Daniele Barbaro, Patriarch of Aquileia

In 1545 Daniele Barbaro was 32 and not yet famous. That year the Venetian Republic put him in charge of building the botanical garden at Padua, and outside scholarly circles almost nobody knew his name. Titian painted him accordingly. There is no sign of rank, no setting worth describing, and the only object in the picture is a book, most likely his own commentary on Aristotle, which had just been well received. The titles came afterwards. Barbaro went as ambassador to England, was made patriarch of Aquileia, and published the commentary on the Roman architect Vitruvius that carried his name in his lifetime. When Veronese painted him about 20 years later, he was holding that second book up where it could be seen.