FIG. 264. Titian. The Three Ages.—_Bridgewater House, London._ ] In the early poesies Titian at once manifests his adoration of Giorgione and his own independence. In the Three Ages, Figure 264, at Bridgewater House we may grasp at its highest beauty his robust Arcadianism. In a meadow landscape an ardent nymph woos her bronzed swain. Complacently he accepts her unreserved advances. Nothing could be more explicit than the relation between the lovers, and with equal plainness an old man and sleeping child serve to teach us that youth and its sweetest ardors are but a brief pause between childhood and old age. Let us then seize the moments when nature and love are kind to us. Such is the forthright poetry of Titian. It is the poetry of every boy and every girl—simple, classic, unchangeable. Think of the overtones and personal interpretations with which Giorgione would have overlaid such a theme. Such twilight mysteries are alien to Titian’s fervent and lucid spirit. He loves the morning hour with work and love ahead, as Giorgione loves the veiling glamour and brooding memories of eventide. [Illustration: FIG. 265. Titian. “Sacred and Profane Love.”—_Borghese, Rome._ ] The Three Ages was probably painted about 1512, the far more famous poesy, misnamed Sacred and Profane Love, Figure 265, is two or three years later. The sumptuous variety and richness of Titian are here at their height. Luminous marbles, pearly nude forms, lustrous stuffs, dark shimmer of foliage and sun-swept slopes of grass seem created merely to set off their respective beauties of hue and texture. Purples, azure, rose, saturated greens form a sonorous chord of colors which is so satisfying that one scarcely asks why a Cupid stirs the waters of a magic fountain, and why a splendidly clothed figure sits tranquilly at the side while a superb nude figure turns impulsively and holds aloft a burning lamp. Explanations of the fable abound. It is Venus persuading Helen to harken to Paris, or Medea to aid Jason. So the Germans. I am sure only that if we knew the meaning it would be quite as simple as these explanations. My friend, the late William P. Andrews, suggested that we have a lovely symbolism for the inquietude of maidenhood and the composure of matronhood—love in prospect and retrospect. The universality of the interpretation is in its favor. Titian’s mind worked socially and concretely. Plainly the nude figure is reminiscent of Giorgione’s listless beauty by the fountain in the Pastoral Concert, Figure 257. Titian’s maiden lacks something of the momentary grace and spontaneity of her model, but has in compensation a fuller grandeur. [Illustration: FIG. 266. Titian. Flora.—_Pitti._ ]