Preeminent scholar of Italian Renaissance art John Paoletti, Emeritus William R. Kenan Professor of the Humanities at Wesleyan University, engaged participants in a lecture centered on Giorgione’s oil on canvas painting, “La Vecchia” at the Wadsworth Atheneum on Wednesday, July 10, 2019. There is little historical information about this enigmatic work; its creation did not fall within the traditions of Renaissance portraiture mostly commissioned by aristocratic patrons. Using visual cues coupled with his encouragement to “look closely” at the realistic detail and painterly surface, Paoletti offered participants a “modern view” of a 500-year-old painting of an old woman behind a parapet wearing a white kerchief and frayed white shawl.
I so enjoyed the lecture because above and beyond learning new insights into the work, Paoletti encouraged us to do as the Venetians did, who were not distracted by television and social media platforms, engage in conversations around a painting. What impressed me about the academic and historian was his humility! He said that everyone brings their background, education, and imagination to the conversation. Looking and interpreting a work of art is inclusive to everyone. How refreshing!
The most poignant insight I learned about the painting is there are no other paintings of this genre in this time period in Venice. Paoletti illustrated his assertion through a comparison between “La Vecchia” and a traditional portrait of a woman, a memorial portrait; Domenico Ghirlandaio “Portrait of Giovana Tornabuoni.”
Domenico Ghirlandaio, “Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni,” (1489-90) 
Giorgione, “La Vecchia,” (1502-08)
Tornabuoni, in the image on the left, wears an expensive costume and shows off her husband’s wealth with her elaborate jewelry and hairstyle. She possesses contemporary Florentine beauty with her fair complexion and high forehead, her face in profile does not meet our gaze. The strict composition expresses the expected behavior of a Florentine woman who could not look a man in the eyes, only to the side of his face; her bound costume also shows her controlled behavior and status. “La Vecchia” is not ornamented to express wealth or status, but she meets our gaze with such vigor through her tired eyes framed by unkempt wisps of hair that fall out of her white kerchief. We see more of her character in the way she twists her body towards us, the viewer, creating volume within the black space. Paoletti’s lecture, his quiet demeanor infused a new way of looking at “La Vecchia.” I feel more deeply connected to this “old woman.”