Imaginary Self-Portrait of Titian
Pietro della Vecchia·probably 1650s
Historical Context
This Imaginary Self-Portrait of Titian by Pietro della Vecchia, probably from the 1650s, is a creative fabrication depicting the great Venetian master as he might have appeared. Della Vecchia specialized in pastiche paintings imitating the styles of earlier masters, particularly Giorgione and Titian, creating works that were part homage and part deliberate deception. Such imaginary portraits reflected the seventeenth-century cult of artistic genius.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas demonstrates della Vecchia's skillful imitation of Titian's late manner, with broad, loose brushwork and warm Venetian tonality. The deliberately archaic style and theatrical self-consciousness show a sophisticated engagement with the history of Venetian painting.
Provenance
Possibly Cavaliere Francesco Fontana, Venice, by 1676 (as by Titian).[1] Paolo Paolini, Rome, 1894;[2] (his sale, American Art Association, New York, 10-11 December 1924, no. 116, as by Titian); purchased by R. M. Catts (as by Titian).[3] (Van Diemen Galleries, New York), by 1928 (as by Titian);[4] William Robert Timken [1866-1949] and Lillian Guyer Timken [1881-1959], Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by 1931,[5] and following Mr. Timken's death, New York City;[6] bequest 1960 to NGA. [1] Lucia Procacci and Ugo Procacci, "Il carteggio di Marco Boschini con il cardinale Leopoldo de'Medici", _Saggi e Memorie de Storia dell'Arte_ 4 (1965): 98. [2] The catalogue of Paolini's sale states that Paolini purchased the painting from the family of Count Rackzinsky in Melbourne, Australia. The painting has not yet been identified in the collection of Count Atanazy Rackzinsky [1788-1874], Pozan and Berlin, which was for a time on loan to the Prussian National Gallery, Berlin. On Rackzinsky see _Sammlung Graf Raczynsky. Malerei den Spätromantik aus dem Nationalmuseum Poznan_, Munich, 1992. The Paolini sale catalogue also places the painting in the "Renier Collection, Venice," an error compounded by _International Studio_ 1929, 56; Lionello Venturi, _Pitture italiane in America_, Milan, 1931: pl. 389, and 1933: 3:pl. 528; and _Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800_, Exh. cat. New York World's Fair, New York, 1939, which changed Melbourne the city to Lord Melbourne. They all identified the painting as the self-portrait by Titian known to have been in the collection of the painter Nicholas Regnier, and assume it to have passed with that collection to Catherine the Great of Russia and then to a Count Rackzinsky. The Regnier painting was, however, a tondo on panel. [3] "Titian brings $600, Lippi $300 at Sale", _Art News_ 23, no. 11 (1924): 1. Thought to be by Titian, the painting fetched the highest price at the sale ($9,200). [4] Letter of 10 November 1928 from Arthur von Dachne of the Van Diemen Galleries to Miss Randolph, secretary to Andrew W. Mellon, offering the painting for sale (NGA curatorial files). In 1935 the Berlin branches van Diemen and its affiliated galleries were liquidated by order of the Nazis, with sales organized by Graupe on 25 January and 26 April. This painting was not in either of those sales, and thus had been sold from or remained with the New York branch until 1935. [5] Lionello Venturi, _Pitture italiane in America_, Milan, 1931: 3: pl. 389; translated as _Italian Paintings in America_, 3 vols., New York and Milan, 1933: 3:pl. 528. [6] According to notices in _The New York Times_, 25 October 1959: 70, and 27 October 1959: 39, Mrs. Timken had begun assembling, and lending, her considerable collection of paintings in the 1920s.
