''The Old Woman'' is a 1506 oil on canvas painting by

Giorgione Giorgione (, , ; born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco; 1477–78 or 1473–74 – 17 September 1510) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic qualit ...

, still in its original frame and now in the

Gallerie dell'Accademia The Gallerie dell'Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was originally the gallery o ...

in Venice.

History

An allegory of old age and passing time, the woman is shown three-quarter length behind a parapet, with her mouth open to speak, possibly the words on the small scroll in her hand "With Time". Some art historians have linked it to

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

's 1507 ''

Avarice Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as undes ...

'', produced during the German artist's second trip to Venice. If Durer's work was the prototype for Tintoretto's, the latter would probably have to be re-dated to 1508. A 1569 inventory states the work shows "Giorgione's mother, by Giorgione". It may have been seen by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

during the latter's trip to Venice and influenced the Sibyls in his

Sistine Chapel ceiling The Sistine Chapel ceiling ( it, Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built with ...

.De Vecchi-Cerchiari, cit., pag. 175.

References

Bibliography

* Alessandra Fregolent, ''Giorgione'', Electa, Milan, 2001. * Pierluigi De Vecchi et Elda Cerchiari, ''Le temps de l'art'', volume 2, Bompiani, Milano, 1999. {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Woman category:1560 paintings category:Paintings by Giorgione Allegorical paintings by Italian artists Paintings in the Gallerie dell'Accademia 16th-century allegorical paintings