18 
TITIAN. 
together with the friendly assistance of Pietro Aretino, whose 
pen delighted to dwell upon the powers of this great artist’s 
pencil, spread his fame in every direction, and he was ho¬ 
noured with a superabundance of employment. 
P. Aretino, about 1341, introduced him to Fred. Gonzaga, 
duke of Mantua, whom he painted, and also, for him, a 
series of the twelve Caesars for a saloon in the palace; which 
have been engraved in this work. 
Titian had soon after the honour of painting pope Paul III., 
when he visited Ferrara in 1543, and was invited by that 
pontiff to Rome. He arrived there in 1546. Nothing could 
be more flattering than his reception by the pope, who 
immediately upon his arrival assigned him apartments in the 
Palazzo Belvidere, and employed him in painting his portrait 
at whole length, and those of the cardinal and the duke Ot- 
tavia, which gave universal satisfaction; but an Ecce Homo, 
which he painted as a present to the pope, was not esteemed 
by the Roman artists, whose minds were accustomed to the 
works of Raphael and M. Angelo. The latter is said to 
have remarked to Vasari, after seeing T/tian at work on his 
Danae, that it was a great pity the Venetian painters applied 
themselves so little to design, and had not a better mode of 
study, being so perfectly skilful in colour and imitation. 
Adding, “ if this man were as much aided by art in design 
as he is by nature, and most particularly so in giving just 
resemblance of natural objects, he would be perfect; as he 
has a noble spirit, and a beautiful and lively manner.” 
He did not remain long in Rome, but on his return to 
Venice visited Florence, where he beheld with delight the 
great works of art with which, it is adorned. 
He received an invitation from Charles V. to visit Spain, 
and accordingly went to Madrid, where he arrived in 1550. 
He remained there three years, during which time he painted 
a great number of portraits and historical pictures. For the 
portrait which he painted of the emperor, he received 1000 
crowns of gold, and was created a knight of the order of 
St. Jago, and a count palatine of the empire, with a stipend 
from the treasury of Naples of 200 crowns annually ; and 
to this, Phillip II. added afterwards 200 more, besides paying 
him munificently for each of his productions. When 
Charles had devoted his life to the austerities of a convent, 
he commissioned him to paint a large picture of the Trinity, 
accompanied by the Holy Virgin, and surrounded by saints 
and angels, in which the emperor, and the empress his wife, 
were represented elevated to the heavens, and in the act of 
adoration. There is a sketch of it in England, and a print 
has been engraven from the picture, by which it appears to 
have been a very grand work. 
Though Titian had returned to his native place before 
Philip II. came into possession of the throne, and was as 
much engaged as he could be, yet that monarch, when he 
had built the Escurial, and conceived the idea of enriching 
it with the most splendid materials, resorted to his father’s 
favourite painter to assist him in perfecting it ; and though 
it does not appear that Titian returned to Spain, yet he must 
have employed his pencil very assiduously in its service, from 
the very great number of his pictures which are to be found 
there, many of them among his very finest productions. 
Titian was invited by Henry VIII. to England, but his 
numerous engagements on the continent prevented him from 
coming. He painted, however, two pictures for Henry, 
which now adorn the Marquis of Stafford’s collection. Their 
subjects are the Rath of Diana, with the unfortunate intrusion 
of Acteon, and the Discovery of the crime of Calista: 
both are exquisite performances, and in tolerably good pre¬ 
servation. 
This great painter is one of the happy few, for whom 
nature and circumstances have combined in fortunate con¬ 
junction. “ For him,” as Vasari justly observes, “ health 
and fortune laboured, and he received of heaven only happi¬ 
ness and blessings.” By him, the highest among men, the 
most learned, and the most beautiful, were proud to have 
their portraits transmitted to posterity. He was handsome in 
person and graceful in manners, and lived in a style worthy 
of one so honoured and beloved. These blessings he was 
permitted to enjoy through a very uncommon portion of 
human existence, which was at length interrupted by the 
plague in his 96th year. 
Perhaps no other production is so perfect in the combina¬ 
tion of every requisite quality of a fine painting, as Titian’s 
Death of S. Pietro Martire in composition, design, action, 
expression, chiaro-scuro, and colour. The choice of the 
scene, and the accompaniments, are every way adapted to 
assist in creating alarm and dismay: the tone of evening or 
twilight spread over the whole, and contrasted to the brilliant 
ray of heavenly light from above, aids the impression ; and 
the execution is in every part correspondent to the grandeur 
of form selected. This picture he painted, as we have said, 
in the prime of his life, when he was about forty-three ; and 
he continued long after to work in the same style, which is 
of his own creation, and totally different from both his for¬ 
mer laboured one, and his latter loose and vague manner. 
In this picture every part is wrought to an exact character of 
representation, though without minuteness, or in any degree 
trespassing upon the heroic nature of the tragic subject; 
aud there is no introduction of heterogeneous matter, as is 
too frequently to be found in his historic productions. Here 
he appears to have caught a glimpse of the grandeur of 
Michael Angelo’s style, and to have employed it more 
effectually than in any other of his works, except perhaps 
in the figures on the ceiling of the Salute, at Venice, and the 
Martyrdom of St. Laurence in the Jesuits’. In general, his 
selection of form is but little improved upon his model; his 
male figures being too fleshy for character or action, and his 
females too full for elegance. 
The mind of Titian appears to have been of a sedate and 
rather serious character. All his compositions are arranged 
with gravity; even the gay and sometimes licentious sub¬ 
jects which be now and then amused himself with, are con¬ 
ducted with such a scale of chiaro-scuro and colour, as gives 
an air of morality to their effect, which imposes upon the 
spectator an air of sobriety, and induces him to discard those 
loose thoughts which the gay luxuriance of the style of Ru¬ 
bens, treating the same compositions, would inevitably excite. 
Colouring appears to have been the grand foundation of 
the success of Titian. He knew better than any other 
painter the just power of each colour of his pallette; and 
by this knowledge, produced a species of chiaro-scuro inde¬ 
pendent of light and shade, and perfectly distinct from that 
of Corregio and Lionardo da Vinci, and more immediately 
imitative of the general effects of nature. Master of the 
means of imitating the most subtle combinations of colour 
invisible objects, and fully comprehending the degrees of 
purity or of tone with which colours might be employed 
individually or collectively, to assist in projecting or with¬ 
drawing the various parts of a picture, he never fails to gra¬ 
tify the eye with a full and true relief, correspondent with 
the nature of the subject. In this quality he was as much 
ideal as the Greeks and Florentines were in form ; for 
though the harmony and richness which he produced are to 
be found occasionally in nature, it is neither her every day 
attire, nor is it to be comprehended by superficial observers. 
There is a science of exceeding import to painting in the 
arrangements of colours, by which a skilful artist will create 
attraction or disgust, as it pleases him. Change the position 
of the colours of that most beautiful of nature’s works, the 
rainbow; let the blue and the green occupy the centre, and 
the red and yellow the edges of it; and judge how far it 
will decrease in its power of attraction. Of this science, 
Titian was the first great possessor; and as he possessed the 
knowledge of the value of colours, so also did he that of 
the nature of shade; that colour (to the painter at least, 
though it be the absence of it to the philosopher), which 
destroys all colours, and renders all alike obscure; and 
which is the most difficult of attainment in all that re¬ 
lates to the art of colouring. The tone of shade that 
Titian employed, whatever be the substance which pro¬ 
duced it, was used by no other so successfully, except Tin¬ 
toretto, 
