The repainted condition of “The Judgment of Solomon” has led some good judges to pronounce it a copy.  It certainly lacks the delicacy that distinguishes its companion piece, but may we not—­with Crowe and Cavalcaselle and Morelli—­register it rather as a much defaced original?

So far as we have at present examined Giorgione’s pictures, the trend of thought they display has been mostly in the direction of secular subjects.  The two early examples just described show that even where the subject is quasi-religious, the revolutionary spirit made itself felt; but it would be perfectly natural to find the young artist also following his master Giambellini in the painting of strictly sacred subjects.  No better example could be found than the “Christ bearing the Cross,” the small work which has recently left Italy for America.  We are told by the Anonimo that there was in his day (1525) a picture by Bellini of this subject, and it is remarkable that four separate versions exist to-day which, without being copies of one another, are so closely related that the existence of a common original is a legitimate inference.  That this was by Bellini is more than probable, for the different versions are clearly by different painters of his school.  By far the finest is the example which Crowe and Cavalcaselle and Morelli unhesitatingly ascribe to the young Giorgione; this version is, however, considered by Signor Venturi inferior to the one now belonging to Count Lanskeronski in Vienna.[22] Others who, like the writer, have seen both works, agree with the older view, and regard the latter version, like the others at Berlin and Rovigo, as a contemporary repetition of Bellini’s lost original.[23]

[Illustration:  Anderson photo.  Collection of Mrs. Gardner, Boston, U.S.A.

CHRIST BEARING THE CROSS]

Characteristic of Giorgione is the abstract thought, the dreaminess of look, the almost furtive glance.  The minuteness of finish reminds us of Antonello, and the turn of the head suggests several of the latter’s portraits.  The delicacy with which the features are modelled, the high forehead, and the lighting of the face are points to be noted, as we shall find the same characteristics elsewhere.

[Illustration:  Alinari photo] [Uffizi Gallery, Florence

THE KNIGHT OF MALTA]

The “Knight of Malta,” in the Uffizi, is a more mature work, and reveals Giorgione to us as a portrait painter of remarkable power.  The conception is dignified, the expression resolute, yet tempered by that look of abstract thought which the painter reads into the faces of his sitters.  The hair parted in the middle, and brought down low at the sides of the forehead, was peculiarly affected by the Venetian gentlemen of the day, and this style seems to have particularly pleased Giorgione, who introduces it in many other pictures besides portraits.  The oval of the face, which is strongly lighted, is