ich are in the churches of
Siena. Doubtless Bazzi was lost in the shadow of the great Raphael, and
had he existed at a time a little more distant from that great man, he
would have been more famous in his life.

During the sixteenth century the Venetian school reached its highest
excellence. The great difference between it and the school of Florence
was, that the latter made beauty of form the one object of its art, while
the Venetian painters combined with grace and ease the added charm of
rich, brilliant color.

GIORGIO BARBARELLI, called GIORGIONE (1477-1511), was the first great
artist of Venice who cast off the rigid manner of the Bellini school, and
used his brush and colors freely, guided only by his own ideas, and
inspired by his own genius.

He was born at Castelfranco, and was early distinguished for his personal
beauty. Giorgione means George the Great, and this title was given him on
account of his noble figure. He was fond of music, played the lute well,
and composed many of the songs he sang; he had also an intense love of
beauty--in short, his whole nature was full of sentiment and harmony, and
with all these gifts he was a man of pure life. Mrs. Jameson says of him:
"If Raphael be the Shakspeare, then Giorgione may be styled the Byron of
painting."

There is little that can be told of his life. He was devoted to his art,
and passionately in love with a young girl, of whom he told one of his
artist friends, Morto da Feltri. This last proved a traitor to Giorgione,
for he too admired the same girl, and induced her to forsake Giorgione,
and go away with him. The double treachery of his beloved and his friend
caused the painter such grief that he could not overcome his sadness, and
when the plague visited Venice in 1511, he fell a victim to it in the very
flower of his age.

Much of the work of Giorgione has disappeared, for he executed frescoes
which the damp atmosphere of Venice has destroyed or so injured that they
are of no value. His smaller pictures were not numerous, and there is much
dispute as to the genuineness of those that are called by his name. He
painted very few historical subjects; his works are principally portraits,
sibyls, and religious pictures. Among the last, the altar-piece at
Castelfranco holds the first place; it represents the Virgin and Child
between Sts. Francis and Liberale, and was painted before 1504.

Giorgione gave an elevated tone to his heads and figures; it seemed a