When Titian grew old, his eyesight started to fail him. Instead of
painting his subjects in great detail and in the style of the other painters
of Venice, he began to paint his subject with just a few strokes of the brush.
His works at this time did not rely on great detail, but instead his brushstrokes
portrayed his subjects with an impression or suggestion. The viewer's eye and
brain filled in the rest of what he or she was seeing. Because of his late use
of this style, Titian is known centuries later as the "father of modern painting."
Titian lived a very long life and painted to almost the last day of his life.
He died in 1576, while a plague was raging through Venice.
Tiziano
Vecellio (late 1400s-1576)
Titian was born near Venice, Italy, though the date is unclear. Some historians
think it was as early as 1477, others as late as 1490. Titian's whole name was
Tiziano Vecellio. When he was a boy, he was sent to Venice to study painting
and was apprenticed to two artists, Gentile Bellini and his brother Giovanni
Bellini. It was in 1515 that Titian began to produce masterpieces, and he was soon
the leading figure in Venetian painting. Many of his clients included Holy Roman
Emperors, Pope Paul III, the king of Spain and many important Italian nobles.
One of his most famous works is an altarpiece called "The Assumption of the
Virgin."
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