Christ Blessing - Giovanni Bellini Postcard.

Giovanni Bellini

Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter active from the 15th century to the early 16th century, and a representative of the Venetian School. Known for his brilliant use of color and light effects, as well as his serene and humanistic religious paintings, he had a decisive influence on the development of Venetian painting.

Giovanni Bellini Biography

• He was born in Venice around 1430 to Jacopo Bellini, the father of a family of painters. His older brother was Gentile Bellini.

• He began his painting career in his father's workshop in the 1450s , and was initially strongly influenced by the hard, sculptural style of his brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna.

• In 1453, his sister Nicolosia married Andrea Mantegna, making him his brother-in-law.

• In the 1470s , he began to use oil painting in earnest, breaking away from the influence of Mantegna and establishing his own unique style of painting, rich in color and full of light, characteristic of the Venetian school.

• He took over from his brother Gentile the mural decorations for the great hall of the Doge's Palace, which was destroyed by fire in 1479 (this group of works was also later destroyed by fire).

• In 1483 he was appointed official painter to the Republic of Venice.

• In the 1500s, the next generation of talented painters, including Titian and Giorgione, studied in his studio.

• He died in Venice on November 29, 1516 (aged around 86).

Representative works

• "Pieta (Brera Gallery)" (c. 1465-70)

• San Giobbe Altarpiece (c. 1487)

• San Zaccaria Altarpiece (1505)

• "Saint Francis in Ecstasy" (c. 1480)

• Feast of the Gods (1514)

• Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan (c. 1501)

Bellini's art underwent significant changes over the course of his long career. In his early years, his work was characterized by strict line drawing and sculptural expression, inherited from Mantegna, but he gradually began to place greater importance on color. He made full use of the oil painting technique he inherited from Antonello da Messina, capturing the subtle effects of light and atmosphere and perfecting the expression of soft, deep colors. This "colorism" (colorism) would later become the greatest characteristic of the Venetian school.

His paintings of the Virgin Mary and Child and saints, while austere, are imbued with human warmth and deep spirituality, attracting the devotion of many. He also excelled in landscape depictions, creating poetic spaces where figures and nature are in harmony under the light. His workshop produced such great masters of the High Renaissance as Giorgione and Titian, who inherited the colorful style he established, laying the foundation for the Golden Age of the Venetian School.