For the view I have tried to give of this poet picture-maker I may claim at least the merit of consistency. There is only one theme—languor of love and of remembered happiness; and there is only one setting—the Arcadia of the pastoral poets. Giorgione is the first painter who realized Leonardo’s definition of painting as “mute poetry,” yet not quite mute for there is generally a suggestion of music. And the music is less heard than contemplated, as is the case in one of his latest pictures, the Shepherd Boy, Figure [259], who hesitates to set the flute to his lips lest the melody fall short of that which the imagination has already heard.
Fig. 259. Giorgione. Shepherd with a Flute.—Hampton Court.
For ten years after Giorgione’s death his mood dominated Titian with most of the rising artists. It seemed likely to replace the sturdy and objective art of Venice with a quite alien subjectivism. Meanwhile the normal effort of old Giovanni, Bellini and of young Titian continued. The Renaissance offered to the outer eye new dignities and splendors. The inner eye went bankrupt in the numerous imitators of Giorgione, in trivial symbolism and merely playful mythology. After her brief pause in Arcadia, Venice once more took account of her own proud charms. The nymphs paled before the comparison, Arcadia vanished. But it never was wholly forgotten, and, ever since, those who have craved actually to see the golden age of poesy have had to consult Giorgione of Castelfranco.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER VII
Praise of Mantegna in the Renaissance
The immense authority of Mantegna kept his name on all honor lists of painters long after his death.
Lorenzo of Pavia, writing in 1504 to Isabella d’Este, says of a Madonna by Giovanni Bellini:
“The Painter has made a great effort to do himself honour, chiefly out of respect to M. Andrea Mantegna, and although it is true that in point of invention it cannot compare with the work of Messer Andrea, that most excellent master, I pray Your Excellency to take the picture, both for your own honour and also because of the merit of the work.”
Julia Cartwright, Isabella d’Este, New York, 1903, Vol. I, p. 351.