A commentary by Vittorio Sgarbi dedicated to Titian’s masterpiece housed in the permanent collection of the Magnani Rocca Foundation.
The painting originates from Palazzo Balbi in Piovera, Genoa, where it is mentioned in ancient guides (Ratti, 1780; Alizeri, 1846) and remained until 1952. Alizeri immediately recognized its excellence, referencing it among the works of non-Genoese artists in the collection: “Having fulfilled the duty of citizen, I turn to the other painters, whose names demand no remarks…
Such is Titian Vecellio, who reigns supreme with the grand altarpiece of Saints Dominic and Catherine in adoration of Mary.”
The painting entered critical literature through Cavalcaselle and Crowe, who, in their monograph on Titian (1877–1878), provided a detailed description before concluding:
“This canvas (whose figures are nearly life-size), with the youthful and graceful features of the figures, as well as its coloring and technical execution, demonstrates that it was painted by Titian during his youth, perhaps around the time he created the Bacchanals for the Duke of Ferrara.” They also added observations on its state of preservation.
Later (1892), Morelli reaffirmed the attribution to Titian, countering Mündler’s unfounded opinion that it should be credited to Licinio:
“How this meticulous investigator could attribute the magnificent youthful work of Titian from Palazzo Balbi Piovera in Genoa to the same B. Licinio remains incomprehensible to me.”
After Morelli’s intervention, critical literature—except for Gronau (1900)—remained silent on the painting until 1946, when Morassi discussed it in the journal Emporium and presented it at the “Exhibition of Ancient Painting in Liguria.” He suggested that the work was commissioned by the Venetian branch of the Balbi family, likely a collateral branch that included a Domenico, as evidenced by the presence of the patron saint.
In 1951, Morassi revisited the painting in his book Masterpieces of Painting in Genoa and again in 1952 in the catalog for the exhibition The Madonna in Ligurian Art, curated by Pasquale Rotondi.
Subsequent critics, from Berenson (c. 1515) to Pallucchini, Dell’Acqua, Valcanover, Wethey, and Hope, have agreed on its youthful origins. Valcanover and Dell’Acqua, identifying it as “one of the earliest” Sacred Conversations by Titian, pointed to the votive painting in Antwerp as a precedent. In his definitive monograph (1969), Pallucchini dated it to around 1513.
Thus, along with the Baptism of Christ in the Capitoline Gallery, the Allegory of the Three Ages of Man in the National Gallery of Edinburgh, and the Sacred Conversation in the same gallery—perhaps slightly earlier—it is among the first works in which, despite the warm influence of his friend Giorgione, “the young Titian fully shakes off Giorgione’s timidity,” as Longhi eloquently noted.
Longhi’s remarks about Titian’s contemporaneous works also apply here:
“Indeed, Giorgione’s classicist impulse now serves another purpose, as the connection of forms no longer occurs along the lines of volumes and planes, almost crystallized as in Antonello, Bellini, or Carpaccio, through arrangement or juxtaposition alone, but through the mature composition of free and profound gestures, almost in spatial arches. The bodies are constructed like an imaginary Greek painting that has suddenly mastered the ability to traverse space solidly.”
Dell’Acqua observed that the Balbi Madonna “strikes for its grand arrangement of figures,” an aspect also emphasized by Pallucchini, who interpreted the painting’s emotional context:
“A flow of sentiment unites the composition: from the intimate, adoring gaze of the saint to the devout expression of the donor, and finally to the maternal glance of the Virgin. This necessity for psychological dialogue dictates the formal arrangement of the figures, especially the grand movement, almost inspired by a Michelangelesque Romanism, of the Madonna’s figure in her vivid red robe. The image of the blonde Saint Catherine, seated on a classical architrave and turned in profile towards the donor, is exquisitely refined: she wears a lightly gilded pale lilac dress over a radiant white tunic, with a green mantle draped from her shoulders. These vibrant chromatic notes stand out on the left, set against a deep brown background, while the two figures on the right are rendered with a fundamental economy of color: the black mantle of Saint Dominic and the dark cloak of the donor contrast with the saint’s brilliant white habit. This reverses the tonal relationship, bringing the dark hues to the foreground to highlight the figures as large silhouettes against the landscape background.”
Morassi and Dell’Acqua particularly emphasized Titian’s method of layering glazes over a textured base, allowing adjustments over time to achieve a final harmony in the painting. Dell’Acqua remarked on Titian’s chromatic classicism, wherein the color itself, imbued with internal luminosity, becomes an idealizing element, rendering the azure and bright red of the landscape, the gold of a hair, or the warm ivory of a face equally ideal. This approach suggests that not only the lines and volumes but especially the color serve as the foundational components of the painting’s harmonic unity.
For Wethey, the painting might allude to a wedding celebration, but the absence of a female donor rules out this hypothesis. Nevertheless, “the portrait of the male donor and his patron saint is interpreted in an intensely romantic vein, typically characterized in Titian’s work as a Giorgionesque survival.”
The two male portraits foreshadow and resonate with the moral world of Lorenzo Lotto and the romantic inclination of Palma Vecchio. On the other hand, the Madonna and Saint Catherine prefigure Palma’s female figures, particularly in their “sharp elegance,” becoming prototypes for Titian’s half-length female figures, from Salome Doria to the Flora in the Uffizi, Violante in Vienna, Saint Bridget in the Prado altarpiece, and the Magdalene in the Sacred Conversation of Dresden.
Hope’s evocative suggestion that “the secular counterpart of the Reggio Madonna is the so-called Sacred and Profane Love” merits attention. Among other aspects, note the shared relationship between the figures and the classical reliefs on which they rest, suggesting continuity and unity between the pagan and Christian worlds. Ballarin also observed that compositions typical of Palma Vecchio owe much to the Balbi Sacred Conversation: “The better-known Palma owes this moment to Titian, and it would be too easy to list the works critical for the maturation of his style. The Sacred Conversation with donors in the Thyssen collection, one of Palma’s masterpieces, is undoubtedly later than Titian’s Balbi Sacred Conversation.” Similarly, Palma’s Study for the Head of Eve (Paris, Louvre) appears derived from Saint Catherine’s head in the Balbi Sacred Conversation.
Later, Van Dyck admired the painting, sketching it—perhaps inspired by Wyngaerde’s engraving—in his Italian Sketchbook (an oral communication from Mario Bonzi to Morassi, 1946). Copies of the painting exist in Palazzo Rosso in Genoa and with Mrs. Riddle in Hale, England. The 18th-century copy in Palazzo Rosso confirms the longstanding presence of Titian’s original in Genoa.
