There has been a slew of exhibitions recently of major artists with either the artists they influenced or together with other artists making work at around the same time – such as the Botticelli and
Delacroix exhibitions.

This exhibition, In the Age of Giorgione, at the Royal Academy brings together paintings by artists working in Venice including  Giorgione (Giovanni Cariani 1477/8 – 1510) himself and other Renaissance masters such as Titian, Bellini, Lotto and del Plombo as well as by
Albrecht Durer.   I much preferred the Giorgione and  Durer portraits  to the rest. They speak to me in a way the others do not.

Little is know of Giorgione’s life, other than that at 23 he was already appreciated enough to be asked to paint the portraits of the Doge Agostino Barbarigo and of the condottiere Consalvo Ferrante.  Born in Castelfranco, he died at the early age of 33 – already extremely influential among his contemporaries.