✣ It’s a long way from Venice to Sydney. But that seems to have been the journey taken by a hugely important 16th-century drawing of Our Lady.
Kim Wilson, a Sydney University librarian, found the sketch by the painter Giorgione on the back page of a 1497 copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
“Giorgione is as important an artist as Leonardo da Vinci but only a fraction of works are known to be in his hand,” the art historian Jaynie Anderson told the Sydney University website. “This discovery will have a transformative effect on the way Venetian art history is written.” A note attached to the sketch is especially significant because it appears to reveal the artist’s hitherto unknown dates.
Written in Venetian dialect, it says that on September 17, 1510, “Giorgione of Castelfranco, a very excellent artist, died of the plague in Venice at the age of 36 and rests in peace.”
✣ The Italian football club Lazio has denied calling on the services of an exorcist. Il Messaggero had reported that Lazio, who have been out of form and struggling with injuries, had asked for a priest’s help. But the club stated: “Unlike others, Lazio does not need magicians and exorcists.” A priest had merely been asked in to bless the club’s new sports centre.
