Current knowledge

Titian and workshop

Jacopo Pesaro Being Presented by Pope Alexander VI to St Peter

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp © www.lukasweb.be - Art in Flanders vzw, photo Hugo Maertens 357
Current measurements: 
145cm x 183cm
Date: 
c.1506-11

Titian’s stately painting shows Bishop Jacopo Pesaro presented by Pope Alexander VI to St Peter.

Commissioned by the Bishop to celebrate Venice’s naval victory over the Ottoman Turks, it was given to Charles I by the Earl of Arundel along with painting no. 1 in this room (Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia). Interestingly, Van der Doort recorded it as “said to be Titian” rather than by the master outright; it is now considered one of his earliest works.

Sale Inventory c.1649-51
Walpole Society reference (1972):