I am never tired of looking at Titian's pictures; they possess such
extreme breadth, which to me is so delightful a quality. In my opinion
there never will, to the end of time, arise a portrait-painter superior
to Titian. Next to him in this kind of excellence is Raphael. There is
this difference between Raphael and Titian: Raphael, with all his
excellence, possessed the utmost gentleness; it was as if he had said,
"If another person can do better, _I_ have no objections." But Titian
was a man who would keep down every one else to the uttermost; he was
determined that the art should come in and go out with himself; the
expression in all the portraits of him told as much. When any
stupendous work of antiquity remains with us--say, a building or a
bridge--the common people cannot account for it, and they say it was
erected _by the devil_. Now I feel this same thing in regard to the
works of Titian;--they seem to me as if painted by a devil, or at any
rate from inspiration; I cannot account for them.
_Northcote._