titian

The great Italian painters were all represented: Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto.

Titian’s imposing oil portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos, formidable governor of Milan, dressed in gilded armor and accompanied by a reverential page, hangs opposite by a doorway.

Blake was convinced that art had been on the skids since the mid-16th century, when worldly Titian and the Venetian painters rose to prominence, so he set about trying to put things right.

In one 2022 email, he appeared to demand “30 percent” from the owner of a Titian, according to the court papers.

His main residence was decorated with works by the Renaissance painter Titian and the Dutch grand master Rembrandt.