Exhibition News: “In the Age of Giorgione” opened 12 March at London’s Royal Academy of Art
For those interested in further investigations into the elusive Venetian master of the early 16th century, the Royal Academy’s new exhibition, “In the Age of Giorgione,” offers an opportunity to delve into 50 paintings that reflect the overall artistic dynamism of the years 1500-1510 in Venice.
Tracing the works of some of the key figures working in lagoon city at that time, including Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo, Lorenzo Lotto, in addition to the enigmatic Giorgione, the exhibition aims to explore the artistic genius of the age as it borrowed from advances elsewhere in the Italian peninsula while staying true to the beloved color and atmosphere that became characteristic of Venetian masterworks. Though important questions are raised – as reviewer Donald Lee posits: “which works are Giorgione autographs? How can the viewer be sure of Giorgione’s primacy when he or she cannot know if the works are the artists?” – this exhibition is nevertheless sure to offer its visitors a tantalizing taste of the brilliance of early 16th-century Venetian painting. The exhibition remains on view until 5 June 2016.
More on the exhibition here:
“In the Age of Giorgione,” Royal Academy of Arts, London (exhibition homepage).
Donald Lee, “Royal Academy’s Giorgione exhibition is a circle without a centre” (article published 11 March 2016 at artnewspaper.com).
Giorgione, Il Tramonto, c. 1502-1503. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London.
Giorgione, Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1504. Oil on canvas, Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
Titian, Jacopo Pesaor Being Presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter, 1508-1511. Oil on canvas. Royal Museum for Fine Arts, Antwerp.
Giovanni Bellini, Portrait of a Man, c. 1505. Oil on canvas. The Royal Collection, London.
As posted by Alexis Culotta