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Titian

In his day, 'The Sun Amidst Small Stars'

Pietà by Titian, in the Accademia

There are many princes, but there is only one Titian. Emperor Charles V

Born in to a modestly successful family of managers in Pieve di Cadore in the Dolomites (then part of the Venetian Republic), Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, c. 1480s–1576), went on to become the 16th-century's most popular Northern Italian painter, the favourite of princes, popes and emperors, famous across Europe (such a favourite, in fact, that most of his very best work is outside Venice). During the course of his long life his style evolved, and changed the history of Western Art.

He was trained from the age of 10 or 12 by Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, the top artist of his day, in whose studio young Titian met Giorgione, Palma il Vecchio, Sebastiano del Piombo and Lorenzo Lotto. One of his first known works, The Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth, now in the Accademia, shows the strong influence of his master.

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High Renaissance

Artists

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Images by PD Art