Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter is a 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 Venetian naval victory leading to the retaking of Santa Maura (Lefkada) from the Ottoman Turks in August 1502, a rare victory in the Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503), which concluded the next year with Venetian concessions, including the return of Santa Maura. Pesaro was a member of the leading patrician Pesaro family, who was appointed by the Borgia Pope Alexander VI a papal legate, commander of the Papal fleet in the region, and bishop of Paphos on Cyprus, a Greek island which was then a Venetian territory.
It has sometimes been thought to be Titian's earliest painting, dating to as early as 1503, but this is now not believed, and a date nearer 1510-11 seems more likely.
Saint Peter is enthroned at left, holding a book and with his gold and silver keys on the dais below him, which is appropriately made of petra, stone. Pope Alexander VI, the pope at the time of the battle, presents the kneeling Jacopo Pesaro to him. Pesaro carries a standard with Alexander's coat of arms. Below the saint classical-style sculpted reliefs are shown at two levels. As in the similar reliefs in the later Sacred and Profane Love, their exact subject matter has eluded identification, but Venus and Cupid seem to feature. This may just allude to Paphos, which in classical times was sacred to Venus, or, as the museum suggests, be an allegory which "demonstrates how Pesaro, through his love of God, achieved victory on Santa Maura".
Pesaro has taken off his helmet, which sits beside the dais. Alexander had contributed 13 galleys to the mainly Venetian war effort, the Venetian fleet being commanded by Benedetto Pesaro, Jacopo's cousin. Between Pesaro's head and Peter war-galleys can be seen in action, and to the right of Alexander more sea, ending at the town of Lefkada, or perhaps one on Paphos.
Apart from these specifics, the composition adapts the usual Venetian formula for an ex-voto of the donor being presented to the Virgin Mary by their patron saint, especially as developed by Giovanni Bellini, in whose studio Titian spent some time. The museum suggest that Bellini designed the painting, leaving the execution to Titian. Undoubtedly the figure of the saint is strongly reminiscent of Bellini's style, as is the pose of the pope. The latter's features were evidently copied from a medal or other image, so he is much less lively in appearance than the bishop, who was probably painted from live sittings.
The tablet at centre bottom is a later addition, which identifies the artist and explains the subject (in notably vague terms), reading "Ritratto di uno di casa Pesaro in Venetia che fu fatto generale di S.ta Chiesa. Tiziano F.[ecit]" ("Portrait of one of the Pesaro family of Venice who was made a general of the holy church. Titian made this").
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