Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), an Italian painter, born near Pieve di Cadore, Friuli, in 1477, died in Venice, Aug. 27, 1576. He is said to have made his first attempts at coloring in his early childhood with juices expressed from flowers. In his ninth year he was placed under Sebastiano Zuccati, a Venetian painter and worker in mosaic, and subsequently studied under Bellini, He also came probably under the influence of Albert Durer, who visited Venice in 1494 and again in 1507, but was indebted chiefly to his intimate friend and fellow student Giorgione for the ideas of art and color which long governed him. At Giorgione's death in 1511 the styles of the two artists were so similar that it was difficult to distinguish their productions, and Titian readily completed the unfinished works of his friend. Perceiving that breadth of form produced breadth of color, he endeavored to see nature in a more ample light, and, instead of copying or imitating her tones, to generalize and elevate them in accordance with his original conceptions.

The result was a free and serene beauty of form and expression, and a representation of life realizing what Kugler calls "the glorification of earthly existence, and the liberation of art from the bonds of ecclesiastical dogmas." Left at the age of 34 without a rival, Titian entered upon a career which for the uniform excellence of its productions, for celebrity and duration, has perhaps no parallel in the history of painting. Commissions from the wealthy Venetian nobility afforded him abundant employment. In 1514 he visited the court of Duke Alfonso I. of Ferrara, for whom he painted the "Arrival of Bacchus in the Island of Naxos" and "A Sacrifice to the Goddess of Fertilitv," which are at Madrid, and the "Bacchus and Ariadne," in the British national gallery, which presents an epitome of all the characteristic beauties of Titian in composition, color, and form. At Ferrara he also painted portraits of Lucrezia Borgia and of Ariosto. He was again at Venice from 1516 to 1530, when he went to Bologna to paint the portraits of the emperor Charles V. and Pope Clement VII., and to Mantua, where he executed for the duke a series of the twelve Caesars. At 65 he retained the vigor and freshness of youth, while the magic charm of his color and the cheerful serenity of his style seemed to mellow with time.

In 1543-'5 he revisited Bologna and Ferrara, and painted the emperor Charles V. for the third or fourth time, and Pope Paul III. After passing some time in the employment of the duke of Ur-bino, he went to Rome, where he produced a masterpiece in his picture of the old pope with his grandsons, Cardinal Farnese and Duke Ottavio Farnese. While engaged upon a picture of Jupiter and Danae, he was visited by Michel Angelo, who, after expressing admiration for his coloring, observed that if he had been early grounded, in the principles of drawing, he would rank as the first painter in the world. In 1548 he was summoned by Charles V. to Augsburg, and received from him the title of count palatine of the empire and a pension. After the abdication of Charles he continued in great favor with his son Philip II. of Spain, for whom he painted important works; but his pension was thenceforth constantly in arrears, and he was frequently obliged to petition the Spanish officials for the sums due him for pictures.

The remainder of Titian's life was passed principally in Venice. His " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," in the Jesuits' church in Venice, painted when he was 81, is one of his largest and grandest compositions; and at least one of his celebrated Magdalens, that in the Escurial, was executed even later. At 90 years of age sorrow rather than time began to affect him, and, notwithstanding he clung resolutely to his art for consolation, the vigor and beauty of his style became impaired. In his 97th year he received Henry III. of France, who passed through Venice on his way from Poland, with magnificent hospitality; and two years later, while yet occupied with his art, he fell a victim to the plague. His latest work was a dead Christ with the Virgin and attendant saints, now in the academy of Venice. By a special exception in his favor he was buried in the church of Santa Maria de' Frari. - The works of Titian comprise sacred and profane history, mythological subjects, portraits, and landscapes, the last named being generally treated in connection with other subjects, though not always in subordination to them. Many of the pictures passing under his name are not well authenticated.

He is seen to the best advantage in Venice. Of his early pictures, which reflect the style of the Bellini modified by the peculiar ideas derived from Giorgione, the most noticeable are the " Visit of Mary to Elizabeth," in the academy at Venice; the Vierge au Lapin, in the Louvre; the "Christ with the Tribute Money " (engraved by Gustav Eilers, Berlin, 1875), at Dresden; and particularly the "Resurrection," painted in five compartments, in the church of San Nazaro, at Brescia. The more developed period which succeeded the death of Giorgione comprises nearly all the pictures by which he is now known. The first in celebrity of these perhaps is the "St. Peter Martyr," in the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, which ranks with the " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence " among the painter's masterpieces. The academy of Venice contains his "Assumption" and "Presentation of the Virgin," and the Manfrini palace in the same city the "Entombment of Christ." In addition to these may be mentioned the " Last Supper," in the Escurial, upon which he labored seven years; a " Virgin and Child with Saints," in the Uffizi gallery; the " St. Sebastian," in the Vatican; the " Christ crowned with Thorns," in the Louvre; various well known Magdalens in Rome, Florence, the Escurial, and elsewhere; and numerous Madonnas, Holy Families, and similar pieces scattered over Europe. Upon subjects taken from allegory and secular history he executed several important pictures, including the " Victory of the Venetians over the Janizaries," for the doge's palace, which were destroyed by fire.

As a colorist merely Titian developed the resources of his art with most success in naked female figures. The most familiar examples are the several Venuses in the galleries of Florence and Dresden; the Danaes at Naples and Vienna; the Flora in the Uffizi gallery; "Diana and her Nymphs" and " Venus rising from the Sea," in the Stafford gallery; "Venus and Adonis" (a duplicate), in the British national gallery; and the so-called Venus del Pardo in the Louvre. As a portrait painter he is unrivalled; and Fuseli says that landscape dates its origin from him. - See Northcote's "Life of Titian" (2 vols., London, 1830), and that by Crowe and Caval-caselle (1875).