Ritratto di un uomo

This was painted around 1509, when Titian was barely into his twenties and Venice had two rising painters who were hard to tell apart. The other was Giorgione, in whose shadow the young Titian worked until Giorgione died of plague in 1510. Pictures from these years still get argued over between the two names. The sitter here is unknown, a man who turns and meets your eye directly. Look at how the handling changes across the surface. The face is built up in fine, careful strokes, while the velvet, the fur and the hair are laid in with a loose, loaded brush. That freedom with paint over drawing was the Venetian habit Titian would carry for the next 60 years.