Giorgione & Titian

presented by Uriana Ponson

Giorgione

Giorgio Barbarelli

(1478-1510)

He was a Venetian painter, and fellow student of Titian under Giovanni Bellini.  Almost nothing is known of his life except that he worked in Venice, undertook various important commissions in oil and fresco, and died of the plague in his early 30's.  A major innovator, he is credited with having been the formative influence in the lives of Titian, Pordenone, del Piombo and Jacopo Palma il Vecchio. 

So absolute was his domination that it is impossible to separate with certainty his works from that of his imitators.  His frescos are practically obliterated. It was new to Venetian painting both in technique and in spirit.  Technically it introduced a greater fusion of all forms and a subordinate of local color to the pervading tone, used to emphasize forms in space.  The Giorgionesque style was liberating.  The ostensible subject no longer limited the artist but became a pretext for self expression.  The specific works associated with Giorgione have the poetic quality of a bucolic dream world never recaptured by his famous followers. 

His most notable works are Madonna with SS. Francis and Liberalle, Trial of Moses, and Tempesta. Other works include: The Three Philosophers, Laura, Judith, Adoration of the shepherds, and Judgment of Solomon.

The Three Philosophers

Sleeping Venus

Adoration of the Shepherds

Titian

Tiziano Vecellio

(1490-1576)

A Venetian painter, who received the more important part of his training from the studio of Giovanni Bellini, then came under the spell of Giorgione, with whom he had a close relationship.  In 1506-08 he assisted him with the external fresco decoration of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Venice, and after Giorgione's early death in 1510 it fell to Titian to complete a number of his unfinished paintings.  Titian's influence on later artists has been profound: he was supreme in every branch of painting and revolutionized the oil technique with his free and expressive brushwork. 

Early in his career he showed a preference to silhouetting dark forms against a light background.  About 1530, the year his wife died, a change in Titian's manner becomes apparent.  The vivacity of former years give way to a more restrained and meditative art.  He now began to use related rather than contrasting colors in juxtaposition, yellows and pale shades rather than strong blues and reds which shouldered each other through his previous work.  In composition too he became less adventurous and used schemes which, compared with some of his earlier works, appear almost archaic. 

During the 1530's Titian's fame spread throughout Europe. In 1530 he first met the emperor Charles V and in 1533 he painted a famous portrait of him.  Charles was so pleased with it that he appointed Titian court painter and elevated him to the rank of Count Palatine and Knight of the Golden Spur-- an unprecedented honor for a painter. 

Assumption of the Virgin

Bacchus and Ariadne

Sacred and Profane Love

Bibliography:

Titian (European Art To 1599, Biographies)

www.1upinfo.com/encyclopedia/T/Titian.html

WebMuseum: Titian

www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/titian

Giorgione (European Art to 1599, Biographies)

www.1upinfo.com/encyclopedia/G/Giorgione.html