Titian's Veneto homeland is paying tribute to the 16th-century master this autumn with a stunning two-part exhibition featuring 90 artworks.
The show, entitled Titian - The Last Act (Tiziano - L'Ultimo Atto), focuses on the final part of the artist's long career.
Many of the world's top museums, including Madrid's Prado, The Hermitage of St. Petersburg and The British Museum, are lending works to the exhibition.
It will run from September 16 to January 6.
There will be a section in his hometown, Pieve di Cadore, at the Palazzo della Magnifica Comunita' di Cadore, and another at Palazzo Crepadona in the nearby provincial capital of Belluno.
During his lifetime, Titian's (circa 1485-1576) fame almost matched that of Michelangelo.
Art historians say Emperor Charles V of France - Leonardo da Vinci'a 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 (c. 1429-1507) and his brother Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 1516), who were lead members of the Venetian school of Renaissance painting.
Titian built his status as an art superstar on his portraits, which had noblewomen, cardinals, intellectuals and courts across Europe queuing to commission him.
But he was also a superb, revolutionary stage-manager of colourful biblical and mythological representations.
He died of plague in his 90s in Venice in August 1576.
The Belluno side of the show is split into four sections.
It kicks off with portraits of Titian, including a 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 part is the main attraction, as it brings together most of the Titian paintings and drawings organizers have flown in from around the world.
Highlights include Portrait of Pope Paul III (1548) and Christ Carrying the Cross (1560) from the Hermitage and the beautiful Venus and Cupid (1550) from the Uffizi.
The third section focuses on the artists who worked in Titian's studio.
The aim is 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," explained art historian Mina Gregori.
"The business system Titian set up meant that the distinction between master and workshop often became blurred in the final period".
The last section is devoted to a selection of prints from the middle of the 16th century.
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 segment of the exhibition.
There is also a portrait of the same woman by Titian's younger Venetian rival Tintoretto.
