\paperw5190 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 Italian painter.\par
Titian commenced his artistic training in Venice, studying under Giovanni Bellini. But, at the age of eighteen he mov
ed to the school of Giorgione, where he felt more in tune with the style of tonality and poetics. In 1508 he collaborated with Giorgione on the decoration of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. The frescoes have been lost but a few surviving fragments (such as the
\i Justice\i0 in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice) suggest that he had already developed a personality of his own and was capable of handling perspective in a solemn manner. In 1511 Titian decorated the Scuola del Santo in Padua with a series of f
rescoes depicting the \i Miracles of Saint Anthony\i0 set in peaceful landscapes. In the years following the work in Padua, he painted canvases on a monumental scale such as the \i Saint Peter and Bishop Pesaro\i0 (Antwerp, MusΘe des Beaux-Arts) or one
s which display the lasting influence of Giorgione, thus critics are still uncertain to which of the two artists the \i Country Concert\i0 (Paris, Louvre) should be attributed. Titian rapidly established a reputation as the greatest artist of the Veneti
an Republic with the \i Assumption of the Virgin\i0 in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, finished in 1518. The artistÆs propensity for the grandiose triumphed in an extremely spectacular scene that was to make a deep impression on his contem
poraries. TitianÆs painting gradually took the form of research in the use of color, a predominant aspect even in the first canvases of the series of \i Bacchanalia\i0 (1518-19, Madrid, Museo del Prado). There is also an element derived from his knowled
ge of the works of Michelangelo, who also played a decisive part in the \i Averoldi Polyptych\i0 of 1522 (Brescia, Santi Nazzaro e Celso). At the same time, Titian was developing his own approach to portraiture in which, as in the \i Man with a Glove
\i0 (ca. 1520, Paris, Louvre), the subject is depicted half-length and with the hands visible. The profound psychological insight of his portraits found a synthesis in the grand \i Pesaro Altar\i0 , where the clients play a primary role alongside the sacre
d scene. Titian gradually acquired a role of extraordinary importance in the panorama of contemporary painting and received a series of commissions from the courts of Mantua, Ferrara, and Urbino, while starting to work for the rulers of Spain and France
as well. Around 1540 came a crucial turning point in the painterÆs artistic development, through his encounter with the Mannerist culture that made its way to Venice from Rome, Tuscany, and Emilia. Titian abandoned the expressive force of color to seek a
greater emphasis on plastic form in drawing and composition. This change, of which the \i Christ Crowned with Thorns\i0 of 1543 (Paris, Louvre) provides a fine example, was to exert a decisive influence on Tintoretto, Veronese, and Bassano. Between 154
5 and 1546 he made a journey to Rome that seems to have contributed to a reappraisal of his interest in Mannerism. Instead he returned to a liberal and sumptuous use of color, evident in masterpieces like the \i Portrait of Paul III with his Nephews\i0
or the \i Portrait of Charles V on Horseback\i0 . In his late works, Titian uses a palette lit up with unexpected glows, in which the drawing grows looser and anatomical forms seem to dissolve in the atmosphere. Examples among the artistÆs dramatic last
works are the \i Europa and the Bull\i0 (Boston) or the \i Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence\i0 (El Escorial). His long and prestigious career made him one of the most influential figures in sixteenth-century painting, whose importance was to remain constant
