Landscape with a Faun

Tiziano Vecellio Titian c1485 - 1576

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Titian. This finely lined drawing is of a landscape with a faun (a half-human half-goat forest god) sitting in the foreground, holding a pitcher-like container. He is looking at a goat, whose head only is visible on the left-hand side of the drawing. There is a large rock, a tree stump and a small plant next to the faun. The landscape sweeps up towards a cluster of buildings with what appears to be a castle at its centre. Smoke is emanating from a chimney next to it. There is a tree standing alone to the right of the drawing. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "9. TITIAN (b. 1477 (?); d. 1576) LANDSCAPE WITH A FAUN Collection of Henry Oppenheimer, Esq. Pen and sepia. 18.9 x 20.7 cm. (7 7/16 x 8 1/8 in.). From the Paul Sandby, Esdaile, James, and Heseltine Collections. A very beautiful drawing of the class usually attributed to Titian. It is undoubtedly by the same hand as the Castle on a Rock in the British Museum (Vasari Society, I. 13), which has not passed without question as a work of Titian, and may be Domenico Campagnola. In general the drawing, particularly of the figures, is less mannered in shading and modelling than the certainly authentic examples of Campagnola, and I am inclined in consequence to keep to the old attribution until further proof is forthcoming. The more certain drawings of Titian, e.g. the St. Hubert in the British Museum, are freer and more vigorous in style, but many drawings in the tighter manner of handling line, e.g. a Pastoral Scene at Chatsworth (reprod. S. Arthur Strong, plate 59), bear such nearly contemporary attributions to Titian that one hesitates to dogmatize. A. M. H. [Exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, Later Venetian Exhibition, 1914, No. 59.]"