DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0220
216 EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
by time, or effaced by the damps of the Lagune.
He appears to have early acquired fame in his art,
and we find him in 1504 employed, together with
Titian, in painting with frescoes the exterior of the
Fondaco dei Tedeschi (the hall of Exchange be-
longing to the German merchants). That part
intrusted to Giorgione he covered with the most
beautiful and poetical figures ; but the significance
of the whole was soon after the artist’s death for-
gotten ; and Vasari tells us, that in his time no
one could interpret it. It appears to have been a
sort of arabesque on a colossal scale.
Giorgione delighted in fresco as a vehicle, be-
cause it gave him ample scope for that largeness
and freedom of outline which characterised his
manner ; unhappily, of his numerous works, only
the merest fragments remain. We have no evi-
dence that he exercised his art elsewhere than at
Venice, or that he ever resided out of the Vene-
tian territory: in his pictures the heads, features,
costumes, are all stamped with the Venetian cha-
racter. He had no school, though, induced by his
social and affectionate nature, he freely imparted
what he knew, and often worked in conjunction
with others. His love of music and his love of
pleasure sometimes led him astray from his art,
but were oftener his inspirers : both are embodied
in his pictures, particularly his exquisite pastorals
and concerts, over which, however, he has breathed
by time, or effaced by the damps of the Lagune.
He appears to have early acquired fame in his art,
and we find him in 1504 employed, together with
Titian, in painting with frescoes the exterior of the
Fondaco dei Tedeschi (the hall of Exchange be-
longing to the German merchants). That part
intrusted to Giorgione he covered with the most
beautiful and poetical figures ; but the significance
of the whole was soon after the artist’s death for-
gotten ; and Vasari tells us, that in his time no
one could interpret it. It appears to have been a
sort of arabesque on a colossal scale.
Giorgione delighted in fresco as a vehicle, be-
cause it gave him ample scope for that largeness
and freedom of outline which characterised his
manner ; unhappily, of his numerous works, only
the merest fragments remain. We have no evi-
dence that he exercised his art elsewhere than at
Venice, or that he ever resided out of the Vene-
tian territory: in his pictures the heads, features,
costumes, are all stamped with the Venetian cha-
racter. He had no school, though, induced by his
social and affectionate nature, he freely imparted
what he knew, and often worked in conjunction
with others. His love of music and his love of
pleasure sometimes led him astray from his art,
but were oftener his inspirers : both are embodied
in his pictures, particularly his exquisite pastorals
and concerts, over which, however, he has breathed