The Three Philosophers by Giorgione: Ages of Wisdom in One Cave (c. 1508)
Three men stand at the edge of a wood, beside a dark rock face that opens into a cave. The youngest sits on the ground with a set square and a pair of compasses, staring into the shadows. Beside him stands a man of middle age in a turban and Eastern robes. The eldest, grey-bearded and wrapped in a heavy cloak, holds a sheet covered with astronomical diagrams. Behind them, a soft Venetian landscape glows in the evening light. Giorgione's The Three Philosophers , painted around 1508–09 and now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, is one of the great riddles of Renaissance art: five centuries later, no one is quite sure who these men are. Giorgione, The Three Philosophers, c. 1508–09. Oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image via the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get this painting as a print → Quick facts Artist: Giorgione (c. 1477/78–1510) Date: c. 1508–1509 Medium: Oil on canvas, 123.8 × 144.5 cm Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (GG 111) Fi...