TIZIANO Vecellio
(b. 1490, Pieve di Cadore, d. 1576, Venezia)

Wisdom

c. 1560
Oil on canvas, 177 x 177 cm
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice

Throughout his period of service to King Philip II, Titian continued to be regarded as the premier painter of the Venetian Republic. He still executed the occasional masterpiece for Venetian public buildings, such as the octagonal representation of Wisdom for the ceiling of the antechamber to the Reading Room in Sansovino's newly completed Library. Casually reclining on a cloud, and contemplating herself in a mirror held up by a putto, the figure is painted with a sovereign fluency and atmospheric suggestiveness.