Editing Titian (section)

==Biography==
===Early years===
[[File:Titian - Portrait of a man with a quilted sleeve.jpg|thumb|left|''[[A Man with a Quilted Sleeve]]'', c. 1509, [[National Gallery]], London]]
The exact time or date of Titian's birth is uncertain. When he was an old man he claimed in a letter to [[Philip II of Spain]], to have been born in 1474, but this seems most unlikely.<ref name="NG">[[Cecil Gould]], The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, National Gallery Catalogues, p. 265, London, 1975, {{ISBN|0-947645-22-5}}</ref> Other writers contemporary to his old age give figures that would equate to birth dates between 1473 and after 1482.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lafrusta.homestead.com/riv_tiziano.html |title=When Was Titian Born? |publisher=Lafrusta.homestead.com |date=4 November 2002 |access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref> Most modern scholars believe a date between 1488 and 1490 is more likely,{{sfn|Hale|2012|pp=5–6}} though his age at death being 99 had been accepted into the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Renaissance|last=Durant|first=Will|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1953|series=[[The Story of Civilization]]|volume=5|location=New York|pages=667}}</ref>

He was the son of Gregorio Vecellio and his wife Lucia, of whom little is known. Gregorio was superintendent of the castle of Pieve di Cadore and managed local mines for their owners.<ref name="DJ">David Jaffé (ed), Titian, The National Gallery Company/Yale, p. 11, London 2003, {{ISBN|1-85709-903-6}}</ref> Gregorio was also a distinguished councilor and soldier. Many relatives, including Titian's grandfather, were [[Civil law notary|notaries]], and the family was well-established in the area, which was ruled by Venice.

At the age of about ten to twelve Titian and his brother Francesco (who perhaps followed later) were sent to an uncle in Venice to find an apprenticeship with a painter. The minor painter Sebastian Zuccato, whose sons became well-known [[mosaic]]ists, and who may have been a family friend, arranged for the brothers to enter the studio of the elderly [[Gentile Bellini]], from which they later transferred to that of his brother [[Giovanni Bellini]].<ref name="DJ" /> At that time the Bellinis, especially Giovanni, were the leading artists in the city. There Titian found a group of young men about his own age, among them Giovanni Palma da Serinalta, [[Lorenzo Lotto]], [[Sebastiano del Piombo|Sebastiano Luciani]], and Giorgio da Castelfranco, nicknamed [[Giorgione]]. [[Francesco Vecellio]], Titian's older brother, later became a painter of some note in Venice.

A [[fresco]] of [[Hercules]] on the Morosini Palace is said to have been one of Titian's earliest works.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}} Others were the Bellini-esque so-called ''[[The Gypsy Madonna|Gypsy Madonna]]'' in Vienna,<ref>Jaffé No. 1, pp. 74–75 [http://www.wga.hu//art/t/tiziano/01_1510s/06gipsy.jpg image]</ref> and the ''Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth'' (from the convent of Sant'Andrea), now in the [[Gallerie dell'Accademia|Accademia]], Venice.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}}

''[[A Man with a Quilted Sleeve]]'' is an early portrait, painted around 1509 and described by [[Giorgio Vasari]] in 1568. Scholars long believed it depicted [[Ludovico Ariosto]], but now think it is of Gerolamo Barbarigo.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-portrait-of-gerolamo-barbarigo |title=Portrait of Gerolamo (?) Barbarigo, about 1510, Titian |publisher=[[National Gallery]] |access-date=26 May 2013 }}</ref> [[Rembrandt]] borrowed the composition for his self-portraits.

Titian joined [[Giorgione]] as an assistant, but many contemporary critics already found Titian's work more impressive—for example, in exterior frescoes (now almost totally destroyed) that they collaborated on for the [[Fondaco dei Tedeschi]] (state-warehouse for the German merchants).{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}} Their relationship evidently contained a significant element of rivalry. Distinguishing between their work during this period remains a subject of scholarly controversy. A substantial number of attributions have moved from Giorgione to Titian in the 20th century, with little traffic the other way. One of the earliest known Titian works, ''[[Christ Carrying the Cross (Titian)|Christ Carrying the Cross]]'' in the [[Scuola Grande di San Rocco]], depicting the ''[[Ecce homo|Ecce Homo]]'' scene,<ref>{{cite web|author=Olga Mataev |url=http://www.abcgallery.com/T/titian/titian112.html |title=Ecce Homo |publisher=Abcgallery.com |access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref> was long regarded as by Giorgione.<ref>Charles Hope, in Jaffé, pp. 11–14</ref>
[[File:Tizian 029.jpg|thumb|250px|''[[Sacred and Profane Love]],''1514, [[Galleria Borghese]], Rome]]
The two young masters were likewise recognized as the leaders of their new school of ''arte moderna'', which is characterized by paintings made more flexible, freed from symmetry and the remnants of hieratic conventions still found in the works of Giovanni Bellini.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

In 1507–1508, Giorgione was commissioned by the state to create frescoes on the re-erected [[Fondaco dei Tedeschi]]. Titian and [[Morto da Feltre]] worked along with him, and some fragments of paintings remain, probably by Giorgione.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}} Some of their work is known, in part, through the engravings of [[Giovanni Battista Fontana (painter)|Fontana]]. After Giorgione's early death in 1510, Titian continued to paint Giorgionesque subjects for some time, though his style developed its own features, including the bold and expressive brushwork so characteristic of his later years.<ref name="Nichols2013">{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Tom |title=Titian: And the End of the Venetian Renaissance |date=2013 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78023-227-0 |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRBJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA149}}</ref>
[[File:Amor sacro e amor profano 03.jpg|thumb|Allegory of Sacred Love (detail of ''[[Sacred and Profane Love]]'')]]
Titian's talent in fresco is shown in those he painted in 1511 at [[Padua]] in the [[Carmelites|Carmelite]] church and in the [[Scuola del Santo]], some of which have been preserved, among them the ''Meeting at the Golden Gate'', and three scenes (''Miracoli di sant'Antonio'') from the life of St. [[Anthony of Padua]], ''Murder of a Young Woman by Her Husband'', which depicts The Miracle of the Jealous Husband,<ref>"New findings in Titian's Fresco technique at the Scuola del Santo in Padua", ''[[The Art Bulletin]]'', March 1999, Volume LXXXI Number 1, Author [[Sergio Rossetti Morosini]]</ref> ''A Child Testifying to Its Mother's Innocence'', and ''The Saint Healing the Young Man with a Broken Limb''. ''[[The Resurrected Christ]]'' (Uffizi) also dates to 1511-1512.

In 1512 Titian returned to Venice from Padua; in 1513 he obtained ''La Senseria'' (a profitable privilege much coveted by artists) in the Fondaco dei Tedeschi.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T53MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA239|title=Venice: Souls' Mother and Child|first=Janet|last=Sethre|date=8 January 2020|publisher=Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency|isbn=9781951530242 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He became superintendent of the government works, especially charged with completing the paintings left unfinished by Giovanni Bellini in the hall of the great council in the [[Doge's Palace, Venice|ducal palace]]. He set up an atelier on the [[Grand Canal (Venice)|Grand Canal]] at S. Samuele, the precise site being now unknown. It was not until 1516, after the death of Giovanni Bellini, that he came into actual enjoyment of his patent. At the same time he entered an exclusive arrangement for painting. The patent yielded him a good annuity of 20 crowns and exempted him from certain taxes. In return, he was bound to paint likenesses of the successive [[Doge of Venice|Doges]] of his time at the fixed price of eight crowns each. The actual number he painted was five.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}}

===Growth===
During this period (1516–1530), which may be called the period of his mastery and maturity, the artist moved on from his early [[Giorgione]]sque style, undertook larger, more complex subjects, and for the first time attempted a monumental style. Giorgione died in 1510 and [[Giovanni Bellini]] in 1516, leaving Titian unrivaled in the Venetian School. For sixty years he was the undisputed master of Venetian painting. 
[[File:Tizian 041.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|''[[Assumption of the Virgin (Titian)|Assumption of the Virgin]]'', 1516–1518; it took Titian more than two years to complete this painting in the [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari|Frari]] church in Venice]]

In 1516, he completed his famous masterpiece, the ''[[Assumption of the Virgin (Titian)|Assumption of the Virgin]]'', for the high altar of the Basilica di [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari]],{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}} where it is still ''in situ''. This piece of colourism, executed on a grand scale rarely before seen in Italy, created a sensation.<ref>Charles Hope, in Jaffé, p. 14</ref> The [[Signoria]] took note and observed that Titian was neglecting his work in the hall of the great council,{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}} but in 1516 he succeeded his master Giovanni Bellini in receiving a pension from the [[Venetian Senate|Senate]].<ref>Charles Hope, in Jaffé, p. 15</ref> Furthermore, he painted the similar painting of ''Assumption of the Virgin'' above the altar in the [[Dubrovnik Cathedral|cathedral]] of [[Dubrovnik|Ragusa]] (now Croatia).

The pictorial structure of the ''Assumption''—that of uniting in the same composition two or three scenes superimposed on different levels, earth and heaven, the temporal and the infinite—was continued in a series of works such as the retable of San Domenico at [[Ancona]] (1520), the retable of [[Brescia]] (1522), and the retable of San Niccolò (1523), in the [[Vatican Museums]], each time attaining to a higher and more perfect conception. He finally reached a classic formula in the ''[[Pesaro Madonna]]'', better known as the Madonna di Ca' Pesaro (c.&nbsp;1519–1526), also for the Frari church. This is perhaps his most studied work, whose patiently developed plan is set forth with supreme display of order and freedom, originality and style. Here Titian gave a new conception of the traditional groups of donors and holy persons moving in aerial space, the plans and different degrees set in an architectural framework.<ref>Charles Hope, in Jaffé, pp. 16–17</ref>

Titian was then at the height of his fame, and towards 1521, following the production of a figure of St. Sebastian for the papal legate in Brescia (of which there are numerous replicas), purchasers pressed for his work.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1023}}

To this period belongs a more extraordinary work, ''[[The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr (Titian)|The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr]]'' (1530), formerly in the Dominican Church of [[Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice|San Zanipolo]], and destroyed by an Austrian shell in 1867.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025|reason=Austria and Italy were not at war in 1867}} Only copies and [[engraving]]s of this proto-[[Baroque]] picture remain. It combined extreme violence and a landscape, mostly consisting of a great tree, that pressed into the scene and seems to accentuate the drama in a way that looks forward to the Baroque.<ref>Charles Hope, in Jaffé, p. 17 [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22263/22263-h/images/plate16.jpg Engraving of the painting]</ref>

The artist simultaneously continued a series of small [[Madonna (art)|Madonnas]], which he placed amid beautiful landscapes, in the manner of genre pictures or poetic pastorals. The ''Virgin with the Rabbit'', in the [[Louvre]], is the finished type of these pictures. Another work of the same period, also in the Louvre, is the ''Entombment''. This was also the period of the three large and famous mythological scenes for the ''[[cabinet (room)|camerino]]'' of [[Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara|Alfonso d'Este]] in [[Ferrara]], ''[[The Bacchanal of the Andrians]]'' and the ''Worship of Venus'' in the {{Lang|es|[[Museo del Prado]]|italic=no}} and the ''[[Bacchus and Ariadne]]'' (1520–23) in [[London]],<ref>Jaffé, pp. 100–111</ref> "perhaps the most brilliant productions of the neo-pagan culture or 'Alexandrianism' of the [[Renaissance]], many times imitated but never surpassed even by [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] himself."<ref name="catencyclo">{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |id=14742a |title=Titian |author=Louis Gillet |author-link=Louis Gillet |access-date=30 January 2011 }}</ref>
[[File:Vecelli, Tiziano - Judith - c. 1515.jpg|thumb|''[[Salome (Titian, Rome)|Salome with the Head of John the Baptist]]'', c.&nbsp;1515, or [[Book of Judith|''Judith'']]; this religious work also functions as an idealized portrait of a beauty, a genre developed by Titian, supposedly often using Venetian [[courtesan]]s as models. [[Galleria Doria Pamphilj]], Rome.]]
Finally this was the period when Titian composed the half-length figures and busts of young women, such as ''[[Flora (Titian)|Flora]]'' in the [[Uffizi]] and ''[[Woman with a Mirror]]'' in the Louvre. At least according to popular legend, they were modeled by some of Venice's famous [[courtesan]]s.

===Maturity===
Titian's skill with colour is exemplified by his ''[[Danaë (Titian series)|Danaë]]'', one of several mythological paintings, or "poesie" ("poems"), as the painter called them. This painting was done for [[Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)|Alessandro Farnese]], but a later variant was produced for [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], for whom Titian painted many of his most important mythological paintings. Although [[Michelangelo]] adjudged this piece deficient from the point of view of drawing, Titian and his studio produced several versions for other patrons.

[[File:Titian Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg|thumb|upright=1.24|''[[Bacchus and Ariadne]]'', c.&nbsp;1520–1523. [[National Gallery]], London.]]
Another famous painting is ''[[Bacchus and Ariadne]]'', depicting [[Theseus]], whose ship is shown in the distance and who has just left Ariadne at Naxos, when Bacchus arrives, jumping from his chariot, drawn by two cheetahs, and falling immediately in love with Ariadne. Bacchus raised her to heaven. Her constellation is shown in the sky. The painting belongs to a series commissioned from Bellini, Titian, and [[Dosso Dossi]], for the [[Camerino d'Alabastro]] (Alabaster Room) in the Ducal Palace, [[Ferrara]], by [[Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara]], who in 1510 even tried to commission Michelangelo and [[Raphael]].

During the next period (1530–1550), Titian developed the style introduced by his dramatic ''Death of St. Peter Martyr''. In 1538, the Venetian government, dissatisfied with Titian's neglect of his work for the ducal palace, ordered him to refund the money he had received, and [[Il Pordenone]], his rival of recent years, was installed in his place. However, at the end of a year Pordenone died, and Titian, who meanwhile applied himself diligently to painting in the hall the ''Battle of Cadore'', was reinstated.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

This major battle scene was lost—with many other major works by Venetian artists—in the 1577 fire that destroyed all the old pictures in the great chambers of the Doge's Palace. It depicted in life-size the moment when the Venetian general [[Bartolomeo d'Alviano|d'Alviano]] attacked the enemy, with horses and men crashing down into a stream.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}} It was Titian's most important attempt at a tumultuous and heroic scene of movement to rival [[Raphael]]'s ''Battle of Constantine'', Michelangelo's equally ill-fated ''Battle of Cascina'', and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s ''The Battle of Anghiari'' (these last two unfinished). There remains only a poor, incomplete copy at the [[Uffizi]], and a mediocre engraving by Fontana. The ''Speech of the Marquis del Vasto'' (Madrid, 1541) was also partly destroyed by fire. But this period of the master's work is still represented by the ''Presentation of the Blessed Virgin'' (Venice, 1539), one of his most popular canvasses, and by the ''Ecce Homo'' ([[Vienna]], 1541). Despite its loss, the painting had a great influence on [[Bologna|Bolognese]] art and Rubens, both in the handling of details and the general effect of horses, soldiers, lictors, powerful stirrings of crowds at the foot of a stairway, lit by torches with the flapping of banners against the sky.
[[File:Tizian - Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga - circa 1525.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga]]'', c.&nbsp;1529. {{Lang|es|[[Museo del Prado]]|italic=no}}, Madrid.]]

Less successful were the [[pendentive]]s of the cupola at [[Santa Maria della Salute]] (''Death of Abel'', ''Sacrifice of Abraham'', ''David and Goliath''). These violent scenes viewed in perspective from below were by their very nature in unfavourable situations. They were nevertheless much admired and imitated, Rubens among others applying this system to his forty ceilings (the sketches only remain) of the [[Jesuit]] church at Antwerp.
[[File:Tizian 039.jpg|thumb|[[Pesaro Madonna|Pesaro altarpiece]], 1521–26, [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari]], Venice]]
At this time also, during his visit to [[Rome]], the artist began a series of reclining Venuses: ''The [[Venus of Urbino]]'' of the Uffizi, ''Venus and Love'' at the same museum, ''[[Venus and Music|Venus—and the Organ-Player]]'', Madrid, which shows the influence of contact with ancient sculpture. [[Giorgione]] had already dealt with the subject in his Dresden picture, finished by Titian, but here a purple drapery substituted for a landscape background changed, by its harmonious colouring, the whole meaning of the scene.
[[File:Carlos V en Mühlberg, by Titian, from Prado in Google Earth.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Equestrian Portrait of Charles V]]'', 1548, {{Lang|es|[[Museo del Prado]]|italic=no}}]]

From the beginning of his career, Titian was a masterful portrait-painter, in works like ''[[La Bella]]'' (Eleanora de Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, at the [[Palazzo Pitti]]). He painted the likenesses of princes, or Doges, cardinals or monks, and artists or writers. "...no other painter was so successful in extracting from each physiognomy so many traits at once characteristic and beautiful".<ref>"Titian", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''</ref> Among portrait-painters Titian is compared to [[Rembrandt]] and [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]], with the interior life of the former, and the clearness, certainty, and obviousness of the latter.

These qualities show in the ''[[Portrait of Pope Paul III (Titian)|Portrait of Pope Paul III]]'' of [[Naples]], or the sketch of the same ''[[Pope Paul III and his Grandsons]]'', the ''[[Portrait of Pietro Aretino]]'' of the Pitti Palace, the ''[[Portrait of Isabella of Portugal (Titian)|Portrait of Isabella of Portugal]]'' (Madrid), and the series of Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] of the same museum, the ''Charles V with a Greyhound'' (1533), and especially the ''[[Equestrian Portrait of Charles V]]'' (1548), an equestrian picture in a symphony of purples. This state portrait of Charles V (1548) at the [[Battle of Mühlberg]] established a new genre, that of the grand equestrian portrait. The composition is steeped both in the Roman tradition of [[equestrian statue|equestrian sculpture]] and in the medieval representations of an ideal Christian knight, but the weary figure and face have a subtlety few such representations attempt. In 1532, after painting a portrait of the Emperor Charles V in Bologna, he was made a Count Palatine and [[Knight of the Golden Spur (HRE)|knight of the Golden Spur]]. His children were also made nobles of the [[Holy Roman Empire|Empire]], which for a painter was an exceptional honor.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}
[[File:Self-portrait of Titian.jpg|thumb|[[Self-Portrait (Titian, Berlin)|''Self-Portrait'']], {{Circa|1546–47}}]]
This appointment allowed him to gain royal patronage and work on prestigious commissions.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/titian |title=Titian |website=nationalgallery.org.uk/|access-date=2023-05-26}}</ref> As a matter of professional and worldly success, his position from about this time is regarded as equal only to that of [[Raphael]], [[Michelangelo]] and, at a later date, Rubens. In 1540 he received a pension from d'Avalos, marquis del Vasto, and an annuity of 200 crowns (which was afterwards doubled) from Charles V from the treasury of [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]]. Another source of profit, for he was always aware of money, was a contract obtained in 1542 for supplying grain to Cadore, where he visited almost every year and where he was both generous and influential.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

Titian had a favourite villa on the neighboring Manza Hill (in front of the church of [[Castello Roganzuolo]]) from which (it may be inferred) he made his chief observations of landscape form and effect. The so-called Titian's mill, constantly discernible in his studies, is at Collontola, near Belluno.<ref name="heathp5">R. F. Heath, ''Life of Titian'', p. 5.</ref>{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

He visited Rome in 1546 and obtained the freedom of the city—his immediate predecessor in that honor having been Michelangelo in 1537. He could at the same time have succeeded the painter [[Sebastiano del Piombo]] in his lucrative office as holder of the piombo or Papal [[Seal (emblem)|seal]], and he was prepared to take [[Holy Orders]] for the purpose; but the project lapsed through his being summoned away from Venice in 1547 to paint Charles V and others in [[Augsburg]]. He was there again in 1550, and executed the portrait of [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], which was sent to England and was useful in Philip's suit for the hand of Queen [[Mary I of England|Mary]].{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

===Final years<span class="anchor" id="Poesie"></span>===
{{redirect|Poesie||Poesy (disambiguation)|and|Poésie (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Venus and organist and little dog.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|''[[Venus and Musician|Venus and Organist and Little Dog]]'', c.&nbsp;1550. {{Lang|es|[[Museo del Prado]]|italic=no}}, Madrid.]]

During the last twenty-six years of his life (1550–1576), Titian worked mainly for Philip II and as a portrait-painter. He became more self-critical, an insatiable perfectionist, keeping some pictures in his studio for ten years—returning to them and retouching them, constantly adding new expressions at once more refined, concise, and subtle. He also finished many copies that his pupils made of his earlier works. This caused problems of attribution and priority among versions of his works—which were also widely copied and faked outside his studio during his lifetime and afterwards.

For Philip II, he painted a series of large mythological paintings known as the "poesie", mostly from [[Ovid]], which scholars regard as among his greatest works.<ref>Penny, 204</ref> Thanks to the prudishness of Philip's successors, these were later mostly given as gifts, and only two remain in the Prado. Titian was producing religious works for Philip at the same time, some of which—the ones inside [[Ribeira Palace]]—are known to have been destroyed during the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake|1755 Lisbon Earthquake]]. The "poesie" series contained the following works:
* ''[[Danaë (Titian series)|Danaë]]'', sent to Philip in 1553,<ref>''Museo del Prado, Catálogo de las pinturas'', 1996, p. 402, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, Madrid, {{ISBN|84-87317-53-7}}</ref> now in the [[Wellington Collection]], with earlier and later versions
* ''[[Venus and Adonis (Titian)|Venus and Adonis]]'', of which the earliest surviving version, delivered in 1554, is in the Prado, but several versions exist
* ''[[Perseus and Andromeda (Titian)|Perseus and Andromeda]]'' ([[Wallace Collection]], now damaged)
* ''[[Diana and Actaeon (Titian)|Diana and Actaeon]]'', owned jointly by the [[National Gallery]] in London and the [[National Gallery of Scotland]] in Edinburgh
* ''[[Diana and Callisto]]'', were dispatched in 1559, owned jointly by the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland
* ''[[The Rape of Europa (Titian)|The Rape of Europa]]'' (Boston, [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]]), delivered in 1562
* ''[[The Death of Actaeon]]'', now in the National Gallery in London, begun in 1559 but worked on for many years and never completed or delivered<ref>Penny, 249–50</ref>

In 1623, when [[Charles I of England|Prince Charles]] of England was to be married to Infanta [[Maria Anna of Spain]], "[h]er enormous dowry was to be partially paid in pictures. Prince Charles had asked for all of Titian's ''Poesie''".<ref>[[Lucy Hughes-Hallett|Hughes-Hallett, Lucy]] (2024). ''The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the [[Duke of Buckingham]]''. HarperCollins Publisher, p. 326.</ref> When Charles cancelled the wedding, "Titian's ''Poesie'', not yet shipped, were taken out of their crates and hung back up on the walls of the Spanish royal palace".<ref>Hughes-Hallett, Lucy (2024), pp. 328-329.</ref>

The poesie, except for ''[[The Death of Actaeon]]'', were brought together for the first time in nearly 500 years in an exhibition in 2020 and 2021 that travelled from the [[National Gallery]] in London, to the {{Lang|es|[[Museo del Prado]]|italic=no}} in Madrid, to the [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]] in Boston, where it closed on January 2, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/08/16/titian-exhibit-review-gardner-museum|title=Separated For Centuries, Titian's 'Poesie' Reunite At The Gardner Museum In A Powerful Exhibition|website=WBUR |date=16 August 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/arts/design/titian-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-review.html|title=Can We Ever Look at Titian's Paintings the Same Way Again?|first=Holland|last=Cotter|date=12 August 2021|newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2021/titian-poesie-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum/ "Titian Comes Together"]</ref>
<gallery widths="160" heights="150" |gallery="" caption="Titian's ''poesie'' series for Philip II">
File:Tizian - Danae receiving the Golden Rain - Prado.jpg|[[Danaë (Titian series)|''Danaë'']]
File:Venus and Adonis by Titian.jpg|''[[Venus and Adonis (Titian)|Venus and Adonis]]''
File:Titian - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Diana and Actaeon (Titian)|''Diana and Actaeon'']]
File:TitianDianaCallistoEdinburgh.jpg|''[[Diana and Callisto]]''
File:Perseo y Andrómeda, por Tiziano.jpg|''[[Perseus and Andromeda (Titian)|Perseus and Andromeda]]''
File:Tizian 085.jpg|''[[The Rape of Europa (Titian)|The Rape of Europa]]''
File:Actaeon.jpg|''[[The Death of Actaeon]]'' 
</gallery>

Another painting that apparently remained in his studio at his death, and has been much less well known until recent decades, is the powerful, even "repellent" ''[[Flaying of Marsyas (Titian)|Flaying of Marsyas]]'' ([[Kroměříž]], Czech Republic).<ref>Giles Robertson in Jane Martineau, ed., ''The Genius of Venice, 1500-1600'', pp. 231–233, 1983, Royal Academy of Arts, London</ref> Another violent masterpiece is ''[[Tarquin and Lucretia]]'' ([[Cambridge]], [[Fitzwilliam Museum]]).<ref>Robertson, pp. 229–230<!-- Actually this entry is Jaffe --></ref>

[[File:Tizian 085.jpg|thumb|left|[[The Rape of Europa (Titian)|''The Rape of Europa'']] c.&nbsp;1560–1562, [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]], is a bold diagonal composition that [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] admired and copied. In contrast to the clarity of Titian's early works, it is almost baroque in its blurred lines, swirling colours, and vibrant brushstrokes.]]

According to the art historian [[Louis Gillet]]:{{blockquote|For each of the problems which he successively undertook he furnished a new and more perfect formula. He never again equalled the emotion and tragedy of the "Crowning with Thorns" (Louvre), in the expression of the mysterious and the divine he never equalled the poetry of the "Pilgrims of Emmaus", while in superb and heroic brilliancy he never again executed anything more grand than "The Doge Grimani adoring Faith" (Venice, Doge's Palace), or the "Trinity", of Madrid. On the other hand from the standpoint of flesh tints, his most moving pictures are those of his old age, the "Dana" of Naples and of Madrid, the "Antiope" of the Louvre, the "Rape of Europa" (Boston, Gardner collection), etc. He even attempted problems of chiaroscuro in fantastic night effects ("Martyrdom of St. Laurence", Church of the Jesuits, Venice; "St. Jerome," Louvre). In the domain of the real he always remained equally strong, sure, and master of himself; his portraits of Philip II (Madrid), those of his daughter, Lavinia, and those of himself are numbered among his masterpieces.<ref name="Gillet1912">{{cite book |last1=Gillet |first1=Louis |editor1-last=Herbermann |editor1-first=Charles George |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church |volume= 14 |year=1912 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |pages=744-745 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6k4fAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA744-IA3 |chapter=Titian}}</ref>}}

Titian had engaged his daughter Lavinia, the beautiful girl whom he loved deeply and painted various times, to Cornelio Sarcinelli of Serravalle. She had succeeded her aunt Orsa, then deceased, as the manager of the household, which, with the lordly income that Titian made by this time, placed her on a corresponding footing. Lavinia's marriage to Cornelio took place in 1554. She died in childbirth in 1560.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

Titian was at the [[Council of Trent]] towards 1555, of which there is a finished sketch in the Louvre. His friend Aretino died suddenly in 1556, and another close intimate, the sculptor and architect [[Jacopo Sansovino]], in 1570. In September 1565 Titian went to Cadore and designed the decorations for the church at Pieve, partly executed by his pupils. One of these is a Transfiguration, another an ''[[Annunciation (church of San Salvador)|Annunciation]]'' (now in San Salvatore, Venice), inscribed ''Titianus fecit'', by way of protest (it is said) against the disparagement of some persons who caviled at the veteran's failing handicraft.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

Around 1560,<ref name="BBC_Madonna">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12305296 |title=Titian Madonna and Child sells for record $16.9m |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date= 28 January 2011|access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref> Titian painted the oil on canvas ''[[Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria]]'', a derivative on the motif of [[Madonna (art)|Madonna and Child]]. It is suggested that members of Titian's Venice workshop probably painted the curtain and Luke, because of the lower quality of those parts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artbible.info/art/large/755.html |title=Art and the Bible |publisher=Artbible.info |access-date=30 January 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Accademia - Pietà by Titian.jpg|thumb|[[Pietà (Titian)|''Pietà'']], c.&nbsp;1576, his last painting. [[Gallerie dell'Accademia]], Venice.]]
He continued to accept commissions to the end of his life. Like many of his late works, Titian's last painting, the [[Pietà (Titian)|''Pietà'']], is a dramatic, nocturnal scene of suffering. He apparently intended it for his own tomb chapel. He had selected, as his burial place, the chapel of the Crucifix in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, the church of the Franciscan Order. In payment for a grave, he offered the [[Franciscan]]s a picture of the [[Pietà (Titian)|Pietà]] that represented himself and his son Orazio, with a [[sibyl]], before the Savior. He nearly finished this work, but differences arose regarding it, and he settled on being interred in his native Pieve. Yet he ended up being interred in the Frari.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

===Death===
[[File:Frari (Venice) nave right - Monument of Titian.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Titian in [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari]], Venice]]
While the [[bubonic plague|plague]] raged in Venice, Titian died on 27 August 1576.<ref>{{cite book|title=Titian|first=Ian|last=Kennedy|publisher=Taschen|isbn=9783822849125|year=2006|page=95}}</ref> Depending on his unknown birthdate (see above), he was somewhere from his late eighties or even close to 100. Titian was interred in the Frari (Basilica di [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari]]), as first intended, and his ''Pietà'' was finished by [[Palma il Giovane]]. He lies near his own famous painting, the ''Madonna di Ca' Pesaro.'' No memorial marked his grave. Much later the Austrian rulers of Venice commissioned [[Antonio Canova]] to sculpt the large monument still in the church.{{sfn|Rossetti|1911|p=1024}}

Very shortly after Titian's death, his son, assistant and sole heir [[Orazio Vecellio|Orazio]], also died of the plague, greatly complicating the settlement of his estate, as he had made no will.{{sfn|Hale|2012|pp=722–723}}