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Some Titians of the Prado

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Some Titians of the Prado Some Titians of the Prado BY CHARLES H. CAFFIN HE catalogue of the Praclo Gallery with the order of a Knight of the Spur. quotes the remark of a writer that Charles declared that henceforth no one T to know Titian well it is necessary should paint his portrait but the great to study him first in Venice and then in Venetian, and treated him with every Madrid. This is based on the fact that mark of distinguished consideration. in the Prado alone there are forty-two al­ On one occasion, so the story goes, he leged examples of the Venetian master. picked up a brush which the artist had But two, the " Sisyphus " and the " Pro­ dropped, and handed it to him with the metheus/' are copies by the Spanish remark, " Titian is worthy to be served painter Alonso Sanchez Coello of origi­ by Cajsar." On another occasion, at some nals which were afterward destroyed by ceremony in Bologna, he caused the artist fire; two others, " Virgen de los Dolores" to ride Iseside him, observing to the rest and "La Dolorosa," are considered to be of the retinue around him, " I can make wrongly ascribed to the master, being as many lords as I wish, but God alone possibly the work of his assistants; while can make a Titian." some others represent but indifferently After the abdication of Charles V. in Titian's greatness. Meanwliile there are 1555, his son and successor to the throne canvases which rank among his greatest. of Spain and the Netherlands, Philip II., Titian's relations with the court of continued the role of patron. During the Spain began with his introduction to remaining twenty years of the artist's Charles V. in 1530. This occurred while life he was continually being plied with the Emperor was visiting Bologna, and requests for pictures by the King, who, was engineered by the astute and un­ while he was eager to get them, was very scrupulous Pictro Aretino. The latter, slow in paying. Some of the correspond­ with Titian and the architect Sansovino, ence regarding their relations still exists. had formed the celebrated " Triumvirate," Garcia, for example, the King's envoy in for their mutual advancement and the Venice, writes in October, 1564, to the systematic pursuit of pleasure. Those Minister at Madrid: " The ' Christ at the were the days when Titiaii's luxurious Last Supper' is a marvel, and one of the villa at Biri Grande was the scene of best things that Titian has done. Though princely entertainments, ai v.'hich the it is finished and I was to have it in Sep­ guests included most of the men then tember, he said; when I sent for it, that famous in Italian art and politics. he would finish it on his return and then Titian had become recogriizcLl as the give it to me, which I suspect is due to painter of the great, and it was a natural his covetousness and avarice, which make sequence that he should paint a portrait him keep it hack till the despatch arrives of the greatest, of the Csesar who held ordering payment to be made. Though in his hand the destinies of the greater he is old, he v.'orks and can still work, part of Europe. and if there were but money forthcoming Charles was so satisfied with the result we should get more out of him than we of this first visit that two years later could expect from, his age." he invited the artist to renew it, when Titian himself writes to the " In­ the relations between the two became vincible and Potent King Philip," " Is firmly cemented. For each portrait the not my only aim in life to refuse the Emperor gave him a thousand crowns, services of other princes and cling to besides which he settled upon him an that of your Majesty?" But he has to annuity of two hundred, tci be paid by urge that the King will attend to the the city of Milan; raised hira to the rank arrears of his pension and payment on of a Count Palatine, and invested him pictures forwarded to Madrid. Philip on PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED PHILIP II. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 450 HAEPIIE'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE one occasion sends an order upon Milan Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," while " Di- to settle the arrears of the annuity which aua Surprised at the Fountain " and " Ca- "Charles, his father (now in Olory), had listo's Frailty Exposed by Diana" are de­ granted." With his own liabilities he is spatched with " The Entombment," and a still remiss. Whereupon Titian writes, " Christ in the Garden " with " Europa." "As an intercessor I have prepared a The record of the relations between picture in which the Magdalen appears the grasping Philip and the great artist, before you in tears, and as a suppliant whose powers were gradually failing, in favor of your most devoted servant." while his extravagant tastes showed no On this letter Philip notes, " It seems to abatement, are, in fact, more than a little me that this matter is already arranged." unpalatable. There is a suspicion that Apparently, however, the royal memory the King had little of the respect for the was in error, for the sum in question was greatness of the artist which his father paid later. Philip's standing order was had had, and that his chief motives wore, for religious pictures; but the artist, on the one hand, the superstitious venera­ knowing his master's dovibio role of tion he held for his father's memory, and ascetic and libertine, shrewdly includes on the other, his personal vanity in being- in tho consignment a nude or " poesie." served by tho artist whose name was still Thus a nude " Venus " accompanies " The held in the highest repute. Meanwhile SALOME PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED SOME TITIANS OF THE PKADO 451 ihcrc is a!.-o a suspicion tliat Titian sky. But in her rather mundane face, treated Philip as eertaiu modern paint­ and still more in the sweet evcry-day ers have not scrupled to treat Anioriean nobility of the Virgin's expression and millionaires, of whose vanity and ig­ gesture, Titian's self is pronounced. So norance an easy advantage could he taken. also in the treatment of her drapery of For certainly, as has already heen sug­ azure blue and the crimson robe. A lit­ gested, some of the pictures which the tle of the latter's rosy hue overflows into aged artist "un­ loaded " on his pa­ tron do not sustain his reputation. One is reminded of the statement of Vasari, who visited Titian in his home in Ven­ ice in 166(1: " Ct would have been well for him if, in these later years of his life, he had only labored for pastime, in order not to lose by works of declin- iiig value the repu­ tation gained in early days." In the disastrous firo of Christn)as, IT.'ll, which destroy­ ed the old Alcazar and consumed so many of the art treasures collected by Charles and the three Philips, some of the Titians per­ ished, while others were damaged. vSonie also have from time to time been given away as presents to distinguished per­ sons, so that those PORTRAIT OF TITIAN, BY HIMSELF now gathered in the Prado fall short of the original complement. The oldest the dove-gray gown of St. Brigida, whose of them in point of time is the " Ma­ mantle is golden brown, set against the donna and Child with Saints ITlfo and man's black armor and repeated in a Brigida," which used to be attributed drabber hue of brown in the " dossal" to Giorgionc. It belongs to Titian's behind the Virgin's head. Illfo's dark early period, when he was experimenting head, painted with superb simplicity, is with the Giorgionesque influence. You relieved against the deep apple green of may trace it in the contrast of Illfo's the curtain, which hue is echoed in the warm brcwn face with the fair-skinned bit of curtain on the right. This picture Brigida, v,-hosc golden-red hair, rippling belongs to the same period as the so- over the ears, is set against a white called " Sacred and Profane Love " of the cloud, gleaming in a translucent blue Borghese Palace in Eome. Indeed, the PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED yi:,;^ ^v. ^ll^f^p • % P, Wii-i^'^ Cft WoRSHiP OF VENUS same two models have served tlie artist freedom and freshness of imagination in both pictures. that created the figures. The nudes es­ Two other pictures, earl,v, in view of pecially reveal a fragrance and purity of Titian's long life, but representing him sentiment that the artist's later ones, in his full maturity, are " The Bacchanal" those of his middle age, have lost. and " Worship of Venus," which belong to The charm of landscape in the " Wor­ the period of the " Bacchus and Ariadne " ship of Venus " consists not only in the of the National Gallery. All of these color, but also in the sentiment. The sky v/ere painted for Duke Alfonso, who had is a lovely robin's-egg blue, in which float summoned the artist to Ecrrara in order dreamily gray and creamy clouds. These that he might complete Giovanni Bellini's gradually pale toward the horizon, where last and unfinished picture^ " The Baccha­ appear a church spire and trees, softened nal, or Feast of the Gods on Earth," which to blue by distance.
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