The Judgement of Solomon

Giorgione completed this dramatic rendering of King Solomon's wisdom around 1502, early in his brief but influential career. The scene depicts the famous judgment between two women each claiming the same infant, with Solomon ordering the baby to be cut in half to reveal the true mother through her reaction. Figures crowd the composition in the rich, warm colors typical of the Venetian Renaissance school.

Giorgione died young around 1510, probably from plague, leaving only a small handful of securely attributed works. Yet his poetic approach to painting, with its soft atmospheric effects, mysterious subjects, and sensuous color, profoundly influenced his younger colleague Titian and shaped Venetian art for generations. This early work shows him already mastering the warm tonality and psychological depth that would define his mature paintings. It now hangs at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, among the world's greatest art collections.