the vast _Last Supper_ painted for the
Refectory of the Escorial, and still to be found there, was finished in
October 1564, and that there was much haggling and finessing on the part
of the artist before it was despatched to Spain, the object being to
secure payment of the arrears of pension still withheld by the Milanese
officials. When the huge work did arrive at the Escorial the monks
perpetrated upon it one of those acts of vandalism of which Titian was
in more than one instance the victim. Finding that the picture would not
fit the particular wall of their refectory for which it had been
destined, they ruthlessly cut it down, slicing off a large piece of the
upper part, and throwing the composition out of balance by the
mutilation of the architectural background.

[Illustration: _St. Jerome in the Desert. Gallery of the Brera, Milan.
From a Photograph by Anderson_.]

Passing over the _Transfiguration_ on the high altar of San Salvatore
at Venice, we come to the _Annunciation_ in the same church with the
signature "Titianus fecit fecit," added by the master, if we are to
credit the legend, in indignation that those who commissioned the canvas
should have shown themselves dissatisfied even to the point of
expressing incredulity as to his share in the performance. Some doubt
has been cast upon this story, which may possibly have been evolved on
the basis of the peculiar signature. It is at variance with Vasari's
statement that Titian held the picture in slight esteem in comparison
with his other works. It is not to be contested that for all the fine
passages of colour and execution, the general tone is paler in its
silveriness, less vibrant and effective on the whole, than in many of
the masterpieces which have been mentioned in their turn. But the
conception is a novel and magnificent one, contrasting instructively in
its weightiness and majesty with the more naive and pathetic renderings
of an earlier time.

The _Education of Cupid_, popularly but erroneously known as _The Three
Graces_[59] is one of the pearls of the Borghese Gallery. It is clearly
built in essentials on the master's own _d'Avalos Allegory_, painted
many years before. This later allegory shows Venus binding the eyes of
Love ere he sallies forth into the world, while his bow and his quiver
well-stocked with arrows are brought forward by two of the Graces. In
its conception there is no great freshness or buoyancy, no pretence at
invention. The ag