Hesiod’s Theogony as source of the iconological program of Giorgione’s “Tempesta”

This book explains how Giorgione’s famous picture shows the shepherd Hesiod undergoing his famous vision in which the Muses told him of his poetic mission; on the right the infant Zeus held by his nurse Amalthea 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.