Description

The surprising story of how a masterpiece of portraiture was discovered to be by Titian.

Titian's portrait of Guidobaldo II with his son Francesco Maria represents the Duke of Urbino in his full power as supreme commander of papal troops, with his heir next to him. This rare, full-length double portrait has only recently been attributed to Titian after undergoing extensive analyses and restoration, revealing a beautiful painting in non finito or "not finished" manner, with bravura impasto passages entirely characteristic of the master, all of which is illustrated and explained in this new book.

This volume provides the first comprehensive examination of the painting's provenance, outlining the portrait's vicissitudes and reception at different moments in its near five-hundred-year history, reexamining its past ownership and presenting new documentary evidence to expand on and fill gaps in our knowledge of its whereabouts. The authors reflect on the technique, date, recent conservation, and authorship of the painting, proving it to be a masterpiece that only the great Titian could have created.