Blog Post#1 Giorgione

Giorgione or Giorgione da Castelfranco was a Venetian painter born in Italy in 1477/78. He died in 1510, having lived a short life especially in comparison to his imitators during the High Renaissance, including Titian who was his younger peer when they were both under tutelage of Giovanni Bellini. Along with his painting style, this is likely what has lead to him having a enigmatic and mysterious reputation in modern day. Upon discovery of one of his most notable works: “Sleeping Venus”(c.1510), I would wholly agree with that consensus.

It came across as very familiar after learning about the more well-known Titian and his painting “Venus of Urbino” as well subsequent paintings at his Venetian school using a similar female figure. This is why is came as a surprise when I later found that while the foreground and woman was painted by Giorgione himself, the background was completed by Titian. It is recorded but heavily debated that Giorgione was highly influential due to his use of light and colour (chiaroscuro/sfumato) which was similar in technique to Leonardo’s at the time, inspiring other artists such as Sebastiano del Piombo and Giulio Campagnola to name a few, even giving inspiration to his own master. Even so, he barely has any works to show for it, let alone works that were even confirmed to be his due to copies of his work circling during and after this career. More than anything, I like the concept behind his works that did not rely on religious or mythological subject manner, which was rampant at the times, as seen in his work “The Tempest”, which was nevertheless meaningful and beautiful. It portrays two ambiguous figures and a pastoral theme and gives me the feeling that the short lived Giorgione liked to live in the moment, paying little attention the meaning his audience would take from it then and now.

Judith c. 1504