Titian by Sheila Hale

Hale’s life of Titian, one of the world’s greatest artists, is the first biography to be published in more than 130 years. This is partly because so little is known about the painter, but Hale fills the gap with vivid descriptions of life in renaissance Venice during his long life. Born some time between 1488 and 1490, Titian died in his late 80s with failing eyesight, perhaps because of cataracts or perhaps macular degeneration. During that time, Columbus landed in America, Luther challenged the Pope’s authority and Venice’s golden age began to fade. Hale’s scholarship reveals him to have been a difficult man, particularly in old age, and obsessed with chasing up payments from his patrons. Only half of his 600-odd paintings survive, including Triumph of Love, pictured above, which is owned by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford following a public appeal. The background shows the artist’s beloved Venice while behind are the Dolomites, where he was born in a remote mountain village. No one knows how he came to be sent to Venice to study painting, but Hale speculates that his talent must have shone through. The cherubic figure of Cupid in the Ashmolean painting reminds us that one of Titian’s most devoted imitators was Rubens, and Hale has no doubt that he influenced art for ever.