Tintoretto had a sign in his workshop saying that here could be found "the drawing of Michelangelo and the color of Titian," and it is clearly Titian's color that most 16th-century viewers found overwhelming. Vasari, in his "Life of Titian" (in Part III of The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects) reports that Sebastiano de Piombo remarked that "if Titian had gone to Rome and seen the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and the ancient statues there, and had studied design ("disegno" in Italian combines the meanings of both "drawing" and "design"), he would have produced stupendous things, seeinig his skill in coloring, in which he deserves to be called the best maser of our day for his imitation of natural tints; and with a foundation of great draughtmanship he would have overtaken the Urbinate [Raphael] and Buonarroto [Michelangelo] (Everyman edition, III: 200-201)." Vasari later confirms Sebastiano's judgment by telling of a visit that he and Michelangelo made to Titian's studio in Rome: "After they had gone, Buonarroti criticized Titian's methods, prasing him a good deal, and saying that he liked his coloring and style, but that it was a pity that good design was not taught at Venice from the first, and that her best painnters did not have a better method of study. If this man, he said, were aided by art and design as he is by Nature, especially in copying from life, he would not be surpassed, for he has ability and a charming and vivacious style" (Everyman edition, III: 206-207). Very few of Titian's drawings survive, partly because he worked in oil not fresco and drew directly on his canvases, but despite the criticism of his drawing or lack of it, Titian did not lack noble patrons including the Emperor Charles V, his son, Philip II, the King of Spain, various princes and dukes, popes and cardinals, and a lifetime worth of Venetian Doges. With such a widespread group of admireres, it is not surprising that engravers stepped forward to spread his fame by reproducing his most famous paintings and that woodcutter followed his example in his 1508 epic woodcut of The Triumph of the Faith, a work Vasari categorizes as "displaying vigor, style, and knowledge. The engravings and woodcut below reflect part of the widespread demand for works designed by Titian.

Selcted Bibliography: Roland Krischel, Masters of Italian Art: Jacopo Tintoretto 1519-1594 (Cologne: Konemann, 2000); Tom Nichols, Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity (London: Reaktion Books, 1999 [large- format paperback available for purchase new: $25]); Carlo Ridolfi, The Life of Tintoretto and of his children Domenico and Marietta, trans. Catherine and Robert Enggass (University Park: Pennslyvania State University Press,1984); David Rosand, Painting in Cinquecento Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982); Cornelia Syre, ed., Tintoretto: The Gonzaga Cycle (Munich: Hatje Cantz,2000); Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto, La Mostra del Tintoretto (Venezia ca' Pesaro: 1937); Francesco Valcanover, Jacopo Tintoretto and the Scuola Grande of San Rocco (Venice) (Venice: Stoti Edizioni, 1999 [this is the guide book in English to Tintoretto's painting cycle available at the Scuola: large-format paperback available for purchase : $20]); Henri Zerner et al, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch 32: Italian Masters of the 16th Century: Parmigianino, Master F.P., Meldolla, Schiavone, Titian, Marconi, Tintoretto, Bresciano, Franco, P. Farinati, H. Farinati, del Moro, Fontana, Valentinis (NY: Abaris Books,1979).