There is a dynamic tension in Titian's Allegory of Marriage between the gaze of the female subject, connecting her to a world or worlds unseen, and that of the male figure, who seems to engage with her, yet to be an unacknowledged presence. This subtle connection between the two main protagonists calls to the fore suggestions of allegory, and it is therefore not unreasonable to ask whether Neoplatonic ideas of allegory, linking the visible world with a world beyond, may be governing Titian's choice of representation. I therefore contribute to the debate on this painting by extending enquiry into the realm of ideas that were circulating at the time, looking at the intellectual and literary context in which this painting was conceived. This approach seeks to show Titian's contact with these ideas through a number of personal connections that brought ideas born in fifteenth-century Florence to a new and productive life in sixteenth-century Venice. In particular, it invokes his well-known friendship with Pietro Bembo, which may be taken as a strong pointer to the likelihood of Titian's being aware of, even if not directly engaged in, the lively intellectual debates that had been taking place during the years of his development as a painter. Since it has often been argued that Titian's skill lay entirely in the visual realm and that he was not greatly a man of words, it seeks to refine such a judgement by showing his engagement with the thoughts and words of others.