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Giorgione, the Face That Speaks Again
#Exhibitions
Giorgione, Double Portrait, Circa 1502, Oil on canvas, National Museum of Palazzo Venezia, Rome | Photo: Alberto Novelli and Alessio Panunzi

An enigmatic face steps back into the spotlight. Palazzo Barberini presents one of the most intriguing portraits of early 16th-century Venetian painting: a masterpiece attributed to Giorgione, rarely seen outside Hungary and still shrouded in questions about identity, dating and meaning. Originating from a Venetian collection, the painting arrives in Rome to be shown alongside the Double Portrait, an exceptional loan that allows a rare, intimate comparison between two works vibrating with the same poetic tension. Seen together, the canvases reveal what made Giorgione revolutionary - his ability to turn portraiture into a psychological riddle, closer to poetry than representation. Around this core, the exhibition expands to explore how his innovations reshaped the genre - from the authoritative portraits of Bronzino and Bartolomeo Veneto to Holbein’s state imagery, and the sentimental current later perfected by Raphael’s Fornarina. A fresh perspective on a Master who left more questions than answers.
Viola Canova - © 2025 ARTE.it for Bvlgari Hotel Roma