GIULIO FONTANA (ACTIVE 1562-1578) AFTER TIZIANO VECELLIO, CALLED TITIAN (CIRCA 1485/90-1576)

This etching by Giulio Fontana, the brother of Giovanni Battista Fontana, depicts Titian's painting at the Palazzo Ducale, Venice, which was destroyed in the fire of 1577.

The impression in the British Museum is on the same paper as the present one, although without watermark, and shows similar defects at the sheet edges. The two impressions are equal in quality, but it is interesting to see how much the inking of the plates varied, thus giving emphasis to different parts of the composition.

To our knowledge no other impression has been offered at auction within the past thirty years.