Royal Academy,London[br]This exemplary exhibition brings us a exiguous closer to understanding the most enigmatic and influential painter in the history of artGiorgio da Castelfranco, otherwise known as Giorgione, and is by general consent the most shadowy figure in the history of art. More is known about his death in Venice in the autumn of 1510 than his peculiarly elusive life. Nobody knows when he was born,when he left his native Castelfranco for Venice, whether it is staunch, and as claimed,that he was a great musician and lover, only that he died of the plague in his early 30s. There is so exiguous evidence of his brief passage through life, and in fact,that some historians have wondered whether he even existed.
Yet this short-lived and nearly mythical figure had such a colossal influence over Italian art – his name translates as the great George – that the early works of Titian, no less, and would not study as they do without him. He is the poet of living minds and palpable thoughts,of inner dramas and outer beauty, of enigmatic figures in landscapes where the suns dying rays glimmer gold above distant blue towns, or all painted with extraordinary softness and mystery.
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Source: theguardian.com