The Three Philosophers by Giorgione - c. 1509 - 123 x 144 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum The Three Philosophers by Giorgione - c. 1509 - 123 x 144 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Three Philosophers

oil on canvas • 123 x 144 cm

  • Giorgione - c. 1477/8 - 1510 Giorgione

    c. 1509

Giorgione was an extremely influential Italian painter who was one of the initiators of the High Renaissance painting style in Venetian art. However, little is known about Giorgione’s personal life, aside from legends recounted by the artist's biographer, Giorgio Vasari. This is because Giorgione died in Venice in his early thirties. The Three Philosophers might be the three Magi facing Jesus's grotto, or they might simply represent the three stages of human thought: the Renaissance (the young man), the age of Muslim expansion (the man wearing a turban), and the Middle Ages (the old man).