Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio ( c.1485 &; August 27, 1576), better known as Titian (ˈtɪʃən), was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venetian school of the Italian Renaissance. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno (in Veneto), in the Republic of Venice. During his lifetime he was often called Da Cadore, taken from the place of his birth.
Recognized by his contemporaries as "the sun amidst small stars" (recalling the famous final line of Dante's Paradiso), Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits and landscapes (two genres that first brought him fame), mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art.
During the course of his long life Titian's artistic manner changed drastically. The contours in early works may be described as "crisp and clear", while of his late methods it was said that "he painted more with his fingers than his brushes." (Dunkerton, Jill, et al, Dürer to Veronese: Sixteenth-Century Painting in the National Gallery, p.281-286. Yale University, National Gallery Publications, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07220-1) but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his early pieces, their loose brushwork and subtlety of polychromatic modulations are without precedent in the history of Western art.
Printmaking
Titian himself never attempted engraving, but he was very conscious of the importance of printmaking as a means of further expanding his reputation. In the period 1517–1520 he designed a number of woodcuts, including an enormous and impressive one of The Crossing of the Red Sea, and collaborated with Domenico Campagnola and others, who produced further prints based on his paintings and drawings. Much later he provided drawings based on his paintings to Cornelius Cort from the Netherlands, who brilliantly engraved them. Martino Rota followed Cort from about 1558 to 1568.
Family
Several other artists of the Vecelli family followed in the wake of Titian. Francesco Vecellio, his elder brother, was introduced to painting by Titian (it is said at the age of twelve, but chronology will hardly admit of this), and painted in the church of S. Vito in Cadore a picture of the titular saint armed. This was a noteworthy performance, of which Titian (the usual story) became jealous; so Francesco was diverted from painting to soldiering, and afterwards to mercantile life.
Marco Vecellio, called Marco di Tiziano, Titian's nephew, born in 1545, was constantly with the master in his old age, and, learned his methods of work. He has left some able productions in the ducal palace, the Meeting of Charles V. and Clement VII. in 1529 ; in S. Giacomo di Rialto, an Annunciation ; in SS. Giovani e Paolo, Christ Fulminant. A son of Marco, named Tiziano (or Tizianello), painted early in the 17th century.
From a different branch of the family came Fabrizio di Ettore, a painter who died in 1580. His brother Cesare, who also left some pictures, is well known by his book of engraved costumes, Abiti antichi e moderni. Tommaso Vecelli, also a painter, died in 1620. There was another relative, Girolamo Dante, who, being a scholar and assistant of Titian, was called Girolamo di Tiziano. Various pictures of his were touched up by the master, and are difficult to distinguish from originals.
Few of the pupils and assistants of Titian became well-known in their own right; for some being his assistant was probably a lifetime career. Paris Bordone and Bonifazio Veronese were two of superior excellence. El Greco (or Dominikos Theotokopoulos) was said (by Giulio Clovio) to have been employed by the master in his last years.
Notes
- Fossi, Gloria, Italian Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture from the Origins to the Present Day, p. 194. Giunti, 2000. ISBN 88-09-01771-4
- The contours in early works may be described as "crisp and clear", while of his late methods it was said that "he painted more with his fingers than his brushes." Dunkerton, Jill, et al, Dürer to Veronese: Sixteenth-Century Painting in the National Gallery, p.281-286. Yale University, National Gallery Publications, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07220-1
- Cecil Gould, The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, National Gallery Catalogues, London 1975, ISBN 0947645225
- David Jaffé (ed), Titian, The National Gallery Company/Yale, London 2003, ISBN 1 857099036
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- R. F. Heath, Life of Titan, page 5.
External links
- The Titian Foundation Images of 168 paintings by the artist.
- Titian's paintings
- Tiziano Vecellio at Web Gallery of Art
- Christies' sale blurb for the recently restored 'Mother and Child'
- Bell, Malcolm The early work of Titian, at Internet Archive
- Titian at Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery
