or **GIORGIO BARBARELLI**, an eminent painter, born at Castelfranco, near Trevigi, in 1478. He learned the rudiments of his profession from Giovanni Bellini at Venice, and is said to have derived his first notions of the force of well-adapted lights and shadows from the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Giorgione was one of the first of the Venetian school who broke through the timid and constrained style to which the art was confined in the time of Bellini, and introduced a freedom of outline, a boldness of handling, and a new and animated manner of colouring, unknown before. De Piles remarks, "that it is a matter of wonder to consider how, all of a sudden, he soared from the low and dry manner of Bellini's colouring to the supreme height to which he raised that lovely part of painting, by joining extreme force with extreme sweetness." Yet, as Pilkington observes, when we reflect that nature and Da Vinci were his models, and that he had a genius happily qualified to study them judiciously, we may more easily account for that excellence by which he was distinguished. His pictures were much admired by Titian, who copied his style, and improved upon his effects of chiaroscuro. His untimely death prevented his acquiring so extensive a celebrity as Titian did; but, as Phillips observes, "in the race of rivalry between these extraordinary artists, it seems probable, had Giorgione's life been prolonged, he might have surpassed Titian in splendour and vivacity, both of colour and of execution." Several of Giorgione's grand compositions in fresco have perished, and those which remain are so materially injured that little of their original beauty is discernible. His easel pictures were few, and now, on account of their scarcity as well as merit, are exceedingly valuable.

In the department of portrait-painting Giorgione may be ranked with the greatest masters. His figures are justly esteemed for their grace, dignity, expression, and truth of character. His carnations have more the appearance of real flesh than of being a fine imitation of it. The landscapes of this artist are also admirable. Of his oil pictures the principal are—Christ bearing His Cross, in the Church of St Roch at Venice; at Trevigi, St Mark appeasing the Tempest; in the Monte di Pietà, a Dead Christ; and at Milan, the Finding of Moses. Giorgione died of the plague, in the prime of life, in 1511.—See Lanzi, Stor. Pit. (a.m.)