g and in
fresco, he made certain living forms and other things so soft, so
well harmonized, and so well blended in the shadows, that many of
the excellent masters of his time were forced to confess that he had
been born to infuse spirit into figures and to counterfeit the
freshness of living flesh better than any other painter, not only in
Venice, but throughout the whole world.

[Illustration: GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO: FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE

(_Venice: Prince Giovanelli. Canvas_)]

In his youth he executed in Venice many pictures of Our Lady and
other portraits from nature, which are very lifelike and beautiful;
of which we still have proof in three most beautiful heads in oils
by his hand, which are in the study of the Very Reverend Grimani,
Patriarch of Aquileia. One represents David--and it is reported to
be his own portrait--with long locks reaching to the shoulders, as
was the custom of those times; it is so vivacious and so fresh in
colouring that it seems to be living flesh, and there is armour on
the breast, as there is on the arm with which he is holding the
severed head of Goliath. The second is a much larger head, portrayed
from nature; one hand is holding the red cap of a commander, and
there is a cape of fur, below which is one of the old-fashioned
doublets. This is believed to represent some military leader. The
third is that of a boy, as beautiful as could be, with fleecy hair.
These works demonstrate the excellence of Giorgione, and no less the
affection which that great Patriarch has ever borne to his genius,
holding them very dear, and that rightly. In Florence, in the house
of the sons of Giovanni Borgherini, there is a portrait by his hand
of the said Giovanni, taken when he was a young man in Venice, and
in the same picture is the master who was teaching him; and there
are no two heads to be seen with better touches in the flesh-colours
or with more beautiful tints in the shadows. In the house of Anton
de' Nobili there is another head of a captain in armour, very lively
and spirited, which is said to be one of the captains whom Consalvo
Ferrante took with him to Venice when he visited Doge Agostino
Barberigo; at which time, it is related, Giorgione made a
portrait of the great Consalvo in armour, which was a very rare
work, insomuch that there was no more beautiful painting than this
to be seen, and Consalvo took it away with him. Giorgione made many
other portraits which are scattered through