Editing Titian (section)

===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}}