Titian by Tom Nichols

Author:Tom Nichols
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

Pictor et eques: Titian’s Self-portraits

In 1537, just four years after he was ennobled by Charles V, Titian was featured in a medal by Leone Leoni, a commission presumably arranged by Pietro Aretino, a relative and protector of the young sculptor during his stay in Venice (illus. 124).34 The earliest known image of Titian occurs in a visual type with very pronounced all’antica associations. Shown in the profile view that he was to return to in a famous late self-portrait (illus. 129), Titian is individualized insofar as he is already shown with the aquiline nose, high forehead and skullcap that were to become familiar in later depictions. And on the reverse, the Bacchante and amoretto may even reference his famous Bacchanals in Ferrara: the woman, in particular, has certain features in common with the heroine in Bacchus and Ariadne (illus. 44). But the distancing profile view on the verso sacrifices exploration of personality or psychology to the assertion of status.

Titian was not the first artist in Venice to have himself depicted in this format: both Gentile and Giovanni Bellini had medals struck, a clear indication of the rising profile of leading painters in the city. Giovanni’s medal, however, shows the painter in the manner of a public civil servant rather than as an aristocratic intellectual (illus. 125).35 As in the related Belliniano drawing (illus. 7), Giovanni’s hat is pulled down firmly over his forehead and he sports the stola often worn by Venetian citizens. The border legend identifies him as ‘Ioannes Bellinus Venet Pictor’ (‘Giovanni Bellini, Venetian Painter’). This contrasts with the legend on Titian’s medal, reading ‘Titianus Pictor et Eques C’ (‘Titian, Painter and Imperial Knight’) with reference to his recent elevation to noble status by the emperor.36 If Giovanni’s public persona was defined by his place within the Venetian hierarchy, Titian’s was owed to his royal Habsburg patron Charles, and the details of his appearance and dress confirm his very different and non-local identity as an independent artistic creator.

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