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In the final period, which saw Titian focussing his attention on religious themes, he still found the energy to paint portraits. Between 1567 and 1568 he produced two of his greatest masterpieces in this field: the Prado Self-Portrait and the Portrait of Jacopo Strada in Vienna.
The portrait of the well-known antiquarian Jacopo Strada, one of the most famous of Titian's late portraits, represents Jacopo Strada, an expert of antiquities as presenting a small Venus statue. On the table there are some objects, among them a letter addressed to Titian. The decorative frame with the inscription is a later addition from the workshop of Titian.
The painting is of the very highest quality. It is painted in energetic dabs of brown and ochre yellow, offset by the black velvet jerkin with a silver fox fur flung around the shoulders. The careful depiction of the details which allude to the profession of the sitter (the statuette, the coins, the cartouche and the books) do not distract from the characterization of Strada, who is looking enquiringly at someone outside the painting.
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