[Das letzte Abendmahl]

1550s

An assembly-line workshop for Charles V and Philip II

From the 1550s commissions from the emperor and then from Philip II monopolised the artist's output. To meet the demand he reorganised his workshop and began to produce variants and replicas of his works almost in assembly-line fashion: “specialised collaborators” made copies, which he then retouched to impart his spirit to them.

5 July 1571

Philip II reaffirms Titian's stipend

On 5 July 1571 Philip II signed a royal deed reaffirming his father's concession of an annual stipend of 200 scudi to Titian; he also granted the artist the right to transfer the privilege to his son Orazio after his death.

27 August 1576

Dies at the height of the plague

While the plague raged in Venice, Titian died on 27 August 1576; given the modern scholarly consensus on his birth date, he would have been at least eighty-six years old and no more than ninety.

27. August 1576

Died