Giorgione y Los Studioli

Giorgione's "Tempest," "Studiolo" Culture, and the Renaissance Lucretius
Author(s): Stephen J. Campbell and Giorgione

Source: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Summer, 2003), pp. 299-332
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America
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StudioloCultureandthe
Tempest,
Giorgione's
Lucretius*
Renaissance
bySTEPHEN J. CAMPBELL
Theinvention ofGiorgione's
much-interpretedpaintingknownas The Tempestcan be explained
withreference to theDe rerumnaturaofLucretius.Lucretiusprovidestheessentialconnection
betweenthemain elements ofthepainting.a male lwanderer,'a
lightningbolt,brokencolumns,a
naked,nursingfemale, and a landscaperenderedaccordingto momentary, fleetingappearances.
The inventionofthepaintingalso respondsto thewayLucretiuswas readaround 1500, to the
ofthepoet'sRenaissancereadersand imitators,
specificinterests and toformsofse'-cultivation
associatedwiththeownership ofa studiolo.
Very
rightly, Lucretius,
[wrote]
therefore, himwhofirst
whenhepraised
discovered
wisdom,butthisineptly,
becausehethoughtitwasdiscovered
by
manjustasthoughthatmanwhomhepraisedhadfoundherlyingsomewhere
'legstoward
thesource'as
thepoets
say.'
- Lactantius
1. A PROBLEM OF GENRE
uchrecentwritingGiorgione'sTempest (Fig 1.) conveystheimpression
of wishing to staunch the prolificflow of interpretations.Little
conveysthe sense of anythinggained frompreviouscommentarieson the
painting,or fromthe richcontextualexplorationsofVenetianculturesuch
researchhas often involved. Many suggestiveinsights,resultingfrom
investigationof the painting'svisual sources, its possible referencesto
contemporary circumstances,itscuriouslyarchetypal havebecome
character,
buried, withheld from later investigation by an impulse to closure
characteristic
of iconographicalstudies.An ironicsenseof despondencyhas
hauntedmanydiscussionsof thispaintingof gatheringdarkness,together
with gloomymetacriticalreflectionson the interpretative project of art
and
historyitself, discussionsof the Tempesthave for some epitomizedthe
in
discipline itsmost benightedstate.'The presentessay,whichaddressesthe
*1 would like to thank jaynie Anderson, Shane Butler,and Ann Kuttnerfortheir
invaluablehelp withthisproject.
'Lactantius,3.14,197. Original textin Lactantius,cols. 0386c-0387a: Rectiusitaque
Lucretius,cum eum laudat,qui sapientiamprimusinvenit:sed hoc inepte,quod ab homine
inventamputavit.Quasi vero illam alicubi jacentem homo ille, quem laudabat, invenerit,
tanquam tibias ad fontem,ut poetae aiunt. All subsequent translationsare mine unless
otherwisespecified.
'For the Tempestliteratureas case study of art history'sunease with its own "harsh
hermeneutics" which "setaside whateveris partial,veiled,superseded,and even incorrectin
favorof the singleanswer,"see Elkins,227-48.
Renaissance 56 (2003): 299-332

Quarterly [ 299 1

300 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY
FIGURE 1. Giorgione, The Tempest.Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia di Belle Arti.

Alinari/ArtResource, New York.
meaning of the painting through a redefinition of its cultural context, inev-

itably adds to an already over-encumbered bibliography on Giorgione, but it
will also make a case for the merit of several previous interpretations, and for
their value as cultural history. Far from maintaining that all previous read-
ings are "Wrong," it will show that several at least point towards a kind of
common ground, a particular context of reception not unique to Venice in
the 1500s but achieving a particularly developed form there. While the
project of interpretation has been rather narrowly conceived as the solution
of what has been presumed to be a puzzle or enigma, it might be more mean-
ingfully defined as a tracing of a work's embeddedness in a cultural milieu,
and it is finally towards an understanding of the latter that the more useful

GIORGIONE'S TEMPEST 301
tend.In thissense,thestrongest
interpretations workon thepainting has
soughtto alignitbothwith the of
practices art around
collecting 1500,and
withVenetianliteraryculture.3Some have proposedits classificationas a
poesia,thatis,as a paintedequivalentfora poem,or a workwhichproduces
cc
poetic"effectsthroughpainterly means.' Less certain,however,is theexact
basis accordingto whichthe Tempest can be designateda "paintedpoem."
Poesiais presumedto be a genrein itselfIn thissense,thestrongest workon
thepaintinghas soughtto alignit bothwiththeratherthanas manifesting
anyrelationto thegenresofliterary composition,or to thecontestedsignif-
5
icance of poetryduringtheyearsof Giorgione'sactivity. In whatfollows,
Giorgione'spainting will be identifiedwith a humanist theoryand practice
ofpoesia around 1500, but a conception which would also havebeen mean-
ingful forthefirst owner of the picture,the Venetian patricianand collector
GabrieleVendramin(1484-1552).
Preciselyat the timewhen Giorgionewas painting,two centuriesof
debateregarding thestatusofthepoeticartwereculminating in increasingly
elaborateattemptsto establishthemorality, benefit,
civilizing and claimto
truthof poetry,whichcenteredon the readingand imitationof one of the
mostcontroversial and sensationalof all ancientpoetictexts:theDe rerum
naturaof Lucretius.'The humanistresponseto Lucretius,theconceptionof
the functionof poetryand the fieldof poetic practiceenabled by the De
rerumnatura,hereprovidestheprincipaldimensionfortheunderstanding
ofGiorgione'spainting.Lucretius,alongwithVirgil,was by 1500 becoming
centralto a humanistconceptof readingpoetryas a moralformation of the
self,centeredon privatereflectionand contemplativedetachment.In
Venice,such an ethicaland pedagogicalnotionof readinghad emergedas a
responseto a long-standingdisdain forpoetryon the part of the city's
One of thecharacteristic
intelligentsia. productsof Venetianhumanismin
3ForGiorgione andtheculture ofcollectingin thecircleofGabrielVendramin andhis

seeAnderson,
acquaintances, 127-89;forrecent workon Giorgione andliteraryculturein
VeniceandtheVeneto, see(forexample), theessaysinLa letteratura,
la rappresentazione;
also
Rosand,Lettieri,
Hochmann, andNova.
'For example,Sheard,andAnderson, 44-49.
"'Genre"istobeunderstood herenotinthehighly codifiedsenseinwhichitwasapplied
tolateracademicpainting,
butas a historical
toolwhichwasemployed tocircumscribe
areas
ofaffinity
withinandbetween forms ofculturalproduction.Determination ofgenreherewill
nonethelessdrawuponRenaissance literary
categories,
imprecise,provisional,anddisputed
thoughthesewere.Forgenreas a deviceof"retrospective"
historical
criticismseeFowler,
and
Colie.Fortheimplications
ofgenrein Lucretius, seeConte,1-34.
6Forthecontroversies
seeGarin,ed., 1958,especially 53-71;Trinkaus,555-71;Robey,
7-25;on thestateofthequestionaround1500inItalyseePrete,11-23andE Gilbert(I am
to Una Romand'Eliaforreferring
grateful meto thisarticle).

theQuattrocento had beentheOrationes contrapoetas (1455) ofErmolao

Barbaro theElder(I 410-71),an unsparing demonstration ofthemendacity
anduselessnessofpoetr. Twolearned
Y7 Venetian contemporaries ofVendra
main,PietroQuirini(1478-1514)andPaoloGiustiniani (1476-1528),were
equallyunsparing in theircensureofprofane literaturein a pamphlet ad-
dressedto Leo X in 1513.8 YetGabrieleVendramin maintained linksto a
morepositive culture ofreading through hisknowncontacts withhumanist
scholarsofantiquity, his
through authorship poemof a about St.Thomas
Aquinas, and also his
through ownership ofa camerino or studiolo,a space
wheretheidentity ofprivatereaderandamateur scholar
coincided withthat
ofcollector.Readingandcollecting couldbothbe rationalized according to
thesamevirtuous end,whichwasthedetachment ofthemindfrom worldly
caresandperturbations. 9
A decorated, intimate spacecalledcamerino, orstanzino,

studiolo, andde-
votedto readingand collecting, was a featureofmanyaristocratic and
households 1500. 10 wasfirst encountered in
princely by Giorgione's
painting
thecamerino - thelittlechamberofantiquities
delleantigaglie - in the
homeofGabrielVendramin, whoelsewhere referred to "elmiostudioover
Chamerin. "11DoraThornton andPaulaFindlenhavebothrecently demon-
stratedthewaysin whichthedomesticstudiolo and camerino servedas a
spatialexpressionofthenotionoftheprivate individual.12
Privacy andindi-
'On thegenerally censorious orutilitarian

attitudestopoetry amongVenetian humanists
seeKing,157-61;seealsoKallendorf, withdiscussion ofBarbaro at 126-30.On Barbaro see
alsoCampbell,1997,40, andRobey, 20-21.
'On theLibellusadLeonemXPontificemMaximumand itsauthors seeE Gilbert,983-90;
on Giustiniani andQuiriniseealsoMassa.
9Seethestatement byPaoloManuzioquotedbelow,andthetextrecently citedbyFranco
Baccheiii inwhichtheFerrarese LelioGiraldiaddresses hiscolleague CelioCalcagnini. Giraldi
discusses ofcontemplation,
theactivity andwhether thiscanbe better facilitated
byreading
orbylookingatpictures; heprovocatively suggeststhat"Thestudyofletters isnotbornfrom
nature,butis theresultofviolencedone to nature."Madnessand errorcome"froman
exaggerated practiceofwriting andreading, andan excessive turning overandoverthepages
ofbooks.""letters,they tell
us,help us to expressthesensations andthoughts ofthemind.Yet
doesnotpainting perhaps do thisbetter?Menofletters themselves employ paintingwhenthey
haveto speakaboutsomething thatis extremely to remember,
difficult orsomething which
literary alonecannotadequately
description express.Theydo this,bytheirownadmission,
becausepainting andimagery imprint in themselvesandin otherstheforms ofthingsmore
clearly and moretruthfullythan lettersdo." Progymnasma adversus et
litteras litteratos,
quoted
andtranslated inBacchelli, 333.
loThestandard accountis byLiebenwein; seealsoThornton.
11Fordocumentation on thepubliccareer andcollecting ofGabrielVendramin,
activity
seeBattilottiandFranco,64-68.On Vendramin's seealsoRav.
collection
12
Thornton, 1-7;127; Findlen, 293-346.

vidualitywereprivileges thatcamewiththeownership and leadership ofa

householdand especially, as we mightsurmisein Vendramin's case,with
membership inan elite politicalclass.Yet beginning with the aristocraticstu-
dioliofthefifteenth century, this same space was also the site where the
cultivatedselfhad been producedand put on displayforan audience
through theaccumulation ofpreciousobjectsadvertising thetasteand re-
finement oftheirowner,and through on
painting mythological or poetic
themeswherethenormally private and interior of
experience reading was
givena visible,intersubjective, and socialform.13 The selfcouldbe con-
structed and revealedthrough themutebutrichlyequivocallanguageof
painting andsculpture, defining theowner's "personal space"evenin hisor
herabsence:Vendramin tookpainsto ensurethatthepreciouscollection
contained within andbeyondhisstudy wouldremain intactathisdeath.The
wallsandshelves ofthestudy, in otherwords,projected a version ofthein-
teriorlifeofitschiefoccupant,albeita versionsometimes producedin
collaboration withliterary specialistsand inthe of
language poeticinvention.
The assimilation ofcollecting to readingand tovirtuous scholarly lei-
surewasfrequently articulated in opposition to a long-standing humanist
polemicagainstthevanityandsuperficiality ofanyprofession ofvirtueor
distinction the of
through ownership things.'4 Humanists occasionally de-
the
plored turning of books into luxury commodities through their lavish
ornamentation, andthegeneral conversion ofscholarly discipline intoaris-
tocraticformsofdisplay."In one well-known instance,Paolo Manuzio
(1512-74) foundhimself havingto insist,in a letterof 1552 to Andrea
Loredan,thatLoredan'scollectionsof antiquitieswere"notmaterial
goods... a gemwhichone mayobtainat a price"but"virtuous riches"
which"willbearwitness toyourfinemind,andtoyourverynoblethoughts,
infuture centuries."16It isspecially noteworthy thatManuzioproclaims the
and of
possession contemplation antiquities surpass to even the reading of
ancient authors asa meansofknowing thepast:"looking intently at suchob-
jects,onegathers inthemindas muchknowledge ina shortspanofhoursas
13
As arguedin Campbell, 2000.
14
For the tensionin elite consumercultureoccasioned by anxietyabout materialism,
see Sysonand Thornton,especially23-36.
15See the discussion of
Angelo Decembrio in Campbell, 1997, 22-23, and in
Thornton,I 0 1.
16
Manuzio, 72r-v:Questi non sono beni materiali,che con semplicefaticasi acquistino;
non e gemma,che per pezzo si ottenga:queste sono ricchezzevirtuose,che a gl'idioti non
toccano, ma solamentecol giudicio, con l'ingegno,con infinitascienza in molto spatio di
tempo si raccolgono. Queste del bello animo vostro,de'vostrinobilissimipensieria'futuri
secoli chiaratestimonianzadaranno.See discussionof thispassagein Thornton,1 13-14, and
in Schmitter, 23-24.

onedoesafter yearsofreading LivyandPolybius, andalltheancienthisto-

riansputtogether." 17
Placedamongst hisfamous collectionofancient fragments, Vendramin's

painting byGiorgione would have spoken to him and to his ofhis
visitors
ownrelationship tohiscollection. Asweshallsee,itwasanimageofthatvery
principle through whichattheendofhislifehewouldjustify hisinvestment
incollecting. Inhiswillof1548,hejustified thepreservation ofhiscollection
ofpaintings and antiquities "mostofall becausetheyhavebrought a little
peace and to
quiet my soul the
during many labors of mind and bodythatI
haveendured in conducting thefamily he the
business"; expressed hope(in
vain,as itturned out)thathiscollection be heldintactfortheedification of
future"homeni studiosi devirt "U."Thepleasure
18
afforded bysuchthings was
notto be seenas base,acquisitivepleasure,butaccordingto a morally-
beneficial ideaofpleasure. Vendramin, a member ofa distinguished family
whodevoted muchofhislifetopublicandfamily business, wasoneofseveral
patricians whosoughttoassociate himself,as patronandcollector, withthe
contemporary Venetian world of classical and
scholarship antiquarianism,
counting Bernardo Bembo(1433-1519)amonghisacquaintances and the
younger Ermolao Barbaro(1453/54-92)amonghisrelatives.19thesame In
testament, afterexhorting hisnephews tomaintain thestudy ofnavalstrategy
andnavigation, he insisted thatthey"notabandonthestudyofletters." In
1540thearchitect andtheorist Sebastiano Serlio(1475-1554)remarked that
Vendramin, "a mostseverecastigator ofthingslicentious," wasone ofthe
menofhisagemostequippedto appreciate thearchitectural principlesof
Vitruvius.20 Among other paintings byGiorgione, Vendramin owned a work
knownas TheEducation ofMarcusAurelius, againsuggesting thatVendramin
foundaffirmation ofhisownmorally rigorous outlookin theethicaland
pedagogical legacy of the ancient philosophers.
21
The Tempest is notsimplya passiveproductof thiselitecultureof

collecting, but, like thecollector's camerino, itis itselfan activeproducer of
cultural for its an
identity owner, expression in visual and tangible formof the
"Manuzio, 72r: le quai cose con attentopensieroparticolarmente riguardando,tante

belle notiziein poche hore nelia menteraccolsi,che ne Livio, ne Polibio,ne tuttole historie
insieme havevano altrettanto in molti anni potuto insegnarmi. See discussion by
Schmitter, 23.
"Translation fromChambers and Pullan, eds., 429. Original textin Battilottiand
Franco,67.
'90n Vendramin'sintellectualmilieu,see Ibid. and Settis,142-59.
20
Serlio,1540, 1.3.155, quoted in Battilottiand Franco,66. In thepreviousyearGabriel,
alongwithJacopoSansovino,had evaluatedthepaintingsforan altardesignedbySerlioin the
churchof the Madonna della Gallierain Bologna. See Anderson,164, withbibliography.
21
On thispaintingsee Anderson,298, and Lucco, 1 1-29.

valuesofreading, collecting,andcontemplation. Butbefore wecanestablish

the relationof the imageto such concerns,we mustfirstaddressthe
interpretativetraditionofGiorgione's painting,andtheproblems raisedby
theearliestreferences to the image.The gentlemanand connoisseur
Marcantonio Michiel,whomadehighly selective
noteson illustrious private
collectionsof his time,referred in 1530 to "El paesettoin tela cun la
tempesta, cunla cinganaetsoldato"(thelittlelandscape on canvaswiththe
storm, with the and
gypsy soldier). A 1569 description in an inventory of
Vendramin's collection
ismorecursory anddiffers inseveral particulars:"una
cingana, unpastorinunpaesetoconunponte"(a gypsy, a shepherd ina little
landscape witha bridge)."Clearlytherendering oflandscape waswhatwas
important to theseearlierviewers, and theirdescriptions ofthefigures as
soldier, and
gypsy, shepherd that
suggests they saw these as "attributes" of the
landscape.
The Tempest, probablypaintednotlongbeforeGiorgione's deathin
1510, is indeedunprecedented in Italianartin itsrendering ofthenatural
worldinaninstantaneous moment ofshiftingappearances, manifesting what
onewriter hascalleda new"phenomenological response to the problem of
time." The onlycomparable workto pursuethesameeffects is Lorenzo
Lotto's portrait-cover in the WashingtonNational Gallery,which
significantlyemploys theelements ofatmospheric, cloud-laden landscape in
theserviceofallegory.'Giorgione's picturehas beenequallyeffective in
persuading itsmodern interpreterson one hand that it is an allegory to be
deciphered, and on theotherthatit is a strikingly modernrendering ofa
with
landscape, figures, foritsown sake: a man with a staff,dressed in a white
shirtwithornatehoseandbreeches, pausesina darkening landscape tolook
inthedirection ofa nearly-nakedwomanseatedatthefurther edgeofa pool
orstream whichdivides theforeground. Thewomannurses a child,andlooks
not towardsthe man, but in the directionof the beholder.Such an
acknowledgment placestheviewerat theapexofa triangle, at an equal
fictionaldistancefromthemaleand femalefigures. We are notionally
separated fromthembythewaterin theimmediate foreground, justas this
samebodyofwaterisolates thetwomainfigures from eachother. Behindthe
man,a pairofbrokencolumnsappears,alongwitha portionofwallwith
marblerevetment. In thebackground is a fortified
city,itswallsilluminated
"The referencesin Michiel's Notizia dopere di disegnoand the 1569 Vendramin
inventory are both citedin Settis,55-56. The majorityof arthistorianshave consideredsuch
referencesto be farfromadequate as an accountofthepicture'ssubjector ofthesocial identity
of the male and femalefigure;Holberton,1991 and 1995, arguesotherwise.
21
P. Brown,227.
24
As noted by B. L. Brownin a commenton thereceptionof Germanlandscapemodes
in earlyCinquecentoVenice,in RenaissanceVeniceand theNorth,338.

bythemeteorological eventwhichhasgiventhepainting itsname- a flash

oflightning signallingtheonsetofa tempest.
Whilesomeinterpreters havefocused on theencounter ofthetwomain
to
figures identify a biblical
or classical subject(Adam and Eve,Marsand
Venus,Danae), others havescrutinized thepicturefor a hidden orhermetic
significance.2'Fortheselatterreadings thepaintingisseentodepictthefour
elements(designatedbythepool, themoistearth,thedense,churning
clouds,thelightning bolt),orto illustratea philosophical adage(Harmonia
estdiscordiaconcors), or againto alludeto astrologicaland alchemical
knowledge.Forothers, thephilosophical dimension therealm
26
incorporates
ofartistic
concerns; Giorgione'sartis associatedwith a "scientific"mentality,
theinvestigation andunprecedented representation oftheopticaleffects of
particularweatherconditions.2' More recently, certainmarginaland
indistinctdetailsareseento connecttheimagery withthepredicament of
Veniceduringthewarsof 1508-10.Butthishistorical readinginevitably
againtoa principle
resorts ofallegory: thetempest itselfbecomes a metaphor
forthe"stormofwar"and forthefortunaofVenice.Stillothershave
attempted to coordinatethepoliticalreading,whichrequiresa certain
exegeticalingenuity, withastrological andhermetic interpretation.
21
Suchreadings do suLy waysin whicha Cinquecentoobserver

Lyest may
havemadesenseofsucha highly-charged sequenceofprobablyfamiliar
poetic topoi:a wandererwhose properdomain is the city,a female
characterized as a mother andcloselyassociated witha "Wild" landscapein
whichthefourelements areindeedpresented a
throughspectacular dynamic
Ithasrecently
interplay. beennoted,forinstance, thatthemotif ofwanderer
inconfrontation witha maternal female occursintwotexts whichepitomize
themostexperimental tendenciesincontemporary vernacular the
literature:
prose-romance knownas theHypnerotomachia Poliphili,published byAldus
25
AdamandEveisthesubjectidentified bySettis; andDanaebyParronchi,
Jupiter inLa
Nazione,14 September 1976 (citedin Settis,68) whilethesubjectofMarsandVenuswas
revived witha hermeticcastin Cioci.Fora recent reading
astrological seeCarroll.
26
interms
Forinterpretations ofnaturalphilosophy, 1966,and 1975,
seeTschmelitsch,
240-65.Foran inventive recentreprisalofthephilosophical adageon discordiaconcors,see
Sheard.
21
Sheard,154-57.
28
SeeHoward,andKaplan.Fortheastrological reformulation seeCarroll.
ofthisposition
Fora criticismofthepositionwhichacceptsMichiel'sidentification ofthemalefigure as a
soldier,seeHale,416: "Whoever compiled theinventory ofGabrieleVendramin's'Camerino
delle antigaglie'in 1569 describedtheyoungman moreunderstandably, ifstillnot
as a ...
convincingly, shepherd explanations thatturn on the or
figure, the moralorallegorical
ofa soldieraremistaken."
associations,

29
in 1499 (Fig. 2) , as well as Jacopo Sannazaro' s Arcadia, a pastoral work in
prose and verse which appeared in Naples in 1504, but which was widely read
throughout Ital Y.30 We are confronted by poetic signs and motifs which call
for interpretation; but such interpretation can proceed in any number of
ways (like any of those just described) unless we can determine what poetic
kindwe are dealing with here, a framing principle of poetic genre which could
set reasonable limits to interpretation.
The Tempest has sometimes been classed as a poesia, on the basis of a
passage in a 1548 treatise on painting by Paolo Pino which called for painters
to observe a kind of metonymic brevity and improvisatory technique
analogous to the poets "in their comedies and other compositions."31 yet
Pino also characterized painting as poetry in terms which would have been
quite acceptable to Leon Battista Alberti, or Mantegna, or Raphael, or to a
tradition of artists and writers who understood the analogy of painting and
poetry according to a principle of invention deriving from ancient rhetoric:
"la pittura "epropriapoesia, cio'e invenzione."32 However, those who identify
Giorgione's painting with his poesia have often asserted the self-sufficiency of
his imagery, as if it were poetic only according to a rather narrow sense of
33
poetic invention grounded in the vernacular lyric. A related claim is that the
- -
Tempest participates in even inaugurates a kind of pure genre painting,
and that it could be classed with a series of depictions of family-like groups
in landscapes from around 1510-15, such as the Landscape with Halbardier,
Woman and Two Children from the Palma Vecchio circle (Fig. 3) and the
Nursing Mother with Halbardier in a Landscape attributed to Titian (Fig. 4).
However, while these other Venetian works correspond in some formal
respects to Giorgione's picture, there is no consequent basis for the assertion
that they reproduce its subject and its meaning. The Tempest manifests a
singularity, even a deep strangeness, which cannot be explained away or
reduced to generic terms.
"On the relationto theHypnerotomachia.,see mostrecently

Anderson,165-72.
"Most suggestivehereare Lettieri,and Emison,64-76.
"See the observationsbyAnderson,44-49.
32
Pino, I 15, makesclearthatwhenhe departsfromAlbertiit is on technicaland not on
conceptualgrounds:"E perch6la pitturae propriapoesia., cio invenzione,la qual faapparere
quello che non "e,per"Outilsarebbeosservarealcuniordinielettidagli altripoeti che scrivono,
i quale nelle loro comedie et altrecomposizionivi introduconola brevit"a."
33
See C. Gilbert,212-13, Wittkower,Hope. Emison, 66, writesthat "althoughthe
paintingsharesaffinitieswithnarrative,allegoryand genre,itbelongsinsteadto a new and less
formalizedkind of pictorialmusing,closer than anythingto low-stylepoetry- not any
specificpiece, but in general."The account in Sheardof the Tempesta as apoesia.,"frugalin
presentation,profligatein meaning," is in this sense exceptional; while arguing forthe
painting'sautonomyand independencefrom"externaltexts,"she concedesa capacityfornon-
literaland allusivemeaningwhichtheseothercommentators would disallow.

.........
XX
vv
. ...............
. ..... .. ..
777
.........
..
VO
FIGURE 2. From Francesco Colonna, Hvpnerotomachia Poliphili. Venice, Aldus

Manutius, 1499, part IZ 8r. The George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins
University.
Formalresemblancealone is an unreliablebasison whichto determine

thedifferences
conversely,
significance; betweenthe Tempest and theworksit
most closelyresemblesare more telling.34 For instance,as JohnHale has
3'Thecentral
problem intheaccountofSettis,
85,whoderiveshisunderstandingofthe
workas Adamand Eve on thebasisofa genericresemblance
to a reliefofthissubjectin
Bergamo.

FIGURE 3. Follower of Palma Vecchio, Landscape with Halbardier, Woman and Two
Children. Philadelphia Museum of Art, purchased with the W P. Wilstach Fund.
pointed out, the inclusion in these other images of a figure with the clearly
designated attributes of a soldier is a fair indication that the male figure in
Giorgione's picture is not a soldier.35 Nor is there any probability that he is a
shepherd; the figure resembles a patrician youth of Giorgione's own time, and
we might surmise that costume here serves primarily to mark him as a city-
dweller who has now wandered away from the city.31)X%ile the Cambridge
and Philadelphia paintings appear to configure the man, woman, and child
as a family group, this is, however, no necessary basis for seeing the Tempest
as representation of a family. While the confrontation of a young clothed
male and a female in a "state of nature" might indeed imply a recent or
imminent sexual interaction, at the same time the figures appear not only
spatially but psychologically isolated; it is by no means apparent that they are
aware of each other.
"Hale, 518.
36
On the costume, identified as that of a member of a compagnia della calza, see
Anderson,165-68. On the costumeof the compagniesee Venturi1908a, especially208-13.

FIGURE4. Attributedto Titian,An Idyll:A Motherand a Halbardierin a

WoodedLandscape.FoggArtMuseum,HarvardUniversity ArtMuseums.
Given that both sixteenth-century referencesare inaccuratein their

characterizationof themale figure,we mightwonderwhatto makeof their
conceptionof thewoman as a cingana,or gypsy.While theman is inscribed
witha social identity(albeit an ambiguousone) throughhis costume,the
woman seems strangely"placeless"in termsof social categoryor literary
genre,and perhapsthisis thereasonwhyshe was assignedtheidentityof a
nomad,one who dwellseverywhere and nowhere,neitherproperlyofthecity
nor of thecountry.Her depictionwitha nursingchildclearlydistinguishes
her fromimages of the femalenude in "Arcadian"landscapes,which are
largelycharacterizedin termsof theireroticappeal; at the same time,her

placidnudityin thefaceofa gatheringstormmightmakeuswonderabout

therelation
recentlyproposed to thecontemporary ofgypsies,
socialreality
and
camp-followers, "primitives" (a point discussed below).37 While
Giorgione may indeed have drawn upon Netherlandish or German
landscapeprintsas modelswhichwould havebeen familiarto hisspectators,
he mayhave done so preciselybecausehe wantedhis spectatorsto noticea
crucialdifferencein his invention,the specificity of the Tempest's pictorial
syntax.Michiel may have been led to his own descriptionofthepaintingby
thepopularity ofthisgenre,whichsometimesshows"outsiders" orbohemian
but
figures, he clearlyunderlined the unique element which is not foundin
any of the closest pictorial analogues for the Tempest, or found in its
31
imitations:the stormitself.
2. "THE LAW AND AsPECT OF THE SKY"

The greatclassicallocus forthediscussionofstormsand lightningis theDe
rerumnaturaof Lucretius,wherestormsare presentedalmostdefiantlyas
naturalphenomena,devoidofportentorsupernatural significance.As a poet
of naturewho attackedsuperstition,Lucretiuswas at preciselythis time
becomingimportantin a definition ofthefunctionand vocationofthepoet
in whichVirgilremainedthecentralfigure,and it is throughthe"Virgilian"
understandingof poetrythatLucretiuswould have become knownto his
northItalianaudience.As CraigKallendorfhas recently shown,thereading
ofVirgilin moraland therapeutic termswas especiallyprevalentin Venicein
thelatefifteenth
and earlysixteenth 3' The marginal
centuries. annotationsof
VenetianreadersstudiedbyKallendorfall correspondwithan understanding
ofVirgil,and ofhisplace in themoralorganization ofprivatelife,whichhad
beencharacteristicofmerchant-writers and humanistsin Florenceduringthe
previouscentury:"endeavor to studyVirgil, Boethius, Seneca or other
"Fromwhatcanbe understood about"gypsyiconography' in thesixteenth it

century,
seemsthatwhileloneandapparently homelesswomenwithchildren mightsometimes have
beenidentified as gypsies,a moreconstant feature
identifying wasan exoticorextravagant
anappearance
quality, indressordemeanor.
of"foreignness" In 1475thegoldsmith Caradosso
Fopparegistered histrademark in MilanwiththegoldsmitEs guild:"La zingolaconlo puto
inantechefa la morescha." Brownand Hickson,16 (I am grateful to LukeSysonforthis
reference).Itis mysensethattheveryanomaly oftheappearanceofthewomanandchildled
to herassignment to a category
whichwas conceivedto accommodatea widerangeof
anomalous andmarginal humanbeings.Formoreon gypsies seeHolberton, 1995,although
noneofHolberton's iconographicexamples(usuallyturbanned and heavilyclad)bearany
particularresemblance toGiorgione's Anderson,
figure. 165,citesBoerio's1856Dizionario
del
dialettoveneziano where"tolooklikea cingana" merelymeanstohaveone'shairunkempt.
3'Foran examination ofthegenre,seeGoldfarbandHale.
39Kallendorf, 91-124.

authorsforatleastan hourevery day,as ifyouwerestillinschool.Thiswill

resultin greatbenefitto yourmind:bystudying theteachingsofthese
authors,youshallknowhowyoushouldactinyourpresent life,bothforthe
healthofyoursoulandfortheusefulness andhonorofyourbody.... when
youcomeofageandyourintellect beginstosavorthereasonforthings and
thesweetness ofknowledge, you shall deriveas much pleasure out of it,as
muchdelight, as muchconsolation as youdo outofanything intheworld."
This writer,theFlorentine merchant GiovanniPagoloMorelli(writing
between1393 and 1421),hadsingledoutVirgilas answering to themost
pressing needs served by study and meditation: "he will answer your
questionsandwilladviseandteachyouat no costwhatsoever; he shalltake
awayyourmelancholy andgiveyoupleasure
thoughts, andconsolation."40
Around1500,inVeniceandelsewhere, Virgil wascentral todiscussions
ofpoetryas a formofknowledge whichanimatesand disclosesitstruths
through theveilsoffigurativelanguage. Cristoforo Landino(1425-98)had
argued for the of
place Virgiland Dante in the moralformation ofthe
individual,whileAngelo Poliziano(1454-94)andCodroUrceo(1446-1500)
celebratedHomerandVirgilas encyclopedic authorities,as compendious as
41 But in Gian GiovianoPontano's
natureitself. dialogues of the 1490s,
AegidiusandActius, theexampleofLucretius is coupledwithVirgilin an
argument forthephilosophicalimportance ofpoetry, andfortherevelatory
forceofsublimepoeticdictionand sensuousimagesin transforming the
consciousness ofa reader.In theperiodofintenseLucretianstudyand
publication withwhichthecentury opens,itwasincreasingly apparent to
Renaissance commentators thatVirgilhad himself drawnheavilyon De
rerumnatura.42
Itistheverypoemwhichcouldoccupythespacebetween the
epicandtheeclogue,combining thescaleandelevated visionary styleofthe
former withthehistorical and"meta-poetic" compassofthelatter. Pontano
(1422-1503) was one ofseveral
humanist poetswho sought to defend the
40
Morelli,51-52.; translationin MerchantWriters,70-71; also citedin Liebenwein,72.
41
On the philosophicalimportof poeticlanguagein Landino and Pontano,see Grassi,
37-41, 57-61. For Polizianoon Homer see his Nutriciain Poliziano, 147,11.476 ff.On the
intellectually-embattledcontextof the Nutriciaand Poliziano'sview of poetrysee Godman,
70-79. In his ActiusPontano discussesthe poet'sabilityto chargenaturewiththe qualityof
inspiringwonder,which naturein itselfdoes not possess: "ut, cum poetica sicut historia
constetrebusac verbis,his utrisquepoeta ad admirationemconciliandamnon utaturmodo,
verumetiaminnitatur.Quamobrem,quod veritaspraestarehoc sola minusposset,veritatem
nunc inumbrantfictisfabulosisque commentis,nunc ea comminiscunturquae omnino
abhorreanta vero atque a rerumnatura."Pontano, 1943, 234-35. See also the discussionof
Poliziano and Pontano with referencealso to JosephScaliger'sPoetics in Galand-Hallyn,
189-223.
42
Raimondi,656-57.

worthofpoetry byturningfrom tomoredidactic

elegyandepigram models,
suchas theLucretianphilosophicalpoem;thesealso includedLorenzo
Bonincontri(1410-91) in Naples, BartolomeoScala (1430-97) and
Poliziano in Florence,and BaptistaMantuanus (ca. 1447-1516) in
Mantua.43Therewas no greaterproofof the intrinsicseriousnessof poetry
thandemonstrations of itscapacityto handlemoreweightysubject-matter,
and in the fulfillmentof a three-foldaim clarifiedby Pontano: to give
44
pleasure,to createwonder,and to instruct. His astrologicalpoem Urania
(composed between1475 and 1503) was writtento demonstratethatthe
Musesteachscience,and thatclassicalmythology, handledwithconsiderable
licenseby the poet, could revealthe orderof the cosmos itself.Pontano's
poetic mission,explicitlyfashionedafterthatof Lucretius,was described
succinctlyin an earliercollectionof shorter(and mainlyamorous) verse
(1.6:25-30) .
45
knownas Parthenopeus
thatI live,as anoldmanleaningovertheCastalian
Then,provided springI will
wetmylipswiththesacredwaters, andI willrelate
thearrangement ofthefour
elements
throughimages(figuris ). Firefirst,
afterthattheplaceofair.Thenthe
4'Forvariousaspectsof thepolemicsee Grassi,and Gaisser,and A. Brown,(on Scala'sDe
arboiibus).
44
In AegidiusPontanowrites"Poetae officium,ni fallor,tribusin his praecipuevertitur:
ut doceat, ut delectet, ut moveat ... Virgilius igiturac Lucretius,quo auditorem ad se
raperent,ab ipso statiminitiousi sunt principlismaximeiucundis ac festivis;neve satietas,
quae internarrandumdocendumquesoletobrepere,in discessuauditoremcomitaretur, exitus
quoque librorummaioreetiam festivitate iucundioribus."In
condiverelusibusque refersere
Actius he praises Lucretius along with the writersof "rerumnaturam generi hominum
carmine":"Christeoptime,quid copiae, quid ornatus,quantus e clarissimisluminibuseius
emicat in alterosplendor!Rapit quo vult lectorem,probatad quod intendit,summa cum
subtilitateet artificio,hortatur,deterret,incitat,retrahit,
demum omnia cum magnitudine,
ubi opus estatque decoro,ethac de qua disputatumestadmiratione."See Pontano,1943, 263,
238. See also Grassi,37-41.
4'Tunc ego Castalias (vivammodo) pronusad undas / perfundamsanctolabra liquore
senex / quattuor et referamdigesta elementafiguris,/ primumignis. Post hunc aeris esse
locum, / terrasit ut media mundi regione locata / nixa suis opibus, pondere tuta suo, /
intervallatenensdistantiapartibusaeque /brutaquidem et solido sortereceptaloco, / quem
paterOceanus spumantibusabluit undis / amplectansmedia dissociatquefreto;/ sintduo
praeterea,quorum sublimis ab arcto,/ imus ab opposito dicituraxe polus; / hos circum
immensi volvatur machina mundi / nec tamen impositum sentiat axis onus; / denique
gignendisquaenam sintseminarebus,/unde suos ortusedita quaeque trahant;/ unde pavor
cervis,rabiesatque iraleonum,/raucaque curcornix,et bene cantetolor; /quid calidi fontes
imbri,quid noctibusAmmon /ferveatet medio frigeatusque die; /quem dederitrebusfinem
naturacreandis;/ Centaurinumquid Scyllavel esse queant; / cur non Luna suo, sed fratris
luceat igni; / quid vehatet Procyon,quid vehatortusEqui. / Felicesanimae fatismelioribus
usae, / cura quibus primistalia nosse fuit;/ non illis studiumgemmae,non dira cupido /
divitisaut auri erniciosasitis,/sed superumcasto rimabantpectoretemplum:/quis superis
nunc estvita beata locis. Pontano, 1948, 72-73.

earth,placedat centerofthecosmosbytheforceofitsownmight, holdingan

equal distanceon all sides,stolidlymaintaining theplaceallottedto it and
washedbyfather Oceanuswithwavesandfoam,anddividedbya bodyofwater
embracing itsmiddle. Therearetwoparts,ofwhichtheupperis namedfrom
thenorthpoleand thelowerfromtheopposite.Aroundtheseareturnedthe
machineoftheimmense cosmos,as iftheaxisfeltno burden. ThenI shalltell
oftheseedsofthegeneration ofthings andfromwhenceeverything drawsits
lofty -
origin fromwhence the timidity ofthe deer,the and
rage ferocity ofthe
lion,whythecrowsingsharshly andtheswansweetly, whichkindofsprings are
hotandwhytheearthmightbe warmat nightandcoldat midday. I willseek
outtheendwhichnatureassignedto all createdthings, whethercentaurs or
Scyllacanexist,why the moon islit the
by light ofitsbrother
andnot of itsown,
andtheorigins oftheconstellations ofProcyon andtheHorse.Itwasoncethe
chiefcareofblessedsoulsofbetter destinyto know notforthem
suchthings;
thepursuitofgemsordesireforwealth, butwithchasteheartstheyinvestigated
thetempleofthesky.(45)
ofsensuous
In hisattackon practitioners andpaganverse,Contrapoetas
impudice (I
loquentes 500), the BaptistaMantuanusprovideda
Carmelite
similarlistofphilosophicalthemesforpoetry,
throughwhichpoetscould
avoidthe"Prostitution"oftheMusesandthe"commerce" ofVenus:
Thereis theThree-Person God eternally
worthy ofpraise,from whichthefirst
seedsofthingshavetheirbirth, ofspirits
thestellaroffspring andthetenfold
heavens,themotions ofthestarsandtheirmultiplepathways, thesoulsofthe
divineoneswhichvirtueendowswithshining whoarecalledsaintsand
ether,
martyrs .... Therearetheelementswhichbestowsubstance'ontransitory
things,andfeedtheireternaldeath;thethingswhichtheairbrings those
forth,
towhichtheseagivesbirth, orwhichthewonder-working earthproducesfrom
itsrichwomb;themany-colored faceofthefieldsandthecrested the
forests,
many-voiced birdsand themulti-wandering beasts;therearethepartsof
wisdom,ingeniousmathematics, and thelitigiouswordsoftheclamorous
forum, andthelivesofmen;theseareoccupations worthy ofpoetry,themany
actionsconducted in publicandin private."46
Estdeusesttrinum semperlaudabilenumen,/ undetrahunt rerumseminaprima

46
genus/Spirituum vicesmultiplicesque
astra,/astrorumque
sobolescaeliquedecemplicis viae/
Suntanimaedivumnitidoquosaethere virtus/donatethossanctosindigetesque vocant/et
quaemateriam praebent elementacaducis/Rebus& aeternaedantalimenta neci.... Suntea
quae profertaer,quae parturitaequor/Quae generat pinguidaedalaterrasinu/Multicolor
facies
agrisilvaequecomantes /Multisonaevolucres
multivagaequeferae/Suntsophiaepartes
estingeniosamathesis /verbaqueclamosilitigiosafori/Sunthominumvitae;suntdigna
negociaversu/plurima gestaforis,
plurimagestadomi.Baptista
Mantuanus, 117-20,131-38.
On thepoemseeGaisser, 230,whosituates Mantuanus' demandwithincontroversies on the
oflicentious
imitation ancientpoetssuchas Catullus.

It is noteworthy thatdespitetheCarmelite poet)soppositionto Epicurean-

ism,manifest in hisreference to God and thesaints,in hisrepertoire of
cosmicthemeshe explicitly evokesLucretius withthephrase"curiously-
wrought earth"(daedalaterra)."
In thediscussionon Giorgione thatfollows,itisproposed thata consid-
erationoftheTempest in relation to suchreflectionson thescopeofpoetry
allowsfora reading whichmightbe moreencompassing thanprevious in-
terpretationshave allowed. Given Pontano'sstatusas theforemosthumanist
andLatinpoetinItalybythetimeofhisdeathin 1503,andthepublication
of Uraniaalongwithotherworksin VenicebytheAldinePressin 1505,
hisuseofLucretius to conceiveofthevocationofpoetwasveryprobably
knowntoGiorgione's circleandtohispatrons. Annotations on threecopies
ofthesecondRenaissance editionofLucretius, whichwasprinted inVenice
in 1495, referred to Pontano'stwenty yearsof work on thetext,and a
the of
laterVenetianedition, Giunta 1512, explicitly acknowledged his
editorialwork.41
AtleastthreeotherGiorgionesque worksareconcerned witha visual

summation ofthenatureofpoetry, evenwiththe"portrayal" ofvarious
genres - thePastoralConcert, the Laura inVienna, and theHamptonCourt
Shepherd. Giventheseinterests amonghispatrons, ofdidactic
a "portrait" or
philosophicalpoetryformsa veryplausiblecommissionat thistime.49Forit
will be seen thatthe imageryof the paintingrespondsto debates on the
edifying nature(as opposedto thefrivolity or vanity)ofpoetryand, in turn,
on thepracticesof privatereadingand contemplation.
The painting,like Pontano's Urania, is a response not only to the
question of poetry'sstatusaround 1500, but to an ongoing controversy
regarding theDe rerumnaturaitself,whichhad had a mixedfortunesinceits
rediscoveryby Poggio in
Bracciolini 1417.5' Acclaimedforthebeautyof its
Latinstyle,theworkwas regarded withsuspicionand outright hostilityforits
CompareLucretius 1-7:"tibisuavisdaedalatellus."
41
48
See Goddard,1991,251,andReeve.
49ThePastoralConcertintheLouvrefeatures a program whichisentirely
consistentwith
thatofthemorecriticallyself-conscious poetsofthetime.The painting employsthetopos of
theSourceor fountainhead ofpoetry, thewellspring ofancientpoeticwisdomtendedby
nymphswho personify Poesiaand Persuasion.Returning to thewellspring of ancient
eloquence,themodernpoet- theluteplayerin contemporary costume- engagesin a
harmonious dialoguewiththeArcadian shepherd poet,a confrontation
whichepitomizes the
vitalconfluenceofancienttradition withmodernpractice. See Egan,andKlein.
"On thecirculation ofLucretius in ItalyseeReeve,27-48.On thehumanist reception
ofLucretius andtheinterestinEpicureanism, seeGarin,1959;Pagnoni, andKraye,374-86.
See alsoHadzsits,269, foran accountoftheeditionsofLucretius aftertheeditioprinceps
of 1473.

professionof the doctrinesof Epicurus,namelythe assertionof a cosmos

devoidofDivine Providenceand thedenialofthesoul'simmortality." Yetthe
poem offeredtoo much else thatwas compellingforit to be ignored.Its
ethicaloutlookofrestraint and detachment comparedhonorablywiththatof
the Stoics; it was a rich repository of scientific knowledge, chiefly
meteorology,physiology,as well as what mightbe called sociology and
psychology; and in itsmythological tableauxitoffereda hermeneutic forthe
studyand poeticuseoffable.It is in thelatterdimensionthatthepoementers
the visualcultureof the late Quattrocento:fromthe 1480s, it servedas a
sourceof inventionsformythologicalpaintingsby Botticelliand Piero di
52
Cosimo. YetRenaissanceartmayowe a greatdeal more,to an extentwhich
remainsto be examined,to a poem deeplyengagedwiththenatureofvision
itself.53 The concernwithvisionis manifestin theelaborateexpositionof a
theoryof perceptionand cognition,of the natureof color, the relation
betweenvisualsensationand imagination,and in the text'sown strikingly
visual character,a vivid and even painterlyqualitywhich the poem'sfirst
commentator, writingin 15 11, referred
to as "drawnand paintedwithall the
54
truepigmentsof eloquence."
All of thecrucialelementsofGiorgione'spainting- wanderer, nursing
nude female,ruinedcolumns,and, mostimportantly, thelightingbolt
can be accountedforthroughLucretius'poem and thespecificinterests ofits
Renaissancereaders,as manifestin Pontano'simitationsand justifications of
the "sublime" didactic genre, which instructs while inspiring awe.
Nonetheless,thepaintingis notan illustration ofLucretius:itis an imitation,
and resemblesliteraryimitationsof Lucretiusfromthe late Quattrocento
particularly in thatelementsof thepoem aretranslated intothetermsofthe
contemporary world. As a point departure, might notedthatin Dan
of it be
Lettieri'srecentaccountof Giorgione'spicture,thefemalefigurehas been
identifiedas "madreuniversal,benignaterra,"a goddessof Natureor the
earthinvokedby the distraughtloverSinceroin Sannazaro'sArcadia; the
goddessappearsto Sinceroand dispersesthe stormyclouds of his unruly
5'Allen, 1 14, notes Ficino'schange of position on Lucretius,fromadmirationbefore
1474 (De voluptate;In Philebum; TheologiaPlatonica) to condemnation thereafter, as an
insanemelancholicand as a suicide (as well as a materialist).
5'On Lucretius, poetic invention, and mythological painting in Florence, see
Dempsey,32-52.
53
The Lucretiantermsimulacroappearsin theopticalwritingsof Leonardo,to signifya
transmitted likeness,and mayalso thusbe seenoperatingin hispracticeofrendering colorand
shadowin transparent films.Like Lucretius,he also uses thetermto designateboththeimage
of a desiredand powerfulobject (a divinityor the beloved). See F-arago,180, 188.
Pio, 167r:graficaetpicturataut omnibuseloquentiaepigmentisverisdescriptio,in qua
54
ex professoLucretiusexcelluit.

passion."The figure hasalsobeenidentified morethanonceas thegoddess

Venusas sheis encountered, in theformofa cultstatueovera fountain, by
anotherlovelornhero - Poliphilo in the Hypnerotomachia.16 Both
arefarfromincompatible;
interpretations in fact,whiletheyarearguedon
thebasisofcontemporaneous -
texts Sannazaro's Arcadiaas wellas the
Hypnerotomachia - an association ofVenuswithTellus mater andprimum
canbe foundin thecommonintertext
naturacreatrix forbothRenaissance
whichistheDe rerum natura. 17The common isthat
compositions, principle
thecontemplation ofstrife orturmoil - intheelements ofthecosmosorin
oneself- leadsto a formofunderstanding thatbringsan endto mental
whether
perturbation, thishasbeenbrought on byan excessofpassionand
orbyirrational
desire, fear.
Giorgione presents theconfrontation betweenmankindand an indif-
but
ferent, potentially violent, natural realm thatis centralto Lucretius'
poem. The also
painting presents, inthe dispositionofitshumanfigures ex-
posedto thestorm, thecontemplation, equanimity, anddetachment in the
faceofadversity whicharethecentral ethicalvaluespreached bytheLatin
poet.Thisserenedetachment is enjoinedon thereaderin circumstances of
warandcivicturmoil whichformthebackground ofLucretius'writing, and
beforethemanifestations ofa cruelly indifferentnaturetowhichhumanity
isnakedlyexposed. Most the and
importantly, ruling recurring imageofna-
turesappallingindifference is the stormand the lightningbolt,the
randomly recurrent tumult ofa heavenempty ofdivineagency. The storm is
thesupreme manifestation ofa naturalphenomenon whichcredulous hu-
manity interpretsas thehostilewillofthegods,andwhichtheEpicurean
and
calmly rightly confronts as an explicable and unfrightening phenome-
non.In thepoemthestormloomsas a constant signofthatwhichkeeps
manina stateofbenighted ignorance, a phenomenon needingtobe demy-
In
thologized: book 5 (121 8-2 1) the poet asks:"whose mind doesnotshrink
up with fear
of the gods, whose limbs do not crawl with whenthe
terror,
scorchedearthquakes withthe shiveringshockof a lightningblast
and rumblings
(fulminis) runthrough themighty sky?"18 In thefollowing
bookhe offerswhatamounts to a redemption fromtheterror ofthestorm:
55
Lettieri,57.
56
in termsof the Hypnerotomachia
For the interpretation Poliphili(recentlyrevivedby
Anderson,165-72) see Stefanini,1955.
5'For Nature personifiedin Lucretius,see 2:1090; 3:931; on natureas "omniparens,"
5:258, 821, 795; "primumnaturacreatrix,"5:1362; on "Tellusmater,"2:1150; thattheearth
meritsthe "maternumnomen,"5:821.
58
Lucretius,1982, 472. I have modifiedthe translationof W H. D. Rouse to render
fulminisas "lightningblast," which makes more sense given the subsequent referenceto
thunder.

"[I willexplainhowthefurious storms]ofwindsarise,and howtheyare

calmed, so that all is once more what itwas,changedanditsfury appeased;
and [I willexplain]all elsethatmenseehappening in earthandsky,when
theyareoftenheldin suspensewithaffrighted wits- happenings which
abasetheirspiritsthrough fearofthegods,keepingthemcrushedto the
earth.59
The climaxofthepoemin book6 is theexplication ofstorms; itspre-

eminent statusissuggested bythefollowing passage, andbythesubsequent
invocation ofCalliope,theMuseof"seriouspoetry: "Thelawandaspectof
theskyhavetobe understood; storms andbriLrht liLrhtningshavetobesung,
whattheydo,andbywhatcausetheyaresetinmotionatanytime;thatyou
maynot,likeonesenseless, divideup theheavens intoquarters, andtremble
toseefrom whichdirection theflying firehascome,ortowhichofthetwo
halvesithaspassedhence... Menareunabletoseethecausesoftheseworks
atall,andthinkthemtobe donebydivinepower. "60
Thestorm isa "piousstrife" (5:38,pionequaquam bello)oftheelements
which,ithasbeenpointedout,areallportrayed inGiorgione's picture - air,
water, and fire(in the form of all
lightning),bearing down upon the earth (we
canhererecallPontano's promise to deliver afiguraofthefourelements).
61
Springtime andautumnaretheprincipal seasonsforthunderstorms "andit

is no wonder," Lucretius, writes "ifat thattimeverymanythunderbolts are
made,anda turbulent tempest is stirredup in the sky,since all is confusion
withwell-matched warfare on bothsides,on thispartflames, andon that,
windsandwatercommingled. It is striking
,61
howthis otherwise ominous
mingling oftheelements relatesto therealmsofopticalsensation which
Giorgione pursues in hisdistinctive painterly technique. The Lucretian flux
andinteraction ofelements arefigured in thatatmospheric tonalunityfor
whichthe painteris so oftenpraised.Giorgione'srenderingof this
atmospheric density through a technique ofblended, interpenetrating layers
isa product ofa synthetic perspective on thenatural world,wherethevisual
fieldis composednotofobjectsandvoid,as in previous painting, butas a
totality of matter. Sky and air have been rendered with a palpabletexture,
witha senseoftheirintermingled composition from moisture, air,andfiery
ether. SinceLucretius teachesthatmatter andvacuity do notexistseparately
497.
'91bid.,1982, 6:48-53 translation,
60
499.
Ibid., 6:84-91 translation,
6'For instanceby Ferriguto,109f. and by Tschmelitsch,1966 and 1975. Neithernote
that the same notion of the harmonic strifeof the elementsopens Pio's commentaryon
ofAristotelian
Lucretius;as a result,theiradherenceto thephilosophicallinguafiranca physics
or theclichesof Neoplatonismfailsto producea convincinglypreciseand synthetic account
of the image.
62
521.
Lucretius,6:375-79; translation,

in thecosmos,butin an endlessly
mobileand tumultuous
mixturewhose
incidental is and
product meteorological geologicalphenomena the
and
oflivingthings,
existence modeofrendering
Giorgione's wouldhavea special
resonancefora beholderfamiliarwithEpicureancosmology.63
Standingapartto theleft,theman,like theviewer,calmlysurveysthe
entirespectaclein its totality:the gatheringclouds, the bolt of lightning
which rendersthe citywalls below incandescent,perhapsalso the mother
and child.Bothhe and she see thestormforwhatit is,not as a portentor as
theragingofa deity,butas theindifferent motionoftheelements.The bro-
ken columns behind the male figurehave been read by Edgar Wind as a
symbolof fortitude.64 yetgiventhatthesecolumnsarepartof a complexof
architecturalfragments, theycan be seen morepointedlyin termsof Lu-
cretius'argumentagainsttheplausibility of stormytheophanies.Lightning,
Lucretiuswrites,frequently strikesat thetemplesofgod; arewe supposedto
believe thatgod would strikeat his own dwelling?Or does the factthat
lightningstrikesall man-madestructures withoutdiscriminationnot rather
the
prove absurdity of divineintervention?6'The fallof also
buildings proves
theinstabilityof all thingsin nature,thepredisposition of matterto always
assumenew forms:66 "Again,do you not see thatevenstonesare conquered
by time,thattall turretsfalland rockscrumble,thatthegods' templesand
theirimageswear out and crack,nor can theirholydivinitycarryforward
the boundariesof fateor striveagainstnature'slaws?Again,do we not see
the monumentsof men fall to pieces?" (5:306-10)
The Epicurean philosopher in Lucretius' poem is characterized
throughoutas a wayfarer;this includes both Epicurus and the poet, his
disciple.Lucretiusintroducesthe themeof thewandererin his firstbook
(1:62-79), wherehe presentsan apotheosisof Epicurus:
61
Ibid., 4:54-90; 722-77.
64
Wind, 26-27, uniquely invoked the name of Lucretiuswith regardto Giorgione's
painting,onlyto quicklydisposeofit.He rejectedat theoutsetthepossibility
thatthepainting
was relatedto "a Lucretianconceptof dynamicmyth,"assumingthatthisis what Ferriguto's
Aristotelianreadingwas headingtoward.Yet laterin his texthe appearsdrawnmomentarily
to theLucretianconnection,whichhe briefly imaginesshornof itsscholasticcomponent:"If
thiswerethemoralof the Tempesta (i.e. Ferriguto's
tempestaserena,in whichtherawforcesof
natureare masteredby man), it would hardlybe necessaryin this instanceto invoke the
Aristotelianismof Ermolao Barbaro,since any Platonistor Stoic, or even any followerof
Lucretius, might have said the same." Wind thus saw the painting as a moral allegory,
regardingthisas moreconsonantwiththe "unencumberedstyle"of thepicture.
65
Lucretius, 1982: "Postremo cur sancta deum delubra suasque / discutit infesto
praeclaresfulminesedes,/ et bene factadeum frangitsimulacrasuisque / demitimaginibus
violentovoinerehonorem?"
66A point made by Ferriguto,II 8-19.

Whenman'slifelayforalltoseegroveling crushed
foully, beneaththeweight of
Superstition which
(religione) displayedher head from the of
regions heaven,
loweringovermortals withhorribleaspect,a manofGreecewasfirst thatdared
toupliftmortal eyesagainst the
her, first
to make standagainsther;forneither
fablesofthegodscouldquellhim,northelightning flash(fulmina),
norheaven
withmenacing roar.Butallthemoretheygoadedtheeagercourageofhissoul,
so thatheshoulddesire, ofallmen,toshatter
first theconfining barsofnature's
gates.Therefore thelivelypowerofhismindprevailed, andforth he marched
farbeyondtheflaming wallsoftheworld,as he traversed theimmeasurable
universein thought andimagination; whencevictorious heretums bearinghis
prize,theknowledge ofwhatcancomeintobeing, whatcannot,ina word,how
eachthinghasitspowerslimitedand itsdeep-setboundary mark.Therefore
Superstitionisnowinherturncastdownandtrampled underfoot,whilstweby
thevictoryareexaltedhighas heaven.(7)
The wandererfigure,whose clothingbears the signs of urban
sophistication,hasembarked on a literal"marching beyondthewalls"(the
incandescent walls
lightning-illuminated may even manifest an allusionto
theflammantia moeniamundibywhichLucretius designates theterrestrial
realm). He could perhaps be identified with the pioneeringGreek
philosopher,whosecontemplation ofnaturalphenomena andthecondition
ofmanispresented byLucretius asa heroicquest;or,moreprobably, hecould
be a contemporary "Epicurean" who has left
the to
city pursue truth at the
point where civilization
givesplace to nature.
Clearly,he does not wear the
dressof a philosopher(althoughthe youngestof the Vienna Three
whowearsa whiteshirt
Philosophers, withgoldembroideries, isalsounusual
inthisrespect). his
Yet identity be
couldperhaps conveyed through evoking
a long-standingstereotypeofthe"Epicurean." Giorgione hasgivenhimthe
parti-colored hose of an aristocratic Venetianyouth,who withmany
members ofhisclassparticipated in one oftwenty-three festivecompanies
knownas thecompagnie dellacalza: fraternities of thestocking.These
brotherhoods wereprominent andfamiliar inVenetian lifebythe1500s,and
hadalsorecently includedtheyoungprinces Francesco GonzagaofMantua
and Alfonsod'Este of Ferrara among theirmembers. 67
The compagnie,
devotedto littlebeyondthepleasureof theirmembers, had a distinctly
libertinecast;theSenatewouldoccasionallyintervene to curtailtheir
banquets"sosumptuous as to causescandalto God andtheworld,"which
weresometimesfrequented by courtesans.The diaristMarinSanudo
reported thatin 1508 theircustomary theatrical
performances werebanned;
a laterrenewaloftheprohibition describedsuchperformances as "incentives
"Two similarly-attired young men appear as singersin Titian'sBattleoftheAndrians

(Madrid, Prado), paintedforAlfonsod'Este around 1525. On the compag-nie della calza, see
Venturi,1908a and 1908b.

to lasciviousnessand a detestablecorruptionofworthyhabits."'68 We arenot

farawayherefroma classicstereotype ofthefollowers ofEpicurusas devotees
of sensual pleasure,one fromwhich contemporaryreadersof Lucretius
sometimestook pains to distancethemselves,yetalso a characterization
whichhad been embracedaffirmatively by a speakerin LorenzoValia'sDe
voluptate O 43 1). In 1468 the humanist sodalityaround Pomponio Leto,
anothergroupgivento feastingand theatricalperformance, weresimilarly
accused of being "Epicureans,"on the groundsof morallicenseas well as
allegedphilosophicalmaterialism.69
But Giorgione's youth is farfromhis habitual milieu, prompting
reflectionon whatitmightmeanfora memberofone ofthecompagnie to be
shownoutsidethecity,bearingthestaffofa pilgrimor a wanderer.The link
betweentheidentity ofurbanlibertineand thatofa moreascetic"seeker"in
the realmof naturais a philosophicalattitudegroundedin the realityof
sensation,whichseeksto investigate thedynamicsofnaturalphenomenaand
physical existence. The wanderer now contemplatesthe realmof natura,
havingalreadyexperienced itshuman and social aspect.
Pontano,in his collectionof eroticverse,had comparedhimselfto the
wayfaringEpicurean seeker afterknowledge of the nature of things,
contrasting thiswithhis identityas a lovepoet in Parthenopeus VI,wherehe
had "darednotto touchthevirginsprings,or to undertakethedifficult path
of thehighmountain,whereLucretiusrecliningat theMuse's cavejoins in
theworthysongwithsupporting voice."'OSo, too,Lucretiushad proclaimed
himselfto be a wayfaring disciple,walkingin the footstepsof Epicurusin
orderto encounterremoteor unfrequented places:"youI follow,0 gloryof
the Grecian race, and now on the marksyou have leftI plant my own
footstepsfirm,not so much desiringto be yourrivalas forlove,because I
yearnto imitateyou" (3.3-6). And Lucretiusalso claims the statusof a
pioneerin thathis poeticmateriais unprecedented in theworkof anyother
poet: "thehighhope of renown has struck my mind sharplywithholywand,
and at thesametimehasstruckintomyheartsweetloveoftheMuses,thrilled
bywhichnow in livelythoughtI traverse pathlesstractsofthePieridesnever
68
Venturi,1908a, 219, citesthe 1460 Senatorialcondemnationof "cenaset pastus,adeo
sumptuosos,quod estquaedam abhominatiodeo et mondo." For Sanudo on theprohibition
of comedies "incentivodi lasciviaet detestabilecorrutteladelli boni costumi"see Venturi,
1908a, 220. Sanudo wrotein 1530 about the Council of Ten's renewalof ordinancesfirst
proclaimedin 1508.
69Garin,1959, 222.
70
Pontano, 1948, 71: Nam mihi iam pridem tenuesagitanturamores,/ Attritamque
sequor vatibus ipse viam / Intactos ausus necdum contingerefontes/ Arduus et summa
carperemontisiter/Hic, ubi PieriorecubansLucretiusantro/Concinuitlatiocarminadigna
sono /Ac rarumsiculusfoecundopectorevates/ Rerumnaturaecondiditauctoropus.

trodden byanyfoot.I loveto approach virgin springs, andthereto drink"

(1:926-50).
His uniqueness as a poetis againfigured in evocations oftheHelicon
fountain,the wellspringof poetic originalityand authority,in a
recapitulation ofthispassagein book4, 1-10. In thelightofthisLucretian
imageofthefountofpoetry as sourceofwisdomde rerum natura, thepool
in theforeground of Giorgione'spaintingcan be seen as a "reallife"
equivalent forthefountain oftheMuses.Unlikethetimeless fountain of
the
myth, Epicurean source is also
recognizably parta of the world of the
observer,andbelongs theunidealized realmofnatura. " The canthus
Tempest
be seento depicttheEpicurean poetcontemplating hismateria, thatis,the
"Matter" and"source" from whichhedrawshisinspiration. Aligned withthe
fountainis a landscapeembodyingthe strifeof the elementsand a
contemporary cityoftheterraferma, a spectacleencompassing "thenature of
things" in theireveryday, local manifestation. Some recent readings of the
picturehavedecipheredcertainbackgroundelementsin termsof the
precarious fortunes ofVeniceduringtheWarsoftheLeagueofCambrai
(1509-17):theseoccurinthefaint, distantoutlines ofthecarro, thestemma
ofthelongextinct former rulers ofPadua,stillvisibleon thegatesofsubject
citiessuchas Cittadelia. 72
Ifthiselement oftopicality exists,ithasparallels
withthe literaryenterprise.Lucretius'poem was writtento provide
consolation in a timeofcivilwarfare - hencethefamousopening, where
VenusGenetrix is invokedto disarmherloverMars.Pontanoin hispoem
Uraniadigressed from hismythopoetic exposition ofplanetary motions and
influence in
toportray vividterms distress
Italy's during theWar of Ferraraof
1482-84. justas Pontanoincorporated
73
references tocontemporary politics
inhisimitation ofLucretius, so Giambattista Pioinhis1511 commentary on
theDe rerumnaturalinkedthe accountof the Epicureancosmosto
"These passagesin thepoemmayalsohelpmakesense,ifthiswerenecessary, ofthe
concealed ofan original
vestiges version wherethewayfarer figuredoesnotappear,andinhis
placeis a secondfemalefigureseatedbytheedgeofthepool.Although thischangeofmind
hasoftenbeentakenas evidenceofthe"improvisational" character workin
ofGiorgione's
general,and(evenmoreillogically),asanargument against ofanykind,itcould
interpretation
simply besaidthatthefigure ofNaturawasmovedfrom thelefttotherighthandside,orthat
thecanvasoriginally an entirely
presented differentsubject.Yetevenifitcouldbeprovedthat
theoriginalversionomittedthemalefigure, it is almostinevitablethatan imageofnude
female figures a
by pool would have evokedthetopos ofwaternymphs andMuses,especially
fora beholder familiar
withimages suchasthePastoral ButthecautionofSheard,148,
Concert.
mustbeborninmind:"Pentimenti, orspontaneous changesduring thepainting
process,have
neverimpliedthelackofa predetermined subject."
"See Howard,Kaplan.
"The lengthy accountcomprises mostofthesectioninbook5: "On thelandssubjectto
Leo andtheSun."See Pontano,1513,96r-97r.

contemporary realityand recenthistory - thewarsof Italy,thepapal

campaignagainstBologna,earthquakes and plagues.BartolomeoScala
incorporateda descriptionofa plagueinFlorence, closelymodeledon book
4 ofDe rerum natura, inhisowndidactic poem De arboribus 74
(ca. 1494-97).
Allofthesearehistorical contingencieswhichproduceanxiety anddistress,
theperturbatiowhichthephilosophical poetseeks to assuagebypointing to
theircauses:"Pleasantit is,whenon thegreatsea thewindstroublethe
waters,togazefromshoreuponanother's greattribulation:
notbecauseany
man'stroubles area delectable but
joy, becauseto perceivewhat illsyouare
freefromyourself is pleasant"
(2:1-4).
3. "THis is OUR VENUS
The nakedwomanandchildareexposedtotheimpending ofthestorm

fury
in thefullestpossiblesense.It is thiscircumstance whichmayhaveled
Michielto identify heras a gypsy, for,as recently demonstrated byPaul
Holberton,gypsiescould be described,in PietroBembo'swords,as
"primitives"who "wandered theworldnaked,shaggyand savage in the
manner ofbeasts,without a roof,without humanintercourse, withoutany
civilized
custom."75 Such"primitives," however, couldalsobe characterized
as Epicureans. In theletter MundusNovuswritten byAmerigo Vespuccito
Lorenzodi Pierfrancesco de'Mediciand publishedin 1503, thenative
inhabitantsoftheNewWorldaredescribed in preciselytheseterms."They
livenakedin thewild,theyrespect no principle ofsexualcontinence, and
haveno templeandno religion, nordo theyworship idols.Whatmorecan
I say?Theyliveaccording to nature,andmightbe calledEpicureans rather
thanStoics."76
Despiteherexposedcondition, thewoman's gaze,whichconfronts that
ofthebeholder, is a maskofdetachment; herposeis basedon a classical
prototype (farfromusualwithGiorgione) andshehasfeatures in common
withVenusGenetrix intheHypnerotomachia is but
(who anything "bestial").
Detachment is perhapsherprincipaldivineattribute, a characteristic
she
shareswithotherVenetian "Venuses" byTitian and who
Giorgione, appear
equallyhumanand material.Hereagainit is Lucretius whoprovidesan
frame,
interpretative notonlyinhisultimate demythologization ofVenusbut
14
The reportageofrecenteventsso engagedPio thathe indulgeditsoccasionalirrelevance
to the poem: "Si datur occasio, etiam si non datur,in patriam nostraememoriamnobis
divertaredulce est."Pio, 151 1, fol.cvv.This passagefollowsa long and bitterexcursuson the
papal annexationof Bologna; foran accountoflocal earthquakessee his commentsin book 5,
fol.clxxir.For Scala'sDe arboribus,see Scala, 426-45, withthe plague describedat 2:229-45,
296-303.
15
Bembo,Asolani,quoted in Holberton,1995, 391.
16
Vespucci,49-50.

alsoinhisfamous descriptions ofthepredicament of"Primitive humanity."

Muchoftheinterest intheprimitive stateofhumanity whichappeared inthe
lateQuattrocento wasitself owing to the influenceof the De rerum natura,as
ismostfamously manifest intheStories Man
ofPrimitive by Piero di Cosimo,
whoincluded exotic,gypsy-like inhisStory
figures ofVulcan. BothPiero,and
and also
Giorgione, possibly Bembo, were drawing on the famous passagein
book5 ofLucretius, wherethehumanraceisdescribed as livinginthewild,
foraging nakedandsleeping on theground likebeasts,hidingtheir"squalida
membra" intheunderwoods whentheyhadtoshelter from thewindandthe
rain:"Theydweltinwoodlandprecincts oftheNymphs, familiar tothemin
theirwanderings, whencetheyknewthatsomerunningrivuletissued
rippling overthewetrocks, rippling overthewetrocksinabundant flowand
dripping the
upon green moss" In the
(5:948-52). 1648, pioneering historian
ofVenetian artCarloRidolfiidentified an otherwise unknown painting ofa
half-length womanwitha childand otherfigures as relating to Lucretius'
passageon thehelplessness ofprimitive humanity beforetheharshness of
Nature- andheattributed thepainting toGiorgione. Ridolfi isnotoriously
profligate inhisGiorgione attributions,buttheimportant pointhereis that
a painting resembling a work byGiorgione couldhave been connected with
thetextofDe rerum natura(5:222-28):"Ina painting oflife-size half-length
figures, (Giorgione)paintedthesymbolofhumanlife.Thereappeareda
womanintheguiseofa nurse, holding a tenderchildinherarms, whohardly
havingfeltthefirst raysofdaylight wasexperiencing themiseries ofhuman
life,andwasweeping. Alluding to thisLucretius sang in these verses ofthe
newborn child:"thechild,likea sailorcastforth bythe cruel waves, liesnaked
upontheground, speechless, inneedofevery kindofvitalsupport, as soon
as naturehasspilthimforth withthroesfromhismother's wombintothe
regions oflight, andhefillsallaroundwithdoleful wailings - as isbutjust,
seeingthatso muchtrouble awaitshiminlifetopassthrough. ))77
In thisnatural stateofhumanity described byLucretius inbook5,itwas

VenusGenetrix whoheldsway:"AndVenusjoinedthebodiesoflovers inthe
woods;foreither thewomanwasattracted by mutual desire, or caughtbythe
"Ridolfi, "Vita di Giorgioneda Castel Franco"in Le Maravigliedell'arte,1648; entire

textin Anderson,370-73, with the quoted passage on 371-72: In quadro di mezze figure
quanto il naturale,feceil simbolodell'humanavita.Ivi apparivauna donna in guisadi Nutrice,
che tenevatr'ale bracciatenerobambino,che 'a pena aprivai lumi alla diurnaluce provando
le miseriedella vita direttamentepiangeva: alludendo 'a quello cant'o Lucretiodell'huomo
"
nascentein questi versi.Lucreti.Lib. 5. Tumporropuer, ut saevisproiectusab undis. The
painting also included an armed man of robustaspect, to indicate the hot-bloodednessof
youth,as well as a boy disputingwith philosophers(perhapsan echo of The Educationof
MarcusAurelius?), an old woman,and a nakedold man meditatingupon a skull.He adds that
the paintingwas believedto be in the Cassinellicollectionat Genoa.

man )s violent force and vehement lust" (5:963-65). For Lucretius, Venus is
finally characterized in terms of human nature itself. His view of Venus

Genetrix accords her no necessary existence beyond her manifestation in the
reproductive functions of living creatures. Although beginning his poem
with the famous sublime invocation of Venus, the goddess subsequently
appears in the poem in her distinctively everyday and non-divine
manifestations, in the plural form of "Veneres nostras" (4:1185). "This, then,
is our Venus" he writes (4:1058), having explained the power of sight and of
the appearance (simulacrum) in the arousal of sexual desire. Some
Renaissance commentators noted the inconsistency of invoking the goddess
18
in a poem denying divine agency. Perhaps in order to preserve the
mythological hermeneutic of Lucretius' poem, which precludes the literal
appearance and activity of the gods, Giorgione presents her in the
unmetaphysical form in which the forces she designates are most fully
materialized - in a figure which suggests the dynamic of human attraction,
desire, and generation, as well as alluding to humanity in its natural state. In
other words, she is not Venus, but a mortal body in which a certain natural
- the
property of living things ability to arouse desire, to generate and to
nurture, a property to which poets and superstitious people had given the
name "Venus" - has manifested itself
Giorgione has made every effort to humanize, even de-mythologize the
figure of the divina genitrice as she had appeared in the Hypnerotomachia,
removing her from her shrine and trappings of divinity, accentuating her
nudity, and placing her upon the earth like a Madonna of Humility.` The
earthly female body as a "material" reduction of an allegorical personification
is also strikingly evoked in a dismissal of Lucretius by an early Christian
writer of considerable authority, and a major source of information about the
Epicureans. This was Lactantius (ca. 250-ca. 326), one of the earliest authors
printed in Italy, and whose writings appeared in at least nine Venetian
editions between 1471 and 1515. According to Lactantius, Lucretius
conceived Epicurus as stumbling upon Wisdom, incongruously embodied as
5580
a woman, "lying with feet extended toward the source. Such equivocations
are part of the language of the picture, and at the root of its perception as both
allegory and genre painting. Once again, however, in the Tempest we see not
Wisdom, but wisdom, as it were, incarnate, in a singularly undivine
manifestation.
In his tolerant comprehension and contemplation of the instinctual side
of human nature denoted by Venus, and her central place in "the nature of
"See Pio, fol. Ir. and the commentaryof Dionysus Lambinus,in Lucretius,1565, 7.
"
7'Emison, 7 1, aptlyremarksthat [Giorgione]used nudityto excludethe parallelwith
Madonna and Child and used clothingto avoid mythologicalreference."
"See the epigraphto thisarticle.

things"in general,theEpicureanphilosopher attainsa postureofsober

detachment. So too,perhaps,couldGabrielVendramin, whoselifelong
celibacymayreflect a philosophical attitude conditioned byStoicismand
we
Epicureanism; might recall herehis of a
ownersh"lp Giorgione entitled The
EducationofMarcusAurelius, whichcan be seennowas a kindofStoic
pendantto theEpicureanTempest.
ItisVeniceaboveall,thecenter ofthepublishing world,thatprovides the
mostvitalindications ofLucretian andEpicurean studiesin thefirst decade
ofthesixteenth century. The 1495Veniceedition wasfollowed byanother in
1500,editedbyHieronymus Avantius fortheAldinePress;theOperaof
Pontanoappearedin 1505,and in 1511 thehumanistGiambattista Pio
followedwithhis own editionin Bologna." A further Aldineedition
followedin 1515. The poemenjoyeda fairly widereception withinand
beyond humanist circles in northern Italy: for instance, the marchese of
Mantua,Francesco Gonzaga,though often thought of as a man ofaction
withlittletimeforintellectual pursuits, soughtouta copyofLucretius in
Florence,with emendations by Michele Marullo, 15in 00.12 The reception of
thepoemwasfacilitated the
by availability ofa morebalancedaccountof
Epicureanism, DiogenesLaertius'LivesofthePhilosophers, whichhad
appearedin several vernacular versionsby1499.
83
The earlyCinquecento editionsofLucretius provide furtherindications

inattitude
ofa shift toLucretius andhisphilosophical poetry which afford a
perspectiveon the Tempest. Aldus added an apology to his first
edition which
departsfromtheearlyQuattrocento's pre)udices againstLucretius in the
of its
neutrality position: Lucretius be
might read, wrote, he "not because
whathemight havewritten istrueortobebelieved byus- sincehedissents
greatlyfrom the academics and peripatetics,nottomention ourtheologians
- butbecausehecommitted theEpicurean dogma toversewithgreatlearn-
ingand elegance." Pio'sapproachis muchlessapologetic,and directly
84
addressestheconspiracy ofsilenceandCiceronian slander whichhadgrossly

misrepresented Lucretius andthedoctrines ofEpicurus. In thecourseofhis
commentary, Pio takesup thecudgelagainsttheStoicenemiesofEpicure-
anism"bywhoseauthority Cicerooftenrailsat and insultsEpicurusas a
voluptuary enslaved the
by loveofwomen.BecauseifCicerohad looked
81
On Pio see Raimondi.
8'Lorenzodi Pierfrancesco de'Medici sentFrancescoGonzaga in 1501 a "Pliniostudiato
dal Poliziano,"butstatedthathe could notfindPoliziano'sLucretius;therefore
he was sending
theversion"emendatoda Marullo, il quale dalli docti homini'e comendato."See Luzio and
Renier,15.
83
See Pagnoni, 1459-60.
84
etcredendanobis,- nam ab academicisetia-m
non quod verascripserit etperipateticis,
neduma theologisnostrismultumdissentit- sed quia epicuraesectaedogmataeleganteret
doctismandavitcarminibus.Quoted in Dionisotti,56.

uponthatpleasure belovedofEpicurus witheyesandmindnotblindedby

envyhewouldhavechangedhismindaboutit.Indeedhewouldhavedis-
coveredthatstate(ofpleasure)to be a peaceand tranquillity ofthemind
whosenourishment wastheinvestigation ofnature'ssecrets,fromthecon-
templation ofwhichcomesthatpleasure whichis pronounced tobe overall
"85
pleasures.
BeyondAldus and Pio, severalotherhumanists featuredpositive
characterizations ofEpicurean voluptasintheir
works.86
Given thedimension
ofVenetianpoliticsin theearlysixteenth century,there was something
particularly arrestingaboutthepoem'sconfrontational stance,thepoet's
claimtostripawayillusions, hisgraspon thepsychology ofhumanfearand
itsmanipulation byorganized Allofthismadeitespecially
religion. attractive
tohumanists whowerepolitically opposedtotheauthoritarian
orspiritually
andworldly papaciesofAlexander VI andhissuccessors,andwouldhavehad
specialresonance in Venice in the eraof thewarsofCambrai (1509-17).The
famousassaultofLucretius on religio andsuperstitionwasappropriated by
Pontanoin the Urania(1.679 ff.)yetnowreconciledwitha postureof
ChristianorthodoXy.87 Subsequently theLucretianattack onreligiowastaken
up by the Ferrarese Celio Calcagnini around 1512,during hisown native
city's
struggle withthepapaCY.88
The Tempest, then,isa workwhichoriginates notjustwithin a "learned"
source,but withina broadersocial ideal of intellectualand personal
cultivation centered on theactofcontemplation, whether ofbooksor of
things,and on theideal of secluded study which humanists oftenchoseto
as an of One
represent experience voluptas. way givingvoluptasof a moral
foundation wasbyturning tothesoberversion ofEpicureanism foundinthe
"Pio, preface: quorum auctoritatem sequtus Cicero saepicule vellicat et sugillat

Epicurumtanquamvoluptariumet mulierumamoribusancillantem.Quod si Cicero mentis
oculos non invidiaecollimassetatque direxissetad amasiamEpicurivoluptatem,libenterad
Comperissetenim eam statumesse animisedatumatque tranquillum,cuius
illamdivertisset.
pabulum eratscrutatiosecretorumnaturaeex cuius contemplationevoluptasorituromnem
voluptatemexcedens.
"Among themFilippo Beroaldoof Bologna,and GiovanniTortelliin his Orthographia,
published in Venice in 1501: "dicebat voluptatem esse finem, non ... luxuriosorum
voluptatem,nec eam quae in gustu est, ut quidam male intellexere,sed eam quae est non
dolere,animoque tranquillamesse,et perturbationevacare."Quoted in Garin, 1959, 228.
8'As is arguedby Goddard, 1991.
88
"It is vain superstitionto keep invokingthe powerfuldivinities:let not even the
thunderbolts thatflythroughtheairdeceiveyou! .... Behold theRoman priests,who indeed

acknowledge thatthereis a god who possessesthehighestpowerovermenand heaven.... As
theytell it, he createdthe heavens,the earth,and the stars;theyimagine that he had not
materialor physicalsubstance,but thathispoweralone,whichwas supreme,made it: nothing
more foolish than that has ever been heard." From the silva "Coelii secta," quoted and
translatedin Bacchelli,342, who does not note theallusionto Lucretius.

poetryof Lucretius,a textwhich was avidlystudied by Pontano, Scala,

Poliziano,Celio Calcagnini,ErmolaoBarbaro,and GiambattistaPio - the
leadinglightsofItalianhumanism,in otherwords.Contemplativevoluptas is
the main thematicaccent of the image, and also points to its original
function:an imageof contemplation to shapeand directthemeditationsof
itsowner.89
In theEpicureansenseas it was understoodat thetime,contemplation
had been assigneda specificethicalvalueentailingdetachmentand themas-
teryof perturbation,and this mightwell have fittedthe private self-
cultivationof a learnedVenetianman of affairsin the troubleddecade of
1500-11. The attainment ofserenitywas at thecoreofdiscussionson theval-
ues of sacred and secular learning conducted by figureswith whom
Vendraminwould have been acquainted - Paolo Giustiniani, Pietro
Quirini,and Taddeo Contarini.Quiriniand Giustinianifinallysoughtthis
desiredtranquility in thespiritualexercisesof themonasticprofession, en-
teringthe Camaldolesi order in 151 1. Among the humanisticpursuits
Quirinileftbehindwas his criticalworkon thetextof Lucretius,acknowl-
edgedbyAldus in his editionof 1500.90Remarkably, however,evenin holy
ordersthe saintlyGiustinianiwould professhimselfto be a followerof
Epicurus.Voluptas, he wrote,was indeedthehighestgood, but it was to be
achievedbythecontemplation ofGod in everyday life.9'This assimilationof
voluptas and the summum bonum by a reformer of thechurch is perhapsthe
culminating pointoftheearlyCinquecentoreinvention ofEpicurusinwhich
thedisseminationof Lucretiusplayedsuch a vitalrole.This rehabilitation
would be onlypartlysuccessful, especiallyin theclimateofintensifying anx-
ietyaboutphilosophicaland theologicalorthodoxy duringthereligiouscrisis
after1517, whenLucretius'materialism and denialof thesoul'simmortality
would makea philosophicalengagement withhis textincreasingly difficult,
at leastin Italy.Alreadyin 1516 theSynodof Florencehad specifically con-
92
demnedthereadingofLucretiuson thesevery,grounds. Itwas perhapssuch
scruples which, within a short time, would place the readability of
Giorgione'spaintingin oblivion.
THE JOHNs HoPKINS UNIVERSITY
"Without adducing the Epicurean dimension, which would have enabled a more
convincinglinkbetweentranquility ofmindand meditationupon nature,Settisconcludedhis
studyofGiorgionewithindicationsofthecentrality ofthecontemplative
impulsein Venetian
intellectualimpulsein the earlyCinquecento. See Settis,128 ff.
'OF.Gilbert,983.
91
Massa, 32: "il Giustinianisi scostadalla intrepretazione
edonisticanegativa,che Marco
Tullio fa risalireagli stoici,per riconoscereun Epicuro spiritualein Cogitationesquotidiane
LXI, 1: Si voluptas,que animo percipitur, summumet extremumest hominis... bonum."
See also Pagnoni,1474-77.
92
F. Gilbert,978.

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Giorgione's "Tempest," "Studiolo" Culture, and the Renaissance Lucretius

Author(s): Stephen J. Campbell and Giorgione

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

Renaissance 56 (2003): 299-332

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

FIGURE 1. Giorgione, The Tempest.Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia di Belle Arti.

meaning of the painting through a redefinition of its cultural context, inev-

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3ForGiorgione andtheculture ofcollectingin thecircleofGabrielVendramin andhis

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

theQuattrocento had beentheOrationes contrapoetas (1455) ofErmolao

A decorated, intimate spacecalledcamerino, orstanzino,

'On thegenerally censorious orutilitarian

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vidualitywereprivileges thatcamewiththeownership and leadership ofa

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

onedoesafter yearsofreading LivyandPolybius, andalltheancienthisto-

Placedamongst hisfamous collectionofancient fragments, Vendramin's

The Tempest is notsimplya passiveproductof thiselitecultureof

"Manuzio, 72r: le quai cose con attentopensieroparticolarmente riguardando,tante

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

valuesofreading, collecting,andcontemplation. Butbefore wecanestablish

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

bythemeteorological eventwhichhasgiventhepainting itsname- a flash

Suchreadings do suLy waysin whicha Cinquecentoobserver

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

"On the relationto theHypnerotomachia.,see mostrecently

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FIGURE 2. From Francesco Colonna, Hvpnerotomachia Poliphili. Venice, Aldus

Formalresemblancealone is an unreliablebasison whichto determine

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This content downloaded from 195.78.108.185 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:23:20 AM

FIGURE4. Attributedto Titian,An Idyll:A Motherand a Halbardierin a

Given that both sixteenth-century referencesare inaccuratein their

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placidnudityin thefaceofa gatheringstormmightmakeuswonderabout

2. "THE LAW AND AsPECT OF THE SKY"

"Fromwhatcanbe understood about"gypsyiconography' in thesixteenth it

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authorsforatleastan hourevery day,as ifyouwerestillinschool.Thiswill

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worthofpoetry byturningfrom tomoredidactic

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earth,placedat centerofthecosmosbytheforceofitsownmight, holdingan

Estdeusesttrinum semperlaudabilenumen,/ undetrahunt rerumseminaprima

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It is noteworthy thatdespitetheCarmelite poet)soppositionto Epicurean-

AtleastthreeotherGiorgionesque worksareconcerned witha visual

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professionof the doctrinesof Epicurus,namelythe assertionof a cosmos

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passion."The figure hasalsobeenidentified morethanonceas thegoddess

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"[I willexplainhowthefurious storms]ofwindsarise,and howtheyare

The climaxofthepoemin book6 is theexplication ofstorms; itspre-

Springtime andautumnaretheprincipal seasonsforthunderstorms "andit

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"Two similarly-attired young men appear as singersin Titian'sBattleoftheAndrians

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to lasciviousnessand a detestablecorruptionofworthyhabits."'68 We arenot

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trodden byanyfoot.I loveto approach virgin springs, andthereto drink"

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