Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/479

LEFT TITHING 417 TITICACA otiier, the chief of whom was the tithing man. TITHONUS (-tho'nus), in Greek my- thology, a son, or nephew, of Laomedon, King of Troy. He was beloved by Eos (Aurora, Morning), who importuned Zeus to make him immortal. Her prayer was granted, but she had neglected to ask for continual youth, and in time her lover took on all the signs of exti*eme age. Tithonus's prayer to the gods to be relieved of the burden of old age was answered by his being metamorphosed into a grasshopper. TITIAN (tish'un), or TIZIANO, VECELLIO, (tet-se-a'no va-chel'le-o), one of the most distinguished of the great Italian painters, and head of the Vene- tian school; born in Pieve de Cadore, in the Carnic Alps, in 1477. He studied under Giovanni Bellini of Venice, and in 1507 was associated with the painter Giorgione in executing certain frescoes. In 1511 he was invited to Padua, where he executed three remarkable frescoes still to be seen. In 1512 he completed the unfinished pictures of Gio- vanni Bellini in the Sala del Gran Con- siglio at Venice, and the senate were so pleased that they gave him an important office. To this period are attributed his pictures of the "Tribute Money" and "Sacred and Profane Love." In 1514 he painted a portrait of Ariosto at Fer- rara, and after his return to Venice he painted an "Assumption of the Virgin" (1516), considered one of the finest pic- tures in the world; it is now in the Academy of the Fine Arts in Venice. About 1528 he produced his magnificent picture, "The Death of St. Peter the Martyr" — "a picture," says Algarotti, "in which the great masters admitted they could not find a fault," unfortu- nately destroyed by fire in 1867. In 1530 the Emperor Charles V. invited him to Bologna to paint his portrait and execute various other commissions. In 1532 he again painted the emperor's portrait, and he is said to have accom- panied Charles to Madrid, where he re- ceived several honors. He remained, it is said, three years in Spain, in which country many of his masterpieces, such as "The Sleeping Venus," "Christ in the Garden," "St. Margaret and the Dragon," are still to be found. In 1537 he painted an "Annunciation," and in 1541 he produced "The Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles," "The Sac- rifice of Abraham," and "David and Go- liath." In 1543 he painted his picture of "The Virgin and San Tiziano"; and in 1545 he visited Rome, where he paint- ed the famous group of Pope Paul III., the Cardinal Farnese, and Duke Ottavio Farnese. He was patronized as warmly by Philip II. as by his father Charles V. Of Titian's private life but little is known. 'Titian excelled as much in land- scape as in figure painting, was equally great in sacred and profane subjects, in ideal heads and in portraits, in frescoes im. ■ VECELLIO TITIAN and in oils; and though others may have surpassed him in single jwints, none equalled him in general mastery. As a colorist he is almost unrivalled, and his pictures often reach the perfection of sensuous beauty. He died of the plague in 1576 aged 99, having painted to the last with almost undiminished powers. TITICACA, a remarkable lake, slightly saline, in the heart of the An- des; partly in Peru and partly in Bolivia; 12,545 feet above the sea- level. It lies N. W. and S. E., and is 120 miles in length, with an average width of from 50 to 60 miles. The S. portion, measuring 24 by 21 miles, is almost severed from the main body of the lake by a projecting peninsula. The lake discharges at its S. W. extremity by the Desaguadero into the salt Lake Aullagas, which has no known outlet. The E. shore of Lake Titicaca is abrupt and mountainous, but the W. and S. W. shores are low and level, and are skirted by thick beds of tall rushes swarming vdth waterfowl, and of floating weed, which affords food to cattle when the scanty land pastures are exhausted. The