Part 13

19. Fables from Ovid; among them Apollo and Daphne, and Zeus as a bull with Europa on his back. These showed strong landscape feeling. Gigantomachia. Deucalion and Pyrrha. Apollo and the Python. Apollo and Daphne. Io. Phaethon. Pyrrhus and Phlegon. Eos. Diana and Callisto. Mercury stealing Apollo’s herds. Jove and Europa. Cadmus and serpents’ teeth. Actæon. Venus and Mars caught by Vulcan. Niobe. Jove and Mercury at the house of Baucis. Ariadne. Alcides. Achelous. Deianeira. Loves of Apollo and Hyacinth. Venus and Adonis. Those owned by Sig. Vidman were: birth of Adonis, Adonis and Venus, Adonis’s death.

Portraits (cf. No. 9): Agostino Barbarigo, Catharine Cornaro (perhaps the same as No. 14), Consalvo Ferrante.

20. Frescoes on the Ca Grimani alla Servisa (Nude woman of beautiful form); on a house on the Campo di Santo Stefano, near S. M. Giubenico (Bacchus, Venus and Mars, half figures, grotesques and _putti_); and on the Fondaco de’ Tedeschi (same as No. 11), _trofei_, nudes, heads, allegorical figures measuring the world. Man on horseback.

21. A concert (now in the Pitti).

22. Allegory of human life in Casa Cassinelli, Genoa (Nurse holding crying child, and a knight; Youth disputing with Philosophers, and an old man).

23. Celius Plotius attacked by Claudius.

24. Family group—un vecchio in atto di castrare un gatto.

25. Naked woman and shepherd. She smiles at him as he plays his pipe.

26. David, a knight and a soldier, owned by And. Vendramin.

27. Naked Venus “ignuda dormiente,—è in Casa Marcella è a piedi è Cupido con augellino in mano.”

28. Woman dressed as a gipsy, in house of Gio. Batt. Sanuto.

29. Saul holding by the hair the head of Goliath brought to him by David. Owned by the Signori Leoni di San Lorenzo.

30. Judgment of Paris, owned by the Signori Leoni di San Lorenzo.

31. Judgment of Solomon, in Casa Grimana di Santo Ermacora; the figure of the executioner unfinished. (Now at Kingston Lacy, England.)

32. Virgin, St. Jerome and other figures, owned by Signor Gussoni.

33. Warrior, owned by Signor Ruzzini.

34. Knight with black armour, owned by Signori Contarini da S. Samuello.

35. Half figure of St. Jerome reading, owned by Signori Malipieri.

36. Portraits of Luigi Crasso, seated, with spectacles in his hand. Owned by Nicolo Crasso.

37. Story of Psyche. Twelve pictures.

38. St. Sebastian, in the Chiesa della Annunciata, Cremona.

39. St. Sebastian,—three-quarter length, owned by Prince Aldobrandini.

40. David, owned by Prince Borghese.

41. A youth with a curious fur cloak, owned by Signori Muselli in Verona.

42. Christ led to Calvary, with Mary and the virgin Veronica, figures half life size.

43. Head of Polyphemus.

44. Portraits of women with strange ornaments and feathers in their hair.

David with long hair, dressed in a corselet and with the left hand in the hair of the head of Goliath (same as No. 2). This was a portrait of himself.

45. A general.

46. Youth with soft hair and armed.

Portrait of one of the Fuggers (same as No. 15).

47. A nude figure with a green cloth over his knees and armour beside him, owned by Van Veert in Antwerp.

48. ‘Some say that he began’ the picture of Pope Alexander III and Frederick I in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in Venice.

This list is disappointing in the same way as the previous one, but, nevertheless, several of the numbers may be added to the list of pictures which are preserved. Besides those already noted in Vasari’s list Nos. 16, 17, 19 (?), 21, 23, 26, 27, 30, 31, 38, 40, exist in one form or another, but Nos. 17, 21, 23, 38 and 40, though still preserved, are not by Giorgione. No. 17 has nothing whatever to do with Giorgione, and is attributed by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to Pordenone. Whether this is by him is more than doubtful; I will speak of it in detail and also of 21 later. No. 23, called The Bravo, is in Vienna and is perhaps by Cariani; 30 is probably by Campagnola and is known by copies.[40] No. 38 is in the Brera and is by Dosso Dossi, who was also the painter of 40, which is still in the Borghese Gallery. No. 48 was probably the same picture as that mentioned in the Venetian archives under date of August 14, 1507, and was probably destroyed in the fire of 1575.[41]

[Illustration: PLATE LXII.]

Another author from whom we are able to gather more and important information, is Marc Antonio Michiel, more commonly known as the Anonimo Morelli. Among the pictures which he saw in Venice and neighbouring towns were several attributed to Giorgione:

/# 49. Head of a boy holding an arrow. Owned by Ant. Pasqualino, who obtained it from Zuanne Ram.

50. Head of San Giacomo holding a pilgrim’s staff. Owned by Ant. Pasqualino.

The Anonimo states that this was either by Giorgione or by one of his pupils and that it was copied from the Christ in the Church of San Rocco.

51. St. Jerome, nude, seated in a desert place in the moonlight; “copied from a work by Giorgione.” Owned by And. Odoni.

52. Three Philosophers. Owned by Taddeo Contarino.

53. Hell, with Æneas and Anchises. Owned by Taddeo Contarino.

54. Landscape with the birth of Paris. “One of his early works.”

55. Portrait of Geronimo Marcello, armed,—the body turned away from, and the head towards, the spectator. Owned by Geronimo Marcello.

Nude Venus, sleeping in the open air. “The landscape and the Cupid were finished by Titian.” Owned by Geronimo Marcello (same as No. 27).

58. St. Jerome reading. Half figure (same as No. 35?). Owned by Geronimo Marcello.

59. Soldier armed, but without a helmet. Half figure. Owned by Zuanantonio Venier.

60. Head of a shepherd. In his hand a fruit. Owned by Zuanne Ram.

Head of boy. In his hand an arrow. Owned by Zuanne Ram (same as No. 49).

61. Stormy landscape with a gipsy and a soldier. Owned by Gabriel Vendramin.

62. Dead Christ and an angel holding him above the tomb. Finished by Titian. Owned by Gabriel Vendramin.

63. Nude figure in a landscape. Pen drawing. Owned by Michiel Contarini.

64. Finished picture of No. 63. Owned by Michiel himself.

65. Portrait of Giorgione’s father. Owned by Piero Servio. #/

Of this list, the particular value of which lies in the fact that it was made by one whose early years were probably contemporary with the close of Giorgione’s life, Nos. 52, 54, 61 and perhaps 62[42] are still (either the originals or copies) in existence. No. 59 suggests a picture in the Colonna Gallery in Rome which has much Giorgionesque feeling, but is in a ruined condition.

Still another writer who mentions several pictures by the master is Giacomo Barri. I quote the passages from the English translation of his book:[43]

Page 106. Castelfranco. “Here is an admirable Picture of the _Blessed Virgin with her Son_, the work of _Giorgione_. There are likewise divers Palaces near adjacent where you will find works of the same _Giorgone_ as also of Paulo Veronese.” (Same as No. 16.)

Venice, page 52. “And upon a front of a House near the house of the _Pisani_, and the Palace of the _Flangini_, in _S. Maria Gibenigo_, there are painted by the hand of _Giogone_, many _Freezes_ in _Chiaro Scuro_, in Yellow, Red, and Green, with rare fancies of _Boys_, in the middle of which are four Half-figures, _viz._, A _Bacchus_, a _Venus_, a _Mars_, and a _Mercury_, coloured after the usual manner of the Author.” (There is a note added to the words “the usual manner” which reads: “Which was not to paint in above two or three colours.”) (Cf. No. 20.)

Page 56. The ‘Fontico de Todeseti’ is mentioned. (Same as No. 11.)

Page 56. “In the field or place before S. Pauls you plainly see upon the Front of the House of _Soranzo_ several Figures of Giorgone, most beautiful things.” (Same as No. 10.)

Page 67. “The _albergo_ of the said school [School of St. Marks]. As you enter, the first square on your left hand is by _Giorgone_.”

Page 84. “_The Church of the_ Hospital _of the_ Incurabili.” “And over a side Door of the Church you may observe a little Square of our _Saviour carrying the Cross_ and an Executioner drawing him along, by the hand of _Giorgone_.” (Same as No. 12.)

Treviso, page 97. “The Mountain of Piety _in the aforesaid_ City.” “Here they preserve a _Christ_ with a little _Angel_, a most singular work, by the hand of Giorgone.” (Same as No. 17.)

Cremona, page 114. “Here is a picture of S. _Sebastian_ and two _Angels_ by the hand of Giorgone.” (Same as No. 38.)

67. Parma, page 126. In the Palace of the _Fontana_. “There is also the picture of _Fra Sebastiano del Piombo_, a Painter, the work of _Giorgone_.”

Only two pictures (66, 67) not mentioned by the other authors are given in this list, and one of these, the portrait of Sebastiano del Piombo, has, I believe, been lost sight of. The picture that was in the School of St. Marks now hangs in the Academia in Venice. It represents the story of the calming of a storm by the saints Nicholas, George and Mark. Some students consider this picture to be a work by Giorgione much repainted by Palma or Paris Bordone. Others, with whom I agree, fail to see in this ugly work the slightest suggestion of Giorgione.

These then are the chief early sources for our knowledge of the subjects painted by Giorgione. If the list of his works seems small, it must be remembered that the painter was only some thirty-three years old when he died. The inaccuracy of the attributions made by these writers shows how careful one must be in dealing with the information they give us, and suggests the reflection that probably they were as careless in failing to speak of works that were certainly by the master as they were in mentioning others which unquestionably were not by him. All new attributions must, however, be based on a comparison with the few works which unbroken tradition and common consent give to Giorgione, and not with those about which trained opinion differs. Individual judgment as to the likeness one picture bears to another is very different from convincing proof. Before criticising individual works we must consider the basis for discussion that the lists present.

Of the sixty-seven different items mentioned, the following are known to us.[44] 1 (?), 2, 5 (?), 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 (?), 21 (?), 23, 26 (?), 27, 29 (?), 30, 31, 38, 40 (?), 42 (?), 52, 54, 61, 62 (?), 66. Of these only 2, 5 (?), 11, 12, 16, 21 (?), 22 (?), 26 (?), 27, 31, 52, 54, 61, 62 (?) need be considered as being related in any close way to Giorgione. The claims of Cariani, Licinio, Della Vecchia, and the host of other, generally feeble, imitators of Giorgione to the other pictures may be studied in Crowe and Cavalcaselle, or later works. Even some of the works included in the small list just given are not accepted as genuine by all the critics, but a few there are the authenticity of which could only be questioned by bringing much more serious evidence against them than I have ever seen adduced. These rare, choice works are:

2. David, armed, holding the head of Goliath. Now in Vienna. This is not the original, but, as noted by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, a late copy. I own another copy, on panel, which shows the lower part of the picture better than the Vienna copy.

11. Frescoes on the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Preserved, except a fragment only, in Zanetti’s engravings.

12. Christ carrying the Cross, in the Church of San Rocco, Venice.

16. Madonna enthroned, in the Church of San Liberale in Castelfranco.

27. Naked Venus, asleep, in Dresden. Some critics still hesitate to accept Morelli’s attribution of this canvas to Giorgione, but the greater number have, I believe, given a ready assent.

31. The Judgment of Solomon. Now at Kingston Lacy (Plate LXII). This, the Castelfranco Madonna, and the Three Philosophers, are in certain ways the most important works of the painter now existing.

52. Three Philosophers. In Vienna (Plate LXVI).

54. Landscape with the Birth of Paris. A fragment of a poor copy of this is preserved in Buda-Pesth. An engraving by T. van Kessel from a copy of the picture by Teniers shows what the whole composition was.

61. Stormy landscape, with a gypsy and a soldier. In the Palazzo Giovanelli, Venice (Plate LXV).

To these nine unquestioned works by Giorgione are to be added others that have no early literary evidence to bear out their claims to a Giorgionesque origin, but which unbroken tradition resisting even the assaults of modern criticism has assigned to this category. Such are:

The Judgment of Solomon, in the Uffizi.

The Fire-test of Moses, in the Uffizi.

Knight of Malta, in the Uffizi.

Head of Christ carrying the Cross, formerly in the Palazzo Loschi Vicenza, and now in Mrs. Gardner’s Collection in Boston (Plate LXVII).

Study for the figure of San Liberale, in the Castelfranco picture, in the National Gallery, London.

So far as the giving of any certain knowledge of Giorgione’s technique is concerned, the first three of these pictures are very disappointing, for all of them have been so thoroughly repainted that the original work is much injured. While most critics follow the tradition and believe Giorgione to have been the painter of these pictures, there are those who do not hold this opinion. For instance, Dr. Bode, one of the keenest judges of pictures, does not think the Judgment of Solomon, and the Trial of Moses, to be by him.[45] Others there are who think that the judgment passed by Crowe and Cavalcaselle on the Knight of Malta is very sound and satisfactory. They say: “Giorgione’s work was altered by later retouching, or the painter is a skilful imitator of Giorgione’s manner.” Personally, I believe all these to be by him.

Taking now these fragments of written evidence and of tradition, let us see what the modern writers of most repute have considered to be examples of Giorgione’s work. To begin with Crowe and Cavalcaselle, they give as true Giorgiones the following:

The Fondaco de’ Tedeschi.

The Christ in San Rocco.

The Judgment of Solomon at Kingston Lacy.

The Chaldæan Sages (the Three Philosophers).

The Family of Giorgione (the picture in the Giovanelli Palace).

The Castelfranco Madonna.

The David in Vienna, of which they say “this is a late copy, perhaps after the original noted by Vasari.”

Of the traditional pictures they consider as the master’s work:

The Judgment of Solomon, in the Uffizi.

The Trial of Moses, in the Uffizi.

The Knight of Malta (?), in the Uffizi.

They add:

The Shepherd’s Offering in the Beaumont (now Lord Allandale’s) Collection, London.

The Adoration of the Magi, in the National Gallery, London; formerly owned by Sir William Miles, of Leigh Court.

These last two pictures are much less well known than the others. I shall endeavour to show that the later attributions of them to Catena or others are based on a mistaken idea of Giorgione’s style (not to mention Catena’s), and that Crowe and Cavalcaselle were perfectly right in their estimate of them. Other pictures which are often thought of in connection with Giorgione and which they, quite rightly I believe, refused to acknowledge, are:

[Illustration: PLATE LXIII.]

The Concert, in the Pitti.

The Fête Champêtre, in the Louvre.

Madonna and Saints, in the Louvre.

Nymph and Satyr, in the Pitti.

The Head of a Boy, at Hampton Court.

The Madonna and Child with St. Brigida, in Madrid.

To take more modern writers, we find a very different list of works attributed to Giorgione by Morelli.[46] It consists of the following:

The Trial of Moses.

The Judgment of Solomon.[47]

The Christ bearing the Cross.

The Madonna of Castelfranco.

The Gypsy and the Soldier (Giovanelli Palace).

* The Madonna and Child with Sts. Antony and Roch. (Madrid.)

The Knight of Malta.

† * Daphne and Apollo. This is in the Seminario of St^a Maria della Salute in Venice. Crowe and Cavalcaselle (II. 165) attribute it to Andrea Schiavone, and with their opinion I agree.

* The Three Ages of Man, in the Uffizi, ascribed usually to Lotto.

The Concert, in the Louvre. (Same as Crowe and Cavalcaselle’s Fête Champêtre.)

The Fragment of the Birth of Paris, in the Esterhazy Gallery, Buda-Pesth.

* Portrait of a Man, in the Esterhazy Gallery.

* Portrait of a Woman, in the Borghese Gallery, Rome.

† Nymph and Satyr, in the Pitti.

† Portrait of a Youth, in Berlin.

† Head of a Boy, in Hampton Court.

Three Philosophers, in Vienna.

* Venus in Dresden.

† Allegory, in Dresden. { These Morelli considers copies † Judith, in St. Petersburg. { of Giorgione’s work.

The pictures I have marked with an asterisk are those which Morelli was the first to claim with insistence for Giorgione, and with the exception of the Venus not one of these attributions has been generally accepted. Those marked with a dagger are attributions of older or younger date. About all of them, certain doubts, and about most of them doubts of very serious nature, must be dispelled, before the attribution can be accepted.

The two points most noticeable in Morelli’s list are the differences in the style of the pictures included and the absence of others. It would be difficult to combine works more dissimilar than the Berlin portrait of a youth and the portrait of a woman in the Borghese, and even if one grants that an artist working at the time when Giorgione flourished was subjected to influences so strong and varied that the character of his work altered from time to time, it can only be explained by a miracle that the same man painted the Castelfranco Madonna and the Daphne and Apollo. Even the last dashing works of the century-old Titian differ hardly more from his calmer earlier canvases than do these two pictures, which Morelli would have us believe were painted by a man who died at the age of thirty-two or thirty-three. This curious, one may not unfairly say erratic, combination of Morelli may perhaps be explained by supposing, as is true in other parts of his work, that he was so taken up with the similarity of certain details that he forgot to study the larger and more telling characteristics of the pictures. But what explanation is there of his strange silence regarding the Benson[48] and Beaumont pictures, the Judgment of Solomon at Kingston Lacy, the Vienna David, and the Christ bearing the Cross in San Rocco?

A later and slightly different form of the Morelli list is given by Berenson.[49] It is as follows:

Berlin, Portrait of a Man.

Buda-Pesth, Portrait of a Man.

Castelfranco, Duomo, Madonna with Sts. Francis and Liberale.

Dresden, Sleeping Venus.

Florence, Uffizi, Trial of Moses; Knight of Malta; Judgment of Solomon.

Hampton Court, Shepherd with Pipe.

Madrid, Madonna with Sts. Roch and Antony of Padua.

Paris, Fête Champêtre.

Rome, Villa Borghese, Portrait of a Lady.

St. Petersburg, Judith (?).

Venice, Academy, Storm calmed by St. Mark. Finished in small part by P. Bordone. (In the edition of 1894, Berenson attributed this to P. Bordone, saying that perhaps it was begun by Giorgione.)

Venice, Seminario, Apollo and Daphne; Giovanelli, Gypsy and Soldier; S. Rocco, Christ bearing Cross.

Vicenza, Casa Loschi, Christ bearing Cross. (Now in the Gardner Collection, Boston.)

Vienna, Evander showing Æneas the Site of Rome. (Often called the Three Philosophers.)

In an article[50] published since the appearance of his book, Berenson has added to the above list several pictures which he considers to be copies of Giorgiones. They are:

Bergamo, Orpheus and Eurydice. The copy made by Cariani.

Buda-Pesth, Two men walking. Fragment. (This is what Morelli calls the Birth of Paris.)

Milan, Portrait of a lady, belonging to Signor Crespi.

St. Petersburg, Judith.

London, Portrait of a man formerly belonging to Mr. Doetsch; now owned by Colonel Kemp.

II. THE TRUE GIORGIONE

A superficial study of the lists which have been given suffices to show that the various critics have very different standards by which to judge Giorgione and his works. I much doubt whether entire order can be brought out of the chaos that now rules, but a sounder basis for future study can be derived from a combination of the best points of the work of these very differently endowed critics than any one of them by himself offers.

So far as Crowe and Cavalcaselle go, they are, I believe, entirely right. Among the twelve pictures which they unhesitatingly ascribe to Giorgione, only three have been questioned by any one. These three are, the Judgment of Solomon, at Kingston Lacy, the Epiphany, in the National Gallery, and the Beaumont Shepherd’s Offering. The only possible explanation of the fact that Morelli does not mention the picture at Kingston Lacy is that he did not see it.[51] It is one of those works that in every touch show the author. Even if we did not have Ridolfi’s evidence for the existence of such a work, it is difficult to understand how hesitation could arise in the mind of any one undisturbed by theories as to the author of the picture. The figure of the executioner is, as Ridolfi says, unfinished. So, too, is practically the whole picture (Plate LXII).

What strikes one at first sight is the similarity to Bellini’s work at the same time that one realises a development of dramatic power greater than he ever attained. The fine restraint of composition is his, the serious and painstaking technique is his, but the dramatic energy displayed in the action of the several figures is a step beyond anything which Bellini ever accomplished. And the few undoubted works show that Giorgione was great enough to compose with the same grandeur, and work with a similar perfection to Bellini, and yet give more dramatic intensity to his figures. But if any one is blind to the spirit that permeates this wonderful bit of poetry, let him study the details. The head of the youth standing upright on Solomon’s right hand is most closely allied to that of the seated figure in the Three Philosophers. The old man on the left of Solomon is in his turn very similar to the oldest of the Three Philosophers. Compare the hand of the second figure from the right with the left hand of the last-mentioned Philosopher: it is the same.

The tight drawn hair of the women is the same as that of the Castelfranco Madonna and the Gypsy in the Giovanelli Palace picture. The strong, broad, full-toed, carefully drawn feet are what we see in the Three Philosophers, and the St. Francis of the Castelfranco picture. The full-lipped, small, quietly closed but expressive mouths of the figures are such as distinguish Giorgione’s other unquestioned works and show a master’s touch. The draperies massed in grand, simple style, broken only by folds that truly show the quality of the stuff or its arrangement—that are not merely put in out of pure fancy—are like those that characterise the Castelfranco Madonna and the Three Philosophers. There is no refuting the judgment passed by Crowe and Cavalcaselle. This is a true Giorgione and in certain ways the finest of them all.