CINCINNATI — La Vecchia, a singular masterpiece by Renaissance painter Giorgione, will be on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum February 15–May 5, 2019. This will mark the first time a painting by this rare and influential artist has been on view in Cincinnati, and the first exhibition of La Vecchia following a major conservation treatment.
The painting is on loan from one of Europe’s greatest paintings collections, the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, Italy. The Cincinnati Art Museum is presenting the work in conjunction with the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, which will showcase the artwork in the summer of 2019, and the Foundation for Italian Art and Culture (FIAC), which has facilitated its loan.
Created circa 1502–08, La Vecchia (Italian for “the old woman”) is among the most startling and engaging images of the Italian Renaissance. Depicted in half-length with her body turned to the side, the wizened figure looks directly at us and points to herself. Her mouth is open, as though speaking, and she sends us a message—a slip of paper emerging from her sleeve inscribed, “with time.”