America Latina. Variazioni per Antonio Melis.

The Poet, Amalthea, The Infant Zeus and The Muses. Firenze, Olschki Ed. 2015, cm 15 x 21, iv-102 pp. con 7 ill. f.t. di cui 6 a colori. Rilegato (Hardcover)., legatura ed. Pocket Library of Studies in Art,41. Testo in Inglese. Giorgione’s "Tempesta" has been the most discussed enigma in the history of art, with over fifty different interpretations, based largely on ancient literary sources which were compared, unconvincingly, with very few elements of the painting. Hesiod’s "Theogony", well known in Venice when the painting was made, explains all of them, for the artist translated the poet’s words literally into visual images, showing the shepherd Hesiod during the vision in which the muses consign to him a poetic mission; the infant Zeus held by his nurse Almathea one year after being rescued from being devoured by his father Cronus; and the altar of two columns erected by Zeus to commemorate his victory over Cronus, corresponding to his own altar with two columns in his birthplace Lyktos. The lightening is, of course, the attribute of Zeus. The muses are not seen, since Hesiod says they are 'invisible', but he often mentions their nine houses, shown in the painting.