nickname 'simia da Zorzon', meaning 'ape of Giorgione'. Giorgione was called Zorzon in the Venetian dialect. According to Boschini, della Vecchia abused of his skill in imitating the older Venetian masters. Boschini recounts that when the art dealer Francesca Fontana was assembling a collection for Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici he was given a 'Giorgione self-portrait'. This portrait was actually an imitation by della Vecchia painted from his own features. When the deceit was discovered, della Vecchia claimed he was solely trying to emulate Giorgione and that he had produced the work 30 years earlier for his father-in-law Nicolas Régnier. Nicolas Régnier, who was not only a painter but also an art dealer, had sold the painting. Thirty years later, it was believed that the work was in fact a genuine Giorgione. It appears therefore that della Vecchia's imitations could very well be regarded in certain cases as attempts to pass off the imitations as originals. His friend Boschini regarded these imitations, often executed in a remarkably ingenious manner, as displays of virtuosity. Other artists whose works della Vecchia and his workshop regularly imitated included Titian, Romanino, Palma Vecchio, Paris Bordone and Jacopo Bassano. His imitations of Giorgione offer an important insight into the manner in which that artist's work was perceived in the 17th century. It is believed that none of della Vecchia's works in the style of Giorgione were based on now lost compositions of Giorgione but were 'original' creations in the style of Giorgione. Della Vecchia was known for his paintings of soldiers (referred to as 'bravi') with broad feathered hats of which he made many versions and variations. Some of these paintings depict individual soldiers while others show soldiers in genre scenes such as fortune telling, playing dice etc. The innumerable repetitions of these works depicting warriors and other popular figures created by his workshop had a negative impact on his posthumous reputation. Della Vecchia painted not only imaginary portraits of bravos, but also of philosophers, pages and courtesans. These portraits are an expression of the Venetian Baroque's taste for eccentric subject matter. They also represent the artist's reaction to the expressive head portraits (tronies) by Caravaggio and Rembrandt. There are about eight pictures by della Vecchia in which the landscape is the primary subject. These include four idyllic landscapes that presage the Rococo style (now in the Pinacoteca Querini-Stampalia) and the Rocky Landscape with Warriors in