Enterprises that are founded on excellence, although their beginnings often appear humble
and mean, keep climbing higher step by step, nor do they ever halt or take rest until they have
reached the supreme heights of glory: as could be clearly seen from the poor and humble beginning
of the house of the Bellini, and from the rank to which it afterwards rose by means of painting.
Giovanni Bellini was considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving
it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints,
Giovanni created deep, rich tints and detailed shadings.
His sumptuous coloring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian
painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian.
Finding himself in Venice without any competitor to equal him, he kept growing in credit and fame,
and became so excellent that he was the greatest and most renowned man in his profession.
Giovanni Bellini , One Of The Most Influential Venetian Artists.
1, crucifixion.
Giovanni Bellini was born in Venice into a family of painters.
His father was Jacopo Bellini, one of the founders of the Renaissance style
of painting in northern Italy, and Giovanni’s brother was Gentile Bellini,
who, during his lifetime, was more highly regarded than himself.
Of even greater note was Giovanni’s brother-in-law,
the painter Andrea Mantegna (circa 1431-1506) who achieved great fame as a master of perspective,
establishing a workshop that became the leading producer of prints in Venice before 1500.
Giovanni was brought up in his father’s house,
living and working closely with his brother Gentile.
Up until the age of nearly thirty, his paintings exemplify a depth of religious
feeling and human pathos, which he would develop into his own inimitable style.
His paintings from the early period are all executed in the old tempera method,
with the scene softened by a new and beautiful effect of romantic sunrise colour.
In a somewhat changed and more personal manner, with less harshness of contour and
a broader treatment of forms and draperies, but not less force of religious feeling,
Giovanni’s early works have often been linked both compositionally and stylistically to those
of his brother-in-law, Mantegna. In 1470 Giovanni received his first
appointment to work along with his brother and other artists in the Scuola di San Marco,
where among other subjects he was commissioned to paint a Deluge with Noah’s Ark.
None of these works have survived.
Crucifixion, completed around 1455, is housed today in Venice’s Museo Correr, though
it was originally produced for the church of San Salvador of Venice and
forms part of the Mantegna-influenced phase of Bellini’s early career.
The tempera on panel painting illustrates the crucified Jesus, with pallid skin,
set against a broad landscape background. The deep blue sky is populated by cherubim,
lamenting his death, while in the lower section of the panel Mary weeps, her hands gripped in prayer,
and Saint John looks up in trepidation, his fingers
outstretched, conveying his intense devotion.
The background section of the panel reveals Bellini’s interest in landscape, depicting
a lake with a wooden bridge, a quarry, small houses and a series of small working figures.
This fragmented, detailed composition was typical of the work of the artist’s father,
Jacopo Bellini. In his later works
this attention to landscape would be replaced by a more coherent focus on the main subject at hand.
Other elements typical of Bellini’s early works are the occasional loose painting strokes, the
thin figures and sharp outlines, all indicating that this is less a mature and polished piece.
Nevertheless, the extraordinary depth of pathos evoked by the weeping Mary, the awe-stricken Saint
John and the suffering face of Christ effectively proclaim the unique skill of the young Bellini.
2, pietà.
Throughout his career, Bellini would return to the iconographic theme of the Pietà,
a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus.
The theme is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the
Passion found in cycles of the Life of Christ. When Christ and the Virgin are surrounded by other
figures from the New Testament, the subject is strictly called a Lamentation in English,
although Pietà is often applied. During the late 1450’s,
Bellini painted the so-called ‘Brera Pietà’, an image denoting extreme pity and mourning in which
Mary and Saint John are seen holding Jesus. Below, on the wall of the grave,
a short Latin inscription reads, “Every time these tear-swollen eyes will provoke sobs, perhaps it
will be Bellini’s painting that is weeping. ” This is a fragment of a hymn from the first
book of the Roman poet Propertius’ Elegies, affirming the artist’s formal education.
Devout emotion is expressed throughout, from the landscape that recalls Flemish antecedents to the
lucid architectonic composition of the group and the abstract geometry of their movements,
revealing the influence of Piero della Francesca. The passionate feeling is notable for its human
and psychological aspect, rendering grief at its most universal expression and, at the same time,
its most private and conscious element. The mother’s pathetic gesture,
as she leans towards her son, is echoed by Saint John’s averted head.
The restricted landscape, with its road climbing up a hill and its torrent coursing below, pulsates
with earthly life, adding a mundane contrast to the sorrowful scene in the foreground.
The three figures stand out against a leaden dreamlike sky.
The image reveals the influence of the art of Padua, Venice’s nearby neighbour, which is evident
in the contours, adjusting gestures and figures to the strong expressive requirements of the drama.
The silent exchange of emotions in the faces is reflected in the masterful play of the hands.
The landscape behind them, empty and metallic in the cold, shining greys of the painful dawn of
rebirth, accentuates the sombre emotion.
3, presentation at the temple.
Dating to circa 1460, the tempera on panel Presentation at the Temple is housed today in
the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, in Venice. It is considered to be completed after
Andrea Mantegna’s panel on the same theme, featuring a similar placement of figures.
The commission of both works is unknown, as well as the identity of some of the figures, which
are by some art historians believed to represent members of the Mantegna and Bellini families.
The principal figures of Bellini’s panel are the same as those in Mantegna’s work:
the Virgin holds the Christ Child, whose feet lie on a cushion,
while the bearded figure of Simeon reaches to take him.
Facing from the front is Saint Joseph, which, according to some scholars,
offers a portrait of Bellini’s father, Jacopo. In the painting by Bellini there are two more
figures, identified by critics as the mother Anna (far left) and the artist himself, with a
likely inclusion of a portrait of Mantegna in the far right figure of a young man.
The original design for the panel paintings was probably Mantegna’s,
who favoured architecture devices in the framing of his pictures.
However, Bellini has opted to reduce the austere box-like frame to a marbled ledge.
The addition of two characters gives the group more life,
increasing the sense of human interaction. The elimination of the frame, or rather its
reduction to a shelf, similar to a church altar-top, suddenly removes
every barrier and draws us toward the scene with a degree of more intimacy.
Unlike the solid rock colours of Mantegna, who blends flesh-tones, stones and drapery,
Bellini responds with a pure and orchestrated play of whites and reds in clear alternation.
4, agony in the garden.
This early painting once again shares many similar traits to another version
of the same theme by Mantegna, completed in 1459, possibly as a commission for Giacomo Marcello.
Both paintings of Agony in the Garden are on display today at London’s National
Gallery and for a time both artworks were considered to be by Mantegna.
The atmosphere of Bellini’s image is leaden and mysterious, featuring a harsh, barren landscape,
inspired largely by Jacopo Bellini’s sketch from in his London notebook.
The painting represents Christ kneeling on the Mount of Olives in prayer,
accompanied by his disciples Peter, James and John, who are asleep close to their Master.
Bellini’s treatment of dawn light has a more important role than found in Mantegna’s painting,
evoking an unearthly, magical atmosphere in the scene.
However, save for the highly forced lines, the dramatic way in which the two
painters approach the subject is different: Mantegna’s painting is perceptibly harsh,
with dark contrasts of strong colours, while Bellini’s interpretation of the subject offers
more subtly lyrical and human tones. Bellini’s painting had most likely
belonged to Consul Smith in Venice in the latter years of the eighteenth century,
before being bought by William Beckford at the Joshua Reynolds sale in 1795 for £5.
Beckford sold it and then repurchased it later at the Fonthill Sale in 1824,
along with the Mantegna version, for £52.10s. Interestingly, the tempera on wood artwork was
bought by the National Gallery for £630 in 1863, a comparatively low price for the day.