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The stranger promised: then having received, with visible annoyance, the money for the fans, left the store with Montardo to pay his visit to the Convent Giovanni e Paolo. The Prior of San Giovanni e Paolo had just returned from the second mass celebrated in the beautiful church of his cloister, the burial-place of the great Titiano Vicelli.
Gonzaga writes to the Marchioness on March 11, 1831 : "Ho subito mandate a Venezia e scritto a Titiano, quale è forse il piu eccellente in quell' arte che a nostri tempi si ritrovi, ed è tutto mio, ricercandolo con grande instantia a volerne fare una bella lagrimosa piu che si so puo, e farmela haver presto."
'Beloved and honoured Titiano! she wrote, some years later; 'how that name recalls the happy, happy hours I passed with you at Eartham; when by the title 'Muse' you summoned me to the morning walk! Amongst the drossy twaddle which passed current as poetry at Eartham, a sonnet in Romney's honour by a true poet William Cowper may be counted as pure gold.
It is significant to find the writer mentioning the painter, not by any of the styles and titles which he had a right to bear, especially at the court of Charles V., but extolling him as "Messer Titiano Pittore et il primo huomo della Christianita."
"No farther, please, your excellency, no farther!" cried out Gabriel, pale as death. "Forgive my excitement and my struggles. I pray you to forget my improper words, and accept me for your humble and obedient servant. You must do me the favor to keep the Venus of Master Titiano Vecellio, for she is my only possession, and I have given away my whole property in her purchase."
In Verbosca is a fortified church with bastions, S. Lorenzo, which contains the fragments of a Titianesque painting, ascribed to the master on the strength of an entry in the archives of a payment of 1,000 ducats to the Master Titiano Vecelli. It is now in three portions, and shows S. Laurence with angels and the Virgin above, S. Roch, and S. Augustine.
"I keep your Titiano Vecellio, Master Nietzel, and consequently pay you three thousand ducats for this excellent original. That you may see how much in earnest I am I will immediately give you an order upon my treasurer, and you may forthwith receive that sum." He approached his writing table, rapidly dashed off a few words upon a strip of paper, and then handed it to the painter.
This money is the price paid for a painting by Titiano Vecellio, representing the goddess of beauty with a Cupid, who presents Venus her looking-glass.
The signature "Ticianus" occurs, as a rule, on pictures belonging to the latter half of the first period. The works in the earlier half of this first period do not appear to have been signed, the "Titiano F." of the Baffo inscription being admittedly of later date.
His gaze was fixed upon the Venus, who in her wanton beauty met his looks with dark, flashing eyes. "You have cost me much, fair signora," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Three thousand ducats for a copy! Who knows whether Titiano Vecellio was paid more for his original in his own time?