.
He saw beauty in his own way, and was not impelled to see it differently
by coming into contact with other artists, however great. Unlike
Raphael, he was not a great master of the art of composition. In the
little picture before us the grouping of the figures is not what may
be called inevitable, like that in the 'Knight's Dream.' It seems as
though one day when Giorgione was musing on the beauties of the world,
and the blemishes of life, even life in Venice, he thought of some
far-off time beyond the dawn of history when all men lived in peace.
The ancient Greeks called this perfect time the 'Golden Age' of the
world. In many ways their idea of it tallies with the description of
the Garden of Eden, and they were always contrasting with it the 'Iron
Age' in which they thought they lived, as the Hebrews contrasted the
life of Adam and Eve in the garden with their own. As the fancy flashed
across Giorgione's mind, perchance he saw some just king of whom his
subjects felt no fear seated upon a throne like this. A dreamy youth
plays soft music to him, and another hands him flowers and fruit. Books
lie strewn upon the steps, and a child stands in a reverent attitude
before him. Wild and domestic animals live together in harmony; the
ground is carpeted with flowers; all is peaceful. Such a subject suited
the temperament of Giorgione, and he painted it in the romantic mood
in which it was conceived. Nothing could be further from everyday life
than this little scene. It has the unlaboured look that suits such
an improvised subject. Of course no one knows for certain that this
is a picture of the Golden Age, and you may make up any story you like
about it for yourselves. That is one of the charms of the picture.
It has been said that the throned one is celebrating his birthday,
and that his little heir is reciting him a birthday ode accompanied
by music. You may believe this if you like, but how do you then account
for the leopard and the peacock living in such harmony together?

[Illustration: "THE GOLDEN AGE"
From the picture by Giorgione, in the National Gallery, London]

Giorgione painted a few sacred pictures and many mythological scenes,
besides several very beautiful portraits of dreamy-looking poets and
noblemen. But even when he illustrated some well-known tale, he did
not care to seize upon the dramatic moment that gives the crisis of
the story, as Giotto would have done, and as the painter of our next
picture does