who prized his abilities highly, and constantly treated him with infinite kindness, which he well merited.[1]
In Florence, in the house of the sons of Giovanni Borgherini, there is a picture by the hand of Giorgione, the portrait namely of the above-named Giovanni, taken when he was still a youth, and living in Venice; in the same picture is also the portrait of his preceptor, nor is it possible to imagine two heads more admirably depicted, whether as regards the general colouring of the flesh or the treatment of the shadows. There is another picture by the same master, in the palace of Anton de’ Nobili; this represents a military commander wearing his armour, and is painted with great force and truth; they say that it is one of the leaders whom Consalvo Ferrante brought with him to Venice when he visited the Doge, Agostino Barberigo. At that time, as is reported, ‘ Giorgione took the likeness of the Great Consalvo himself, a work of extraordinary merit, insomuch that it wjis impossible to imagine a more beautiful picture, and this Consalvo took away with him.[2] Giorgione painted marly other most admirable portraits, which are dispersed through various parts of Italy, among them is that of Leonardo Loredano, painted at the time when he was Doge: this I saw set forth to view on Ascension day,[3] when I almost believed myself to behold that most illustrious prince himself. Another of these fine works is at Faenza, in the house of Giovanni da Castel of Bologna, an excellent engraver of cameos and gems: it was painted for Giovanni’s father-in-law, and is, in truth, a most admirable work; the colours are
- ↑ Vasari here neglects to mention one of the most important of Giorgione’s works, because he attributes it to Jacopo Palma, in whose life he describes it with high encomium. This is the Tempest which was miraculously stilled by the SS. Marco, Niccolò, and Giorgio, a picture formerly in the Scuola di San Marco, but now in the Venetian Academy, the Scuola haring been suppressed. See Kugler, Geschichte der Malerei. One of Giorgione’s finest works is described by Waagen, Kunstwerke und Künstler in England, as “in the possession of Mr. Solly:” others are in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, in Dresden, in the Manfrini Gallery, Venice, in the Pitti Palace and the Uflfizj, in Florence, and in other collections.— See Zanetti, ut supra, for various details respecting the works of Giorgione.
- ↑ The fate of these pictures is unknown.
- ↑ “It was, most probably, in Venice that Vasari saw this picture exhibited,” remarks the German Editor, “since he uses the Venetian fonn Assensa, in speaking of the Feast of the Ascension.”
