Titian (Tiziano) was the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice, and the first painter to have a mainly international clientele. He was court painter to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and reputedly on terms of friendship with him. He mastered a wide range of subject matter - devotional and mythological themes, portraits and allegories.
Titian was born at Pieve di Cadore in the Veneto. He was a pupil of Giovanni Bellini and worked in association with Giorgione from around 1507.
His great early triumph was the 'Assumption of the Virgin' in the Frari Church in Venice (1516-18). The works of Michelangelo and of the High Renaissance in central Italy were influential on his mature development.
His patrons were wide-ranging, from the churches and government of Venice to the Gonzaga of Mantua, the d'Este of Ferrara - for whom he painted his early mythologies - the della Rovere of Urbino, and the Roman Farnese family of Pope Paul III.
In old age Titian mainly painted 'poesie' - mythologies - for Philip II. He developed a highly personal style, characterised by varied and loose brushwork and subdued tonality, which was of great influence in later centuries.
