Titian: The Last Days
What happened to Titian? History reports that the Renaissance master painter perished in the plague that ravaged Venice in 1576 and that many of his final paintings disappeared in the days following, as looters picked clean the abandoned dwellings of the newly deceased.
But is that the true story? In Titian: The Last Days, author Mark Hudson attempts to crack open a case that鈥檚 been ice-cold for a half millennium, filling in some of the many gaps in what we do not know about one of the world鈥檚 most celebrated painters. Hudson never fully succeeds, but in the process he does allow readers to buckle up and ride shotgun through some pretty fascinating territory 鈥� including the cobbled streets and ancient places of Venice, the splendid dwellings of kings and popes, and the rolling foothills of Titian鈥檚 native Dolomite Mountains.
Hudson鈥檚 book also offers a lively portrait of the robust Venetian art scene and the heated atmosphere that turned a painter of portraits into a celebrity of such intense magnitude.
Tiziano Vecellio 鈥� known to the world as Titian 鈥� was not only Venice鈥檚 greatest painter: He was its first rock star 鈥� Elvis with a paintbrush. Any Venetian soir茅e worth attending had his name atop the guest list. No mansion, royal palace, or church was complete without a Titian on its walls. Hudson writes that Titian and his superstar running buddies, Aretino and Sansovino, formed an inseparable triumvirate 鈥� 鈥淰enice鈥檚 most famous writer, her most influential architect and her greatest painter 鈥� a nexus of artistic and social influence around which many other important figures converged.鈥�
鈥淐elebrity art鈥� was alive and kicking in 16th- century Venice. The city鈥檚 most beautiful and notorious women climbed over one another to be immortalized by Titian. Emperor Charles V and King Phillip II patiently sat for their portraits. To the painter鈥檚 adoring legion of admirers, 鈥渉aving a Titian鈥� was the absolute pinnacle of renaissance cool. In 1516, Titian was anointed Official Painter of the Republic of Italy. No complaints were heard.
A number of Titian鈥檚 portraits were painted as 鈥渇avors,鈥� a savvy form of networking meant to further his connections and gain more and better commissions, higher and higher up the social and political ladder. But Titian鈥檚 iconic fame came via his religious and mythological works such as 鈥淎ssumption of the Virgin,鈥� 鈥淧iet脿,鈥� and the titillating 鈥淰enus of Urbino.鈥� (Three centuries after it was painted, while viewing the guileless sexuality of 鈥淭he Venus鈥� at Florence鈥檚 Uffizi gallery, a red-faced Mark Twain proclaimed it 鈥渢he foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses.鈥�)
For Titian, the work merely amplified his celebrity, raised his already hefty fees, and garnered him many more naked-lady commissions. Images that would have been scandalous or even illegal drawn by any lesser mortal had now made Venice鈥檚 favorite son an even bigger star. From 1516 until his death in 1576, Titian was the 鈥淒ivine One.鈥�
But who was Tiziano Vecellio, the man? Against long odds, Hudson attempts to tell us. His dogged efforts to get inside Titian鈥檚 final Venice residence for a look around are repeatedly thwarted by its present-day tenants. Mining Venetian scholars and dusty bookshops for fresh insights into the man, he comes up with a bucketful of unconnected anecdotes or ubiquitous facts instead. As Hudson鈥檚 quest hits one brick wall or locked door after another, you can feel the air seeping out of the promising concept of this book. In the end, the clues lead us back to where we started 鈥� was it the great plague or simply old age that took him? We鈥檙e still not sure.
And the last paintings 鈥� who knows? There are canvasses scattered through homes and galleries in Italy and Spain that somewhat fit the description, but there is no confirmation that they were the ones leaning against his studio walls in Titian鈥檚 last days. Another dusty mystery undisturbed.
But along our 320-page journey with Hudson we learn a great deal about the workings of the Venetian art world and Titian鈥檚 place in it. Titian鈥檚 indulgent compulsion to surpass his teachers鈥� old compositions takes full measure of this cool customer鈥檚 blood temperature. Hudson鈥檚 book takes us places we could never go on our own 鈥� into sacred vaults and galleries, monasteries and legendary crypts 鈥� in search of the soul of one of art鈥檚 awe-inspiring practitioners. He never finds the holy grail he was seeking, but there is much to be enjoyed in the hunt.
John Kehe is the Monitor鈥檚 design director.
