The Artists

Giorgione
Rich color and mood like smooth syrup

Giorgione, The Artists
Portrait of Giorgione

Giorgione was born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, in the small town of Castelfranco Veneto near Venice. By his early 20s he was winning commissions to paint local officials and over the next ten years developed skills rivaling the greatest of the Italian masters, and helped define the moody, rich colors of the Venetian school of Renaissance painting.

The linguistically beautiful and factually suspect historian Giorgio Vasari describes Giorgione as a man who delighted in all the beauty the world could offer, singing and playing the lute, and putting into his pictures, the greatest beauty and the greatest variety that he could find. His gentle obsession with the soft tones of flesh and the shade of quiet trees distinguish his paintings, and profoundly influenced his student Titian.

But a love of beauty cost Giorgione dearly. In 1511, his lover, whose name we do not know, caught the black plague. Giorgione was infected, and died at age 34. Today much of his work is lost or blurry in attribution. Only six surviving artworks are attributed to Giorgione today, I've posted eight. Which ones do you think are his?

Reed Enger, "Giorgione, Rich color and mood like smooth syrup," in Obelisk Art History, Published September 27, 2016; last modified October 14, 2022, http://www.arthistoryproject.com/artists/giorgione/.

Giorgione was an Italian Artist who Died Young born in 1477. Giorgione contributed to the Italian Renaissance movement and died on October 25, 1510.

Judith, Giorgione

Judith 1504

Young Man with Arrow, Giorgione

Young Man with Arrow 1505

Laura, Giorgione

Laura 1506

The Tempest, Giorgione

The Tempest 1508

Pastoral Concert, Giorgione

Pastoral Concert 1509

The Three Philosophers, Giorgione

The Three Philosophers 1505 – 1509

Adoration of the Shepherds, Giorgione

Adoration of the Shepherds 1505 – 1510

Portrait of a Young Man, Giorgione

Portrait of a Young Man 1510

Sleeping Venus, Giorgione

Sleeping Venus 1508 – 1510

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