Where can you see Titian in Rome?

At the Galleria Borghese: Sacred and Profane Love and Venus Blindfolding Cupid. At the Capitoline Museums: The Baptism of Christ. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Titian's most famous work in Rome?

Sacred and Profane Love, of 1514, at the Galleria Borghese. Two women, one dressed as a bride and one nearly naked, sit at either end of a carved fountain while Cupid stirs the water. It was painted for a wedding. What exactly it means has been argued over ever since.

When and where was Titian born?

About 1488, at Pieve di Cadore, Italy. Titian died on 27 August 1576, at Venice, Italy, aged about 88.

What is Titian known for?

The leading painter of sixteenth-century Venice. Painter to the emperor Charles V and to Philip II of Spain. Painted Sacred and Profane Love at about twenty-five. Titian was an Italian painter, of the Venetian Renaissance.

Painter, 1488 to 1576

Titian

Titian worked in Venice for kings and emperors, and came to Rome only once. But the picture many people would save first from the Galleria Borghese is his.

Titian, Public domain

Born: 1488, Pieve di Cadore, Italy
Died: 1576, Venice, Italy
Movement: Venetian Renaissance
In Rome: 3 works in 2 museums

Where to see Titian in Rome

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Galleria Borghese2 works

Sacred and Profane Love
1514
Two women, one dressed as a bride and one nearly naked, sit at either end of a carved fountain while Cupid stirs the water. It was painted for a wedding. What exactly it means has been argued over ever since.
Venus Blindfolding Cupid
about 1565
A late work, painted in his seventies with a loose, broken brush.

Capitoline Museums1 work

The Baptism of Christ
about 1512
An early picture, with the man who paid for it looking on from the corner. It is in the picture gallery of the museums.

The life of Titian

Tiziano Vecellio was born in the mountains north of Venice around 1488 and trained in the workshop of Giovanni Bellini. For sixty years he was the first painter of Venice, and the portraitist every ruler in Europe wanted.

He visited Rome in 1545 and 1546 as the guest of the pope, and met Michelangelo. He died in Venice in 1576, during a plague, still painting.

What to know

The leading painter of sixteenth-century Venice
Painter to the emperor Charles V and to Philip II of Spain
Painted Sacred and Profane Love at about twenty-five

Born: About 1488, Pieve di Cadore, Italy
Died: 27 August 1576, Venice, Italy

Titian: common questions

Where can you see Titian in Rome?: At the Galleria Borghese: Sacred and Profane Love and Venus Blindfolding Cupid. At the Capitoline Museums: The Baptism of Christ. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Titian's most famous work in Rome?: Sacred and Profane Love, of 1514, at the Galleria Borghese. Two women, one dressed as a bride and one nearly naked, sit at either end of a carved fountain while Cupid stirs the water. It was painted for a wedding. What exactly it means has been argued over ever since.
When and where was Titian born?: About 1488, at Pieve di Cadore, Italy. Titian died on 27 August 1576, at Venice, Italy, aged about 88.
What is Titian known for?: The leading painter of sixteenth-century Venice. Painter to the emperor Charles V and to Philip II of Spain. Painted Sacred and Profane Love at about twenty-five. Titian was an Italian painter, of the Venetian Renaissance.