(Pieve di Cadore circa 1488/90–1576 Venice) attributed to / attribuito a; Mater Dolorosa, oil on canvas (this work has all the characteristics of Venetian canvases of the 16th century), 82.6 x 68 cm, framed,

Provenance: This as yet unpublished work was possibly formerly part of the collection of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Brussels (see the picture of a gallery by David Teniers the Younger in the Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna, which is of the same size aside from a variation of a very few millimetres, see H. Wethey, cat. raisonné no. 78, p. 116). Three other autograph versions of this composition, each varying slightly, include: 1. Mater Dolorosa with open hands (oil on marble), Prado, Madrid; 2. Mater Dolorosa with folded hands (oil on panel), Museo Cerralbo, Madrid; 3. Mater Dolorosa with folded hands (oil on panel), Christie’s auction, New York, 6 April 2006, lot 64. The work offered is the only one with canvas as a support. It is known that Titian slightly altered the composition of autograph copies of his works in order to emphasize the force of the original work (this is extensively discussed in the catalogue to the Titian exhibition of 2003). Harold Wethey writes in his catalogue raisonné that the prototype for this composition is probably identical to the lost painting from the famous collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Brussels (this was formerly part of the Bartolomeo della Nave Collection, Venice, and then from 1639 in the famous collection of the Duchess of Hamilton). A Madonna by Titian appears in Teniers’ painting of a gallery, unfortunately partially hidden by another painting, which, as far as can be made out, displays great similarities with our painting, particularly in the gesture of the hands. It can, therefore, by supposed that the painting on offer was part of the Archduke's collection. Whereas the three above-mentioned versions date from the 1550s, the painting on offer is later, probably dating from the middle of the 1560s. The positioning of the Madonna's hands in relation to her head is closer to the Archduke's painting than all of the other versions. It is thus more than just a supposition that this painting is Titian's 'Mater Dolorosa' from the legendary collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm.