Giovanni
Bellini.
An
artistic dynasty of Venice.
The Bellini family were a well known
artistic dynasty from the city of Venice. Giovanni is the most well
known, but both his brother Gentile and his father Jacopo were also
well regarded as painters.
Jacopo was one of the founders of the
renaissance style of painting.
Born in c.1400 many of his most important works have disappeared but
his workshop was the most productive in Venice.
Gentile was
born in c.1429 and has been rather overshadowed by his brother
Giovanni, however in his lifetime he was famous as one of the foremost
painters in Venice. He was also the official portrait artist for the
Doges of Venice.
Giovanni was born in about 1431 and grew
up with his brother in his fathers house in Venice. His brother-in-law
was Andrea
Mantegna and Andrea's influence is apparent in "The Agony in
the Garden" painted in 1459-1465.
The
Agony in the Garden (w)
Personal Opinion:-
I
have seen this painting in the National Gallery in London. The
foreshortening of the reclining figure, plus the metallic quality of
the clothing, owe much to the influence of Andrea Mantegna, and the
landscape could almost be a scene from a surrealist painting,
very
Dali!
Giovanni was appointed as conservator of
the paintings in the ducal palace in Venice and was paid a fixed annual
pension for his work. He was at the head of a famous workshop and his
pupils included
Giorgione and Titian.
His mastery of the oil painting
medium, newly introduced to Venice in the 1470's, had a profound
influence on his famous apprentices.
Most of his work in the Doge's Palace
was destroyed by fire in 1577 but some of his official portraits of the
Doges survive, such as "The Doge Leonardo Loredan" of 1502.
"The Doge Leonardo
Loredan" (w)
On the death of his brother Gentile,
Giovanni became the most prominent artist in Venice, but was
deluged with more commissions than he could complete and had difficulty
in delivering the various works on time.
In his old age Giovanni painted "The
Feast of the Gods", a work regarded as a Renaissance masterpiece, but
Giovanni died in 1516. The picture was finished by his former pupil
Titian.
"The
Feast of the Gods" 1514. (w) Bellini and
Titian.
National Gallery of Art. Washington.
Lady
combing her hair. 1515. (s)
This
painting is one of the artist's final works and was painted when he was
eighty five years old. Almost all of his art had been preoccupied with
religious subjects but this is a refreshing and charming late change
that mirrored the evolving Venetian style.
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