No doubt can exist as to the authenticity of the so-called _Portrait of Alfonso da Ferrara and Laura de’ Dianti_ (No. 1590), but the title under which it has passed for many years is probably incorrect. It was in the collection of Charles I., and was then described as “Tytsian’s Mrs., after the life by Tytsian.” In the collection of Jabach it was called _La Maîtresse du Titien_, and as such was sold to Louis XIV. for £100. This picture would correctly be described under the less ambitious title of _A Woman at her Toilet and a Man holding Two Mirrors_. Laura was the daughter of a hatter of Ferrara. She was _persona grata_ at the court of Alfonso I., Duke of Ferrara (reigned 1505-1534), and there held the title of _Illustrissima Donna Laura Eustochia d’Este_. The Duke’s first wife, Anna Sforza, died in 1497, when he was twenty-one years old. In 1501 he married, as his second wife, Lucrezia Borgia (died 1519), the natural daughter of Pope Alexander VI. It seems probable that shortly afterwards the Duke took Laura as his third wife, and that she was painted by Titian a little later. The Louvre picture (No. 1590) appears on stylistic grounds to be a work of about 1515-1517. A portrait which can be more certainly identified as that of Laura is the single figure picture, painted by Titian about 1523, in the collection of Sir Frederick Cook at Richmond. The influence of Giorgione is still clearly seen in Titian’s _Man with a Glove_ (No. 1592, Plate XII.). It is a noble portrait of an unknown man; the colour is rich, and the light and shade are contrasted with great mastery; the bare right hand and the gloved left holding the second glove are admirably modelled. The canvas, which seems to have been painted about 1518, is signed “TICIANVS F.” Soon afterwards Titian must have painted the _Portrait of a Man in Black with the Thumb of his Left Hand in the Belt of his Doublet_ (No. 1591), the _Madonna with the Rabbit_ (No. 1578), which is inscribed _Ticianus F._, and the magnificent _Entombment_ (No. 1584, Plate XIII.). This priceless picture, which was painted not later, than 1523 for Federigo Gonzaga, passed from Mantua into the collection of Charles I. It was sold off by Cromwell for £128 and, after being one of the masterpieces for a few years in the collection of Jabach, was acquired by Louis XIV. The deep religious feeling and the rich, sonorous harmony of colour make this one of the world’s most precious pictures. Notice the sunburnt arm of Joseph of Arimathæa; it is significant of the art of Venice. [Illustration: PLATE XII.—TITIAN (1489?-1576) VENETIAN SCHOOL No. 1592.—THE MAN WITH A GLOVE (L’homme au Gant)