The Three Philosophers
c. 1508–1509 · Oil on canvas · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Giorgione (1478–1510)
- Year
- c. 1508–1509
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 125.5 × 146.2 cm
- Collection
- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Movement
- Renaissance
Three men of different ages stand and sit at the edge of a dark rock face in a wooded landscape at sunset: an old bearded man in a yellow mantle holding a sheet with astronomical diagrams, a middle-aged man in a turban and red robe, and a young man seated with a set square and compasses, gazing towards the cave at the left. Behind them a valley with a village and distant hills catches the low light. Marcantonio Michiel saw the canvas in 1525 in the house of the Venetian merchant Taddeo Contarini and described three philosophers in a landscape, begun by Giorgione and finished by Sebastiano del Piombo; recent infrared study has found no support for a second hand. It is dated about 1508–1509, near the end of Giorgione's short life. The subject is still debated: once read as the three Magi, it has also been taken as the ages of man or the stages of human knowledge. The canvas was cut down substantially on the left. It passed through Venetian collections and the Duke of Hamilton to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, and hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Three robed figures in red, yellow and green beside a dark cave in a golden evening landscape, for a study, library or living room at 24×36 in natural wood. A warm ochre, deep green or stone wall; it pairs with The Astronomer.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (c. 1508–1509)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, dining room, dorm room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Three Philosophers in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Three Philosophers painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
