The ''Pesaro Madonna'' ( it, Pala Pesaro) (better known as the Madonna di Ca' Pesaro) is a painting by the late Italian Renaissance master

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

, commissioned by Jacopo Pesaro, whose family acquired in 1518 the chapel in the

Frari The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, usually just called the Frari, is a church located in the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district of Venice, Italy. The largest church in the city, it has the status of a minor basil ...

Basilica in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

for which the work was painted, and where it remains today. Jacopo was Bishop of

Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

, in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, and had been named commander of the papal fleet by the

Borgia The House of Borgia ( , ; Spanish and an, Borja ; ca-valencia, Borja ) was an Italian-Aragonese Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town ...

pope,

Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...

. This painting recalls one of Titian's earliest paintings ''

Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter ''Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter'' is an oil painting on canvas by Titian, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It was commissioned by Bishop Jacopo Pesaro (b. 1460) as an ex-voto for the Venet ...

'', c. 1510-11, text.

Aesthetics

Titian shows his patron in a devoti