Liberale in the Castelfranco altar-piece. The main difference is that in
the latter the warrior wears his helmet, whilst in the National Gallery
example he is bareheaded. By some this little figure is believed to be a
copy, or repetition with variations, of Giorgione's original, but it
must honestly be confessed that absolutely no proof is forthcoming in
support of this view. The quality of this fragment is unquestionable,
and its very divergence from the Castelfranco figure is in its favour.
It would perhaps be unsafe to dogmatise in a case where the material is
so slight, but until its genuineness can be disproved by indisputable
evidence, the claim to authenticity put forward in the National Gallery
catalogue, following Crowe and Cavalcaselle's view, must be allowed.
[Illustration: _Hanfstaengl photo. Vienna Gallery_
THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS]
The two remaining pictures definitely placed by Crowe and Cavalcaselle
among the authentic productions of Giorgione are the "Adoration of the
Shepherds," belonging to Mr. Wentworth Beaumont, and the "Judgment of
Solomon," in the possession of Mr. Ralph Bankes at Kingston Lacy,
Dorsetshire. The former (of which an inferior replica with differences
of landscape exists in the Vienna Gallery) is one of the most poetically
conceived representations of this familiar subject which exists. The
actual group of figures forms but an episode in a landscape of the most
entrancing beauty, lighted by the rising sun, and wrapped in a soft
atmospheric haze.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38