venice), and the splendid “Crucifixion” (for San Domenico, Ancona).

Throughout his last years, almost until the time of his death, Titian continued to send most of his output to Philip II. Some of these paintings, such as the “Venus of Pardo” and the “Religion Succoured by Spain” were re-workings of earlier paintings, while others,

such as the “St Lawrence”  were repetitions of compositions he had delivered to other patrons.

The technique of his late works from the 1760s has been described as proto-Impressionist, but rather than a systematic exploration of the effects of light on color and form, his works reveal a tendency for all forms to become blurred, which was possibly the result of failing eyesight in his old age.

Several of his family were painters, including his second son, Orazio, who became chief assistant in a workshop that trained, among others, [influenced] Tintoretto* and [may have taught] El Greco*.  Titian revolutionized oil technique in painting and has been described as the founder of modern painting, profoundly influencing such such later artists as Tintoretto, Rubens, [influenced] Velazquez*, [influenced] Poussin*, [influenced] Van Dyck*, [influenced]  Sir Thomas Lawrence and  [influenced] Watteau*.

Extra Connections: Knew [knew] Trissino*. 

He or his studio did [worked for] Vesalius’* illustrations

He met [met] Sidney*

Assessment: Titian was one of the greatest of all painters.

Oneliner: Titian, Venetian Old Master

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