There was in this year (1545) a report of Titian's death, as appears by the following letter written by him to Charles the Fifth.

66 TITIAN VECELLI, PAINTER, TO THE INVINCI

BLE EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH.

"Invincible Prince! if the false report of

my death gave any pain or or sorrow to your sacred Majesty, to me it has been the source of the greatest consolation, because it makes me more certain that your Highness remembers my humble services, which makes life doubly dear to me. And I most humbly pray our Lord God to preserve me (if no longer) at

of Jacopo Salviati; by whom he had one son, Cosmo, first Duke of Tuscany.

rence.

The young Cosmo, in order to ally himself with his Majesty Charles the Fifth, solicited the hand of his daughter Margaret, the virgin-widow of his predecessor, Alexander, Duke of FloCharles refused this request, knowing that Cosmo, from interest alone, must prove a sincere ally. To please Pope Paul the Third, he gave her to his grandson, Alexander Duke of Parma, who was at that time only thirteen years old, but who became afterwards so famous for his valour and skill in war; whom surviving, Margaret was entrusted with the Government of the Netherlands for many years. She was uncommonly masculine and coarse in her appearance, but sensible and prudent. marked, upon her father's marrying her to the Duke of Parma, that "when a child she had been married to a man, and now she was become a woman, she was given to a boy."

She re

least till I have finished the work I am about for your Imperial Majesty, which is now so near being completed, that in September next, it may appear before your Highness, to whom in the meanwhile I bow with all humility, and reverently commend myself to your gracious favour."

Titian appears to have been still employed in painting for the Spanish Princes in the beginning of the following year.

66 TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS AND ONLY TITIAN.

"My dear friend, go on in finishing the portraits of the King of England and his Son,* if it be only that you may be of service to Signor Ludovico D'Allarmi; and my only reason for desiring this of you is on his account alone. For it appears to me that he is going the road to ruin, through the greatness that has made him so proud. Thus the very things which promised to exalt him, have, in fact, been the means of his degradation.

"Venice, March 1546.”

"PIETRO ARETINO.

* This must have been Philip the Second and his son Don Carlos.

CHAPTER XVII.

TITIAN VISITS ROME HIS WORKS THERE MICHAEL ANGELO'S OPINION OF THEM-LETTERS OF ARETIN ADDRESSED TO HIM IN HIS ABSENCE.

TITIAN having accomplished his undertaking at Urbino, he was again invited to visit Rome by the Cardinal Farnese; and arrived in that city in the year 1545. Here he was received in the most distinguished manner, and was lodged in the palace of the Belvidere. At this time he met with Vasari, just returned from Naples to be employed in decorating some magnificent chambers in the Farnese palace, the subjects being chosen from particulars relative to the family of Paul the Third. Vasari had been introduced and recommended to the Cardinal Farnese by Titian; and these two friends went in company to visit whatever was most worthy of notice in Rome. After our artist had reposed himself some days, he felt a desire to begin his work. He was now to

paint Pope Paul again; but the portrait was to be at full-length with the Cardinal and Duke Octavio Farnese of Parma in one group; in which he succeeded to the highest satisfaction of those princes. This picture I saw at the Capo de Monte at Naples, and it is indeed one of the very finest examples of portrait in the whole world, particularly in point of the expression which is inimitable. Mr Fuseli, who was then with me, looking at this picture said, "That is true history!"

Titian was then persuaded by the Farnese princes to execute a picture to be presented to the Pope, representing an Ecce Homo.

This

work, when compared with those by Michael Angelo, Raphael, Polidoro, and others, did not seem to the Roman painters of the same excellence, which distinguished many of his pictures, and particularly his portraits. Although it was good in many respects, yet they thought it deficient in dignity of character.

Piero Luigi Farnese, a natural son of Paul III, was the father of the two young men painted by Titian in the same composition with that Pontiff. The titles of Gonfalonier of the Church, Duke of Castro, Marquess of Novara, and lastly, in 1545, Duke of Parma and Placentia, were in a short period conferred

on him. Ungoverned, rash, and dissipated, his contempt of his father's counsels, and his usage of his own courtiers were the cause of his being assassinated by the latter, in the year 1547.

·

This catastrophe, which is falsely attributed to the Landi, owed its origin principally to the imprudence of Piero in not restraining or concealing his antipathy to Charles the Fifth. The Emperor had refused to acknowledge him in his new duchy; and as patron of Milan, laid pretensions himself to the cities of Parma and Placentia, which were renounced by the Church. These cities, after their conquest by Matthew Visconti in 1315, had been given to the Pope, in consequence of a rebellion; and in 1513, had been newly adjudged to the Duke of Milan. Piero, deeply irritated at thus finding himself insecure upon his throne, was continually instigating his father and the Court of France against Charles the Fifth. He, on many occasions, gave great offence to the Governor of Milan, Ferrante Gonzaga; he entered into the conspiracy of Gian Luigi Fieschi against Andrea Doria; persecuted to the utmost the partisans of the Emperor, and proposed to reign by mere force and terror; erecting castles, fulminating confiscations, and depressing generally the whole class (at that time a very powerful one)