DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0224
220
EAKLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
painted by Giorgione, that there are not perhaps
half a dozen in existence.
II. There is a class of subjects which Giorgione
represented with peculiar grace and felicity : they
are in painting what idyls and lyrics are in poetry,
and seem like direct inventions of the artist’s own
mind, though some are supposed to be scenes from
Venetian tales and novels now lost. These gene-
rally represent groups of cavaliers and ladies
seated in beautiful landscapes under the shade of
trees, conversing or playing on musical instru-
ments. Such pictures are not unfrequent, and have
a particular charm, arising from the union of me-
lancholy feeling with luxurious and festive enjoy-
ment, and a mysterious allegorical significance
now only to be surmised. In the collection of
Lord Northwick, at Cheltenham, there is a most
charming picture in this style : and in the pos-
session of Mr. Cunningham there is another. To
this class may also be referred the exquisite pastoral
group of Jacob and Rachel in the Dresden Gal-
lery.
III. His portraits are magnificent. They have
all, with the strongest resemblance to general na-
ture, a grand ideal cast; for it was in the cha-
racter of the man to idealise everything he
touched. Very few of his portraits are now to be
identified. Among the finest and most interesting
EAKLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
painted by Giorgione, that there are not perhaps
half a dozen in existence.
II. There is a class of subjects which Giorgione
represented with peculiar grace and felicity : they
are in painting what idyls and lyrics are in poetry,
and seem like direct inventions of the artist’s own
mind, though some are supposed to be scenes from
Venetian tales and novels now lost. These gene-
rally represent groups of cavaliers and ladies
seated in beautiful landscapes under the shade of
trees, conversing or playing on musical instru-
ments. Such pictures are not unfrequent, and have
a particular charm, arising from the union of me-
lancholy feeling with luxurious and festive enjoy-
ment, and a mysterious allegorical significance
now only to be surmised. In the collection of
Lord Northwick, at Cheltenham, there is a most
charming picture in this style : and in the pos-
session of Mr. Cunningham there is another. To
this class may also be referred the exquisite pastoral
group of Jacob and Rachel in the Dresden Gal-
lery.
III. His portraits are magnificent. They have
all, with the strongest resemblance to general na-
ture, a grand ideal cast; for it was in the cha-
racter of the man to idealise everything he
touched. Very few of his portraits are now to be
identified. Among the finest and most interesting