Most writers observe that Titian had four different manners, at as many
different periods of his life: first that of Bellini, somewhat stiff and
hard, in which he imitated nature, according to Lanzi, with a greater
precision than even Albert Durer, so that "the hairs might be numbered,
the skin of the hands, the very pores of the flesh, and the reflection
of objects in the pupils seen:" second, an imitation of Giorgione, more
bold and full of force; Lanzi says that some of his portraits executed
at this time, cannot be distinguished from those of Giorgione: third,
his own inimitable style, which he practiced from about his thirtieth
year, and which was the result of experience, knowledge, and judgment,
beautifully natural, and finished with exquisite care: and fourth, the
pictures which he painted in his old age. Sandrart says that, "at first
he labored his pictures highly, and gave them a polished beauty and
lustre, so as to produce their effect full as well when they were
examined closely, as when viewed at a distance; but afterwards, he so
managed his penciling that their greatest force and beauty appeared at a
more remote view, and they pleased less when they were beheld more
nearly; so that many of those artists who studied to imitate him, being
misled by appearances which they did not sufficiently consider, imagined
that Titian executed his works with readiness and masterly rapidity;
and concluded that they should imitate his manner most effectually by a
freedom of hand and a bold pencil; whereas Titian in reality took
abundance of pains to work up his pictures to so high a degree of
perfection, and the freedom that appears in the handling was entirely
effected by a skillful combination of labor and judgment, and a few
bold, artful strokes of the pencil to conceal his labor."