Cathy's Art Diary

Fun online discussion from the National Gallery examining whether Giorgione’s Il Tramonto (The Sunset) should be considered a fake or a true image by the artist. The discussion was around whether so much had been added or repaired that this had now become an image which had not been imagined and devised by Giorgione. Two of the educators from the gallery, Marc Woodhead and Carolo Carsato, took opposing views to make for an interesting half an hour   with one speaking from the heart and the other analysing the science and evidence. They had great slides of the damage and how it was repaired in the 1930s when many of the stranger elements of the picture such as St George and a rather add dragon were added to hide missing areas of paint.   They talked about how the composition might have looked and at how the picture links stylistically to other by the artists. In the end   they both agreed that 88% of a Giorgione is still quite a lot and worth having!

Fabulous exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the work of Giorgione and his contemporaries in Venice. I am a great Giorgione fan already and was aware that there aren’t many that still exist and that there is often a lot of controversy over their attribution. However this show had some which I had not come across before so I had a real sense of discovery. The first room looked at the art world in Venice which would have influenced him and included a lovely portrait of a German merchant by Durer. My favourite room was the room of portraits with the walls hung with either beautiful languid poets with beautifully coiffured bobbed hair or more robust solders. There was a marked absence of women but they turned up in the last room which looked at allegorical portraits. Obviously the Uffizi was not going to let The Tempest travel but there was a picture called The Sunrise which I’d not come across before but from shape, style and strange subject matter I felt cou...