Giorgione
A possible self-portrait, perhaps as David
Giorgione’s real name was Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco. The young, short-lived genius of the Venetian School, who ranks in achievement, significance, and importance with the greatest of Renaissance painters. Few works are known to be his for certain.
His small-scale, poetic, lyrical, and mysterious paintings are carefully observed portraits of youthful and sensitive young men being beautiful.
Dreamlike landscape settings. The Sleeping Venus and The Tempest opened the door for the development of the nude, landscape, and mythological painting on which so much of Western art has depended.
To own an authentic Giorgione has been one of the supreme ambitions of collectors since the Renaissance. It is impossible to identify a recognizable technique (so few works known for certain, plus wicked restorations and over-cleaning).
Giorgione’s major works are Old Woman, c. 1502–03 (Venice: Gallerie dell’Accademia);The Tempest, 1505–10 (Venice: Gallerie dell’Accademia); The Sleeping Venus, 1508–10 (Dresden: Gemäldegalerie).
References:
- Robert Cumming. Art: complete encyclopedia. – 512 p. – Moscow: Astrel, 2005.
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