Title of Artwork: “All About Nude Young Woman by Giorgione”
Artwork by Giorgione
Year Created 1508
Summary of Nude Young Woman
Detached Giorgione fresco (250 x 140 cm) dated to circa 1508 and held in Venice’s Gallerie dell’Accademia. It was inspired by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi’s exterior facade for its design.
Thirteenth-century Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the German nation’s commercial centre in Venice, was destroyed by fire on the night of January 27 and 28 of 1505.. The Venetian Senate authorised a revised idea for a larger and more magnificent edifice in less than five months, which was completed by 1508. When Giorgione and Titian’s outdoor wall frescoes were about to be finished in that year, there was a dispute over a payment.
Despite not being able to interpret the meaning of the frescoes, Vasari complimented them for their dimensions and “extremely alive” colour, which made them appear “drawn to the sign of living things, and not in imitation of any of the fashion.”
This image of the Nude was already somewhat disjointed by the time Anton Maria Zanetti took an engraving of it in 1760. The frescoes in the Ca ‘d’Oro and the Accademia Gallery were removed in the nineteenth century after they had been damaged by air pollutants, the humid climate, and the brackish lagoon that surrounded them.
Despite its obvious symbolic significance, the figure beneath the false niche has no known meaning due to the removal of the painted elements that would have provided it with any identifying characteristics.
Dürer’s study of ideal proportions, inspired by classical statues and portrayed in painting over those same years, can still be appreciated in spite of its poor state of conservation. Although the vivacity of Giorgione’s colours is evident, the figure’s warmth as if they were alive is still evident in this painting.
