Portrait of Fabrizio Salvaresio

This painting is estimated to have been produced in Venice around the year 1558. The trimmed lower right dimensions are 112 x 88 cm while the frame dimensions are 129 cm x 105.5 cm x 5 cm.

The original painting has a sign on a tablet on the top left reading; MD LVIII. FABRICIVS SALVARESIVS ANNV AGENS L.TITIANI OPVS. The painting shows Fabrizio Salvaresio, a male Italian merchant. This merchant was born in Venice, around the 1500s. The style in this art shows it was produced during the Mannerism (Late Renaissance) art movement when the High Renaissance was ending. The High Renaissance period is the climax of the visual arts during the Italian Renaissance. This period is traditionally accepted to have begun in the 1490s. Mannerism emerged around 1520, and it lasted until around 1580 in Italy when Baroque style started to replace it.

Titian used traditional oil painting techniques in the portrait of Fabrizio Salvaresio. This technique involves the artist sketching the content onto the canvas using thinned paint or charcoal. Oil paint is traditionally mixed with artist grade mineral spirits, linseed oil, or any other solvents to make the paint dry faster, slower or thinner. In this portrait, Titian used different oils to bring out the effects in the painting.

Titian produced this painting by using oil paint on canvas. Canvas was typically stretched over a wooden frame for easy painting. Paintbrushes were commonly used during the time Titian produced this art. However, there are other methods which could be used to transfer painting to the surface. These methods include using rags and palette knives. The oil used needed a long time to dry up. Hence, the oil paint could be easily applied to make better paintings since the artist could change the texture, colour or the whole form of the figure.

The oil paint generally dries by oxidation. It takes about two weeks to be touched but can be ready to be varnished in about six months to one year. The original portrait of Fabrizio Salvaresio shows that Titian followed the basic oil paint application rules. The upper layers of the painting contain more oil compared to the underlying layers. Both this technique and use of high-quality oil have enabled the original art to last for years without peeling or cracking.

Titian was influenced by Giorgione, Raphael, Albrecht Durer and Michelangelo. He influenced Peter Paul Rubens, Jacopo Bassano, Rembrandt, Diego Velazquez, Anthony van Dyck and Caravaggio among other modern-day painters who reproduce some of his original paintings. Besides the portrait of Fabrizio Salvaresio, other Titian's famous works include Venus of Urbino, Emperor Charles, Portrait of Ariosto and Danae amongst others. Other works related to his paintings include Vincenzo Anastagi and Portrait of Giulio Clovio among many others. This portrait of Fabrizio Salvaresio is currently in Vienna, Austria at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The museum was established around the years 1872 to 1891.