as velvet, satin, cloth, linen, gems, &c., and they left not these to be neglected by the genius of the artist, whom they wished to do it well, nor would they excuse him, if he did not perform it.

The amateurs seeing the things so well imitated, accustomed themselves to that taste of painting and to please them, it was necessary that the painter should make his portrait someway striking, and that he should also make it various and rich, in order that they might see the portrait in all respects exactly like themselves. In Rome, where the ancient taste predominated, they made little account of that variety, and endeavoured to make things with the greatest simplicity possible. The amateurs sought for the most heroical subjects in which variety is hurtful: from their infancy they learned these maxims, and accustomed themselves to a taste for colouring which is not so various or so true as the first or Venetian style.

ILLUSTRATIONS

OF THE

LIFE AND WORKS OF TITIAN,

FROM

RIDOLFI, TICOZZI, AND OTHERS.

ILLUSTRATIONS, &c.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

BIRTH OF TITIAN VECELLI, AND HIS INCLINATION FOR
PAINTING-SENT BY HIS FATHER TO VENICE, TO
LEARN THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ART UNDER SEBAS-
TIAN ZUCCATI, AND THE BROTHERS GENTILE AND
JOHN BELLINO
HE SOON
ABANDONS THE MANNER OF HIS MASTER JOHN,

HIS FIRST WORKS

WITH GIORGIONE,

AND PAINTS, IN CONJUNCTION
THE FRONT OF THE FONDACO DE' TEDESCHI.

TITIAN was born in the Pieve (or parish) of Cadore, in the year 1477.* He was the son of Gregory, of the noble family of Vecelli,† and Lucia, a Venetian citizen; and according to

* All the most authentic documents, and all writers, with the exception of Vasari, who was never very scrupulous as to dates, fix his birth in 1477; the latter in 1480.

+ Appendix (No. 1) contains the genealogical table of the family Vecelli. The name Vecelli is supposed to be derived from one

But

the civil condition of his family, was destined by his father to the study of letters. quickly perceiving his wonderful inclination for pictures, and an image of the Virgin which the boy had coloured with the juice of flowers being considered by every body as a prodigious performance, his father determined on sending him, at the age of nine, to his uncle Antonio at Venice,* for the purpose of having him instructed in the principles of painting. This

Guecello, who, in the year 1321, was Governor of Cadore for Guecellio da Camino, the then Grand Signior of the province. Cæsar Vecelli, in his book entitled " Degli Abati Antichi e Moderni,” speaks of Gregory Vecelli, father of Titian, in the following terms: "What shall I say of Gregory, Titian's father? He was of the most excellent disposition and singular experience; so that the goodness of his heart was in no way inferior to the sublimity of his intellect."

* Antonio, Titian's uncle on his father's side, lived at Venice in the house of his father-in-law, Giacomo Coltrini, a Brescian engineer in the service of the Republic. Ridolfi, the anonymous author of a life of Titian, and Liruti, affirm that he was sent to an uncle on the mother's side. But one ought to prefer the testimony of Dolce, who, besides living in strict intimacy with Titian, published, under the eye of the latter, his Dialogue on Painting, in which he says (speaking of our artist) " he was sent when a boy of nine years old to Venice, by his father, to a brother of his." It appears too, from authentic documents, that Antonio, brother of Gregory Vecelli, dwelt in the house of his father-in-law Coltrini; and that Titian, grateful for the tender care of his uncle, preferred his son Thomas Titus, the celebrated lawyer, father of Mark the painter, to all his other relations.