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Inscription

lower right on wood block held by sitter: T. VECELLIVS P./ AET.LXXXIV. / ANNO MDLXI.

Provenance

Possibly Cavaliere Francesco Fontana, Venice, by 1676 (as by Titian).[1] Paolo Paolini, Rome, 1894;[2] (his sale, American Art Association, New York, 10-11 December 1924, no. 116, as by Titian); purchased by R. M. Catts (as by Titian).[3] (Van Diemen Galleries, New York), by 1928 (as by Titian);[4] William Robert Timken [1866-1949] and Lillian Guyer Timken [1881-1959], Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by 1931,[5] and following Mr. Timken's death, New York City;[6] bequest 1960 to NGA.

[1] Lucia Procacci and Ugo Procacci, "Il carteggio di Marco Boschini con il cardinale Leopoldo de'Medici", Saggi e Memorie de Storia dell'Arte 4 (1965): 98.

[2] The catalogue of Paolini's sale states that Paolini purchased the painting from the family of Count Rackzinsky in Melbourne, Australia. The painting has not yet been identified in the collection of Count Atanazy Rackzinsky [1788-1874], Pozan and Berlin, which was for a time on loan to the Prussian National Gallery, Berlin. On Rackzinsky see Sammlung Graf Raczynsky. Malerei den Spätromantik aus dem Nationalmuseum Poznan, Munich, 1992.

The Paolini sale catalogue also places the painting in the "Renier Collection, Venice," an error compounded by International Studio 1929, 56; Lionello Venturi, Pitture italiane in America, Milan, 1931: pl. 389, and 1933: 3:pl. 528; and Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, Exh. cat. New York World's Fair, New York, 1939, which changed Melbourne the city to Lord Melbourne. They all identified the painting as the self-portrait by Titian known to have been in the collection of the painter Nicholas Regnier, and assume it to have passed with that collection to Catherine the Great of Russia and then to a Count Rackzinsky. The Regnier painting was, however, a tondo on panel.

[3] "Titian brings $600, Lippi $300 at Sale", Art News 23, no. 11 (1924): 1. Thought to be by Titian, the painting fetched the highest price at the sale ($9,200).

[4] Letter of 10 November 1928 from Arthur von Dachne of the Van Diemen Galleries to Miss Randolph, secretary to Andrew W. Mellon, offering the painting for sale (NGA curatorial files). In 1935 the Berlin branches van Diemen and its affiliated galleries were liquidated by order of the Nazis, with sales organized by Graupe on 25 January and 26 April. This painting was not in either of those sales, and thus had been sold from or remained with the New York branch until 1935.

[5] Lionello Venturi, Pitture italiane in America, Milan, 1931: 3: pl. 389; translated as Italian Paintings in America, 3 vols., New York and Milan, 1933: 3:pl. 528.

[6] According to notices in The New York Times, 25 October 1959: 70, and 27 October 1959: 39, Mrs. Timken had begun assembling, and lending, her considerable collection of paintings in the 1920s.

Exhibition History

1929
Van Diemen Galleries, New York, 1929, as by Titian.
1939
Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 387, as by Titian.
1967
The Art of Venice: An Exhibition of Five Works of Venetian Masters on extended loan from The Lending Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Tampa Bay Art Center, University of Tampa, Florida, 1967-1969, p. 2-3, repro.
1969
Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1969.
2007
Tiziano: l'ultimo atto, Palazzo Crepadona, Belluno, 2007-2008, no. 8, repro.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave, medium-weight fabric. X-radiographs reveal another composition under the surface layer. At the center a female figure turns to the left with her breasts bared and her right arm drawn across her waist. A fist holding a dagger is visible at the right edge of the support. The shadow in the upper-left quadrant of the x-radiographs suggests the presence of another figure, and a layer of pink is visible with a stereomicroscope. Examination also reveals an overall warm dark red layer, but it cannot be determined if this is the ground or an intermediate layer between the compositions. X-radiographs also reveal that the sitter's left pupil was moved slightly to the right. The paint was applied thinly except in lighter passages.

There is cusping along all four of the fabric edges. The paint is abraded and has scattered losses throughout, especially in the sitter's head, beard, and hands, and the statue in the background. The discolored varnish is thinner over the lighter areas, exaggerating the contrast between the light and dark areas. The painting, which was lined at an unknown date, has not been treated since acquisition.

Bibliography

1929
"Notes of the Month." International Studio 93 (1929): 56-58, repro., as Self-Portrait by Titian.
1929
Washburn-Freund, Frank E. "Altmeister-Austellung in New York." Der Cicerone 21 (1929): 190-192, repro., as Self-Portrait by Titian.
1931
Richter, George Martin. "Two Titian Self-Portraits." The Burlington Magazine 58 (1931): 137, as Self-Portrait by Titian.
1931
Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931. Translated as Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: pl. 389, as Self-Portrait by Titian.
1938
Mather, Frank Jewett, Jr. "When was Titian Born?" The Art Bulletin 20, no. 1 (March 1938): 20. As Self-Portrait by Titian.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 131, as Self-Portrait, Attributed to Titian.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 118, repro., as Self-Portrait, Attributed to Titian.
1969
Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):179-180, no. X-93, pl. 273, as a 17th century forgery.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, as by Follower of Titian.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 348, repro., as Self-Portrait, Attributed to Titian.
1976
Rosand, David, and Michelangelo Muraro. Titian and the Venetian Woodcut. Washington, D.C., 1976-1977: 202 (doubts attribution to Titian).
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:518-521; 2:pl. 362, 362A, as Self Portrait of Titian, Attributed to Pietro della Vecchia.
1980
Tiziano e Venezia. Convegno internazionale di studi. Venezia, 1976. Vicenza, 1980: 299, as 17th century.
1981
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. La pittura veneziana del seicento. 2 vols. Milan, 1981: 1:174; 2:fig. 515, as by Pietro della Vecchia.
1983
Bernabei, Franco. "Il problema dell'identificazione stilistica in Marco Boschini." Arte Veneta 115 (1983): fig. 4, 118, as by Pietro della Vecchia.
1984
Aikema, Bernard. "Pietro della Vecchia: A Profile." Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'Arte 14 (1984): 92, as by Pietro della Vecchia.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 398, repro., as Self-Portrait, Attributed to Titian.
1990
Aikema, Bernard. Pietro della Vecchi and the Heritage of the Renaissance in Venice. Florence, 1990: 142, cat. 173, fig. 57, as by Pietro della Vecchia.
1996
De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 328-333, repro. 331.
2014
Borean, Linda. "L'artista e il suo doppio. Ritratti di pittori del Seicento veneziano." Artibus et historiae 35 (2014): 67-68, fig. 7.

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