Giorgione - The tempest

• Title: The tempest
• Artist: Giorgione (c.1475-1510)
• Date: c. 1507
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 83 x 73 cm

The meaning of “La Tempesta” is mysterious- a woman sitting in the grass looking straight at the viewer while suckling a baby in an unnatural pose; a shepherd with no herd looking on; the bridge; the storm rising...

“La Tempesta” is echoed in Nicolas Poussin’s “Et in Arcadia ego” and in Manet’s “Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe”. Giorgone had a lasting influence on painting- together with Titian who lived much longer than him, he founded the Venetian Renaissance school, with its distinct use of colors (ardent, glowing, and melting intensity). Giorgone’s interest in landscapes contributed to it becoming a genre in its own right.