Titian, one of the most renowned artists of the Venetian Renaissance, was widely celebrated, particularly for his poignant portraits and religious compositions. Ardenti’s 1563 medal represents Titian holding a portrait of his son Orazio, who would follow in his father’s footsteps to become a portrait painter. An identical specimen, in colored wax, now resides in the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Object Description
64 TITIAN
Obv. Half-length portrait to right, holding a framed picture. Around, TITIANI PICTORIS EXIMII . EFFIGIESI . A . ; below, on scroll, HORATIVS FIL
Without reverse
Lead, bronzed and painted, 103 mm.
The medal represents Titian holding a portrait of his son Orazio. Hill dates it, with the rest of Ardenti's medals, about 1563, when Orazio would have been about forty. Other medals of Titian are noted in Arm. i, pp. 166, 208; Brescia i, p. 37, no. 241; p. 121, no. 854; Tresor Ital. 2, pl. 38,1; and Hill-Artists, p. 57.
Bibl.: G. F. Hill, "Some Italian Medals of the Sixteenth Century," Georg Habich zum 60. Geburtstag, Munich 1928, p. 11.