c. 1505~10, 83*73cm
The Tempest is one of the most arguedover works in existence. Its importance in relation to the development of Venetian painting lies in the predominance of land-
scape for
its own sake. Fortunately, everyone accepts that this painting is by Giorgione, but who is this motionless soldier, brooding quietly in the storm, and who the naked gypsy, feeding her child and apparently unaware of any company? Attempts to read the scene as a novel version of the Flight into Egypt are usually foiled by the inexplic-
able fact of the woman's nakedness. Despite this, countle-
ss scenarios have been provided, all ingenious and all of them making some sense. Elucidation has not been helped by scientific analysis,
which reveals that the first draft of the work included a second naked woman, bathing in the stream. The "real meaning" may elude us, but perhaps that elusiveness is the meaning. We are shown the world lit up with the startling clarity of a sudden flash of lightning, and in that revelation we
are able to behold mysteries that were hitherto concealed
within the darkness.
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