Titian and His Mistress

Anthony van Dyck’s print of a lost self-portrait by the Venetian master Titian shows the artist with a luxuriously dressed woman who is significantly younger than he is. Included within the work is a popular Venetian verse that comments on the woman’s beauty and declares that she is expecting a child, while calling Titian “great” and praising his artistic skill. The woman’s arm rests on a box containing a skull, and her eyes look away from the aged Titian, indicating the artist’s mortality and man’s inevitable decline into old age. The master reaches out to touch the abdomen of the young, sumptuous woman, contrasting himself with the new life of her unborn child.