Giorgione was a famous Italian painter, and he is known for the elusive poetic works, which made him one of the most mysterious European painters along with his mystery life. Actually, we still know little about his personal life. For instance, we have no idea about the year of his birth is either in 1477 or 1478. Even we are not sure what his full name is. In a word, he is a great but special artist in the history of European art.
The Sleeping Venus
Giorgione was born near the Venice and enjoyed his life living in Venice later Venice, as we all know, is a beautiful city suspended on the waters. The sea, the city and the sky make up amazing scenery. It is a picture surrounded by the reflexes of the light and the colors. Many painters would like to stay there to get some inspiration for their creations. They are what the so called Venetian painting. The three basic elements of Venetian painting are light, color and space. And the light and color seem to be much more important. The role they play in Venetian painting is just like the line in Florentine painting.
As one of the typical Venetian painters, Giorgione used the light and color to create a chromatic brightness. The themes of Giorgione’s paintings included laic themes and religious themes. In his paintings, he expressed a more human and pantheistic meaning, which made him gain the fame as the first modern painter.
Some great works of Giorgione might be familiar for us, such as Sleeping Venus, Tempest, Adoration of the Magi, An Allegory of Poetry and so on. Tempest is a mysterious and enigmatic painting reflecting Giorgione's style. His rich imagination for human life and the mysterious religious meaning in the painting tend to reveal in rich colors, which contain multi-toned poetic quality or flavors. Tempest seems to express the implied meaning about the changeable relationship between man and nature. The nude mother and child and the unidentified man in the painting form harmonious scenery, and the vivid background passing out a sign of the coming storm. The changes of light and color are portrayed very well, and filled with mysterious and poetic flavors.
Giorgione loves the nature; he sees nature through his own feelings. He thinks that the man is just a part of the nature. Giorgione gained much fame while he was living, while few painters have experienced such circumstance. Though we know little of his life and his words, he was still been regarded as a master of art.
