Giorgione: Myth and Enigma

About this book

This extraordinary exhibition catalogue explores the rare works of one of the most enigmatic painters of the Renaissance Zorzi da Castelfranco-universally known as Giorgione (Castelfranco Veneto 1478-Venezia 1510)-examining 15 out of an oeuvre of his 25 attributed paintings. Fellow student of Titian under Giovanni Bellini in Venice almost nothing is known of Giorgiones life except that he worked in Venice undertook various important commissions in oil and fresco and died of the plague in his early 30s. A major innovator he is acclaimed as the father of modern Venetian painting of the 16th century. In his revolutionary brushwork he skilfully combined Leonardos sfumato with the colours and the thin layers of paint favoured by the Old Flemish masters to give a new dimension to light and colour. This monograph features masterpieces by Giorgione such as The Tempest The Old Woman The Nude the recently restored Altarpiece of the Cathedral of Castelfranco Christ Carrying the Cross Three Philosophers and Laura as well as the only drawing by Giorgione View of Castel San Zeno at Montagnana and a Sitting Figure. Some seminal examples of works by Bellini Titian Drer and Cranach help to place Giorgiones art in context and to document his influence on later painters. A team of international art historians and critics contribute original essays to the richly illustrated and well-documented book that features new discoveries in Giorgiones technique an analysis of the results of restoration and an updated bibliography.