DOI article:
Cook, Herbert Frederick: When was Titian born?
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61695#0113
Herbert Cook: When was Titian born?
99
he worked at the Fondaco de’ Tedesehi frescoes (1507/8). The year of
Titian’s birth thus works out:
Writing in 1557. Dolce. About
1489.
,, ,, 1566/7. Vasari.
55
1489.
,, ,, 1564. Spanish Envoy
55
1474.
,, ,, 1567. Spanish Consul
55
1482.
,, „ 1571. Titian himself
55
1476.
Now it is curious to notice that the last 3
Statements are all made
in letters to King Philip, either by Titian himself, or at his request by
the Spanish agents.
It is curious to notice these Statements as to Titian’s great age
occur in begging letters.4)
It is curious to notice they are mutually contradictory.
What are we to conclude?
Surely that the Spanish Envoy, the Spanish Consul, and Titian him-
self out of their own mouths stand convicted of inconsistency of State-
ment, and further that they betray an identical motive underlying each
representation, viz., an appeal ad misericordiam.
Before however contrasting the value of the evidence as found in
these Spanish letters with the evidence as found in Dolce and Vasari,
let us note two points in these letters.
Garcia Hernandez, the Spanish Envoy writes „According to some
people who knew him Titian was about 90 years old, though he did
not show it.“ Now if Titian was really about 90 in the year 1564,
he will have lived to the age of 102, a feat of longevity of which no
one has ever accused him! Apart therefore from the healthy scepticism
which Hernandez betrays in this 1 etter we may certainly conclude that
„some people who knew him“ were exaggerating Titian’s age.
Secondly, Titian’s letter of 1571 says he is 95 years old. Titian’s
similar letter of 1576, the year of his death, omits to say he is 100.
Surely a stränge omission, considering that he refers to his old age
3 times in this one letter.5) Does not the second letter correct the
inexactness of the first? and so Titian’s Statement goes for nothing?
The collective evidence then of these Spanish letters amounts to this,
that in the words of the Envoy „for money everything was to be had of
4) I have quoted Titian’s letter in full in the Nineteenth Century. That of
the Spanish Consul is given in the Jahrbuch der Sammlungen des A. H. Kaiser-
hauses VII. p. 221, from which I extract the passage. „El dicho Ticiano besä pies
y manos de V. M., y suplica umilmente a V. M. mande le sea pagado lo que le
ha corrido de las pensiones de que V. M. le tiene echo merced en Milan y en
esa corte, y la trata de Napoles, y con los 85 anos de su edad servira a V. M.
hasta la muerte.“
5) I have quoted this letter also in full in the Nineteenth Century. I am
indebted to M. Salomon Reinach for making this point (Chronique des Arts. Feb
15. 1902. p. 53.)
99
he worked at the Fondaco de’ Tedesehi frescoes (1507/8). The year of
Titian’s birth thus works out:
Writing in 1557. Dolce. About
1489.
,, ,, 1566/7. Vasari.
55
1489.
,, ,, 1564. Spanish Envoy
55
1474.
,, ,, 1567. Spanish Consul
55
1482.
,, „ 1571. Titian himself
55
1476.
Now it is curious to notice that the last 3
Statements are all made
in letters to King Philip, either by Titian himself, or at his request by
the Spanish agents.
It is curious to notice these Statements as to Titian’s great age
occur in begging letters.4)
It is curious to notice they are mutually contradictory.
What are we to conclude?
Surely that the Spanish Envoy, the Spanish Consul, and Titian him-
self out of their own mouths stand convicted of inconsistency of State-
ment, and further that they betray an identical motive underlying each
representation, viz., an appeal ad misericordiam.
Before however contrasting the value of the evidence as found in
these Spanish letters with the evidence as found in Dolce and Vasari,
let us note two points in these letters.
Garcia Hernandez, the Spanish Envoy writes „According to some
people who knew him Titian was about 90 years old, though he did
not show it.“ Now if Titian was really about 90 in the year 1564,
he will have lived to the age of 102, a feat of longevity of which no
one has ever accused him! Apart therefore from the healthy scepticism
which Hernandez betrays in this 1 etter we may certainly conclude that
„some people who knew him“ were exaggerating Titian’s age.
Secondly, Titian’s letter of 1571 says he is 95 years old. Titian’s
similar letter of 1576, the year of his death, omits to say he is 100.
Surely a stränge omission, considering that he refers to his old age
3 times in this one letter.5) Does not the second letter correct the
inexactness of the first? and so Titian’s Statement goes for nothing?
The collective evidence then of these Spanish letters amounts to this,
that in the words of the Envoy „for money everything was to be had of
4) I have quoted Titian’s letter in full in the Nineteenth Century. That of
the Spanish Consul is given in the Jahrbuch der Sammlungen des A. H. Kaiser-
hauses VII. p. 221, from which I extract the passage. „El dicho Ticiano besä pies
y manos de V. M., y suplica umilmente a V. M. mande le sea pagado lo que le
ha corrido de las pensiones de que V. M. le tiene echo merced en Milan y en
esa corte, y la trata de Napoles, y con los 85 anos de su edad servira a V. M.
hasta la muerte.“
5) I have quoted this letter also in full in the Nineteenth Century. I am
indebted to M. Salomon Reinach for making this point (Chronique des Arts. Feb
15. 1902. p. 53.)