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In 1470, Giovanni was appointed along with
his brother and other artists to produce a cycle of decorative paintings
for the Scuola di San Marco. This was followed by a series of great historical
scenes for the Chamber of the Grand Council in the Doge's Palace. Unfortunately,
there are no surviving works from the Scuola di San Marco, and all Giovanni's
(and Gentile's) paintings for the ducal palace were destroyed in the catastrophic
fire of 1577. Giovanni's still more famous tempera altarpiece in the church
of S. Giovanni e Paolo was destroyed, along with Titian's Peter Martyr
and Tintoretto's Crucifixion, in a fire in 1867.
Oils
Giovanni Bellini was one of the first Venetian painters to devote himself
to oil painting. After 1475, he forsook
tempera and painted almost exclusively in oils. The likely reason for
this was the visit of the Sicilian artist Antonello
da Messina (c.1430-1479), who arrived in Venice in 1475-6, having
learned Northern Renaissance oil painting techniques in Naples, a city
dominated artistically by the Netherlands. His paintings combined Italian
skill in anatomy and composition, with Dutch realism, and glowed with
a rich intensity. Giovanni Bellini's genius enabled him to transfer these
attributes to his new works, while giving his figures an expression of
peaceful contemplation. As one Bellini expert has said: "Some artists
invented more but none perfected so much."
In any event, Antonello da Messina's visit
galvanized Bellini, whose oil paintings began to exude a new luminosity
and richness. Subtle tonal variation becomes more evident and a new atmospheric
quality enters his work. For example, his wonderful background landscapes,
as seen in many of his pictures of the Madonna, make him the most important
Italian landscape painter of the Early
Renaisance.
Altarpieces
In addition to his religious paintings,
Giovanni Bellini produced a variety of triptychs and polyptychs, as well
as a number of outstanding altarpieces, including: the Pesaro Altarpiece
(1471-1474, Musei Civici, Pesaro), the San Giobbe Altarpiece (c.1487,
Gallerie dell' Accademia, Venice) and the San Zaccaria Altarpiece
(1505) San Zaccaria, Venice. Others include: the altarpiece of the Church
of San Francesco della Vigna at Venice (1507); the altarpiece of La Corona
at Vicenza (1510); and the altarpiece of San Giovanni Crisostomo at Venice
(1513).
Last Years
Although extremely busy during the 1480s,
1490s and 1500s, most of this output has not survived. In 1507 Gentile
Bellini (Giovanni's brother) died, and bequeathed their father Jacopo's
substantial book of designs to Giovanni, on condition that he completed
Gentile's unfinished picture St Mark Preaching in Alexandria (1505,
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan). This condition was duly met.
Bellini remained busy to the very end.
He continued to be deluged with commissions well into his 70s, and was
still heavily involved in supervising the paintings in the Hall of the
Great Council in the Doge's palace. In 1514 he agreed to paint The
Feast of the Gods for the Duke Alfonso I of Ferrara, but died in 1516.
During his life, he was recognized as the
leading painter of his period, being described by the great German painter
and printmaker Albrecht Durer (1471-1528),
during his 1506 visit to Venice, as "the best painter of them all."
The Renaissance biographer Giorgio Vasari
was equally convinced of Giovanni's greatness.
Legacy
Giovanni Bellini played a vital role in
the development of the Venice School, not least in his use of Northern
Renaissance aesthetics. He pioneered the utilization of oil paints, enabling
the enhanced colours and atmospheric effects which later became the hallmark
of Venetian painting, and introduced elements of Northern Renaissance
religious symbolism. He did all this while also blending Byzantine art
with that of the early and High Renaissance. His pupils, one of whom predeceased
him - included Giorgione (1477-1510) and Titian (1485-1576), as well as
Vittore Belliniano, Girolamo da Santacroce, Andrea Previtali, Rocco Marconi,
Jacopo da Montagna, Rondinello da Ravenna and Benedetto Coda of Ferrara.
For later members of the Venetian School, see also biographies of Jacopo
Tintoretto (1518-1594) and Paolo Veronese
(1528-1588).
Most Famous Paintings by Giovanni Bellini
• Transfiguration (c.1455-1460) Museo
Correr, Venice
• Agony in the Garden (c.1459) National Gallery, London
• Transfiguration of Christ (c.1480) Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
• Portrait of Jorg Fugger (1474) Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti,
Florence
• St. Francis in Ecstasy (c.1480) Frick Collection, New York
• Sacred Allegory (c.1490) Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan (1501) National Gallery, London
• Madonna of the Meadow (1510) National Gallery, London
• Saints Christopher, Jerome and St Augustine (1513) S. Giovanni
Crisostomo
• Feast of the Gods (1514) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• Woman with a Mirror (1515) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Other Paintings
- Madonna with Child (1450-1555) Civico
Museo Malaspina, Pavia
- Madonna with Child (c.1455) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Dead Christ Supported by Madonna/St John (1455) Accademia Carrara
- Crucifixion (c.1455) - Tempera on wood, Museo Correr, Venice
- Dead Christ Supported by Madonna/St John (1460) Pinacoteca di Brera
Milan
- Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels (Pietà, c. 1460) Museo Correr,
Venice
- Dead Christ in the Sepulchre (c.1460) Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan
- Blessing Christ (c.1460) Musee du Louvre, Paris
- The Blood of Christ (c.1460) National Gallery, London
- Madonna and Child (1460-1464) Civiche Raccolte d'Arte, Milan
- Madonna with Child Blessing (1460-1464) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Madonna with Child (Greek Madonna, 1460-1464) Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
- Madonna and Child (1460-1464) Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
- Presentation at the Temple (1460-1464) Galleria Querini Stampalia, Venice
- St. Sebastian Triptych (1460-1464) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Nativity Triptych (1460-1464) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Head of the Baptist (1464-1468) Musei Civici, Pesaro
- Polyptych of S. Vincenzo Ferreri (1464-1468) Basilica dei Santi Giovanni
- Pesaro Altarpiece (1471-1474) Musei Civici, Pesaro
- Pieta (1472) Doge's Palace, Venice
- Dead Christ Supported by Angels (c. 1474) Pinacoteca Comunale, Rimini
- Madonna Enthroned Adoring the Sleeping Child (1475) Gallerie dell'Accademia
- Madonna with Child (c.1475) Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona
- Madonna with Child (c.1475) Santa Maria dell'Orto, Venice
- Madonna in Adoration of the Sleeping Child (c.1475) Contini Bonacossi
- Madonna with Blessing Child (1475-1480) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Portrait of a Humanist (1475-1480) Civiche Raccolte d'Arte, Milan
- Resurrection of Christ (1475-1479) Staatliche Museen, Berlin
- St. Francis in Ecstasy (c.1480) Frick Collection, New York
- St. Jerome Reading in the Countryside (1480-1485) National Gallery,
London
- Madonna Willys (1480-1490) Sao Paulo Museum of Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Madonna and Child (1480-1490) Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
- Madonna of Red Angels (1480-1490) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Portrait of a Young Man in Red (1490) National Gallery of Art, Washington
DC
- Madonna degli Alberetti (1487) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Madonna and Child (1485-1490) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- San Giobbe Altarpiece (c. 1487) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Madonna with Child and Sts. Peter and Sebastian (c.1487) Louvre, Paris
- Frari Triptych (1488) Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
- Barbarigo Altarpiece (1488) San Pietro Martire, Murano
- Sacred Conversation (1490) Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Allegories (c.1490) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Lamentation over the Body of Christ (c.1500) Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Angel Announcing and Virgin Annunciated (c.1500) Gallerie dell'Accademia
- Portrait of a Young Man (c.1500) Musee du Louvre, Paris
- Portrait of a Young Senator (1500) Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Baptism of Christ (1500-1502) Santa Corona, Vicenza
- Head of the Redeemer (1500-1502) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Madonna & Child with St. John the Baptist (1504) Gallerie dell'Accademia
- Sermon of St. Mark in Alexandria (1504-1507) Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
- Holy Conversation (1505-1510) Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
- San Zaccaria Altarpiece (1505) San Zaccaria, Venice
- Pieta (1505) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Madonna & Child with SS Peter, Catherine, Luisa, Jerome (1505) S.
Zaccaria
- St. Jerome in the Desert (1505) National Gallery of Art, Washington
DC
- The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr (1507) National Gallery, London
- Continence of Scipio (1507-1508) National Gallery of Art, Washington
DC
- Murder of St. Peter the Martyr (1509) Courtauld Institute Galleries,
London
- Madonna and Child Blessing (1510) Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
- Madonna with Child (c.1510) Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Young Bacchus (c.1514) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
- Portrait of Teodoro of Urbino (1515) National Gallery, London
- Deposition (c.1515) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
- Drunkennes of Noah (c.1515) Musee des Beaux-Arts, Besancon
Paintings by Giovanni Bellini can be seen in many
of the best art museums throughout the
world.
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