Granted that the scene is
one eminently adapted to Giorgione's poetic temperament, is the
execution analogous to that which we have found in the preceding
examples? No one will deny, I suppose, that there is a difference
between the intensely refined forms of the Venus, or the earlier
Hypsipyle, or the Daphne, and the coarser nudes in the Louvre picture.
No one will deny a certain carelessness marks the delineation of form,
no one will gainsay a frankly sensuous charm pervades the scene, a
feeling which seems at first sight inconsistent with that reticence and
modesty so conspicuous elsewhere. Yet I think all this is perfectly
explicable on the basis of natural evolution. Exuberance of feeling is
the logical outcome of a lifetime spent in an atmosphere of lyrical
thought, and certainly Giorgione was not the sort of man to control
those natural impulses, which grew stronger with advancing years. Both
traditions of his death point in this direction; and, unless I am
mistaken, the quality of his art, as well as its character, reflects
this tendency. In his later years, 1508-10, he attains indeed a
magnificence and splendour which dazzles the eye, but it is at the cost
of that feeling of restraint which gives the earlier work such exquisite
charm. In such a work as the Louvre "Concert," Giorgio has become
Giorgione; he is riper in experience and richer in feeling, and his art
assumes a corresponding exuberance of style, his forms become larger,
his execution grows freer.
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