ENGLISH SCHOOL, EARLY 18TH CENTURY, AFTER TIZIANO VECELLI, CALLED TITIAN

This is a version of the double portrait Titian and his Friends in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, given to a follower of Titian (inv. no. 402841). The inventory of Charles I’s collection describes this painting as showing two figures: ‘The Picture of Tichian himselfe painted by himselfe, and his freind by In a reed velvett venicia senators gowne’. An x-ray taken in 1957 showed the presence of a third man, on the right, which was then revealed by cleaning. Several early copies, which depict only two figures, indicate that the third man was painted over early in its history. The figure on the left is based on Titian’s self-portrait of circa 1550 (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, inv. no. 163). In 1823, the central figure was identified as Andrea de Franceschi, Grand Chancellor of Venice, whose head here was taken from the portrait by Titian himself in the Detroit Institute of Art (inv. no. 53.362).