Self-portrait

Giorgione's Self-Portrait, painted around 1510 and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, reportedly shows the artist as David holding the head of Goliath—though the attribution and identification remain debated. If authentic, it would be one of the few surviving portraits of this enigmatic artist who died of plague at approximately thirty-three, leaving behind a small but revolutionary body of work that transformed the course of Venetian and European painting.

The painting demonstrates the atmospheric modeling and warm tonal palette associated with Giorgione, with soft sfumato transitions and the mysterious, contemplative quality that characterizes the few works securely attributed to him.