the balustrade bore originally only the “V” repeated, which curiously enough occurs also on the similar balustrade of the beautiful Portrait of a young Venetian, by Giorgione, first cited as such by Morelli, and now in the Berlin Gallery, into which it passed from the collection of its discoverer, Dr. J. P. Richter. The signature “Ticianus” occurs, as a rule, on pictures belonging to the latter half of the first period. The works in the earlier half of this first period do not appear to have been signed, the “Titiano F.” of the Baffo inscription being admittedly of later date. Thus that the The Tribute Money bears the “Ticianus F.” on the collar of the Pharisee’s shirt is an additional argument in favour of maintaining its date as originally given by Vasari (1514), instead of putting it back to 1508 or thereabouts. Among a good many other paintings with this last signature may be mentioned the Man with a Glove and Virgin with the Rabbit of the Louvre; the Madonna with Saint Anthony Abbot of the Uffizi; the Bacchus and Ariadne, the Assunta, the Saint Sebastian of Brescia (dated 1522). The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine of the National Gallery, and the Christ with the Pilgrims at Emmaus of the Louvre – neither of them early works – are signed “Tician”. The usual signature of the later time is “Titianus F.”, among the first works to show it being the Ancona altarpiece and the great Madonna di San Niccolò now in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican. It has been incorrectly stated that the late Saint Jerome of the Brera bears the earlier signature, “Ticianus F.”. This is not the case. The signature is most distinctly “Titianus”, though in a somewhat unusual character.
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Crowe and Cavalcaselle describe it as a “picture which has not its equal in any period of Giorgione’s practice.” (History of Painting in North Italy, vol. ii.)
