Belluno, in about 1490, Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) moved to Venice as a young man, where he trained with Giovanni Bellini and became acquainted with Giorgione's style. His first works "Noli me tangere" and "Slavonian woman" (1510) at the National Gallery in London, and some portraits, are characterized by the use of the chiaroscuro technique and by strong and penetrating inward looking expressions of personal absorption. In the same period, he painted "Flora" (1515), at the Uffizi, a sensual image, more like a well-built young girl than the traditionalstatuesque flower giver as portrayed in Botticelli's "Allegory of Spring". Later Titian moved closer to the style of Raphael and his harmonious shapes, as can be seen in the famous "Sacred and Profane love" (1515) at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, the interpretation of which is still subject to cont
roversy, but probably inspired by a contemporary poem ("The Battle of Sleep and Love" by Francesco Colonna). The two women portrayed could be meant to represent two very different but connected worlds: the wise and virtuous wife and the sensual nymph. In his next works Titian was influenced by northern European artists, particularly Dürer and his elongated figures, as well as by Mantegna and his environmental and architectural detail. These characteristics are noticeable in the large "Assunta altar-piece" (1518) in the Frari Church, Venice. Titian then worked as court painter in Ferrara for the Estensi family, in Mantua for the Gonzagas and in Urbino, creating some marvellous pictures on mythological themes ("Bacchanal" at the Prado Museum in Madrid and "Venus of Urbino" at the Uffizi. At the same time he continued his religious paintings: wor
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