GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO, jOr jo'ntt (la ka'stel-friinIk6 (c.1478-1511). One of the chief Venetian painters of the High Renaissance. His real name was Gummi° BARBARELLI, the name Giorgione • (`Big George') having been given him because of his ability. He was born at Castelfranco, near Treviso, in 1478, or perhaps earlier. Of his life little is known, except what Vasari relates: that he was of humble origin, and was brought up in Venice; that he was beautiful in person and of great social charm; a fine musician, singing per fectly to the lute; that he was an ardent lover and died in consequence of a love affair. Vasari's statements, however, are founded on hearsay of a later date. We know from other sources that Giorgione was a pupil of Giovanni Bellini (q.v.) ; he may, indeed, have been influenced by the lights and shades of Leonardo, as Vasari states. Before 1505 he executed commissions for Tuzio Costanzi, a Venetian condottiere, at Castelfranco. About 1505 he retuxned to Venice, where he decorated the facades of some half-dozen palaces, long since defaced. The most important of these decorations was that of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (1508). He painted, moreover, a large easel-picture for the audience chamber of the Doge's palace, also lost. He died at Venice in 1511, at the zenith of his popularity.
In such a short life he could have executed but few of the 150 paintings attributed to him in the European galleries. Of unques tioned authenticity, supported by documentary evidence, are the three following paintings: (1) The altarpiece of the Cathedral of Castel franco, a "Madonna Enthroned Between Saints Liberale and Francis," one of his earliest works; (2) "La Familia di Giorgione," a beauti ful landscape containing idealistic figures of a young man, said to be Giorgione, with his wife and child; (3) "Three Eastern Sages," also called "Surveyors" or "Astrologers." Critics are, for the most part, agreed in ascribing to his early period two small richly colored pictures in the Uffizi, Florence: "Moses and the Burning Bush," and "The Judgment of Solomon," and besides the "Madonna with Saints Anthony and Roch," catalogued as a Pordenone, in the Madrid gallery. Of a later period is the "Concert Champetre," in the Louvre. Of the many portraits ascribed to him the "Knight of Malta," in the Uffizi, and the "Man in a White Costume," at Rovigo, are certainly genuine; the "Two Men," in the Berlin Museum, and the "Young Man," in the gallery at Budapest, are probably also genuine.
Among other works rightly ascribed to Gior gione are: "Christ Bearing the Cross," owned by Count Loschi, at Vicenza; "Apollo and Daphne," in the Archbishop's Seminary, Venice; the "Three Ages of Man," in the Pitti Pal ace, Florence; and, especially, the "Sleeping Venus," in the Dresden gallery, formerly con sidered a copy from Titian. This last picture is probably the most perfect representation of Venus in the art of the Italian Renaissance, and is the prototype of other representations of this subject by Venetian artists. Morelli was the first to ascribe it to Giorgione, but he rejects the "Con cert," in the Pitti Palace, usually ascribed to him, although it is a picture of the greatest charm. Many other pictures are attributed to Giorgione in European galleries, and especially in the Eng lish, but most of these are not genuine.
Vasari ago pointed out that Giorgione's position in Venetian art was like that of Leonar do in Florentine art. More than any other he contributed those elements which brought about the highest development of Venetian painting. Before his time, detail was the main considera tion, but he strove after the general effec He introduced that form of picture in which enre figures appear in a beautiful landscape—a char acteristic of Venetian art. The subjects of his paintings, religious or otherwise, were subordi nated to the idea of representing happy and beautiful life. Although not so great a tech nician as Titian, his drawing is good, and his Color is bright and harmonious; a rich golden tone pervades his pictures. His chief pupil was Sebastiano del Piombo (q.v.), and he also exer cised great influence upon Titian and Palma Vecchio (q.v.)• BIBLIOGRAPHY. The chief authority on GiorBibliography. The chief authority on Gior- gione is Morelli, who has done more than any one else to identify his work. Consult: Italian Painters, vol. ii. (London, 1892). Compare also Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Northern Italy (London, 1871) ; Conti, Gior gione (Milan, 1894) ; Gronau, Zorzon da Castel franco (Venice, 1894) ; Llicke, in Dohme, Kunst and Kunstler Italien-s (Leipzig, 1879)Berensen, Venetian Painters (New York, 1894c; Stearns, Four Great Venetian Masters (New York, 1901). Consult also the text and notes of Blashfield and llopkins's translation of Vasari's Lives, vol. iii. (New York, 1896).