| The Three Philosophers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Giorgione |
| Year | c. 1505–1509 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 123 cm × 144 cm (48 in × 57 in) |
| Location | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
The Three Philosophers is an oil painting on canvas attributed to the Italian High Renaissance artist Giorgione. It shows three philosophers – one young, one middle-aged, and one old.
The work may have been commissioned by the Venetian noble Taddeo Contarini, a Venetian merchant with an interest in the occult and alchemy.[1][2] The Three Philosophers was finished one year before the painter died. One of Giorgione’s last paintings, it is now displayed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The painting was thought to have been finished by Sebastiano del Piombo, but a "new infrared reflectogram lends no support to the theory".[3][4]
- ^ Bellini and Giorgione in the House of Taddeo Contarini
- ^ Panero, James, "Giorgione in the house", The New Criterion, February 2024, pp. 55-57.
- ^ David Alan Brown and Sylvia Ferion-Pagden, Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting. National Gallery of Art and Kunsthistorisches Museum, p. 164 (2006 exhibition catalog).
- ^ Tom Nichols, Giorgione's Ambiguity, London, UK: Reaktion Books, 2020, p. 140 (The Three Philosophers is the subject of pp. 135-142).