(509) ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS By GIORGIONE Venetian,1477-1510 •
I have the pleasure to confirm here that in my opi=
nion the picture repreenting the Adoration of shepherds,
formerly in the collection of Lord Allandale, is a work
by Giorione. The paintings by Giorgione have been di=
scussed and attributed to different painters, because we
know very little about the master. The Adoration of She
pherds has been attributed by tradition to Giorgione, and
in 1871 Cavalcaselle still accepted the traditional attri;
bution . Afterwards, through the ihr.orellian positivistic me=
thod, it was consiAered as by Catena, and later by Titian.
When in 1913 I wrote my book on Giorgione I recognised in
this pict'ire the character of the masterpiece. Now I Lim
convinced that a masterpiece like this can have been crea=
ted only by Giorgione. BrMust be realized indeed that u
masterpiece cannot be by Vatena. Catena assimilated some
pictorial and poetic qualities from Giovanni Bellini and
from Giorgione, but he could never rise to a really high
level like his models.
It has been also suggested the author might be an ar=
tist we do not know', an anonymous master. But this seems
quite improbable. Indeed the historical tradition of the
Venetian painters of the beginning of the XVIth. Century
is detailed enough to let us know the names of the best
• painters. Even some famous painters like Palma or Cariani
could never afford the pictori,1 realisation; the richness
of the material, the certainty of visual evidence, like
the Adoration of Shepherds: If neither Palma, nor Cariani,
nor Catena had the strength to paint in suchNay, who had?
Only three painters could do so: Giorgione, Giovanni Belli=
ni or Titian.
I do think the Adoration of Shepherds be by Giorgione.
But if I might suppose In attribution different from mine;
it should be to Bellini. The point of departure of any kno=
wledge of Giorgione's art is constituted by three paintings:
the Tempest, the Philosophers, the Venus. Well, they are u
profane subjec:t,, a subject invented in the very moment in
which the painting was executed. The subject of the Adora=
tion of Shepherds is u traditional one; as is the Madonna
p,inted by Giorgione at Castelrranco. The traditional re=
ligious character of some paintings shows how similar in
style were the lute Bellini and Giorgione: when the pretext
of subject is the same; the similarity of style ap)ears more
evident. But the Adoration of Shepherds shows a freedom of
dreaming; a desire of pantheism, which is characteristic of
Giorgione, not of Beilini. This peculiarity of feeling
seems very subtle; but it changes the whole world of the
work of art; it reveals the world of Giorgione.
If not by Bellini, could the Adoration of Shepherds
have been painted by Titian? It is much easier to excludt.
Rik • (01 _ 3 -
• Titian, than Bellini. It is enough to remember how in his youtn Titian was great as a painter and mediocre as a poet;
how the early works by Titian are full of life; bold; larger=
ly painted, thoroughly realistic, but quite superficial in
feeling, without that intimate concentration of expression
which was characteristic of Giorgione. The Adoration of
Shepherds shows neither the drawing nor the feeling of Ti=
tian.
Of course the conviction that the Adoration of Shepherds
is by Giorgione depends not only by exclusions but above all
by comparisons with other works of tne master himself. The
composition has the same rhythm as the Philosophers of Vien=
na: open air, scene represented in a retired; half closed
foreground, free country and far horizon in tne background.
St. Joseph has the same type as the oldest of the three
PhilQsophers. The tower in the background was very cheri=
shed by Giorgione, who repeated it in almost all his pain=
tings. The tree, the foliage; the grass correspond perfec= 'LL;g4- tly to those painted injJudith of Leningrad. Such compari=
sons are so evident that it is useless to insist upon them.
Beyond the details of drawing and colouring; the Ado
r tion of 3hepherds shows the conception of the world
which is of Giorgione. The religious feeling is still
strong, but the Divinity is no more transcendenI. The new
sense of the power and greatness of man, which was the ry of Florentine Renaissance, has been combined with a new
sense of nature, where man is only a part. The Divinity I 111- s otA 4
411 is innanent not only in man, but also in a tree, in a river, in the whole of nuture. Long before philosophers imagined
a system of pantheism, Giorgione expressed a pantheistic
feeling through form and colour. After him,painters very
often represented nature without God. Gior6ione reached
the very point where God and a rock or a river were identi=
fied. This was his divine sense of nature, this sug,ested
to him his splendour of colouring; this is his eternal, unique charm.
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