Titian, the Della Rovere Dynasty, and His Portrait of Guidobaldo II and his Son

Le portrait Klesch, par Titien, de Guidobaldo II avec son fils Francesco Maria représente le duc d’Urbino dans ses pleins pouvoirs de commandant suprême des troupes papales avec son héritier à ses côtés. Ce rare double portrait en pied vient seulement d’être attribué à Titien après avoir entrepris des analyses et une restauration minutieuses qui révèlent une belle peinture au style « non finito » avec de superbes touches d’empâtement totalement typiques au maître. Tout ceci est illustré et développé dans ce nouveau livre.
Titian provided portraits for the greatest men and women of Europe, Charles V and Philip II of Spain primary among them. For years the Klesch portrait was dismissed as a workshop product – partly because poor condition hid its true quality, but also because it was not believed that Titian could have deigned to create one for Guidobaldo, whose father Guidobaldo della Rovere (1514–1574) and family had a long history of patronizing
the artist. Recent research, however, has thrown Guidobaldo’s geopolitical significance
into relief. He was supreme commander of Venice, the Papal States and then Spain. He
sent thousands of soldiers to the major conflicts of his day, particularly the defense of
Malta (1565) and the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and his engineers were sought throughout
Europe for their ingenuity.
In this volume full of new research, Ian Verstegen reveals that Guidobaldo was not
peripheral but central to Italian politics and was regarded at several points in history
as a key figure who could bring peace or who could influence major conflicts on the Italian peninsula, particularly the War of Siena, and then Pope Paul IV’s offensive war against Spain. Anne-Marie Eze gives the first comprehensive examination of the painting’s provenance, outlining the portrait’s vicissitudes and reception at different
moments in its near 500-year history, reexamining received wisdom about its past
ownership, and presenting new documentary evidence to expand on and fill gaps in our knowledge of its whereabouts. Finally, Matthew Hayes and Ian Kennedy 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.