Our Lady of Mercy

On 5 May 1573 Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, wrote to his secretary in Venice setting out what he wanted from Titian, a painting for a small chapel of his, with the Virgin standing and a crowd of people sheltered under her open cloak. The image he asked for was already old. The Virgin of Mercy covering the faithful with her cloak had been around Italian towns since the 1300s, and the duke ordered one again in the year Venice made peace with the Ottomans and gave up Cyprus. Titian was about 85 and his workshop was sending out pictures under his name, so he assured the duke that this one was at least partly by his own hand. Scholars still divide the canvas between master and shop. It was the last thing Guidobaldo ordered from him, and the duke died the following year.