When Pietro Aretino, before the sack of Rome came to stay in
Venice, he formed a great friendship with Titian, which was very
useful to him, for he made him known as far as his pen could reach,
and to princes of importance.
But to return to Titian's works. For the church of S. Giovanni
and S. Paolo he painted an altarpiece representing S. Peter Martyr
in a wood of high trees, struck down by a fierce soldier, who has
wounded him in the head, and as he lies but half alive you can see
in his face the horror of death, while another friar fleeing shows
signs of fear. In the sky are two angels coming in the light of
heaven, which lights up a beautiful landscape. The work is the most
finished one that Titian ever did.
When the emperor Charles V was in Bologna, Titian, at the
suggestion of Pietro Aretino, was summoned by Cardinal Ippolito de'
Medici to the palace, and painted a very fine portrait of his
Majesty in full armour. Alfonso Lombardi had a great desire to
portray him also, and having no other way of accomplishing it, he
begged Titian to take him in the place of one of the men who carried
the colours, not telling him what he was intending to do. Titian,
like the courteous man he always showed himself, agreed, and took
him with him into the emperor's room. Then, as soon as Titian had
set to work, Alfonso placed himself where he could not be seen by
him, and taking out a little box, he modelled in gypsum a portrait
medallion of the emperor, and had just brought it to completion when
Titian had finished his portrait. When at last the emperor rose,
Alfonso closed the box, and was hiding it in his sleeve that Titian
might not see it, when his Majesty said to him, "Show me what you
have done;" and he was obliged to put it into his hand. The emperor,
having considered it and praised it much, said, "Have you the
courage to do it in marble?" "Yes, your sacred Majesty," answered
Alfonso. "Do it then," replied the emperor, "and bring it to me at
Genoa." Any one can imagine how strange this seemed to Titian. I
fancy he thought he had compromised himself. But what must have
seemed most strange to him was that his Majesty, sending him one
thousand crowns, bade him give half to Alfonso and keep the other
five hundred himself. Alfonso, applying himself with the utmost
diligence, completed the head so successfully that it was pronounced
a very rare piece of work, and when he brought it to the emperor,
his Majesty gave him another three hundred crowns.
In the year 1545 he was called by Cardinal Farnese to Rome, where
he found Vasari employed in the hall of the cardinal, and Titian
being recommended to his care, he took him about to see Rome. And
after he had rested some days, rooms were given him in the Belvedere
that he might paint the Pope Paul III, Cardinal Farnese, and Duke
Ottavio, which he completed to their great satisfaction. Afterwards
he painted an Ecce Homo to present to the Pope; but whatever the
cause might be, it did not appear to painters equal to his other
paintings, especially his portraits.
One day Michael Angelo and Vasari went together to see Titian in
the Belvedere, and he showed them a picture he had just painted of
Danae in the shower of gold, and they praised it much. After they
had left him, talking over Titian's work, Buonarroti commended him
greatly, saying that his colour pleased him, but that it was a
mistake that at Venice they did not learn first of all to draw well,
for if this man, he said, were asslsted by art as he is by nature,
especially in imitating life, it would not be possible to surpass
him, for he has the finest talent and a very pleasant, vivacious
manner.
Titian left Rome at length, having received many gifts,
particularly a benefice with good revenues for his son Pomponio.
Coming to Florence, he saw the rare things in that city, and was no
less astonished than he had been at Rome, and so returned to Venice.
But because his works are infinite, especially his portraits, it
is impossible to mention them all. So to speak only of the most
remarkable without order of time. He painted Charles V. many times,
and was at last called to his court that he might paint him as he
was almost in his last years; and so much did he please that
invincible emperor that he would never afterwards be painted by any
other painter, and every time Titian painted him he had a donative
of one thousand crowns of gold. His Majesty also made him a knight,
with a provision of two hundred crowns from the treasury of Naples.
When he painted the portraits of Philip, King of Spain, and his son
Carlos, he received from him a settled provision of two hundred
crowns; so that, adding these four hundred to the three hundred that
he had from the Venetian Signory, he received seven hundred crowns a
year, without any labour for it. He painted Ferdinand, King of the
Romans, and his sons, and the Queen Maria. But what is the use of
losing time in enumerating his portraits? There is no lord of note
or prince or great lady who has not been painted by Titian; and
besides, at different times, he produced many other works.
It is true that his way of working in his last pictures is very
different from that of his youth. For his first works were finished
with great diligence, and might be looked at near or far, but the
last are worked with great patches of colour, so that they cannot be
seen near, but at a distance they look perfect. This is the reason
that many think they are done without any trouble, but this is not
true. And this way of working is most judicious, for it makes the
pictures seem living.
All these works, with a great many others, which cannot be
mentioned lest I should become tedious, he has completed, having now
reached the age of seventy six. He has been most healthy, and as
fortunate as any one has ever been. In his house at Venice he has
received all the princes, and learned and famous men, who have come
to Venice; for besides his excellence in art, his manners have been
most pleasant and courteous. He has had some rivals, but not very
dangerous ones. He has earned much, for his works have always been
well paid; but it would be well for him, in these his last years, to
work only for pastime, lest he diminish his reputation. When the
present writer was in Venice in 1566, he went to visit Titian, and
found him, old as he was, with his brush in his hand painting, and
he found great pleasure in seeing his works and talking with him.
Thus Titian having adorned Venice, or rather Italy, and indeed
other parts of the world, with the finest pictures, deserves to be
loved and studied by artists, and in many things imitated, for he
has done works worthy of infinite praise, which will last as long as
illustrious men are remembered.
