IL NUDO DI GIORGIONE -- Gallerie dell'Academia -- FONDACO DEI TEDESCHI (1508)

Speranza

This is a figure of a standing female nude holding a spherical object -- unfortunately unidentified -- in her left hand.

It was detached from the facciata of the FONDACE DEI TEDESCHI in Venezia by ANTONIO NARDO as late as 1938.

THIS IS MONUMENTAL.

Originally, it was located between the fifth and sixth window from the left on the building's top floor. Just below the cornice.

What does it mean?

Critics have attempted to identify various possible sources of inspiration.

Also important: GIORGIONE may have inspired Michelangelo, who stopped in Venezia after his 1508 sojourn in BOLOGNA.

Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources provide a substantial CHECKLIST of works by GIOGIONE he executed on the facciate and the interior of a number of VENETIAN palaces. All of these, however, and unfortunately, have been lost.