Titian

c. 1488 – 27 August 1576

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) was the leading painter of the sixteenth-century Venetian school, celebrated for his mastery of color and his versatility in portraits, mythologies, and religious works. Over a career of some seventy years he served patrons including the Republic of Venice, Emperor Charles V, and King Philip II of Spain. He died in Venice during the plague of 1576.

Comparing
Compare

Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Titian.

Life events

Born in Pieve di Cadore, Republic of Venice
c. 1488

Tiziano Vecellio was born to a local official's family in the Alpine town of Pieve di Cadore; his exact birth year is uncertain, with estimates around 1488-1490.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Sent to Venice to train as a painter
c. 1500

As a boy Titian was sent to Venice, where he trained in the workshops of Gentile and then Giovanni Bellini and worked alongside Giorgione.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Painted frescoes with Giorgione on the Fondaco dei Tedeschi
1508

Titian assisted Giorgione on the exterior frescoes of the German merchants' warehouse in Venice, an early public commission.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Became official painter to the Republic of Venice
1516

After Giovanni Bellini's death, Titian assumed the position of official painter to the Venetian Republic, holding the broker's patent at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Completed the Assumption of the Virgin for the Frari
1516 – 19 March 1518

His monumental altarpiece for Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, unveiled in 1518, established him as the foremost painter in the city.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Married Cecilia Soldano
1525

Titian married Cecilia, already the mother of his two eldest sons; she died in 1530 shortly after the birth of their daughter Lavinia.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relationship ✓
Ennobled by Emperor Charles V
1533

Charles V made Titian a Count Palatine and Knight of the Golden Spur, an extraordinary honor for a painter, and he became the emperor's favored portraitist.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Painted the Venus of Urbino
1538

Titian completed the reclining nude Venus of Urbino for Guidobaldo II della Rovere, one of the most influential nudes in Western art.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Traveled to Augsburg to serve the imperial court
1548

Titian journeyed to Augsburg, where he painted Charles V and the imperial circle, including the equestrian portrait of the emperor after the Battle of Mühlberg.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Died in Venice during a plague epidemic
27 August 1576

Titian died on 27 August 1576 while plague raged in Venice and was buried in the Frari church, home of his Assumption.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓