Titian
Italian painter (c.1490–1576)
Tiziano Vecellio (Italian: [titˈtsjaːno veˈtʃɛlljo]; c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( TISH-ən), was an Italian Renaissance painter. The most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting, he was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of colour, exerted a profound influence not only on painters of the late Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western artists.
His career was successful from the start, and he became sought after by patrons, initially from Venice and its possessions, then joined by the north Italian princes, and finally the Habsburgs and the papacy. Along with Giorgione, he is considered a founder of the Venetian school of Italian Renaissance painting. In 1590, the painter and art theorist Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo described Titian as "the sun amidst small stars not only among the Italians but all the painters of the world".
During his long life, Titian's artistic manner changed drastically, but he retained a lifelong interest in colour. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his early pieces, they are remarkable and original in their loose brushwork and subtlety of tone.
Biography
Early years
The exact date of Titian's birth is uncertain.
The public source identifies “Titian” as italian painter (c.1490–1576). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Titian, Italian and painter.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q47551. VIAF identifies the subject as 109266837. The Library of Congress control number is n79074519. 8 of 8 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1488, 1490, 1576 and 1590.
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This entry incorporates text from “Titian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.