Anatomy of a Masterpiece: Part 2 of 5: Giorgione and his Tempest
Aneta Georgievska-Shine, professor of art history, University of Maryland

The Tempest: Painted by Giorgione in the first decade of the 16th century, this landscape with two figures has never failed to generate diverging interpretations. In the foreground, a nude woman is sitting on a small bank overlooking a stream, holding a baby to her breast. On the opposite side of the stream, a fashionably dressed young man with a stave looks towards her with a smile while she directs her gaze towards the beholder. Who are these characters and what is this meeting all about? This scene was enigmatic even for Vasari when he wrote about Giorgione in the middle of the 16th century. While this lecture does not try to provide a conclusive response, we will investigate what made this painting or “enigma” possible in the Venetian culture of the period.

$15 door fee for guests and subscribers