GIORGIONE

GIORGIONE (1447-1511) (i. e. Great George), the sobriquet given to Giorgio Barbarella, one of the early masters of the Venetian school, born near Castelfranco, in the NE. of Italy; at Venice he studied under Giovanni Bellini, and had Titian as a fellow-pupil; his portraits are among the finest of the Italian school, and exhibit a freshness of colour and conception and a firmness of touch unsurpassed in his day; his works deal chiefly with scriptural and pastoral scenes, and include a "Holy Family" in the Louvre, "Virgin and Child" in Venice, and "Moses Rescued".