Editing Titian (section)

===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}}