Giorgione, who had probably received some training in Venice in the 1490s with Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, is the probable painter of the “Castelfranco Madonna,” executed around 1503 for La Pala of the Cathedral in his home town of Castelfranco, Veneto.

The altarpiece was commissioned by the condottiero Tuzio Costanzo in memory of his son Matteo, who died of a fever while serving the Republic of Venice in Serenissima, 1503/4 or 1500.

Also commissioned was a family chapel, La Pala, containing the tombs of Matteo and Tuzio, built into the walls on either side of the painting.

The picture, a typical sacra conversazione, shows the Madonna enthroned with the Child with St. Francis and, on the left, St. Nicasius.

The latter, an armored figure, has also been identified as the fighting saint St. George or St. Liberalis, patron of Castelfranco.

Tuzio is a member of the Knights of Rhodes, whose ensign is borne by St. Nicasius (a martyred saint who had also belonged to the Hospitaller order.

Some scholars have speculated that St. Nicasius himself is actually a portrait of Matteo).

The traditional scheme of composition is lightened by the novel use of such elements as the throne and the landscape, which takes up a good portion of the background.

Noteworthy is also the absence of any reference to ecclesiastical elements of architecture.

The technique of painting is an example of what Vasari will call pittura sanza disegno (painting without drawing).

This is a new approach to painting which revolutionizes the Venetian school and is famously used in The Tempest.

Titian, a pupil of Giorgione, is later to become one of the most important exponents of this style.