r, and in
legitimate mastery of the brush second to none, he makes the worthiest
use of his unrivalled accomplishment, not merely to call down the
applause due to supreme pictorial skill and the victory over self-set
difficulties, but, above all, to give the fullest and most legitimate
expression to the subjects which he presents, and through them to
himself.

CHAPTER I

Cadore and Venice--Early Giorgionesque works up to the date of the
residence in Padua--New interpretations of Giorgione's and Titian's
pictures.

Tiziano Vecelli was born in or about the year 1477 at Pieve di Cadore, a
district of the southern Tyrol then belonging to the Republic of Venice,
and still within the Italian frontier. He was the son of Gregorio di
Conte Vecelli by his wife Lucia, his father being descended from an
ancient family of the name of Guecello (or Vecellio), established in the
valley of Cadore. An ancestor, Ser Guecello di Tommasro da Pozzale, had
been elected Podesta of Cadore as far back as 1321.[3] The name Tiziano
would appear to have been a traditional one in the family. Among others
we find a contemporary Tiziano Vecelli, who is a lawyer of note
concerned in the administration of Cadore, keeping up a kind of
obsequious friendship with his famous cousin at Venice. The Tizianello
who, in 1622, dedicated to the Countess of Arundel an anonymous Life of
Titian known as Tizianello's _Anonimo_, and died at Venice in 1650, was
Titian's cousin thrice removed.

Gregorio Vecelli was a valiant soldier, distinguished for his bravery in
the field and his wisdom in the council of Cadore, but not, it may be
assumed, possessed of wealth or, in a poor mountain district like
Cadore, endowed with the means of obtaining it. The other offspring of
the marriage with Lucia were Francesco,--supposed, though without
substantial proof, to have been older than his brother,--Caterina, and
Orsa. At the age of nine, according to Dolce in the _Dialogo della
Pittura_, or of ten, according to Tizianello's _Anonimo_, Titian was
taken from Cadore to Venice, there to enter upon the serious study of
painting. Whether he had previously received some slight tuition in the
rudiments of the art, or had only shown a natural inclination to become
a painter, cannot be ascertained with any precision; nor is the point,
indeed, one of any real importance. What is much more vital in our study
of the master's life-work is to ascertain how far the scenery of his
n