The first stage of this term paper project presented one with the basic knowledge of two important pieces of European Renaissance artwork, including a formal analysis on both pieces, the sculpture and the painting’s separate but largely cohesive meanings as well as their original intent, and finally their provenances. Research into Giorgione’s Col Tempo (or La Vecchia) and Gregor Erhart’s Vanitas served as a beneficial jumping off point into the portrayal of older women during the Renaissance period in Europe, but further investigation of the two pieces opened up a larger and more cultivated avenue of study in regards to the portrayal of the elderly in Renaissance Europe; specifically, the contrasting representations of aging women and their
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Though not much is known about the short life of Giorgione, and few attributable pieces of his artwork remain, his life was still important enough to be written of by Vasari, and the mystery behind his surviving work has long been an intriguing subject for art historians. Vasari chronicled multiple pieces of Giorgione’s life, including what probably had a large influence of Giorgione’s work—a meeting with Leonardo da Vinci during the Tuscan master’s visit to Venice in 1500 . Vasari also attributed Giorgione to the use of “maniera moderna” (or Mannerism), alongside such great names as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. However, Vasari’s account for Giorgione’s life was a bit off in some areas (he stated the death of Giorgione in the wrong year and much of what he wrote cannot be definitively proved). Contemporary accounts of Giorgione’s life state that he was born sometime around 1477-78 in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy (hence his full name being Giorgione Barbarelli da Castelfranco). He lived a bit inland of Venice and his name roughly translated to “Big George.” According to stylistic evidence and an account from Carlo Ridolfi, Giorgione had an apprenticeship under a man named Giovanni Bellini, and it was soon after that he rose to fame . As Giorgione died at a young age (it is known that he died in 1510 at the age of 32 or 33) it is important to note that Giorgione’s talents as an artist were recognized early in his career. When he was only twenty-three, assuming that Vasari’s historical account is accurate, he was commissioned to paint the portraits of the Doge Agostino Barbarigo and the condottiere Consalvo Ferrante. In the following years he would continue on to paint various altarpieces and frescos, though little to no evidence of most of his works remain today. There is a conflicting history of Giorgione
Though not much is known about the short life of Giorgione, and few attributable pieces of his artwork remain, his life was still important enough to be written of by Vasari, and the mystery behind his surviving work has long been an intriguing subject for art historians. Vasari chronicled multiple pieces of Giorgione’s life, including what probably had a large influence of Giorgione’s work—a meeting with Leonardo da Vinci during the Tuscan master’s visit to Venice in 1500 . Vasari also attributed Giorgione to the use of “maniera moderna” (or Mannerism), alongside such great names as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. However, Vasari’s account for Giorgione’s life was a bit off in some areas (he stated the death of Giorgione in the wrong year and much of what he wrote cannot be definitively proved). Contemporary accounts of Giorgione’s life state that he was born sometime around 1477-78 in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy (hence his full name being Giorgione Barbarelli da Castelfranco). He lived a bit inland of Venice and his name roughly translated to “Big George.” According to stylistic evidence and an account from Carlo Ridolfi, Giorgione had an apprenticeship under a man named Giovanni Bellini, and it was soon after that he rose to fame . As Giorgione died at a young age (it is known that he died in 1510 at the age of 32 or 33) it is important to note that Giorgione’s talents as an artist were recognized early in his career. When he was only twenty-three, assuming that Vasari’s historical account is accurate, he was commissioned to paint the portraits of the Doge Agostino Barbarigo and the condottiere Consalvo Ferrante. In the following years he would continue on to paint various altarpieces and frescos, though little to no evidence of most of his works remain today. There is a conflicting history of Giorgione