Titian: The Last Days

Toward the end of his long life, Tiziano Vecelli—known to the world ever since as Titian (circa 1488– 1576)—was at work on a number of paintings that he kept in his studio, never quite completing them, as though wanting to endlessly postpone the moment of closure. Produced with his fingers as much as with the brush, Titian’s last paintings are imbued with a unique rawness and immediacy without precedent in the history of Western art. As if to further cloud their meaning, after the outbreak of plague that took his life, Titian’s studio was looted and many canvases were taken; what happened to them is not known.

But what did Titian, who had experienced as much in the way of material success and critical acclaim as any artist before or since, mean by these works? Titian: The Last Days is a quest through the great artist’s life and work toward the physical and spiritual landscape of his last paintings. Vividly re-creating the atmosphere of sixteenth-century Venice and Europe, Mark Hudson chronicles Titian’s relationships with his own mentors (Bellini and Giorgione), rivals, and patrons—among them popes, kings, and emperors— as well as his troubled dealings with his own family. Paralleling this narrative is Hudson’s personal journey through Titian’s life and career, exploring the relentless formal development that led to the breakthroughs of his last days, and the mystery behind his missing paintings.

Moving from Titian’s hometown in the Dolomites to the greatest churches and palaces of the age, to Venice then and now, Titian: The Last Days is an original and compelling study of one of Europe’s greatest artists.

A compelling portrait of the life, work, and meaning of one of the greatest artists of all time.

Toward the end of his long life, Tiziano Vecelli—known to the world ever since as Titian (circa 1488– 1576)—was at work on a number of paintings that he kept in his studio, never quite completing them, as though wanting to endlessly postpone the moment of closure. Produced with his fingers as much as with the brush, Titian’s last paintings are imbued with a unique rawness and immediacy without precedent in the history of Western art. As if to further cloud their meaning, after the outbreak of plague that took his life, Titian’s studio was looted and many canvases were taken; what happened to them is not known.

But what did Titian, who had experienced as much in the way of material success and critical acclaim as any artist before or since, mean by these works? Titian: The Last Days is a quest through the great artist’s life and work toward the physical and spiritual landscape of his last paintings. Vividly re-creating the atmosphere of sixteenth-century Venice and Europe, Mark Hudson chronicles Titian’s relationships with his own mentors (Bellini and Giorgione), rivals, and patrons—among them popes, kings, and emperors— as well as his troubled dealings with his own family. Paralleling this narrative is Hudson’s personal journey through Titian’s life and career, exploring the relentless formal development that led to the breakthroughs of his last days, and the mystery behind his missing paintings.

Moving from Titian’s hometown in the Dolomites to the greatest churches and palaces of the age, to Venice then and now, Titian: The Last Days is an original and compelling study of one of Europe’s greatest artists.

Kirkus Reviews

A British journalist diligently pursues the story of Titian (circa 1488-1576), who arrived in Venice as a child and became the city's most celebrated artist. Telegraph and Guardian contributor Hudson employs a variety of strategies and tones in this remarkably engaging story. He is at times the pedagogue, the dazzled fan, the nervous tourist, the frustrated scholar, the disgusted critic (especially with verbose and pretentious art historians). The author says he developed a blunt aesthetic when he was a young art student: "Did the painting give me a buzz or not?" Most of Titian did, and by the end of this entertaining journey, readers will be abuzz as well. Although the narrative is generally chronological, the author frequently steps aside to sketch social and cultural history, geography (Titian was from a mountainous region to the northwest) and political intrigue. Hudson provides copious information about the patronage system of Titian's day, and about how the artist, like building contractors of today, accepted more commissions than he could execute in timely fashion and so perfected not just the craft of painting but of appeasement of impatient patrons. The author also examines Titian's mentors, specific paintings (e.g., The Venus of Urbino, a sexy work that alarmed and delighted Mark Twain) and sequences of paintings-including the final group of mythological pieces, the poesie, based on stories in Ovid, among them The Death of Actaeon. Hudson does not neglect the artist's personal life, filling us in on what's known about his love life and his children. Most captivating, however, is the author's own journey, from Venice to Spain to Czechoslovakia and elsewhere to follow the story ofthe great Italian painter. Intense passion and humble scholarship infuse this personal odyssey of discovery with arresting power. Agent: David Godwin/David Godwin Associates

Mark Hudson is the author of two prizewinning works of nonfiction published in England: Our Grandmothers’ Drums, which won the Somerset Maugham and Thomas Cook awards in 1990, and Coming Back Brockens, which won the 1994 NCR Award, the precursor to the Samuel Johnson Prize for the best nonfiction book of the year. His novel, The Music in My Head, was published to critical acclaim in 1998. He is a regular contributor to the Telegraph and also writes for the Guardian, the Sunday Times, and other publications. He lives in London.