From the very earliest days the two
have been so inextricably confused that it will require a very
exhaustive re-examination of all the evidence in the light of modern
discoveries, documentary and pictorial, coupled, I am afraid, with the
recognition of the fact that much modern criticism on this point has
been curiously at fault. This is neither the time nor the place to
discuss the question of Titian's early work, but I feel sure that this
chapter of art history has yet to be correctly written.[65] One of the
determining factors in the discussion will be the authorship of the
Pitti "Concert," for our estimate of Giorgione or Titian must be
coloured appreciably by the recognition of such an epoch-making picture
as the work of one or the other.
It is, therefore, peculiarly unfortunate that the two side figures in
this wonderful group are so rubbed and repainted as almost to defy
certainty of judgment. In conception and spirit they are typically
Giorgionesque, and Morelli, I imagine, would scarcely have made the bold
suggestion of Titian's authorship but for the central figure of the
young monk playing the harpsichord. This head stands out in grand
relief, being in a far purer state of preservation than the rest, and we
are able to appreciate to some extent the extraordinarily subtle
modelling of the features, the clear-cut contours, the intensity of
expression. The fine portrait in the Louvre, known as "L'homme au gant,"
an undoubted early work of Titian, is singularly close in character and
style, as was first pointed out by Mr.
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