Painting technique · Art history
The pigments behind Titian's paintings
A technical breakdown of every pigment identified across three major works: The Holy Family with a Shepherd (ca. 1510), Bacchus and Ariadne (1520-23), and Diana and Actaeon (1556-59). For each pigment, the descriptions point to specific subjects and areas visible in the painting above.
High Renaissance · Oil on canvas · Three paintings examined
Venice held a unique position in the sixteenth-century pigment trade. As the port through which lapis lazuli and other exotic materials entered Europe from the East, and as a centre of the textile and dyeing industry famous for its lake pigments, Venetian painters had access to materials of exceptional quality and variety. Titian, working for wealthy clients throughout his career, had first pick of everything available. The results show in his palette: natural ultramarine of unusually high purity, a broad range of red lake pigments, and a consistent willingness to use expensive materials throughout his compositions rather than reserving them for key passages only.
The binding medium in all samples analysed from these three works was linseed oil, with walnut oil identified in specific passages in other works. The use of translucent glazes is limited compared to some contemporaries, and Titian generally preferred opaque and semi-opaque paint layers built up in sequence over a lead white imprimitura.
The Holy Family with a Shepherd, ca. 1510
Oil on canvas · 99.1 x 139.1 cm · High Renaissance
One of Titian's early canvases, prepared with a gesso ground followed by an imprimitura of lead white in heat-bodied linseed oil with a little lamp black of very small particle size. The painting is notable for its use of indigo as a cheaper underlayer beneath ultramarine in the Virgin's mantle, a practical substitution not commonly documented in early Venetian work. The orange cloak of Joseph uses a layered sequence moving from earth pigments through to arsenic sulfides, building warmth and luminosity from the ground up.
Pigments
Look at: the Virgin's blue mantle; the sky
Lapis lazuli of notably high quality. Used in the upper layer of the Virgin's mantle mixed with lead white.
Look at: the underlayer of the Virgin's blue mantle
Organic blue dye precipitated as a pigment. Used as the underpaint layer beneath the ultramarine in the Virgin's mantle, with a little red lake added to give a slight purple cast.
Look at: the shepherd's white shirt and trousers; the imprimitura throughout; mixed into all major colour passages
Basic lead carbonate. Forms the imprimitura along with a little lamp black.
Look at: the Virgin's red drapery; the shepherd's red waistcoat; the purple cast of the blue underpaint
Organic red lake from kermes insects. Used in multiple passages.
Look at: the upper glaze layers of the Virgin's red drapery
Organic red lake from the madder plant. Identified alongside kermes in samples from the Virgin's red dress, probably in separate lake pigments and in separate layers.
Look at: the shepherd's red waistcoat
Mercuric sulfide. The deep warm red of the shepherd's waistcoat is based on vermilion.
Look at: the shepherd's waistcoat (middle layer)
Iron oxide earth pigment. Appears as a thin layer sandwiched between the two vermilion layers in the shepherd's waistcoat, modifying the warmth and tone between the opaque red underlayers and the final glaze.
Look at: Joseph's purple robe
Basic copper carbonate. Used in Joseph's purple robe in combination with red lake and lead white across four layers.
Look at: the khaki brown underlayer of Joseph's orange cloak; the greens of the foreground grass and landscape
Iron oxide earth pigment. Present in the dark khaki brown underpaint of Joseph's orange cloak alongside black and lead white.
Look at: the mid-layer of Joseph's orange cloak
Earth pigment. The second layer in Joseph's orange cloak is a brighter orange-yellow earth, applied over the dark khaki underpaint before the realgar and orpiment highlights.
Look at: the mid-tones and highlights of Joseph's orange cloak
Arsenic tetrasulfide. Applied in the upper layers of Joseph's orange cloak over the orange ochre underlayer, together with orpiment.
Look at: the highlights of Joseph's orange cloak
Arsenic trisulfide. Used alongside realgar in the highlights of Joseph's orange cloak.
Look at: the green grass in the foreground; the landscape in the background
Basic copper acetate. The greens throughout the foreground and background landscape are laid in with mixtures of verdigris, lead-tin yellow, yellow ochre, and lead white.
Look at: the green grass and landscape; the autumnal tree tints
Fused lead-tin oxide. Mixed with verdigris, yellow ochre, and lead white throughout the greens of the foreground and landscape.
Look at: the autumnal brown tints of the small trees at the right
Dark brown organic earth pigment. The autumnal tints of the small trees consist mainly of a translucent yellow-brown earth identified as possibly cassel earth, combined with a little lead-tin yellow and lead white.
Look at: present as a natural component of the earth pigments throughout
Calcium magnesium carbonate. Present as a natural mineral component within the earth pigments used throughout this painting, not as a deliberately added separate pigment.
Look at: the greens of the foreground grass
Basic copper chloride. Present as a minor component in the green paint of the foreground, most likely connected with the method of manufacture of the verdigris rather than added as a separate pigment.
Look at: the imprimitura throughout the canvas; the dark underlayer of the shepherd's waistcoat
Fine carbon black of very small particle size. Added in small amounts to the lead white imprimitura, giving it a slightly warm grey tone.
Natural ultramarine
Indigo
Lead white
Kermes lake
Madder lake
Vermilion
Red ochre
Azurite
Yellow ochre
Orange ochre
Realgar
Orpiment
Verdigris
Lead-tin yellow
Cassel earth
Dolomite
Atacamite
Lamp black
Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520-23
Oil on canvas · 175.2 x 190.5 cm · High Renaissance
Painted for Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara, this is one of the most technically ambitious works of Titian's career. The ultramarine used throughout is of the most intense colour and high purity of any so far examined in his work. The cheaper blue pigments indigo and smalt are conspicuous by their absence; every blue passage uses either natural ultramarine or azurite. The palette is unusually broad, with malachite, green earth, verdigris, and copper resinate all used for different qualities of green across the foliage and landscape.
Pigments
Look at: Ariadne's blue cloak; the sky; the distant landscape; the blue drapery of the Bacchante with cymbals; the iris and columbine flowers; the pale mauve drapery of the Bacchante with tambourine
Lapis lazuli of exceptional purity, the highest quality found in any Titian work examined. Used mixed with varying proportions of lead white in the sky, the bluer passages of the distant landscape, the lights and mid-tones of blue drapery, and the flowers.
Look at: the sea; the slightly greenish areas of the distant landscape
Basic copper carbonate in natural mineral form, visible under the microscope as large, rocky particles. Used for the sea and the more greenish areas of the distant landscape, providing a subtle contrast with the faintly purplish hue of the ultramarine sky above.
Look at: mixed into all drapery, sky, and foliage passages; the pale mauve drapery
Basic lead carbonate. Present throughout all major passages mixed with the primary colorants.
Look at: Bacchus's crimson flying cloak; the drapery of the small faun in the foreground; Ariadne's flesh; the pale mauve drapery of the Bacchante with tambourine
Organic crimson lake. The primary red lake pigment in this painting.
Look at: Ariadne's scarlet red sash
Finely ground mercuric sulfide. Makes a single, dramatic appearance as the pigment of Ariadne's scarlet sash.
Look at: the pale yellow drapery beneath the urn, lower left corner
Lead-tin oxide Type I. Used for the pale yellow drapery visible beneath the urn near the bottom left of the composition.
Look at: the main body of the orange drapery of the Bacchante with cymbals
Arsenic tetrasulfide. The primary pigment of the orange drapery worn by the Bacchante with cymbals.
Look at: the highlights of the orange drapery of the Bacchante with cymbals
Arsenic trisulfide. Used for the highlights of the orange drapery above the realgar mid-tones and shadows.
Look at: the bright, bluish-green foliage left of Bacchus; the uppermost layer of the foliage construction
Basic copper carbonate green mineral, appearing under the microscope as angular rocky particles. Used as the uppermost layer in the foliage construction to the left of Bacchus, mixed with lead white and glazed over with a browned copper resinate.
Look at: the underpaint layer of the foliage left of Bacchus; Bacchus's left forearm in the greenish shadows of the flesh
Complex silicate mineral (celadonite) containing iron and magnesium. Used as a lower underpaint layer in the bright foliage to the left of Bacchus, combined with lead white.
Look at: the bright green foliage throughout; the green glazes now appearing brown in some areas
Basic copper acetate, also used as the starting material for copper resinate glazes. The bright green foliage throughout uses verdigris, some of which has been dissolved in a resinous or oleo-resinous medium to form transparent green glazes.
Look at: the transparent green glazes over foliage; the brown areas of foliage that were originally green glazes
Verdigris dissolved in a resinous or oleo-resinous medium to form a transparent green glaze. Used over the malachite and verdigris layers in the foliage.
Look at: the double underlayer of the foliage left of Bacchus; the brown tree upper right corner
Iron oxide earth pigment. Used as a double layer of underpaint at the base of the foliage construction to the left of Bacchus.
Look at: the brown tree in the upper right corner
Earth pigment. Used alongside yellow ochre for the brown autumn tree in the upper right of the composition, with no copper resinate present.
Natural ultramarine
Azurite
Lead white
Carmine lake
Vermilion
Lead-tin yellow
Realgar
Orpiment
Malachite
Green earth
Verdigris
Copper resinate
Yellow ochre
Brown ochre
Diana and Actaeon, 1556-59
Oil on canvas · 184.5 x 202.2 cm · High Renaissance
One of Titian's late mythological paintings commissioned by Philip II of Spain. The ultramarine used for the sky and distant mountains is again of very high quality, used mixed with very little lead white in the uppermost paint layers. Smalt appears in this later work in a supporting role it was absent from in Bacchus and Ariadne, used as a thick discoloured underlayer beneath the ultramarine sky and in the landscape. Malachite appears again for cool green highlights on distant trees. The flesh passages show Titian's characteristic technique of interleaving darker and lighter layers to achieve a pearly, opalescent quality.
Pigments
Look at: the blue sky; the distant blue mountains; the lilac drapery top layers; Diana's flesh (one layer)
Lapis lazuli of very high quality. The uppermost layer of the sky and mountain passages contains ultramarine mixed with very little lead white.
Look at: the underlayer of the sky and blue mountains; Actaeon's lowest flesh layer (now discoloured)
Ground cobalt-blue glass. Used as a thick underlayer beneath the ultramarine in the sky and the distant mountains, mixed with lead white.
Look at: all flesh passages; the sky; the striped dress of the black maidservant; the imprimitura
Basic lead carbonate. The primary base pigment across all passages.
Look at: the orange stripes of the black maidservant's dress; the orange lining of Actaeon's shoes; the decorative orange lines on the arches; the crimson curtain behind Actaeon; Diana's flesh
Mercuric sulfide. Used throughout multiple passages.
Look at: the crimson curtain behind Actaeon; Diana's flesh; the lilac drapery; the cool purple-red cloth under Diana; Actaeon's flesh
Organic crimson lake. Present across virtually every passage in the painting.
Look at: the crimson curtain behind Actaeon; the decorative orange lines on the arches; the bright sunlit field
Lead tetroxide. Present alongside vermilion and red lake in some layers of the crimson curtain.
Look at: Actaeon's flesh; Diana's flesh; the beige stripes of the maidservant's dress; the bright sunlit field; the decorative arches
Iron oxide earth pigment. Present in the flesh passages of both Actaeon and Diana.
Look at: Actaeon's flesh; the foreground browns
Earth pigment. Present in the flesh layers of Actaeon alongside lead white, yellow ochre, vermilion, and umber.
Look at: Actaeon's flesh; the black maidservant's skin tones
Manganese-rich earth pigment. Present in Actaeon's flesh layers.
Look at: the orange stripes of the maidservant's dress; the bright sunlit field; the foliage; the black maidservant's skin
Fused lead-tin oxide. Present in the orange stripe mixture of the maidservant's dress alongside vermilion, red lake, and lead white.
Look at: the cool green landscape in the middle distance; the bright green leaves in front of the stag skull
Basic copper carbonate green mineral. Used for the cool green highlights in the middle distance landscape mixed with a little lead-tin yellow and ultramarine, and for the bright green leaves of the foreground branches crossing in front of the stag skull and antlers.
Look at: the foliage of the trees behind Diana; the green leaves throughout
Basic copper acetate. Used for the greens and brown-greens of the tree foliage throughout.
Look at: the original stone pillars overpainted by Titian; the lowest layer of the blue mountains
Iron oxide earth pigment. Found in the lowest layer of the blue mountain passage alongside yellow ochre, umber, red lead, black, and lead white. This is the original stone pillar colour that Titian later overpainted with the mountain landscape.
Look at: Diana's flesh (one layer); the lowest paint layer of the mountain; the maidservant's skin underlayers
Carbon black. Present in Diana's flesh layers as a small addition to cool some tones.
Natural ultramarine
Smalt
Lead white
Vermilion
Red lake
Red lead
Yellow ochre
Brown ochre
Umber
Lead-tin yellow
Malachite
Verdigris
Red ochre
Black
Complete palette: all pigments across the three paintings
Every pigment identified in the source notes, which painting it appears in, and its role.
Basic lead carbonate. Present in every painting throughout all major passages as the primary white and base of the imprimitura.
Organic red lake from madder root. Identified alongside kermes in the Virgin's red dress, probably in separate layers.
Earth pigment. The second layer in Joseph's orange cloak, establishing the warm base before the arsenic sulfide upper layers.
Earth pigment. Used in the autumn tree of Bacchus and Ariadne and in Actaeon's flesh layers and foreground browns.
Manganese-rich earth pigment. Used in Actaeon's flesh layers and in the black maidservant's skin construction.
Arsenic tetrasulfide. Used for orange drapery highlights in both works, always paired with orpiment.
Arsenic trisulfide. Used for the highest highlights of orange drapery above realgar mid-tones.
Fused lead-tin oxide. Present in all three paintings in greens, landscape passages, drapery, and flesh tone construction.
Complex silicate mineral. Used as underpainting in foliage layers and as a minor cooling component in Bacchus's flesh shadows.
Translucent dark brown organic earth. Used for the autumnal tree tints at the right of The Holy Family.
The last residue of the lapis lazuli extraction process, producing a paler, less saturated ultramarine.
Frequently asked questions
What binding medium did Titian use?
Linseed oil was identified in all samples analysed from these three works. Walnut oil has been identified in specific passages in other Titian works, including a sample from the blue-green landscape of Venus and Adonis. Heat-bodied linseed oil was used in the imprimitura of The Holy Family. The use of translucent glazes is more limited in Titian's practice than in some contemporaries.
Why did Titian use indigo instead of azurite under the ultramarine in The Holy Family?
Azurite was the standard underlayer choice for ultramarine in earlier Venetian painting. In The Holy Family, Titian substituted indigo, which was considerably cheaper, with a little red lake added to give a slight purple cast that would complement the ultramarine above. The technical outcome is similar but the cost was lower. This substitution was not common practice and has been noted as an unusual feature of this painting.
How did Titian build his purple and mauve drapery passages?
Titian's purples consistently use the same construction across all three works: a first pale pink layer of red lake and lead white, followed by successive layers of azurite or smalt combined with red lake, with the amount of lead white gradually reducing toward the surface to increase depth and saturation. Pale mauves use natural ultramarine with lead white and a little red lake in a single mixture rather than a layered construction.
Why do some areas of green foliage in Titian's paintings now appear brown?
Copper resinate (verdigris dissolved in a resinous medium to make a transparent green glaze) has a well-documented tendency to discolour to brown or even black with age and exposure to light. Many passages that now read as brown in Bacchus and Ariadne and Diana and Actaeon were originally vivid green glazes. In Bacchus and Ariadne, the autumn tree in the upper right corner was confirmed to be deliberately painted in ochres with no copper resinate, distinguishing original brown from discoloured green.
How did Titian paint orange drapery?
Orange passages in both The Holy Family and Bacchus and Ariadne follow a consistent layered approach. A dark earth underpaint establishes the form, followed by a brighter orange earth layer, with realgar in the mid-tones and orpiment in the highlights. The arsenic sulfide pigments were chosen specifically because they produce a warm, luminous orange that earth pigments alone cannot achieve.
How did Titian approach flesh painting?
Titian built flesh tones in multiple interleaved layers of varying shades, typically based on lead white, vermilion, red lake, and yellow ochre, with small additions of black and occasionally ultramarine in specific layers. Darker and lighter layers are interleaved rather than simply stacked from dark to light, which produces the characteristic pearly, opalescent quality of Titian's skin tones. Diana and Actaeon has at least four such interleaved layers in the flesh of Diana.
Did Titian use expensive pigments consistently or reserve them for key passages?
Throughout these three works, Titian used high-quality pigments broadly rather than reserving them for focal passages only. The natural ultramarine in Bacchus and Ariadne is of the highest purity found in any of his examined works and is used throughout the sky, landscape, drapery, and flowers rather than concentrated on a single area. Venice's position as the entry point for lapis lazuli and other exotic materials, combined with the wealth of Titian's clients, gave him consistent access to the best materials available.
Sources: National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 34 · Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne, Arthur Lucas and Joyce Plesters, Technical Bulletin Volume 2, 1978 · National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 36