After the French Revolution, the Orleans collection was sold to a Brussels banker by Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans in 1791, two years before he was guillotined.

[4] It was sent to London for sale in 1793 and purchased by a syndicate of three aristocrats, the leader of which, the canal and coal-magnate Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, bought a large number of paintings for himself, including Diana and Callisto and Diana and Actaeon (both from the "poesie" series), eight paintings by Poussin, three Raphaels and Rembrandt's "Self-Portrait, aged 51".

[11][12][13] Though the campaign received criticism from John Tusa and Nigel Carrington for the Duke's motives and for distracting from funding art students,[14] it gained press support in the UK.

[17] Speculation began when the original 31 December 2008 deadline passed without news and the Scottish Government's announcement of a contribution of £17.5 million in January 2009 triggered a political row, with Ian Davidson questioning the deal at a time of economic hardship.

[18] There was also controversy over attempts to dilute the guarantee that the duke would sell no other paintings from the Sutherland Loan should the two Titians be bought.

[2] Titian employed an exceedingly wide palette consisting of nearly all pigments of the Renaissance period,[26] such as natural ultramarine, vermilion, malachite, verdigris, ochres, lead-tin-yellow, smalt, and carmine.