Born 1478 just outside of Venice, Giorgione Barbarelli da Castelfranco was an Italian painter who worked during the early renaissance. He has a very small established body of work, and while many pieces are attributed to him fewer than ten have been confirmed. This is believed to be a result of the fact that he rarely signed his work.

Many of his paintings exude an attitude different to the artists of the late gothic period. He apprenticed under Giorgio Bellini which influenced his style significantly, as Bellini worked to define the Venetian style of painting. Giorgione, as well as one of Bellini’s other students, Titian, developed and made renown.

Giorgione’s work is stunning in both its composition and it’s colour. Every character he paints has weight to them; they seem present within the frame. My favourite part of every one of his paintings is the way he creates fabric. The stiffness in the weave is so realistic, it looks like you can reach out and touch it. Much of his work also held an air of mystery, from unclear symbolism to absurd or abnormal elements in his paintings that were unheard of at the time, such as the throne in Castelfranco Madonna (1504).

He also excelled at landscapes. The Tempest (1508) is considered one of, if not the most iconic landscape painting of the renaissance period, depicting a storm about to break over a city.