Introduction

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of the Sixteenth-century, Venice was in one of its best moments almost in every aspect. It was a strong political power within the city-states of Italy as well as a naval power trading with the East and Africa. In culture was one of the most sophisticated and cosmopolitan cities in Europe with numerous humanist circles. It also was a capital centre for the new industry of printed books. In visual arts it had a well stablished and prominent school of painting as well as it was a privileged point of interaction between Norther Europeans and Italian artists.

This exhibition will focus on the innovation that the landscape underwent by hand of Giorgione da Castelfranco. As gifted as short was his life, he inverted the roles of the landscape and narration within a composition taking as a starting point his master Giovanni Bellini’s innovations in the subject as well as adding some characteristics from the literary utopia Arcadia by Jacopo Sannazaro and the importance of the music presents both in this book and in daily life Venice in general. Elements such as the sunset, the absence or ambiguity of a storyline, the contrast between city and countryside or the inclusion of music, contributed to the creation of a ‘mood’ that will permeate and dominate the scene. Artists like Giulio and Domenico Campagnola will spread and develop further Giorgione’s contributions, filling the gap left by his death for an elitist circle of art collectors and lovers. Without Giorgione and his followers, the existence of masterpieces by Titian, Claude Lorrain or Turner would have been impossible.