It has the unlaboured look that suits such an improvised subject.

Of course no one knows for certain that this is a picture of the Golden Age, and you may make up any story you like about it for yourselves.

That is one of the charms of the picture.
It has been said that the throned one is celebrating his birthday, and that his little heir is reciting him a birthday ode accompanied by music.

You may believe this if you like, but how do you then account for the leopard and the peacock living in such harmony together?
[Illustration: "THE GOLDEN AGE" From the picture by Giorgione, in the National Gallery, London] Giorgione painted a few sacred pictures and many mythological scenes, besides several very beautiful portraits of dreamy-looking poets and noblemen.

But even when he illustrated some well-known tale, he did not care to seize upon the dramatic moment that gives the crisis of the story, as Giotto would have done, and as the painter of our next picture does.