h the following letter of
congratulation, which may be found in Ticozzi's Life of Titian:

"_To Philip, King of England, greeting_:

"Most sacred Majesty! I congratulate your Majesty on the kingdom
which God has granted to you; and I accompany my congratulations
with the picture of Venus and Adonis, which I hope will be looked
upon by you with the favorable eye you are accustomed to cast upon
the works of your servant

"TITIAN."

According to Palomino, Philip was sitting on his throne, in council,
when the news arrived of the disastrous conflagration of the palace of
the Prado, in which so many works by the greatest masters were
destroyed. He earnestly demanded if the Titian Venus was among those
saved, and on being informed it was, he exclaimed, "Then every other
loss may be supported!"

TITIAN'S LAST SUPPER AND EL MUDO.

Palomino says that when Titian's famous painting of the Last Supper
arrived at the Escurial, it was found too large to fit the panel in the
refectory, where it was designed to hang. The king, Philip II., proposed
to cut it to the proper size. El Mudo (the dumb painter), who was
present, to prevent the mutilation of so capital a work, made earnest
signs of intercession with the king, to be permitted to copy it,
offering to do it in the space of six months. The king expressed some
hesitation, on account of the length of time required for the work, and
was proceeding to put his design in execution, when El Mudo repeated his
supplications in behalf of his favorite master with more fervency than
ever, offering to complete the copy in less time than he at first
demanded, tendering at the same time his head as the punishment if he
failed. The offer was not accepted, and execution was performed on
Titian, accompanied with the most distressing attitudes and distortions
of El Mudo.

TITIAN'S OLD AGE.

Titian continued to paint to the last year of his long life, and many
writers, fond of the marvellous, assert that his faculties and his
powers continued to the last. Vasari, who saw him in 1566 for the last
time, said he "could no longer recognize Titian in Titian." Lanzi says,
"There remains in the church of S. Salvatore, one of these pictures
(executed towards the close of his life), of the Annunciation, which
attracts the attention only from the name of the master. Yet when he was
told by some one that it was n