Giorgione

Giorgione (" Big George"), the name by which Giorgio Barbarelli (d. 1511) is generally known, was a great painter of the Venetian school.

He was born near Castelfranco, and studied with Titian under Giovanni Bellini. He settled at Venice, where he soon acquired great fame, and was employed to paint portraits of Gonsalvo di Cordova and two doges. He executed also many frescoes, the most famous of which are those painted in 1506-7 on the facade of the Fondaco de' Tedeschi, opposite the Grand Canal. Much of his work has perished, and many pictures by other artists, such as Sebastiano del Piombo, Schiavone, and several painters of the Brescian and Friulian schools, have been attributed to him. Giorgione was probably less than 40 at his death. He was buried at his native place, whose church possesses a Virgin and Child by him. At the Pitti Palace, Florence, is A Concert, and the National Gallery of London has A Knight in Armour and The Birth of Christ.

Giorgione followed Bellini in his landscapes, and excelled in all the chief beauties of the Venetian school. Titian greatly admired him, and was influenced by his style; and to him some critics even attribute The Concert. Vasari says that Giorgione was a skilful singer and lute-player; if so, it is a presumption in favour of his having been the creator of this great work. The Sleeping Venus of the Dresden Gallery remains unchallenged.