Giorgione, herons and a Carpaccio Knight

Giorgione's Tempest is one of Western art's most enduring enigmas. A great deal has been said and written on the theme of the work, and increasingly, the most sensible analysis tends to lend itself to an acknowledgement of a dichotomous reading. Any student of Giorgione's work, and indeed of the Renaissance will accede that use of symbolism to promote ambiguity and mystery in private commissions added an allure. The probable patron, and documented owner of the work Gabriele Vendramin used to delight at puzzling his guests with the 'Tempest', as each would have a go at trying to decipher the myriad symbols and adapt it to a unifying construct.

Like a lot of great Renaissance art, Giorgione's Tempest seemed to operate in a 'sacred and profane' register, a theme that was to be most profoundly illustrated by Giorgione's Venetian counterpart Titian. In fact, Titian's Sacred and Profane Love was completed at a time when Giorgione's influence on the younger artist can be quite clearly seen - particularly in the depiction of the landscape.

The clothed bride and the earthly town behind her are juxtaposed against the Sacred 'Venus Urania' and the celestial realm behind her - indicated by the Church. Both congregate at the fountain of love, which cupid stirs

Hence, if we are willing to accept that Giorgione and his Renaissance counterparts deliberately sought discussion-provoking multiple meaning, which included both worldly and spiritual contemplation, then we can start to look more closely at the symbols used to illustrate this concept.

In Tempest, Giorgione's depiction of an unclothed woman has caused some discomfort in some in identifying it as a depiction of the Madonna. Perhaps not plagued by some of these biases, the notion of a nude Madonna is not 'unimaginable' to me in the slightest, not when looked at in the context of the depiction of Venus depicted with humility, such as Botticelli's famous 'Birth of Venus', or even the later Titian depiction seen above. For more on Botticelli's depictions of Venus and their deeper Christian symbolism, please read Deconstructing Aphrodite by David Bellingham, excerpted from Brill's Companion to Aphrodite (2010).

The Sacred Virgin of antiquity reverberates through time. The Venus Pudica (modest Venus) was appropriated as a symbol of Christian humility by Renaissance artists such as Botticelli and Titian.

Fortunately, to save us from those who insist on seeing nothing more than a 'Gypsy and Soldier' in the 'Tempest' has been the remarkable work of independent Giorgione researcher Dr Frank DeStefano. Frank's story is quite fascinating, and indicative of the type of incidental inspiration that can bless our lives and lead us in exciting new directions. He first saw Tempest in Venice and Venetia (1911) by Edward Hutton and was surprised to discover its description as a painting with no religious meaning. To him it represented 'The Rest during the flight into Egypt.' Frank has written a paper on this which can be read here. He also has a new blog page where he publishes articles further exploring his research into 'Tempest' and related works.

When I first presented Tempest at 3PP, it was in the context of Waldemar Januszczak's coverage of it in Every Painting Tells a Story. This was admittedly the first time I had heard of its mysterious history, but had of course known of Giorgione due to my fondness for The Pastoral Concert. Januszczak presented a classical reading of  Tempest - something which whilst not entirely unprecedented, is interesting for the fact that his depiction of it in a short format TV documentary was unique. Indeed Giorgione seems to be a topic that other documentarians have avoided with great care. For this Mr. Januszczak needs to be commended, bringing this work to the attention of the greater public.

What must be clarified however is that despite his Homeric/classical approach - he still arrives at a description of the bird on the rooftop as a symbol of vigilance - something that has been present in descriptions of herons, storks and cranes since early Christian times. Further research into Christian Bestiary, or the Christian symbolism of animals will reveal some interesting antecedents of the heron's symbolic use.  Particularly interesting was the Medieval perception of the heron as flying above storm clouds which lead to them becoming symbols of righteousness, avoiding the storms of the world.  It is fascinating to note that Giorgione's bird, a tiny dab of paint is perched high on a rooftop beholding the approaching storm.

Leading on from this, the heron, and other similar birds  that stood on one leg such as cranes and storks became symbols of vigilance. This iconography was often described in the emblem books that arose in the 16th century, with the depiction of these birds commonly enlisted in everything from painting to heraldic imagery.

This image of a 16th Century German chess set was posted on Twitter by London symbols enthusiast, writer and editor Clare Gibson. It inspired this post! It depicts a crane/heron as a symbol of vigilance.

In the wonderful discussion that ensued after the 3pp Giorgione post, Frank presented his argument for Tempest as 'The Rest.' A factor of his analysis he had not yet considered was the rooftop bird. In descriptions by other art historians, the bird had been given very little attention. As we are about to discover - doing this with Giorgione is perilous. Artists choose their symbols so deliberately that any analysis hoping to be comprehensive must consider it. It can reveal clues found in other works that will help unravel the meaning of something as initially unfathomable as Tempest.

Fortunately for us, Frank provided a wonderful literary source for the bird as not only a sacred symbol, but also an icon of worldly vigilance! As Frank identified

Below are listed verses from the Jerusalem Bible (102, v.7-8), and the Latin Vulgate (101, v. 7-8).

I live in a desert like the pelican,

In a ruin like the screech owl,

I stay awake, lamenting

Like a lone bird on the roof;

(Jerusalem Bible, Psalm 102)

101:7} Similis factus sum pellicano solitudinis: factus sum sicut nycticorax in domicilio.

{101:7} I have become like a pelican in solitude. I have become like a night raven in a house.

{101:8} Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto.

{101:8} I have kept vigil, and I have become like a solitary sparrow on a roof.
(Latin Vulgate, Psalm 101.)

The most significant identifiers here are of  the bird's rooftop location, where it is keeping vigil. This sits nicely with Franks spiritual reading of 'Tempest', but also has a secular dimension - which I would like to present another work to help verify.

After seeing Clare's tweet of the 16th Century German Chess set, I quizzed her on depictions of cranes in art, particularly Venetian painting. Her responses included works by Veneziano, Bellini(which Frank also mentioned in his analysis) but also included Carpaccio's Portrait of a Knight - an absolutely delightful work completed in 1510, a mere two years after Tempest. It is a symbolically rich work, brilliantly executed by Carpaccio. It was indeed for many years incorrectly attributed to Albrecht Dürer  and is now housed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

On closer inspection of Carpaccio's amazing piece, you will see this - a bird of prey battles with another bird whose contorted body shape makes it more difficult to identify. This battle motif is commonly used to depict 'virtue versus vice'. The predatory bird can be seen as vice, and it's opponent virtue. The question which lies at the heart of deciphering these symbols is - who was this painted for?

If this work was painted for a Venetian patron, the implication would be that the predatory bird was analogous to the Holy Roman Empire under the rule of Maxmillian I - with the victimised bird representing its opponents, the Venetians and their allies. In this reading the predatory bird would be identified as an eagle, in combat against a heron.

Conversely, it could also be argued that the predatory bird is symbolic of the Venetian nobility, striking against its immoral foe -  which would make the smaller bird an ibis - which was commonly used as a symbol of immorality in Western art of this era - even seeping into the Tarot tradition with this meaning intact .

Here is a lovely example of the perception of an ibis from a Medieval Christian text, which can be viewed at the University of Aberdeen Bestiary Site:

The ibis signifies carnal men who feed, as it were, on deadly deeds, on which they nourish themselves to the condemnation of their wretched souls.

From an evidential perspective, it is hard to state this definitively. We can speculate on the patron and the birds, but their true symbolic identity surely lies in the consideration of the intended recipient of this work. Would Venetian nobility accept an image showing a symbol easily associated with the Holy Roman Empire in ascendancy? Or would they prefer to be shown as a noble creature striking against an immoral opponent?

The symbol of the Holy Roman Empire, a double headed eagle. The two heads represented church and state

The allegory of this battle is important in establishing the historical background of these paintings. It is important to note that both 'Tempest' and Carpaccio's Knight were executed during a turbulent time - the War of The League of Cambrai (1508-16) which saw Venice in a series of shifting alliances vying for control Northern Italy and its surrounding regions.

Carpaccio's birds' symbolic identity perhaps lies with the identity of the patron and subject?

 Domenico Veneziano's Adoration of The Magi contains the 'virtue vs vice' bird battle symbolism

Domenico Veneziano's Adoration of the Magi has been offered as a prior example of the birds battling as 'virtue versus vice' symbolism. There are some significant distinctions however, which previous authors have not bothered to make, and simply seem intent on transplanting the meaning from the earlier nativity painting to that of Carpaccio's Knight, which is obviously not a nativity scene!

Here are some points for consideration:

• The predatory bird in Carpaccio is in a posture of dominance over the bottom bird, this is less pronounced in the Veneziano, where the lower bird seems to be ascending - in the context of a nativity, the ascendancy of virtue over vice fits as a symbol of the birth of Christ. 
• If the virtuous bird in the Carpaccio is the bottom bird(a heron), why is not depicted in a more dominant posture?
• Carpaccio's Knight was completed during a time when Venice was at war with the Holy Roman Empire. A direct 'copy and paste' of symbolic meaning from an earlier nativity does not fit the historical facts. Why would a Venetian artist depict a bird that can be so easily construed as akin to the Holy Roman Eagle in a dominant position?

Authors such as Simona Cohen seem to insist that historical context is not significant when deciphering these symbols - and states her 'hawk vs heron' as a fact, when it is not based on primary sources, but a series of inferences based on other images. This is the realm of art history that is dangerously speculative, and when not prefaced in the right terms, establishes a perpetuity of inferences that cloud critical analysis. This lies at the very heart of some of the greatest problems faced by art history as a profession interfacing with other disciplines, particularly the sciences. As we have already proven at 3PP, art historians poor interaction with the sciences can lead to categorical errors in scholarly publications.

Hence, in stating an alternative that considers the historical framework and patron reaction to the image, we are providing extra dimensions to critical analysis. Glossing over gaps in data with assumptions is not a means to providing the fullest picture to support an argument or promote discussion. If more light is shed on the patron and the Knight's identity via some primary documents, we may get closer to properly resolving this question. Until then, neither reading has a definitive evidential power.

Making definitive statements should be based on the evidence presented, not the reputation of the person presenting it, another draconian tradition plaguing art history - which is hopefully slowly dying out!

In the background of  the Carpaccio work, another bird resembling a heron or stork sits on a rooftop. Now, zooming in further, you will see that the rooftop bird actually has a worm in its mouth, and is feeding some young. I will place this beside an image of Giorgione's bird to allow some visual comparison. Whilst both birds can be seen to be fulfilling the Psalmic rooftop vigilance, there is an extra element in Carpaccio's bird - the suggestion of a nest and the feeding of the young. What did it mean?

To answer this I dived back into my emblem book which were essentially "symbols manuals" allowing creative individuals to draw on a rich historical tradition of symbolisn going back to antiquity. It often involved a mixture of Hellenistic, Egyptian and Roman symbols and their meanings. The earliest published volume was Andrea Alciato's 1531 Emblematum Liber (Book of Emblems). This was preceding Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593), which was to become a very influential work published throughout Europe well into the 17th Century.

If you are really interested in Renaissance art and its symbols,  it is not necessary to go out and spend high on pretty catalogue volumes by unapproachable scholars! What you need to do is bookmark this page(an online edition of Alciato from the Memorial University of Newfoundland) and further explore the links and resources it provides.

Emblem books are the key to understanding Renaissance symbolism as they are a catalogue of the symbolic language those very artists used. Quite frankly, I'd rather read the emblem description myself and make my own investigation than wade through a scholars verbose miasma! The greatest and most inspirational of Renaissance art scholars recognised this fact, and would readily direct their readers and students to Emblem volumes. Edgar Wind, author of the amazing Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance is the most notable example of this.

Consulting Alciato's volume, you will find mention of the emblem of  "A Favour Returned."  It is listed at different emblem numbers in different editions, so best search for it by its description. See below for the description and accompanying image. One can not help but think what favour Carpaccio is referring to - likely something to do with the shifting alliances in the Cambrai Wars, but as the identity of the Knight is still unknown, it is hard to say this categorically.

Alciato's Book of Emblems

Emblem 30

A favour ought to be returned

In her airy nest, the stork,
remarkable for tenderness,
nurtures her unclothed chicks, her lovely children.
And this mother looks to the time
when such services will be returned to her,
when, as an old woman she will often need their help.
Nor do her devoted offspring disappoint this hope,
but bear the weakened bodies of their parents on their shoulders,
and offer them food from their very mouths.

In an historical context, "a favour ought to be returned" infers the Venetian intervention in the Siege of Padua, which drove Maximilian I force of 35,000 from Padua in September 1509.

Carpaccio's rooftop bird did not seem to be known in any references to Tempest I could find. In the (typically overpriced) Brill's volume Animals disguised as symbols in Renaissance art, Simona Cohen confers the emblem book symbolism of the Carpaccio rooftop bird as a stork. If anyone knows of any other references - please supply them! I  have since informed Frank who also seems intrigued by the Carpaccio work and may hopefully post more on his examination of it in future. I was also delighted to receive a response from Mr. Januszczak as Carpaccio's Knight's vigilance does fit with his bestiary description of the heron/crane(whether you agree with his classical reading or not!)

I have provided captures of the tweets above because I believe it is a great example of what a platform like Twitter can do in spreading knowledge and aiding research. All this happened within a short few hours! If you take anything from this post, please let that be it!

As far as Giorgione's Tempest is concerned. It is becoming increasingly less of a mystery each day. It can be interpreted as an unorthodox depiction of  'The Rest during the flight into Egypt' set amid a backdrop of the Cambrai Wars Venice was embroiled in at the time. That there may also exist elements of a classical reading adds to the allure of the piece, form an aesthetic and intellectual perspective. 

I would like to thank Waldemar Januszczak for the initial spark, Frank for all his wonderful research and collaboration behind the scenes and Clare for her valuable assistance.