By Shannon Stockwell In Sacher-Masoch’s novel Venus in Furs —which David Ives adapted into his play Venus in Fur —Severin von Kushemski uses as a bookmark Titian’s painting Venus with a Mirror . Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) was born around 1490 in the Italian Alps and moved to Venice when he was just a boy to learn the art of painting. His teacher was Giovanni Bellini, the official painter of Venice. By 1510, Titian had established himself, and after Bellini’s death he took his place as the official painter of the Venetian Republic. He became internationally famous, painting portraits of such members of nobility as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Philip II of Spain, Francis I of France, and Pope Paul III. A master of many genres of painting, from portraits to nudes to mythological and religious scenes, he died in 1576. Venus with a Mirror, 1555, by Titian Venus with a Mirror , completed in 1555, is one of Titian’s more famous paintings. Venus adheres to Renaissance standards of ...