Titian | Detail of Back of Ancona Altarpiece | Black Chalk on Wood Panel | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
Titian | Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Alvise with the Donor Alvise Gozzi | Oil on Panel | 320 x 206 cm. | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
Titian | Back of Ancona Altarpiece | Black Chalk on Wood Panel | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
Titian | Detail of Back of Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Alvise and the Donor Alvise Gozzi | Black Chalk on Panel | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
Titian | Detail of Back of Ancona Altarpiece | Black Chalk on Wood Panel | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
Titian | Detail of Back of Ancona Altarpiece | Black Chalk on Wood Panel | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
Titian | Detail of Back of Ancona Altarpiece | Black Chalk on Wood Panel | 1520 | Pinacoteca | Ancona
The most worked up head is probably a study for the Christ Child, and not one of the flying putti, because of the hint of halo. Its direction differs from both Christ’s and the putti heads. The other heads, usually in profile, are more doodle caricatures. Harold Wethey thought that the Christ Child’s head and the head of a woman should be considered autograph and the others school. Bert Meijer, with slight reservation, thought the drawings all by Titian. This seems more sensible. Great masters shouldn’t be precluded from the great fun of doodling.
References –
Giovanni Urbani, “Schede di restauro,” Bollettino dell’Istituto Centrale di Restauro, Nos. 9 – 10, 1952, pp. 61 -79.
Bert W. Meijer, “Titian Sketches on Panel and Canvas,” Master Drawings, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Autumn 1981), pp. 276 – 353.
Harold E. Wethey, “Titian’s Drawing of a Christ Child in Ancona,” Burlington Magazine, Vol. 124, No. 950 (May, 1982), pp. 294 – 290.