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拍品专文
Titian was arguably the greatest portrait painter of the sixteenth century and unquestionably the most influential: he had an indelible influence on Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Diego Velázquez, and his works helped establish a tradition of grand portraiture that endured at least until the generation of John Singer Sargent. Notwithstanding Titian's success in painting religious and mythological subjects, portraiture makes up about a third of his oeuvre. Harold Wethey, author of the 1971 catalogue raisonné, classified over 100 portraits as autograph works by Titian, though we know from written sources and copies of lost originals that this number was originally much higher. The artist was responsible for creating prototypes for official court portraits, but he also presented his sitters with humanity. Titian's keen sense of observation and sensitive portrayal of a subject's physiognomy and personality led him to being highly sought-after as a portraitist.
This distinguished signed portrait was unknown until its discovery in 1976, when it first appeared at auction. The sitter's identity remains elusive but he was clearly a person of considerable wealth, for Titian commanded high prices for his pictures, even early on in his career. The young man’s understated elegance and seated pose, typically the preserve of popes, ecclesiastics or rulers, point to the subject’s apparent status. He has a lively expression and Titian animates the seated pose by turning the man’s head towards someone or something outside of the picture space. The dantesca chair on which he sits – with its fringed dark-green velvet seat and back-rest secured by large gold studs – may have been a prop in Titian’s workshop, for it appears in several other portraits by the artist dating from the early 1550s; see, for example, his Portrait of Lodovico Beccadelli (fig. 1; Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi) and Portrait of Filippo Archinto, Archbishop of Milan (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), both of which have similarly carved rosettes in the volute hand-pieces of the chair’s curved arms.
A concrete identification for the nobleman in this portrait has yet to be found, despite Titian providing us with visual clues. The inclusion of a ship in full sail on choppy waters, visible through the window aperture, must surely refer to the sitter’s occupation or source of wealth. By the sixteenth century, Venice had reached its apogee as one of the leading mercantile powers in Europe, emerging as a leading producer of luxury goods such as fabrics, metalwork and glassware. The Venetian Republic had, from its early history, maintained close connections with the East and these established trade routes allowed the city to become the point for goods to pass between Western Europe and the Middle and Far East (though by the beginning of the century, the spice trade, which had previously been one of the Republic’s most lucrative, had begun to wane with the restrictions imposed by the Ottoman Empire). The inclusion of the galleon in Titian’s portrait therefore indicates that the sitter was involved in the Republic’s mercantile affairs. Over an embroidered black-velvet doublet with slashed sleeves he wears a black silk over-gown trimmed with brown fur. The jewelled gold ring on the young man's little finger is seen in other male portraits by Titian, such as the Portrait of Daniele Barbaro, Patriarch of Aquileia (c. 1545; Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado) or his much earlier Portrait of an Elderly Man (c. 1511; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst). The ring, together with the crumpled handkerchief on his lap, may indicate the sitter’s connection to a woman; perhaps he is in mourning, and his sidelong glance could also be significant.
This portrait shares a number of compositional similarities with Titian’s Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere, Duchess of Urbino (c. 1536-37; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence; fig. 2), in particular the placement of the sitter within the picture space. In both portraits, Titian places his subject in three-quarter-length pointing left (though the young man’s head pivots to the right), seated in a dantesca chair before a plain wall. To the left, a window breaks the uniformity of the background and gives a receding view of a landscape or, in the case of the Portrait of a Nobleman, a seascape. The portrait of the Duchess of Urbino incorporates a more conspicuous number of details, including a small, ornately-crafted clock and a spaniel resting on a draped table beneath the window frame. She is also luxuriously dressed, as is to be expected of the wife of a ruler. The young man here cuts a stylish figure in clothing that is both expensive and restrained. His portrait is less square in format than that of the Duchess of Urbino and is more tightly cropped around the figure, focusing our attention on the sitter himself. An old x-ray reveals that Titian had originally planned a draped curtain before the window opening – sweeping diagonal lines are visible in the underlayers to the right, behind the figure – and, by removing it, the artist placed greater emphasis on the sitter’s lifelike head (fig. 3; reproduction from Beresford and Raissis, op. cit., p. 196).
The picture’s fine state of preservation allows the viewer to appreciate Titian's painterly technique and the contrasting levels of finish across the canvas. The sitter’s head and hands are confidently painted, with the flesh tones built up through deftly applied highlights and shadows. The bridge of the sitter’s nose is defined by a few assured strokes of white paint and the near eye enlivened by dabs of thick white impastoed paint. Similarly, the black costume – so characteristic of the artist – is carefully described with the depiction of the different textures and weights of fabrics: the sheen of the black silk over-gown is juxtaposed with the softer, duller black of the embroidered velvet sleeves of the doublet beneath. The rich stitching of both sleeves is central in defining the spatial depth of the design and the proportions of the sitter’s arms. The fine lace of the white cuffs is deliberately offset by the brilliantly free handling of the handkerchief, accentuated against the black of the young man's over-gown. Here, the artist employs a looser style of painting, using freer and more expressive brushwork, anticipating the painterly elegance of his later style. These qualities of prestezza (quickness) and non finito became increasingly popular among cultivated patrons, collectors and connoisseurs as a painterly representation of the gentlemanly virtue of sprezzatura (a kind of studied carelessness and effortless ease), as described by Baldassare Castiglione in his influential Book of the Courtier published in 1528 (see J. Dunkerton and M. Spring, ‘Titian after 1540: Technique and Style in his Later Works’, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXXVI, 2015, p. 29). The walls are broadly painted and the seascape demonstrates the same lightness of touch as that in Titian’s Portrait of Doge Francesco Venier (1554-56; Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza), where a boat appears to be burning in the distance.
As with much of Titian’s oeuvre, there has been some discussion as to the portrait’s dating and the extent to which the studio might have participated. Peter Humfrey, author of the 2007 monograph on the artist, was only able to see the portrait in the original in 2017 and considers the work to be autograph, with some studio assistance in the lesser areas (private communication, 2017 and 2025). Others who have examined the painting at first hand include the following: Paul Joannides, who previously believed that the portrait may have been painted around 1540 and reworked later - an opinion he subsequently revised to the picture being ‘substantially’ by Titian in or around 1550, though he is inclined to ascribe the setting and seascape to the studio (private communication, 2017); Antonio Mazzotta, for whom the portrait is entirely autograph, compares the nobleman’s head to some of the portraits in The Vendramin Family venerating a Relic of the True Cross (c.1540-45; London, National Gallery) and thus dates it to the mid-1540s, though he does not exclude the possibility that it may have been painted around 1550 (private communication, May 2025); Giorgio Tagliaferro, who endorses the attribution and proposes a date in the 1540s, notes that – though somewhat uneven in quality – the accomplished highlights on the eyes and hands are characteristic of Titian (private communication, 2017 and May 2025); and Nicholas Penny, who accepts the autograph status of the head, hands and the seascape, believes that much of the rest is by the studio (private communication, 2017 and May 2025). Even with studio assistance in the lesser parts of the picture, there is no question that the portrait would have left Titian’s studio as an autograph work. The presence of two signatures also attests to this: an earlier one, ‘TICIANVS F’ (remnants of which are visible beneath the window’s framing element), is in the form the artist habitually used and was likely suppressed by Titian following his alteration of the wall. The signature that is visible today, ‘TITIANI/OPVS’, is unusual in form but appears on another picture by Titian, the Portrait of Fabritius Salvaresio (1558; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), suggesting perhaps that this Portrait of a Nobleman was made at a similar date.
This portrait was in the collection of James Oswald Fairfax AC (1933–2017), a passionate and discerning connoisseur, whose interest in the fine and decorative arts spanned eras, cultures and continents. The great-grandson of the founder of the Sydney Morning Herald and Chairman of publishers John Fairfax Ltd. for a decade (from 1977 to 1987), James was educated in Sydney, Melbourne, and then at Balliol College, Oxford. His kindness and generosity extended to artists, collectors and amateurs, and not least to public institutions: among his many generous bequests to Australian museums were important works by Rubens, Ingres, Canaletto and Watteau, given to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
This distinguished signed portrait was unknown until its discovery in 1976, when it first appeared at auction. The sitter's identity remains elusive but he was clearly a person of considerable wealth, for Titian commanded high prices for his pictures, even early on in his career. The young man’s understated elegance and seated pose, typically the preserve of popes, ecclesiastics or rulers, point to the subject’s apparent status. He has a lively expression and Titian animates the seated pose by turning the man’s head towards someone or something outside of the picture space. The dantesca chair on which he sits – with its fringed dark-green velvet seat and back-rest secured by large gold studs – may have been a prop in Titian’s workshop, for it appears in several other portraits by the artist dating from the early 1550s; see, for example, his Portrait of Lodovico Beccadelli (fig. 1; Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi) and Portrait of Filippo Archinto, Archbishop of Milan (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), both of which have similarly carved rosettes in the volute hand-pieces of the chair’s curved arms.
A concrete identification for the nobleman in this portrait has yet to be found, despite Titian providing us with visual clues. The inclusion of a ship in full sail on choppy waters, visible through the window aperture, must surely refer to the sitter’s occupation or source of wealth. By the sixteenth century, Venice had reached its apogee as one of the leading mercantile powers in Europe, emerging as a leading producer of luxury goods such as fabrics, metalwork and glassware. The Venetian Republic had, from its early history, maintained close connections with the East and these established trade routes allowed the city to become the point for goods to pass between Western Europe and the Middle and Far East (though by the beginning of the century, the spice trade, which had previously been one of the Republic’s most lucrative, had begun to wane with the restrictions imposed by the Ottoman Empire). The inclusion of the galleon in Titian’s portrait therefore indicates that the sitter was involved in the Republic’s mercantile affairs. Over an embroidered black-velvet doublet with slashed sleeves he wears a black silk over-gown trimmed with brown fur. The jewelled gold ring on the young man's little finger is seen in other male portraits by Titian, such as the Portrait of Daniele Barbaro, Patriarch of Aquileia (c. 1545; Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado) or his much earlier Portrait of an Elderly Man (c. 1511; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst). The ring, together with the crumpled handkerchief on his lap, may indicate the sitter’s connection to a woman; perhaps he is in mourning, and his sidelong glance could also be significant.
This portrait shares a number of compositional similarities with Titian’s Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere, Duchess of Urbino (c. 1536-37; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence; fig. 2), in particular the placement of the sitter within the picture space. In both portraits, Titian places his subject in three-quarter-length pointing left (though the young man’s head pivots to the right), seated in a dantesca chair before a plain wall. To the left, a window breaks the uniformity of the background and gives a receding view of a landscape or, in the case of the Portrait of a Nobleman, a seascape. The portrait of the Duchess of Urbino incorporates a more conspicuous number of details, including a small, ornately-crafted clock and a spaniel resting on a draped table beneath the window frame. She is also luxuriously dressed, as is to be expected of the wife of a ruler. The young man here cuts a stylish figure in clothing that is both expensive and restrained. His portrait is less square in format than that of the Duchess of Urbino and is more tightly cropped around the figure, focusing our attention on the sitter himself. An old x-ray reveals that Titian had originally planned a draped curtain before the window opening – sweeping diagonal lines are visible in the underlayers to the right, behind the figure – and, by removing it, the artist placed greater emphasis on the sitter’s lifelike head (fig. 3; reproduction from Beresford and Raissis, op. cit., p. 196).
The picture’s fine state of preservation allows the viewer to appreciate Titian's painterly technique and the contrasting levels of finish across the canvas. The sitter’s head and hands are confidently painted, with the flesh tones built up through deftly applied highlights and shadows. The bridge of the sitter’s nose is defined by a few assured strokes of white paint and the near eye enlivened by dabs of thick white impastoed paint. Similarly, the black costume – so characteristic of the artist – is carefully described with the depiction of the different textures and weights of fabrics: the sheen of the black silk over-gown is juxtaposed with the softer, duller black of the embroidered velvet sleeves of the doublet beneath. The rich stitching of both sleeves is central in defining the spatial depth of the design and the proportions of the sitter’s arms. The fine lace of the white cuffs is deliberately offset by the brilliantly free handling of the handkerchief, accentuated against the black of the young man's over-gown. Here, the artist employs a looser style of painting, using freer and more expressive brushwork, anticipating the painterly elegance of his later style. These qualities of prestezza (quickness) and non finito became increasingly popular among cultivated patrons, collectors and connoisseurs as a painterly representation of the gentlemanly virtue of sprezzatura (a kind of studied carelessness and effortless ease), as described by Baldassare Castiglione in his influential Book of the Courtier published in 1528 (see J. Dunkerton and M. Spring, ‘Titian after 1540: Technique and Style in his Later Works’, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXXVI, 2015, p. 29). The walls are broadly painted and the seascape demonstrates the same lightness of touch as that in Titian’s Portrait of Doge Francesco Venier (1554-56; Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza), where a boat appears to be burning in the distance.
As with much of Titian’s oeuvre, there has been some discussion as to the portrait’s dating and the extent to which the studio might have participated. Peter Humfrey, author of the 2007 monograph on the artist, was only able to see the portrait in the original in 2017 and considers the work to be autograph, with some studio assistance in the lesser areas (private communication, 2017 and 2025). Others who have examined the painting at first hand include the following: Paul Joannides, who previously believed that the portrait may have been painted around 1540 and reworked later - an opinion he subsequently revised to the picture being ‘substantially’ by Titian in or around 1550, though he is inclined to ascribe the setting and seascape to the studio (private communication, 2017); Antonio Mazzotta, for whom the portrait is entirely autograph, compares the nobleman’s head to some of the portraits in The Vendramin Family venerating a Relic of the True Cross (c.1540-45; London, National Gallery) and thus dates it to the mid-1540s, though he does not exclude the possibility that it may have been painted around 1550 (private communication, May 2025); Giorgio Tagliaferro, who endorses the attribution and proposes a date in the 1540s, notes that – though somewhat uneven in quality – the accomplished highlights on the eyes and hands are characteristic of Titian (private communication, 2017 and May 2025); and Nicholas Penny, who accepts the autograph status of the head, hands and the seascape, believes that much of the rest is by the studio (private communication, 2017 and May 2025). Even with studio assistance in the lesser parts of the picture, there is no question that the portrait would have left Titian’s studio as an autograph work. The presence of two signatures also attests to this: an earlier one, ‘TICIANVS F’ (remnants of which are visible beneath the window’s framing element), is in the form the artist habitually used and was likely suppressed by Titian following his alteration of the wall. The signature that is visible today, ‘TITIANI/OPVS’, is unusual in form but appears on another picture by Titian, the Portrait of Fabritius Salvaresio (1558; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), suggesting perhaps that this Portrait of a Nobleman was made at a similar date.
This portrait was in the collection of James Oswald Fairfax AC (1933–2017), a passionate and discerning connoisseur, whose interest in the fine and decorative arts spanned eras, cultures and continents. The great-grandson of the founder of the Sydney Morning Herald and Chairman of publishers John Fairfax Ltd. for a decade (from 1977 to 1987), James was educated in Sydney, Melbourne, and then at Balliol College, Oxford. His kindness and generosity extended to artists, collectors and amateurs, and not least to public institutions: among his many generous bequests to Australian museums were important works by Rubens, Ingres, Canaletto and Watteau, given to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.