II.

Influence of Giorgione

The first documented reference to Titian dates from 1508, when he was commissioned to paint frescoes, with the Venetian painter Giorgione, on the exterior of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (the German Exchange). Unfortunately, the frescoes survive only in ruined fragments. Scholars disagree as to which paintings dating from the first decade of the 16th century were actually painted by Titian. Among the most important of the disputed works are the Allendale Nativity (n.d., National Gallery, Washington, D.C.), still assigned to Giorgione by most writers, and the world-famous Concert Champêtre (circa 1510, Louvre, Paris), once universally considered Giorgione's but now increasingly thought to be by Titian or a work of collaboration between the two. Scholars unanimously ascribe the so-called Gypsy Madonna (circa 1510, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) to Titian. This painting is an adaptation of a composition of Giovanni Bellini's, but the Virgin is an earthier type, and the colors and textures have a discreet opulence that foreshadows Titian's later work.