TITIAN. 



reneral he painted fmall portraits very (k.lfully, and rnade 

 Srawings in black-lead ; of which there is a large coUea.on 

 in the Florentine gallery, mad*, originally for the cardinal 

 Leopold de Medici. Ho died in 1637. 



TITIAN, the name by which we are acquainted with 

 that Kreat mailer, who is umverfally regarded as the head 

 of the Venetian fchool of painting, T.ziano Vecelli da 

 Cidore. This juftly diftinguifhed artift was born of noble 

 pan.-nt5 at the caiUe of Cadore, in Fnuli, in 1480, accord- 

 Cig to Vafari and Sandrart ; though Ridolfi, and others alter 

 him, place the date of his birth three years earlier, in 1477 : 

 but as Giorgione was confefTedly older than he, and was 

 born in 1478, we have preferred the authority of the former, 

 as mod likely to be correA. The education he received, 

 firft from Sebaftiano Zuccati of Trevigi, and afterwards 

 from Giovanni Bellini at Venice, rendered him a diligent 

 and fubtle obferver of nature. His early works exhibit the 

 greatcft correftnefs of imitation, but in a laboured and 

 nunute ftyle, with a finith fo highly wrought, that when, 

 at a maturer age, he painted a pifture for Ferrara of the 

 tribute-money, in competition with Albert Durer, he ex- 

 celled in nicety of pencilling that mailer of minutenefs ; 

 with this difference, that his finifh did not, like the Ger- 

 man's, obtrude itfelf, and impede the general effecl, but 

 obtained grandeur by diftance. This pifture, to which he 

 made no companion, as he foon after changed his ftyle, 

 now adorns the gallery of Drefden, and remains a proof of 

 the fenfe this great artift enteruined of the falfity of that 

 tafte, which feeks for gratification in mere finifh, and wliich 

 he deferted for the adoption of a ftyle conveying general 

 charadler inftead of identity. It was from the better tafte 

 of his fellow pupil, Giorgione, that Titian imbibed a more 

 exalted view of art, and was induced to quit the meaner 

 and more confined ftyle with which he commenced his 

 praftice ; and fome portraits which he painted about this 

 time are fcarcely to be diftinguifhed from thofe of Giorgione 

 himfelf. But he feems to have found it not exaftly to his 

 mind, and foon difcovered a variety of ftyle more congenial 

 to Ws own feelings ; lefs foftened, and perhaps lefs grand, 

 but more agreeable ; a ftyle which delights the fpeftator 

 lels by novelty of effeft, than by the exaftnefs of truth. 

 His firft work in this ftyle, which is entirely his own, and 

 may be denominated Tizianefque, is the archangel Raphael 

 leading Tobiah, painted in his thirtieth yeai- for the facrifty 

 of S. Marciale ; and foon after he painted the Prefentation 

 of the Vu-gin, at the Carita ; one of the richeft and moft 

 numerous of his compofitions remaining. 



When only eighteen years of age, he had painted a por- 

 trait of the head of the Barbarigo family, which excited 

 univerfal adniiratioB ; and he v/as foon afterwards employed, 

 ia concert, or rather in rivalry, with Giorgione, to paint 

 one of the fronts of the Fondaco de Tedelchi, when un- 

 happily the jealoufy already fubfifting between thefe great 

 artifts was ftrengthened by the fuperior encomiums beftowed 

 upon Titian. On the death of Giorgione in 15 11, Titian 

 fucceeded him in feveral important commiffions, and con- 

 tinuing to increafe in renown, was invited to the court of 

 Alfonfo, duke of Ferrara, for whom he painted the cele- 

 brated picture of Bacchus and Ariadne, now in England. 

 Here he became acquainted with the poet Ariofto, whofe 

 portrait he painted, and in return was celebrated by him in 

 his Orlando Furiofo. 



About 1523, Titian produced the work which, above all 

 others, elevates him in the fcale of merit among painters ; 

 viz. the celebrated pifture of the Death of St. Peter the 

 Martyr, for the church of S. Giovanni and S. Paolo at 

 Venice, which has by almoft all a:tifts and connoiffeurs 



been confidered his chef-d'oeuvre in hiftory. This extra- 

 ordinary piAure was one oi the firft objeAs of French 

 fpoliation at Venice. It was painted originally on wood, 

 but was transferred to canvas in France, in confequcnce 

 of its having been much bliftered from the wood by the 

 effeft of fea-water in its voyage to Marfeilles ; and it is 

 now returned to its original ftation in a more agreeable, if 

 not more perfeft condition, than when it was firft removed. 

 The excellence of this pi&ure procured him, according to 

 Vafari, a commiflion from the fenate to paint the battle of 

 Cadore between the Venetians and the Imperialifts, or the 

 rout of Giaradadda, in which the adlion proceeded during 

 a tremendous ftorm of rain. This grand work was de- 

 ftroyed by fire, but the compofition is preferved to us by 

 the print engraved by Fontana. Befides thefe, he painted 

 feveral other pubLc works, which, together with the friendly 

 afiiilance of Pietro Aretino, whofe pen delighted to dwell 

 upon the powers of this great artift's pencil, fpread hi« 

 fame in every direAion, ana he was honoured with a fuper- 

 abundance of employment. In 1530, when Charles V. 

 came to Bologna to be crowned by pope Clement VII. 

 Titian was fent for by the cardinal Hippolito de Medici to 

 paint the jxirtrait of the monarch, which he did on horfe- 

 back and in armour ; which fo pleafed Charles, that he 

 gave the painter 1000 crowns or gold, and declared he 

 would never be painted by any body elfe. When Titian 

 returned to Venice, he found Pordenone much employed 

 and fupported by feveral of the principal perfons ; but his 

 great fuperiority foon became too manifeft to be refifted, 

 and he was more than ever employed, both publicly and in 

 private. 



In IJ41 the emperor returned to Bologna, to hold a con- 

 ference with the pope, and was again painted by Titian, as 

 was alfo the cardinal Hippohto de Medici in a Hungarian 

 drefs. He alfo painted his friend P. Aretino, who about 

 this time introduced him to Fred. Gonzaga, duke of 

 Mantua, whom he painted, and alfo, for him, a feries of 

 the twelve Cxiars for a faloon in the palace ; underneath 

 each of which, Julio Romano afterwards painted a fubje^ 

 from each of their hiftories. 



Titian had foon after the honour of painting pope 

 Paul III., when he vifited Ferrara in 1543, and was in- 

 vited by that pontiff to Rome ; but he excufed himfelf at 

 that time on account of an engagement with the duke of 

 Urbino, whofe portrait he painted with fo much fire and 

 truth, that Aretino honoured it with a fonnet, comparing 

 it with that of Alexander by Apelles. He painted alfo 

 feveral other piftures for the lame duke of Urbino ( Fran- 

 cefco Maria), and when he had completed his engagement 

 there, accepted another invitation to Rome, fent by the 

 pope, through the medium of cardinal Bembo. 



He arrived there in 1546, according to Vafari, who was 

 already known to Titian, having feen him at Venice, and 

 was on this occafion honoured by the cardinal's appointing 

 him Cicerone to this great painter ; to conduft him through 

 the city, and to (hew him its beauties. Nothing could be 

 more flattering than his reception by the pope, who imme- 

 diately upon his arrival ailigned him apartments in the Pa- 

 lazzo Belvidere, and employed him in painting his portrait at 

 whole length, and thofe of the cardinal and the duke Ottavia, 

 which gave univerfal fatisfadlion ; but an Ecce Homo, which 

 he painted as a prelent to the pope, was not ell;emed by 

 the Roman artills, whofe minds were accullomed to the 

 works of Raphael and M. Augelo. The latter is laid to . 

 have remarked to Vafari, after feeing Titian at work on his 

 Dan'ae, that it was a great pity the Venetian painters applied 

 therafelves fo little to defign, and had not a better mode of 



ftudy, 



