(Pieve di Cadore 1485/88 – 1576 Venice)
Possible portrait of the Procurator Alessandro Contarini,
oil on canvas, 107 x 79 cm, framed

Provenance:
Arnold Seligman-Ray collection, New York;
Paul M. Byk collection, New York;
Robert W. Neugebauer collection, Saint John, Canada;
Gisela Geuer collection, Bad Sinzig, Germany;
Private collection, Northern Germany;
sale Lempertz, Cologne, 5 December 1998, lot 1148 (as Titian)

Literature:
H. Ost, Tizian und Alessandro Contarini, in: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, Westdeutsches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, Band LII, Cologne 1991, p. 96, ill. n. 6 (as Titian)

The present painting is accompanied by letters (available only in photocopy) by Wilhelm Suida, New York, 24 November 1942 and Pietro Zampetti confirming an attribution to Titian. Suida dates the work to 1540-45.

Whether the depicted person is Alessandro Contarini, is unclear. The Contarini belonged to the most prominent of Venetian noble families of the 16th century. Alessandro Contarini had a long and successful naval career, becoming steward and captain general of the Venetian armed forces. On 28 June 1538 he was made procurator of San Marco. Possible portraits include one attributed to Titian (or his workshop) in Munich, Alte Pinakothek and one by the workshop of Jacopo Tintoretto in Venice, Galleria dell’Accademia.