Giorgione Part 13

[162] Before the discovery of the letter to Philip, Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle were quite prepared to admit that t.i.tian was born "after 1480" (vide _N. Italian Painting_, ii. 119, 120). Unfortunately, they took the evidence of the letter as final, but finding themselves chronologically in difficulties, they shrewdly remark in their _t.i.tian_, i. 38, note: "The writers of these lines thought, and _still think_, t.i.tian younger than either Giorgione or Palma. They were, however, inclined to transpose t.i.tian's birthday to a later date than 1477, rather than put back those of Palma and Giorgione to an earlier period, and in this they made a mistake." Perhaps they were not so far wrong after all!

[163] For this most amusing letter see Crowe and Cavalcaselle. _t.i.tian_, i. p. 153.

[164] The evidence afforded by t.i.tian's own portraits of himself (at Berlin and in the Uffizi) is inconclusive, as we do not know the exact years they were painted. The portrait at Madrid, painted 1562, might represent a man of seventy-three or eighty-six, it is hard to say which.

But there is a woodcut of 1550 (_vide_ Gronau, p. 164) which surely shows t.i.tian at the age of sixty-one rather than seventy-four; and, finally, Paul Veronese's great "Marriage at Cana" (in the Louvre), which was painted between June 1562 and September 1563, distinctly points to t.i.tian being then a man of seventy-four and not eighty-seven. He is represented, as is well known, seated in the group of musicians in the centre, and playing the contraba.s.so.

[165] _Jahrbuch der Sammlungen des A.H. Kaiserhauses_, vii. p. 221 _ff_ 1888.

[166] Dr. Ludwig had the kindness to write to me on this subject: "Among the thousands of signatures of painters which I have seen I have never come across the signature _Maestro_. Of course, someone else can describe a painter as Master; he himself always subscribes himself _pittor, pictor_, or _depentor_."

[167] Dr. Gronau further points out (in a letter recently sent to the writer) that t.i.tian, writing to the emperor in 1545, says: "I should have liked to take them (i.e. the paintings) to your Majesty in person, but that my age and the length of the journey forbade such a course" (C.

and C. ii. 103). Writing also in 1548 to Granvella he refers to his "vechia vita." Would not such expressions (asks Dr. Gronau) be more applicable to a man of sixty-eight and seventy-one respectively than to one of only fifty-six and fifty-nine?

[168] XXIV. Band. 6 Heft, p. 457.

[169] January 1902, pp. 123-130.

[170] Quoted from Crowe and Cavalcaselle. II. 344. The Spanish original is given at p. 535.

[171] I have quoted t.i.tian's letter in full in the _Nineteenth Century_.

That of the Spanish Consul is given in the _Jahrbuch der Sammlungen des A.H. Kaiserhauses_, vii. p. 221, from which I extract the pa.s.sage: "El dicho Ticiano besa pies y manos de V.M., y suplica umilmente a V.M.

mande le sea pagado lo que le ha corrido de las pensiones de que V.M. le tiene echo merced en Milan y en esa corte, y la trata de Napoles, y con los 85 anos de su edad servira a V.M. hasta la muerte."

[172] I have quoted this letter also in full in the _Nineteenth Century._ I am indebted to M. Salomon Reinach for making this point (_Chronique des Arts_, Feb. 15, 1902, p. 53, where he expresses himself a convert to my views).

CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF GIORGIONE

ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE GALLERIES IN WHICH THEY ARE CONTAINED

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

BUDA-PESTH GALLERY.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN. [No. 94.]

_Esterhazy Collection_. (See p. 31.)

TWO FIGURES STANDING. [No. 95.]

Copy of a portion of Giorgione's lost picture of the "Birth of Paris."

These are the two shepherds. (See p. 46.)

The whole composition was engraved by Th. von Kessel for the _Theatrum pictorium_ under Giorgione's name. The original picture was seen and described by the Anonimo in 1525.

VIENNA GALLERY.

EVANDER AND HIS SON PALLAS SHOWING TO AENEAS THE FUTURE SITE OF ROME.

Canvas, 4 ft. x 4 ft. 8 in. [No. 16.]

Seen by the Anonimo in 1525, in Venice, and said by him to have been finished by Sebastiano del Piombo. (See p. 12.)

_Collection of the Archduke Leopold William, and registered in the inventory of_ 1659.

ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS, or NATIVITY. Wood, 3 ft. x 3 ft. 10 in. [No.

23.]

Inferior replica by Giorgione of the Beaumont picture in London.

I have sought to identify this piece with the picture "da una Nocte,"

painted by Giorgione for Taddeo Contarini. (See p. 24 and Appendix, where the original doc.u.ment is quoted.)

_From the Collection of the Archduke Leopold William, and registered in the inventory of 1659 as a Giorgione._

VIRGIN AND CHILD. Wood, 2 ft. 2 in. x 2 ft. 9 in. [No. 176.]

Known as the "Gipsy Madonna," and ascribed to t.i.tian. _Collection of the Archduke Leopold William._ (See p. 97.)

PORTRAIT OF A MAN. Canvas, 3 ft. 5 in. x 2 ft. 9 in. [No. 167.]

Commonly, though erroneously, called "The Physician Parma," and ascribed to t.i.tian.

_Collection of the Archduke Leopold William._ (See p. 87.)

DAVID WITH THE HEAD OF GOLIATH. Wood, 2 ft. 2 in. x 2 ft. 6 in. [No.

21.]

Copy after a lost original, which is thus described by Vasari: "A David (which, according to common report, is a portrait of the master himself) with long locks, reaching to the shoulders, as was the custom of that time, and the colouring is so fresh and animating that the face appears to be rather real than painted; the breast is covered with armour, as is the arm with which he holds the head of Goliath."

_This picture was at that day in the house of the Patriarch of Aquileia; the copy can be traced back to the Collection of the Archduke Leopold William at Brussels._ (See p. 48.)

Herr Wickhoff, however, seems to think that, were the repaints removed, the Vienna picture might prove to be Giorgione's original painting. See Berenson's _Study and Criticism of Italian Art_, vol. i. p. 74, note.

BRITISH ISLES