Titian red. A color born in Cadore
Tiziano Vecellio was born in Pieve di Cadore, a small town in the Dolomites on the edge of the domains of the Serenissima, from the Vecellio family, a well-known and wealthy family, dedicated for generations to jurisconsult and local administration, but also to art, having expressed only between the end of Fifteenth and first half of the seventeenth century nine painters. The year is still an unknown even if it should be between 1488/1490. He was a painter of the Republic of Venice.
In early childhood he abandoned his maternal roof to go to Venice where he learned the first techniques and was then put in the workshop by the painter Bellini, the official state painter. Titian’s Venetian identity was reasserted in 1513 when the artist refused the transfer to Rome requested by Leo X and sent a letter to the Council of Ten to become the official painter of the Serenissima, replacing Bellini. The request was accepted only after the latter’s death in 1516. He held the position for seventy years and invested the earnings in Cadore wood, necessary for the Republic of Venice for its fleets.
Tiziano Vecellio and Titian red
The artist is remembered for the touch of color, defined tonal color, together with Giorgione, of which he was a pupil. The revolution of painting consisted in giving more importance to color, of which he made a very personal use. Tiziano, innovator and multifaceted, did not limit himself to living from painting but established a company in Cadore and was an excellent entrepreneur.
With his artistic maturity, Titian left the balanced spatiality, the sunny and sumptuous character of the Renaissance color, for the dynamism and use of color and light. He will die in Venice, August 27, 1576.
To Visit:
- Piazza Tiziano with monument
- Birthplace of Tiziano Vecellio
- Archdeacon Church of Santa Maria Nascente
“Madonna with Child between Saints Titian and Andrew and an acolyte” from 1565 – 1566 ca.
ZOPPE’ DI CADORE
- Church of Sant’Anna
“Madonna with Child Enthroned and Saints Matthew, Anna and Jerome” from the first half of the 16th century