GIORDANI
564
GI0R6I0NE
1508 he returned to Italy, wrote four dissertations on
the waters and waterways of Venice and constructed
the splendid Fondaco dei Tedeschi (1508), ilecorated
by Titian and Giorgione. When in 1513 the Rialto
and its environs were burned, Giocondo was one who
presented plans for a new bridge and surrounding
structures, but he left Venice for Rome when the de-
signs of a rival (Michelangelo?) were chosen by the
republic for which he had done such monumental
work. The Vatican welcomed him (1514) and on
Bramante's death he superintended (with Raphael and
San Gallo) the erection of St. Peter's; but it was Fra
(iiocondo alone who improved and strengthened the
foundations of the great basilica and the piers inade-
quately supporting its dome.
Two Italian editions of Pliny's "Epistles" were published by Giocondo, one printed in Bologna (149S) and one from the press of Aldus Manutius (1508). He edited Caesar's "Commentaries" and made the first design (drawing) of Cajsar's bridge across the Rhine. He was among the first to produce a correct edition of Vitruvius, printed at Venice in 1511, illustrated with figures and dedicated to Pope Julius II; and pub- lished the works of Julius Obsequens, Aurelius Victor, and Cato's " De re rustica". In addition to his clas- sical and mathematical knowledge he was a master of scholastic theology. His last work was, probably, the rebuilding of the bridge of Verona (1521), for in a letter to Giuliano de' Medici, in 1513, Giocondo then called himself "an old man".
CuMMlNGS, Uistoru of Architrcture in Italy; Yhiarte, Venice, tr. SiTWELL (Philadelphia, 1896); Longfellow, Architecture in Italy, Greece and the Levant (New York, 1903); Michaud, Bio(/. Universelte, Ancienne et Moderne (Paris, 1855J; Marinelli in Rassegna d'Arte (Milan, 1902), 59 sqq.
Leigh Hunt.
Giordani, Tommaso, composer, b. at Naples in 1738; d. at Dublin, Ireland, February, 1806. The family came to London in 1752, and settled in Dublin in 1764. Tommaso was one of the leading musicians in the Irish capital from 1764 to 1781, when he re- turned to London ; after two years, he came back to Dublin, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was concerned in an opera-house and in a music-shop, neither of which was financially successful. Among his compositions are a number of operas, an oratorio " Isaac " (1767), and a vast quantity of overtures, sona- tas, concertos, quartets, songs, etc. He was organist of the pro-cathedral from 1784 to 1798, and con- ducted a Te Deum of his own at the celebration upon the recovery of King George III, 30 April, 1789. Among his pupils were Lady Morgan, Tom Cooke, and others, and it was at one of his Rotunda concerts that John Field, the inventor of the nocturne, made his debut (4 April, 1792). His last opera, "The Cottage Festival", was produced at the Theatre Royal, Dub- lin, 28 Nov., 1796. His song "Caro mio ben" is still occasionally heard.
Grove, Did. of Music and Musicians, ed. Maitland (London, 1906), II: ElTNER, Quellenlexikon (1900-1904); Grattan- Flood, Hist, of Irvih Music (3d ed., Dublin, 1909); contempo- rary files of Dublin papers,
W. H. Grattan-Flood.
Giordano, Luca, Neapolitan painter; b. at Naples, 10.32; d. in the same place, 12 Jan., 1705. He was esteemed the marvel of his age for the rapidity with which he covered with frescoes vast ceilings, domes, and walls in Italy and Spain, and was known as Luca "Fa Presto" (make haste), as the demand for his work was so great that his father was contimially urging him to greater dispatch, mitil at length he was able to work with extraordinary speed. He was undoubtedly the chief of the Murhinisli, as the popular quick- painting decorators of Italy came to be called, and perhaps no other painter has left so many pictures. He was a pupil of Ribera, and then of Pietro da Cor- tona, and a constant copyist of the works of Raphael.
.Some of his earliest paintings were for the churches of
Na]5les, but in 1679 he was invited to Florence, and in
1692 to Madrid, where he painted the immense ceiling
and staircase of the Escorial, and an enormous mimber
of separate pictures. In 1702 he accompanied the
King of Spain to Naples, and there he spent the last
three years of his life. There are sixty of his pictures
in Madrid, and about half that number in Naples, while
the galleries of Dresden, Munich, Paris, Vienna, Rome,
and St. Petersburg, all boast of a large number of his
works. He e.xecuted several etchings, and is believed
to have also worked in pastel.
DoMiNlcl, Vile de* Pittori Scuttori e Architetti Napolitani (Naples, 1742-4,5); Conca, Descrizione odeporica delta Svafjna (Parma, 1793); Hakbrt, Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi (Naples, 1792).
George Charles Williamson.
Giordano Bruno. See Bruno, Giordano.
Giorgione (Gioiioio Bahbarelli, Zoiizo da Cas- tblfkanco), Italian painter, b. at Castelfranco in or before 1477; d. in Venice in October or November, 1510. Little is known of his life. His very origin has been disputed, some authorities claiming his father to have been of the great Barbarelli family and his mother a peasant girl of Vedelago, while later in- vestigators find no proof of this, call the Barbarelli tradition false, and make him the descenilant of peas- ants from the March of Treviso. Giorgione means "big George"; Ruskin calls him "stout George"; all agree that he was a large, handsome man, of splendid and attractive presence. In Venice he studied under Giovanni Bellini, with Titian as a fellow-pupil. His great artistic talent developed rapidlj^ he outstripped his master, broke away from the timid and traditional style of the day, and became a great influence in art, even Titian following his teachings and imitating his colour, method, and style. To-day there is much confusion even in the great Continental galleries con- cerning the attribution of pictures to Titian and to Giorgione. With rare musical skill on the lute and with a fine voice, the talented youth was early ad- mitted to the best Venetian society, and painted por- traits of nearly all the great people ; Caterina Cornaro, Gonzales (Gonzalvo) of Cordova, and two doges being a few of his sitters. His portraits were the first to be painted in the "modern manner", and are full of dig- nity, truth of characterization, simplicity, and a sil- very quality unsurpassed even by Velazquez. The precocious and versatile young man was the first to paint landscapes with figures, the first to paint genre — movable pictures in their own frames with no de- votional, allegorical, or historical purpose — and the first whose colours posses.sed that ardent, glowing, and melting intensity which was so soon to typify the work of all the Venetian School.
Giorgione was the first to discard detail and substi- tute breadth and boldness in the treatment of nature and architectm-e ; and he was the first to recognize that the painter's chief aim is decorative effect. He never subordinated line and colour to architecture, nor an artistic effect to a sentimental presentation. He pos.sessed the typical artistic temperament, and this, with his vigour and gaiety, made him the true poet-painter, a "lyrical genius" (Morelli). He is well called the "joyous herald of the Renaissance". The vigour of his chiaroscuro, the superb "relief" in his work, the "grand style", and his mastery of perspec- tive may have come in part from a study of Leonardo da Vinci, who was in Venice when Giorgione was twenty-four years old; but no trustworthy records show that the two ever met. Giorgione painted the widest range of subjects from altar-piece to jHe-cham- pi'irc, employed few figures^usually three — in his compositions, and imitated the actual texture of draperies as none had ever done before. His method was to paint in (cnipera and then glaze in oil, a pro- cess conlributing to great brilliance, transparency.
