The Image of Paris in Venetian Art Through the Prism of the Works of Giorgione and the Giorgionesques

This article is devoted to the emergence of individual plots illustrating the story of the Trojan Prince Alexander (Paris) in Venetian art in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Although Trojan themes were widely represented in the works of Florentine artists, ancient history received a different interpretation and a new edition in the works of Venetian masters Giorgione and artists in his circle. The publication examines the reasons for the interest in the Trojan theme among Venetian artists and how this theme was implemented in the art of the Most Serene Republic during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The evolution of the plot of The Court of Paris and the variety of ideas of Venetian artists visualizing the story of the Trojan Prince are shown. As a result of the work done, it was revealed that the new image of Paris, which appeared in Venetian art in the first decade of the sixteenth century, reflects the ideal of a new personality, gentile uomo, and corresponds to the mindset of Venetian society, which arose at the turn of the century and associated with the decline of the economic and political greatness of the Most Serene Republic. The paper presents descriptive and formal stylistic analyses combined with iconographic and iconological methods of studying works of art. The relevance of this work is evidenced by the evolution of the image of Paris and the many interpretations of his life story, from the ancient epic to the visual form, thanks to which he takes root in the spiritual and artistic culture of Venice, becoming a symbolic figure in the humanistic consciousness of society at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The novelty of this topic lies in the analysis of little-studied works by Venetian masters, which were created based on ancient myths. We have proposed a new approach to interpreting the image of Paris and individual scenes from his life in the works of Giorgione and his followers. This interpretation brings the fundamental semantic meaning of the plot closer to the requirements that arose in the mindset of Venetian society at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This approach allows us to consider these plots as integral historical and artistic phenomena, illuminating the semantic meaning of several works studied in a general context.

Paris, Judegement of Paris, Venice, mythological subjects, shepherd, Trojan legend, the ideal of a new identity, pastoral genre, Venetian art, Giorgione and the circle of Giorgione