Had Giorgione lived aloof
from the world, had not his natural reticence and sensitiveness been
dominated by outside influences, he might have remained all his life
dreaming dreams, and seeing visions, a lyric poet indeed, but not a
great and living, influence in his generation. Yet such undoubtedly he
was, for he effected nothing short of a revolution in the contemporary
art of Venice. Can the same be said of Schubert or Keats? The truth is
that Giorgione had opportunities of studying human nature such as the
others never enjoyed; fortune smiled upon him in his earliest years, and
he found himself thrust into the society of the great, who were eager to
sit to him for their portraits. How the young Castelfrancan first
achieved such distinction is not told us by the historians, but I have
ventured to connect his start in life with the presence of the ex-Queen
of Cyprus, Caterina Cornaro, at Asolo, near Castelfranco; I think it
more than probable that her patronage and recommendation launched the
young painter on his successful career in Venice. Certain it is that he
painted her portrait in his earlier days, and if, as I have sought to
prove, Signor Crespi's picture is the long-lost portrait of the great
lady, we may well understand the instant success such an achievement
won.
Here, if anywhere, we get Giorgione's great interpretative qualities,
his penetration into human nature, his reading of character.
Pages:
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138