The transition from the Cobham Hall portrait to the “Lady” in the Crespi Collection is, to my mind, also a natural and proper one.  The painter of the one is the painter of the other.  Tradition is herein also perfectly consistent, and tradition has in each case a plausible signature to support it.  The TITIANVS F. of the former portrait is paralleled by the T.V.—­i.e.  Titianus Vecellio, or Titianus Veneziano of the latter.[91] I have already dealt at some length with the question of the former signature, which appears to have been added actually during Titian’s lifetime; in the present instance the letters appear almost, if not quite, coeval with the rest of the painting, and were undoubtedly intended for Titian’s signature.  The cases, therefore, are so far parallel, and the question naturally arises, Did Titian really have any hand in the painting of this portrait?  Signor Venturi[92] strongly denies it; to him the T.V. matters nothing, and he boldly proclaims Licinio the author.

I confess the matter is not thus lightly to be disposed of; there is no valid reason to doubt the antiquity of the inscription, which, on the analogy of the Cobham Hall picture, may well have been added in Titian’s own lifetime, and for the same reason that I there suggested—­viz. that Titian had in some way or other a hand in the completion, or may be the alteration, of his deceased master’s work.[93] For it is my certain conviction that the painter of the Crespi “Lady” is none other than Giorgione himself.

Before, however, discussing the question of authorship, it is a matter of some moment to be able to identify the lady represented.  An old tradition has it that this is Caterina Cornaro, and, in my judgment, this is perfectly correct.[94] Fortunately, we possess several well-authenticated likenesses of this celebrated daughter of the Republic.  She had been married to the King of Cyprus, and after his death had relinquished her quasi-sovereign rights in favour of Venice.  She then returned home (in 1489) and retired to Asolo, near Castelfranco, where she passed a quiet country life, enjoying the society of the poets and artists of the day, and reputed for her kindliness and geniality.  Her likeness is to be seen in three contemporary paintings:—­

1.  At Buda-Pesth, by Gentile Bellini, with inscription.

2.  In the Venice Academy, also by Gentile Bellini, who introduces her and her attendant ladies kneeling in the foreground, to the left, in his well-known “Miracle of the True Cross,” dated 1500.

3.  In the Berlin Gallery, by Jacopo de’ Barbari, where she appears kneeling in a composition of the “Madonna and Child and Saints.”

[Illustration:  From a print.  Pourtales Collection, Berlin

MARBLE BUST OF CATERINA CORNARO]

Finally we see Caterina Cornaro in a bust in the Pourtales Collection at Berlin, here reproduced,[95] seen full face, as in the Crespi portrait.  I know not on what outside authority the identification rests in the case of the bust, but it certainly appears to represent the same lady as in the above-mentioned pictures, and is rightly accepted as such by modern German critics.[96]