Four Great Venetians Author:Frank Preston Stearns Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: GIORGIONE. OF the mighty geniuses of Venetia, Giorgio Bar- barelli, born at Castelfranco in 1477, was the first in order. Titian was also born in the sam... more »e year, and was Giorgio's fellow pupil under Gian Bellini; but Giorgio was the more precocious of the two, the first to acquire celebrity, and has received the credit during his short life of exercising a decided influence on the artistic development of his more fortunate friend. He received the endearing epithet of Giorgione from his countrymen in recognition of the finest nature with which a painter has ever been endowed. For he was the most poetic of all artists. No person of sensibility can stand before one of his paintings without being penetrated by an influence which is like sweet strains of music. His compositions have not only a style, but an atmosphere, which is like the climate of a mysterious, enchanted land, where summer weather would never cease and every day would bring delight. We feel this as strongly as we do the far-reaching intelligence of Leonardo or the tremendous spiritual energy of Michel Angelo. It most nearly resembles the subjective quality ofRaphael's temperament, but is distinguished from it as the fresh, invigorating air of the seashore is from the more rarefied atmosphere of the mountain, and it also contained an enigmatic quality which was wholly absent in Raphael. We cannot analyse its influence, and the spell is for this reason so much the stronger and more enduring. Giorgione's face is an impressive one, and though the features are not regular, they possess the higher charm of an original and interesting personality. He never imitated, nor, so far as we know, submitted, like Raphael, to the influence of other masters, but remained from first to last sui generis, following a path peculi...« less