 |  | Vecellio Tiziano, better known as Titian, was the paramount 16th-century Venetian painter and a key figure in Western art. Titian's work in and around Venice produced several of the most famous and influential paintings of the Renaissance as his style infused his mentor Giorgione's Arcadian idylls with the intensity of Dionysiac celebration. In 1516, he was created official painter to the Republic, and by 1530 worked increasingly in portraiture, rendering the likenesses of kings, popes, and patrons throughout southern Europe. He eventually returned to the mythological genre; in these canvasses, forms lose their solidity and colors are more subdued. Offering an alternative to the linear and sculptural Florentine tradition of Michelangelo and Raphael, Titian's influence is immeasurable and directly affected artists ranging from Rubens to Rembrandt to the impressionists. |
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