Titian's Veneto homeland is hoping to break new ground with a show on the 16th century artist that involves visitors and critics in a "laboratory exhibit".
Curator Lionello Pupi said that Titian - The Last Act (Tiziano - L'Ultimo Atto) is more than an assemblage of 100 works from the final years of the master's long career.
"This is a laboratory exhibit which provides an opportunity for debates, further study and research" on the painter as well as the "culturally complex milieu in which he worked".
Some of the world's leading museums, including Madrid's Prado, The Hermitage of St Petersburg and The British Museum, have sent works, while private collectors have agreed to lend pieces, like The Last Supper he painted for the Dukes of Alba, which have never been seen in public before.
Internationally renowned Swiss architect Mario Botta has been called in to design what organisers say are "spectacular sets" for the the two-part show, being staged in the painter's home town of Pieve di Cadore and the neighbouring provincial capital Belluno.
Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli hailed the project as "ambitious and extremely important" while the head of the Belluno province, Sergio Reolon, promised that "this will be much more than a show".
SHOWS IN HIS HOME TOWN AND NEIGHBOURING BELLUNO.
Belluno's Crepadona Palazzo is hosting the main section of the exhibit, gathering some 100 paintings, drawings and etchings on the second floor of the building.
Visitors will wind their way down the stairs of the Renaissance palazzo along a black carpet, reaching the highlight of the exhibit in the central courtyard, where Mario Botta has designed a 12-metre-wide inverted pyramid.
Painted in Titian's signature red, the pyramid showcases three key works from Titian's final years: the portrait of Pope Paul III (from the Hermitage), St. James (from Venice's San Lio Church) and The Last Supper (from a private collection).
Most of the 20 works featured are genuine masterpieces, said art historian Mina Gregori, singling out Christ Carrying the Cross from the Hermitage, Christ's Oration in the Garden from the Prado and the Perseus and Andromeda from Montabaun's Ingres Museum.
The Ecce Homo loaned by Sibiu's Brukentgal Museum, she said, "is without a doubt the most beautiful bust of Christ in art history".
A great deal of attention is being garnered by a self-portrait in profile, a black chalk drawing on ivory coloured paper which has been loaned by an American private collector. It is the first time that the self-portrait is being displayed in public.
The Belluno show kicks off with portraits of Titian, including another self-portrait from Florence's Uffizi gallery, and a series of 16th-century sculptures, books, documents and coins that recreate the world he worked in.
The second section brings together most of the Titian paintings and drawings being flown in from around the world.
The third section focuses on the artists who worked in Titian's studio.
The aim was to highlight the result of recent studies which suggest Titian's hand in some of the works attributed to him was not as great as previously thought.
"It will be possible to admire and compare many important works that Titian painted with the help of his pupils and works produced by his prestigious studio," said Gregori.
"The business system Titian set up meant that the distinction between master and workshop often became blurred in the final period".
Flanking different versions of paintings with the same thematic subject - for instance the Prado's Perseus and Andromeda with the lesser-known version from the Ingres Museum - will hopefully prove constructive for critics and visitors alike, Puppi said.
The last section is devoted to a selection of prints from the middle of the 16th century.
Pieve di Cadore's Palazzo della Magnifica Comunita' di Cadore mainly showcases documentary material from the period.
A portrait of Caterina Sandella - the lover of one of Titian's friends - with a rainbow in the background is among the paintings on show at the Pieve di Cadore. It is featured alongside a portrait of the same woman by Titian's younger Venetian rival Tintoretto.
Titian (circa 1485-1576) built his status as an art superstar on his portraits, which had noblewomen, cardinals, intellectuals and courts across Europe queuing to commission him.
During his lifetime, his fame almost matched that of Michelangelo.
Art historians say Emperor Charles V of France - Leonardo da Vinci's last great patron - had such "reverential" regard for Titian that he once picked up a brush he dropped, symbolically humbling himself before the master.
He trained as an apprentice under Gentile Bellini and his brother Giovanni Bellini who were lead members of the Venetian school of Renaissance painting.
Titian's style changed so drastically in his maturity that many find it hard to believe that the same artist could have produced both the early and later pieces. What unites the two parts of his career was his unrivalled handling of colour.
The artist died of the plague in Venice in August 1576.
The show will run until January 6.
