In 1565 he painted "The Transfiguration," in the San Salvadore at
Venice, the "Annunciation" for the same church; "St. James of
Compostella," in the Church of San Leo, and the "Cupid and Venus" of the
Borghese Palace, the Queen of Love and two Graces teaching Cupid his
vocation.
"Venus is seated in front of a gorgeous red-brown drapery; her head is
crowned with a diadem, and her luxuriant hair falls in heavy locks on
her neck. Her arms are bare, but her tunic is bound with a sash, which
meets in a cross at her bosom and winds away under the arms, whilst a
flap of a blue mantle crosses the knees. With both hands she is binding
the eyes of Eros leaning on her lap, whilst she turns to listen to the
whispering of another Eros resting on her shoulder. A girl with naked
throat and arm carries Cupid's quiver, whilst a second holds his bow.
Behind the group a sky overcast with pearly clouds lowers over a
landscape of hills.... Light plays upon every part," says Crowe,
"creating, as it falls, a due projection of shadow, producing all the
delicacies of broken tone and a clear silvery surface full of sparkle,
recalling those masterpieces of Paolo Veronese, in which the gradations
are all in the cinerine as opposed to the golden key."
In 1566, the aged artist, now verging on ninety, heretofore exempt from
taxation, was obliged to give a list of his property. He owned several
houses, pieces of land, sawmills, and the like, and has been blamed
because he did not state the full value of his possessions.
Vasari, who visited him at this time, writes,--"Titian has enjoyed
health and happiness unequalled, and has never received from heaven
anything but favor and felicity. His house has been visited by all the
princes, men of letters, and gentlemen who ever come to Venice. Besides
being excellent in art, he is pleasant company, of fine deportment and
agreeable manners.... Titian, having decorated Venice, and, indeed,
Italy and other parts of the world, with admirable pictures, deserves to
be loved and studied by artists, as one who has done and is still doing
works deserving of praise, which will last as long as the memory of
illustrious men."
When he was ninety-one he sent to Philip II. a "Venus," the "Martyrdom
of St. Lawrence," a large "Tarquin and Lucretia," and "Philip Presenting
his Son to an Angel," now in the Madrid Museum. He also painted for
himself "Christ Crowned with Thorns," a powerful work, now in Munich,
which Rubens, Rembrandt, and Van Dyck carefully studied as a model.
Tintoretto hung it later in his atelier, to show what a painting ought
to be.
His "Adam and Eve," now at Madrid, which Rubens greatly admired and
copied, was painted at this time.
In 1576, when Titian was ninety-nine, he began his last picture, the
"Christ of Pity," for the Franciscans of the Frari, with whom he had
bargained for a grave in their chapel. The Saviour rests in death on the
lap of the Virgin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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