Giorgione’s startling allegory “La Vecchia” (known as The Old Woman) is at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut to August 4, 2019. In conjunction with the Cincinnati Art Museum, this singular work is due to the initiative of the Foundation for Italian Art and Culture (FIAC), which has facilitated its loan from the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, Italy.
Born in Castelfranco, Giorgione rose in fame during the early sixteenth century and died in his early 30s. Despite the mystery of his biography and the few paintings that can be attributed to him, Giorgione (1474/6-1510) is considered one of the greatest artists of the Venetian Renaissance. With this empathetic painting of an old woman, Giorgione created a portrayal of aging and a reminder of human vanity and the fleeting nature of life.
“La Vecchia is Giorgione’s poetic response to the natural phenomenon of aging,” noted Oliver Tostmann, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of European Art of the Wadsworth. “It is a milestone in European portraiture in which Giorgione shows old age with implacable explicitness. It prompts us to confront our own mortality and the inevitable truth of growing old.”
Painted more than 500 years ago, a recent conservation treatment has removed discoloration and breathed new life into “La Vecchia.” The hyper-realistic portrayal of a haggard woman looking directly at us both attracts and repels at the same time. With her lips open as if about to speak, she gestures to herself. In her hand is a slip of paper inscribed with the words col tempo, “with time.”
Around 1500 Venice was a center of cultural and artistic activity where private patronage of the arts thrived. Giorgione was an innovator, introducing new subjects, including the nude figure in a landscape, mythological scenes and sensitive portraits. He is considered one of the leading Venetian painters during the Renaissance, but he remains one of the most enigmatic.
“Rarely do we have such a prime opportunity to reconnect with our shared humanity and with the Renaissance,” said Thomas J. Loughman, Director and CEO of the Wadsworth. “La Vecchia is without parallel in America as a major allegorical portrait by Giorgione, and this recent conservation provides the perfect occasion to learn and appreciate the ideas behind the painting afresh.”
As an added feature, the Wadsworth’s collection of Italian works of art, including important Venetian Renaissance paintings by artists, such as Sebastiano del Piombo, Tintoretto and Jacopo Bassano are on view. In addition, a group of deluxe books designed for and published by the famed Aldus Manutius, Venice’s leading purveyor of ancient and modern texts, known for their elegant design can be viewed adjacent the Giorgione work as well as the museum’s Andrea Previtali, “Madonna and Child” with a Donor in a landscape (c. 1504-05).