He is standing and seen nearly in full face, the head turned three-quarters to the right, the eyes directed to the right. He wears a black costume with a white pleated under-garment, a gold chain round his neck, and white frills in his sleeves. His right hand, with a ring on the forefinger, holds his girdle. His left hand, gloved and holding the second glove, rests on a stone plinth. Painted in oil on canvas. Signed on the plinth:—“TICIANVS. F.” 3 ft. 3½ in. × 2 ft. 11 in. (1·00 × 0·89.)] At an interval of about eight years we come to the _St. Jerome_ (No. 1585), a religious scene set, curiously enough, in a moonlight landscape, which has darkened. The exact interpretation to be placed upon the _Allegory in honour of Alfonso d’Avalos_ (No. 1589), of about 1533, has been much discussed; it is supposed to represent Alfonso bidding farewell to his wife on his departure for the wars, and entrusting her to the safe keeping of Chastity, Cupid, who bears a sheaf of arrows, and a third figure. The _Portrait of Francis I._ (No. 1588), whom Titian never saw, appears to have been painted about 1536 from a medal, and represents the King in profile. François I. died in 1547. It belongs to the same period as the _Portrait of a Man in Damascened Armour with a Page holding his Helmet_ in the collection of Count Potocki. Another portrait, painted about 1543, represents a _Man with a Black Beard resting his Hand on the Ledge of a Pilaster_ (No. 1593). By this time Titian’s art was rapidly maturing, as we see from his magnificent and imposing _Supper at Emmaus_ (No. 1581) of the same year. It had passed from Mantua to England before being acquired by that excellent connoisseur, Jabach. It is said to be signed _Ticianus F._, while the _Christ Crowned with Thorns_ (No. 1583), which was painted for a church in Milan about 1550, is inscribed TITIANVS _F._ When Charles I., as Prince of Wales, visited Madrid in 1623, he was presented with the _Jupiter and Antiope_ (No. 1587), which has the alternative title of the _Venus del Pardo_. It had been painted for Philip II., and had already escaped the fire which broke out in the Prado. Jabach acquired it for 600 guineas, and passed it on to Cardinal Mazarin, from whom it was acquired for 10,000 _livres tournois_ by Louis XIV. It escaped destruction by fire in the Old Louvre in 1661. It has been very much repainted from time to time. TITIAN’S FOLLOWERS