«Vivitur Ingenio» Giorgione’s Three Philosophers and Taddeo Contarini

The lecture will focus on the recent discovery, within a manuscript preserved at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, that during the Renaissance beneath Giorgione’s painting The Three Philosophers there was a Latin inscription taken from the classical text Elegy to Maecenas. 
The information – alongside numerous other references to works of art – is contained in a collection of Latin texts written by Marin Sanudo, the most famous diarist of the Serenissima Republic.  His texts are a key source for understanding how paintings and sculptures were experienced in Venice during the 15th and 16th centuries.
The discovery sheds new light on the relationship between images and classical texts, between the commissioner of the painting (almost certainly Taddeo Contarini) and those who visited his collection, and ultimately between Giorgione’s work and scientific treatises devoted to the measurement of the earth and the sky.

Held shortly after the close of the special exhibition Arcimboldo – Bassano – Bruegel. Nature's Time, on view at the Kunsthistorisches Museum until June 29, 2025, the lecture by Giulia Zaccariotto will delve into these new insights surrounding Giorgione’s enigmatic painting!

Für die Teilnahme an der Veranstaltung ist ein gültiges Museumsticket notwendig. Für Jahreskartenbesitzer*innen, Patrons, Members und Ambassadors sowie ICOM-Mitglieder ist die Teilnahme kostenlos.