Superstar artist still drawing a crowd

David Jaffe, senior curator at the National Gallery, in London, delivers a measured, scholarly, art historian's verdict on the genius of the 17th century Venetian superstar, Titiano Vecellio, better known in Britain as Titian.

"He's the tops, the greatest. Awe-inspiring, gob-smacking. He's the goods."

Mr Jaffe has been living nose to nose with Titian for the last year, working feverishly with co-curator Caroline Campbell for the blockbuster exhibition at the National Gallery, opening in a fortnight, that will bring together the greatest collection of the artist's works in a lifetime.

The British have been mad for Titian since Charles I accepted a ravishing Venus - now in the Louvre in Paris - as a consolation for not getting a Spanish princess as a bride.

Thousands of gallons of hair dye have been sold to women desperate to achieve the red gold "Titian hair", the most distinctive feature of many of his most beautiful saints, courtesans and goddesses.

The National Gallery confidently expects to sell every one of around 270,000 timed tickets for the exhibition.

Some of Titian's greatest works came into major British collections, including those of the Duke of Hamilton and the Duke of Arundel, and as a result there are masterpieces in the national galleries in London and Edinburgh. There have also been a few spectacular losses from British collections. One of the most difficult loans to negotiate, from the National Gallery in Washington DC, was a painting sold by the Duke of Northumberland in 1916.

Titian, who was born in Venice, was a star in his own lifetime. Dukes, princes and popes clamoured for his time, for his ability to make soldiers more martial, churchmen more saintly, and nudes more sexy than any other painter of his day.

Venice, his adopted city, paid him an annual pension until he died, probably aged 93 and still painting.

David Jaffe thinks he is simply one of the greatest artists who ever lived. "He painted for such a long time, one of the longest painting lives we know of, but he never gave up, never took things for granted, never just churned out another painting. Every time he took up his paintbrush, he tried something new. He was a marvel."

· The Titian exhibition is at the National Gallery, London, from February 19 to May 18. It is open daily, and until 9pm Wednesday-Saturday. Information at www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/titian