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Titian (1488/90?-1576) was born Tiziano Vecellio at Pieve di Cadore, north of Venice in the Italian Alps. At age 10, he moved to Venice and studied under Giovanni Bellini, all at his father's prompting. Instead of Bellini being Titian's inspiration, it was Bellini's student, Giorgione. It is said that Titian pressed the juice from flowers and painted Madonna and Child on the wall of his home. He used rich colors in his art work, portrayed his figures with elegance and respect, and women with grace. All his paintings were down-to-earth, where his figures seemed "peasant-humble." In 1513, he was made superintendent of public works. During this time he painted altarpieces, alcove pictures, painted an Assumption for the Church of Frari, and painted the rear of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (German Warehouse). During his life, Titian had two sons and a wife, Cecilia. Soon after they were married she became ill and died. In 1530, after the death of his wife, he built a new home where he entertained many famous guests. On August 27, 1576, Titian died of a plague, which killed 1/4 the population of Venice (50,000). Titian was buried with honors in the church of Santa Maria de Frari. Among Titian's survived works are The Entombment of Christ, Christ Crowned with Thorns and Venus Anadyomene.
These are real paintings, whatever anyone says...I like this straightforwardness and this purity that is not reality and yet is lifelike and natural, not artificial or forced.
-Annibale Carracci, letter to Ludovico Carracci, 1580
Titian understood so well the union of the masses, and the bodies of the colours, the harmony of the tints, and the disposition of the whole together, that he has deserved those honours and that wealth which were heaped upon him, together with that attribute of being surnamed the Divine Painter
-Charles Alphonse Dufresnoy, The Art of Painting (1641-1665; trans. Dryden. 1695)
Nature's aerial tints and fleeting dyes,
Old Titian first embodied to the eyes;
And taught the tree to spread its light array
In mimic colours, and on canvas play.
-Richard Payne Knight, The Landscape (1794)
The Three Ages of Man
1511-1512
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Sacred and Profane Love
1514
Borghese Gallery, Rome
Portrait of a Man
1514
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Bacchus and Ariadne
1523-1524
National Gallery, London
Portrait of Charles V
1533
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Venus of Urbino
1538
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos
c. 1547
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Entombment (Pietà)
1576
Accademia Gallery, Venice
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