Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll.
- Anna Brownell Jameson
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll. Source: Wellcome Collection.
284/335 page 240
![To this class may be referred the three Wise Men of the East watching for the Star, in the Belvedere at Vienna.1 III. His portraits are magnificent. They have all, with the strongest resemblance to general nature, a grand ideal cast; for it was in the character of the man to idealize everything he touched. Very few of his portraits are now to be identified. [The Berlin Gallery contains a brilliant example. The sub- ject is a young man with keen expression. Other good speci- mens of Giorgione’s portraiture are in the Borghese Gallery at Home, the Esterhazy at Buda Pesth, and the Uffizi at Flor- ence.2] Lord Byron has celebrated in some beautiful lines the impression made on his mind by a picture in the Manfrini Palace3 at Venice; but the poet errs in styling it the “por- traits of Giorgione’s son, and wife, and self: ” Giorgione never had either son or wife. The picture alluded to represents a Venetian lady, a cavalier, and a page,—portraits evidently, but the names are unknown. The striking characteristic of all Giorgione’s pictures, whether portraits, ideal heads, or compositions, is the inefface- able impression they leave on the memory — the impression of reality. In the apparent simplicity of the means through which this effect is produced, the few yet splendid colors, the vigorous decision of touch, the depth and tenderness of the sentiment, they remind us of the old religious music — a few simple notes, long sustained, deliciously blended, swelling into a rich, full, and perfect harmony, and melting into the soul. Though Giorgione left no scholars, properly so called, he had many imitators, and no artist of his time exercised a more extensive and long-felt influence. Pie diffused that taste for vivid and warm color which we see in contemporary and suc- ceeding artists; and he tinged with his manner and feeling the whole Venetian school. Among those who were inspired by this powerful and ardent mind may be mentioned Sebastian del Piombo, of whom some account has already been given, Jacopo Palma, called Old Palma {Palma Vecchio), Paris 1 Called the “ Astrologi,” “Die Feldmasser,” [and “Die drei morgenliind- ischen Weisen.”] Vide Legends of the Madonna, p. 262. 2 [The portrait in the Munich Gallery long thought to he Giorgione’s, by himself, is now catalogued to Palma and attributed to Cariani by Morelli.] 3 [Referred by Sir Henry bayard to the collection of the Prince Giovanelli-l](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24877888_0284.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
