already to fully account for every Bellinesque production.[27] No, this
is no question of compromise, of the dragging to light some hitherto
unknown genius whose identity has long been merged in that of bigger
men, but it is the recognition of the fact that the greater comprises
the less. Admitting, as we may, that these three pictures are inferior
in "depth, significance, cohesion, and poetry" (!) to the Castelfranco
"Madonna," there is nothing to show that they are not characteristic of
Giorgione, that they do not form part of a consistent whole. As a matter
of fact, this "Adoration of the Shepherds" connects very well with the
early _poésie_ already discussed. There is some opposition between the
sacred theme and Giorgione's natural dislike to tell a mere story; but
he has had to conform to traditional methods of representation, and the
feeling of restraint is felt in the awkward drawing of the figures, and
their uneven execution. That he felt dissatisfied with this portion of
the work, the drawing at Windsor plainly shows, for the figures appear
here in a different position, as if he had tried to recast his scheme.

Some may object that the drawing of the shepherd is atrocious, and that
the figures are of disproportionate sizes. Such failings, they say,
cannot be laid to a great master's charge. This is an appeal to the old
argument that it is not _good_ enough, whereas the true test lies in the
question, Is it _characteristic_? Of Giorgione it certainly is a
characteristic to treat each figure in a composition more or less by
itself; he isolates them, and this conception is often emphasised by an
outward disparity of size. The relative disproportion of the figures in
the Castelfranco altar-piece, and of those of Aeneas and Evander in the
Vienna picture can hardly be denied, yet no one has ever pleaded this as
a bar to their authenticity. Instances of this want of cohesion, both in
conception and execution, between the various figures in a scene could
be multiplied in Giorgione's work, no more striking instance being found