Imaginary Self-Portrait of Titian

probably 1650s

Pietro della Vecchia

Painter, Venetian, 1602 or 1603 - 1676

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Timken Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 112.2 x 93.7 cm (44 3/16 x 36 7/8 in.)
    framed: 138.4 x 120.3 x 10.2 cm (54 1/2 x 47 3/8 x 4 in.)

  • Accession

    1960.6.39


Artwork history & notes

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.

Associated Names

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.

Bibliography

1929

  • "Notes of the Month." International Studio 93 (1929): 56-58, repro., as Self-Portrait by Titian.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Inscriptions

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

Wikidata ID

Q20177320


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