Out of Oblivion: The Later Fortuna Critica of Titian’s “St. Peter Martyr Altarpiece”

Abstract

In the sixteenth century, Titian’s “St. Peter Martyr Altarpiece” was considered his greatest work and the exemplar of the Venetian style of painting. Because of its accidental destruction by fire in 1867, its importance for artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been nearly forgotten. Study of its later fortuna critica reveals that ensuing commentators were, like Titian’s contemporaries, equally convinced of the painting’s pre-eminence in his oeuvre. Although the earlier topoi regarding the “Peter Martyr” were dropped from the commentaries, and the analyses became diverse in their acclaim for the picture, it continued to play an important role in the consciousness of critics and painters, serving as a “school” for artists. Indeed, the later critics praised the picture for the very qualities for which Titian is appreciated today, including, especially, his color. The “Peter Martyr Altarpiece” played a crucial role in our modern estimation of Titian. Excellent painted copies of it serve to illuminate Titian’s famed colorito and brush stroke far better than the black-and-white linear engraving that usually suffices.