Rivalry between artists was quite common in the Italian Renaissance, sometimes transcending the professional realm and becoming personal animosities. No artists, however, projected personal and professional conflicts onto their work, at least not explicitly. This absence makes Jacopo Bassano’s virulent critique of Titian in his Purification of the Temple (National Gallery, London, NG 228) not only exceptional but also difficult to understand, since no contemporary source alludes to any rivalry between the two Venetian painters. In this essay I will try to provide a satisfactory explanation of it.