The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-05-09

LIE was called Giorgione-"Big
Ia George there was
as much Of him; but his life, which
began in 1873, was all too short,
ending when he was only 33; one
wonders what he would have done
with MichelangeIo's four-score years
and nine
He belongs to the subtler artists
Of the Renaissance, beloved by Pater
and all cOnnoisseurs Of nuances; he
had studied Leonardo's style as well
as the Bellini technique; and now
ne played with backgrounds falling
away into undiStinguishable dis
tances, and eyes looking beyond life.
For a while he painted holy pic
lures, like the others of his time,
and drew the attention Of all
Venice with his meditative "St Sc
bastian;" then, as soon as he might.
he secularized his brush, and made
such masterpieces as The Knight
of Malta" and the Portrait of a
Man"
Finally, his art maturing into per-
lection, he produced The Concert"
and Sleeping Venus: in one he
painted inspiration and profound
rapture, turned the very soul of
music into light and shade, and
filed the picture with the sweet
ness of unheard melodies; in the
other he studied with patient love
every curve of beauty's body, the
soft texture of the flesh, and the
repose of sleeping limbs, the de-
parted glory of woman's hair, the
delicate sculptury of nose and ears
and lips, and the quiet modesty of
natural nudity.
Morelli, hardest to please of all
critics, and oblivious of PraXiteles,
pronounced this prize of Dresden's
gallery the most beautiful Venus in
the history of art.
n II
TIME was hard on Giorgione, and
4 parsimoniuS with him. He
painted many frescoes in Venice,
which Vasari has described; but
where they were, only blurred spots
remain. So time wages its war
against art, and vows vengeance on
all beauty. Even of the works that
remain none is indisputably Gior-
Clones; and the very praise We give
him is darkened with doubt.
while Giorgione was labor1ng to
his own honor and to that of his
country" says Vasari, he was also
much in society, and delighted his
many friends with his admirable
performance in music. At this
time he fell in love with lady, who
returned his affection with equal
warmth, and they were immeasur-
ably devoted to each other. But in
the year 1911 it happened that the
lady was attacked by the plague;
when Giorgione also, not aware Of
this circumstance, and continuing
his accustomed visits, was infected
by the disease, and that with so
much violence that in a very short
time he passed into another life
Death came to him just as he
finished his tutelage and had made
himself a master of his art.
Men die, but man lives on; and
Venetian painting continued ruth
lessly though Giorgione lay in his
grave. Seventeen years before
Giorgione's "Liebestod" Correggio
had been born, at the little town
from which he received his name,
Antonio Allegri da Correggio; ma
ture took away with one hand and
gave generously with the other.
We hear of Allegri first as q pen
niless lad, aided and abetted in the
strange passion for art by a rich
women of the town. He was so
grateful that he studied and worked
himself into exhaustion. At Parma
he painted frescoes on the walls and
ceilings Of the great cathedral; here
at the outset appeared the softness
of contour and the glow of abound
ing color, which were to character
ize Correggio's style; here, too, was
the first attempt of an artist to
pierce a ceiling by painting clouds
and a sky upon it so veraciously
that as one looked upon it one saw
no ceiling there at all
Titan said of the frescoes in the
cupola that the vast dome might
be inverted and filled with gold,
and yet not be worth as much as
when adorned with Correggio's
hand. Does it seem excessive praise?
And yet today men offer millions
for the works of these Venetian
masters. and find themselves re-