Titian's Madonna of Mercy from the Pitti Palace on loan to the House of Titian

On the occasion of the centenary of the declaration as a national monument (among the first in the Belluno area) of Titian Vecellio’s birthplace in Pieve di Cadore, the painter’s family members depicted in the Madonna of Mercy, a painting made by Titian and his workshop and preserved at the Pitti Palace in Florence, are returning to the walls of their home: Obtained on loan from the Uffizi Galleries, on which the Pitti Palace depends, the canvas is now the focus of the exhibition La Madonna dei Vecellio scheduled in the 15th-century house museum from July 2 to Sept. 18, 2022, organized by the Magnifica Comunità di Cadore.

The exhibition displays works and testimonies that have the flavor of a domestic snapshot, reviving the hypothesis that members of Titian’s family, in disguise or identifiable by iconographic tradition, are depicted in some Vecellio paintings.

Inspiring the exhibition was ... a child’s “little thought” (“We went to Titian’s House but he wasn’t there”), written in the aftermath of a school trip to Titian’s birthplace in Pieve di Cadore (Belluno). The Madonna of Mercy (1573) was commissioned from Titian but, according to critics, was made with the help of the workshop: the painting, with the other works and testimonies on display, sketches a sort of “family slide show” of the Vecellio family, bringing back to their home some of the most famous members (Gregorio, Titian’s father; Francesco, Titian’s brother; Orazio and Lavinia, Titian’s children; Marco, Titian’s nephew, etc.), recognizable at the feet of the Madonna. Today, in the Madonna of Mercy, critics recognize a precise message from Titian: the future of his lineage and the continuity of his artistic legacy (Lüdemann 2016, p. 160). The Vecellio family thus returns to their house, which a hundred years ago became a national monument, among the first sites in the province of Belluno to bear this title. The property has been owned by the Magnifica Comunità di Cadore since 1926 and since 2017 has been hosting exhibitions-dossiers that aspire to create a close relationship between history, art and territorial reflection.

The Madonna of Merc y is the last work commissioned by Guidubaldo Della Rovere from Titian in 1573 and one of the last made by the Cadore master. There is news of it in a letter written by the duke to his secretary in Venice, Giovanni Francesco Agatone, on May 5, 1573: “Noi havemo desiderio d’un quadro da mettere a una cappelletta nostra, et anchor che crediamo che il S.r. Titiano non lavori più lui di man sua, desideriamo nondimeno che si vogli pigliar cura di farlo diligentemente da uno di quei suoi, e tanto gli direte per parte nostra pregandolo. The figure is to be of a standing Madonna who under the mantle has a number of people.... ”. The work, traced only as of 1815, has been on display in the Palatine Gallery of Palazzo Pitti since 1828, with attribution to Marco Vecellio. Since the master in his response to the commissioner declared his personal commitment, however, it is inferred to be partly the work of Titian, with some room for workshop interventions (so in the 2003 Palatine Gallery catalog).

In Vecellian historiography, it has also been believed to recognize Titian’s self-portrait in the figure, placed among the left-handed praying figures, with an almost frontal face turned upward; still others have proposed identifying the devotees with portraits of the artist’s family members. Members of the Vecellio family distinguished themselves in Pieve as notaries, public administrators and landowners, and between the 16th and 17th centuries these professions were joined by a notable painting tradition. Titian’s brother Francesco (1475-1560), the painter’s children Orazio (1525-1576) and Lavinia, who married Cornelio Sarcinelli in 1555, a member of a wealthy Trevisan family, and Marco, son of Tommaso (or Tomà) and cousin of the artist, have been identified in the painting “La Madonna della Misericordia.”

“The birthplace of Titian Vecellio, declared a National Monument in 1922 and purchased in 1925 by the Magnificent Community of Cadore,” says the president of the Magnificent Community of Cadore, Renzo Bortolot, “represents the nodal point of the Cadore museum system and cultural tourism in the upper province of Belluno. It is the heritage of all Cadore residents who, over the course of almost a century, have worked to make it usable by transforming it into a museum. The building in the last five years has also become an exhibition venue of excellence, responding to the request to provide timely insights into Titian and the workshop. This year we managed to obtain the important loan of the Madonna of Mercy, a Titian work owned by the Uffizi Gallery, which will enliven the spaces of the house for the entire summer.”

“It is a specific goal of the Magnifica Comunità di Cadore,” says Museums Director Matteo Da Deppo, “to give continuity to the various research, exhibition and educational initiatives undertaken over the past few years. The ability to do culture in a broad sense is synonymous with dynamism and constancy in creating projects that can stimulate the growth of Cadore.”

The arrival of the precious canvas in Pieve di Cadore seals a collaboration between the Magnifica Comunità di Cadore and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence that blossomed in 2019 and grew year after year: in 2019, the Portrait of Titian (oil on paper glued on board) and the other Portrait of Titian (oil on canvas) were obtained and exhibited as part of the exhibition Titian. The Enigma of the Self-Portrait, while in 2021 came The Battle (mid-16th century), a painting dedicated to the Battle of Cadore, displayed in the exhibition The Battle of Cadore. History, contexts, copies from Titian. The centenary will also be the focus of a conference to be held in Pieve di Cadore on December 17, 2022, the exact date of the anniversary (Royal Decree No. 1725 of December 17, 1922), entitled The Centenary of Titian’s Birthplace. From the home of the Vecellio family to the national monument. The initiatives are organized in collaboration with the Titian and Cadore Study Center Foundation and with the valuable support of the Veneto Region, the Cariverona Foundation and Cortina Banca.

Titian's Madonna of Mercy from the Pitti Palace on loan to the House of Titian

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