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Dear
Friends,
I had planned to feature today Piero della Francesca, one of the
most original representatives of the Early Renaissance in
Florence, with one of his great fresco paintings - probably
Constantine's Dream (see
here). However, I had not yet made up my mind to include it
and, on the other hand, a change from Florence to Venetia, the
other great Renaissance center in Italy, seemed to be in order
at this time. So I finally opted for Giovanni Bellini, the great
Venetian painter and musician, with one of the most famous
portraits of all times: that of doge Leonardo Loredan, which
over the past few centuries has been a great favorite for many
people - and, from the moment I first put my eyes on it, for me.
Brother of
Gentile and son of Jacopo, Giovanni Bellini was probably the
greatest of the Bellini dynasty. He was the pre-eminent teacher
of his generation, with a sizeable workshop staffed by pupils
and assistants, among whom were
Giorgione and
Titian.
Like his brother, he became chief painter to the State, although
Titian tried desperately to usurp him. In 1506, when Giovanni
was 76,
Dürer wrote that he was 'very old but still the best in
painting'.
Giovanni Bellini is
considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting
by moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style.
In this style
of portraiture he was strongly influenced by a characteristic
Flemish attention to detail and texture, especially the play of
light on the surface of the subject. The Doge is exquisitely
protrayed in his ceremonial robes, made in an old-fashioned
style but from a newly imported material - damask - which has
gold thread running through it. Instead of using gold leaf,
Bellini painted the surface roughly so as to catch the light and
give a metallic finish - a revolutionary technique at the time.
Other great works by him are
his
Agony in
the Garden
(c.1459),
Baptism of Christ
(1500 - 1502),
Madonna of the Meadow (Madonna del Prato)
(1505),
Naked
Young Woman in Front of the Mirror (approx. 1505-10),
and
The Feast of the Gods (1514).
As always, good
feedback will be appreciated.
Thank you.
Luis Miguel Goitizolo
GREAT MASTERS OF
PAINTING
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Portrait of Doge
Leonardo Loredan (1)
by
Giovanni Bellini
born c. 1430, Venice [Italy]
died 1516, Venice
Profile
(2)
Also known as Giambellino,
Giovanni Bellini made Venice a centre of Renaissance art
comparable to Florence and Rome.
Although the paintings for the hall of the Great Council in
Venice, considered his greatest works, were destroyed by fire in
1577, a large number of altarpieces (such as that in the church
of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice) and other extant works show a
steady but adventurous evolution from purely religious,
narrative emphasis to a new naturalism of setting and landscape.
Although the professional needs of his
family background may have encouraged him to specialize at an
early date in devotional painting, by the 1480s he had become a
leading master in all types of painting practised in
15th-century Venice. Later, towards the end of his long life, he
added the new genres of mythological painting and secular
allegory to his repertory of subject-matter. His increasing
dominance of Venetian art led to an enormous expansion of his
workshop after c. 1490; and this provided the training-ground
not only for his numerous shop-hands and imitators (generically
known as Belliniani) but probably also for a number of major
Venetian painters of the next generation. Throughout his career,
Giovanni showed an extraordinary capacity for absorbing a wide
range of artistic influences, both from within Venetian
tradition and from outside. He also oversaw a technical
revolution in the art of painting, involving the gradual
abandonment of the traditional Italian use of egg tempera in
favour of the technique of oil painting pioneered in the
Netherlands. It was thanks to Giovanni Bellini that the Venetian
school of painting was transformed during the later 15th century
from one mainly of local significance to one with an
international reputation. He thus set the stage for the triumphs
of Venetian painting in the 16th century and for the central
contribution that Venice was to make to the history of European
art.
Technical data
(3)
The Doge Leonardo Loredan
c.
1501-05
Oil, probably with some egg tempera, on poplar
61.5 x 45 cm
National Gallery, London
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