Gentile Bellini

Gentile Bellini ( ; c. 1429 – 23 February 1507) was a Venetian painter of the school of Venice. He came from Venice's leading family of painters, and, at least in the early part of his career, was more highly regarded than his younger brother Giovanni Bellini - a reversal of the situation today. From 1474, he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice. In addition to his portraits, he painted a number of very large works with multitudes of figures, especially for the Scuole Grandi of Venice, wealthy confraternities that were very important in Venetian patrician social life.

In 1479, he was sent to Constantinople by the Venetian government when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II requested an artist; he returned the next year. Thereafter, a number of his subjects were set in the East, and he is one of the founders of the Orientalist tradition in European painting. His portrait of the Sultan was also copied in paintings and prints and became known all over Europe. Gentile was taught painting in the workshop of his father. Although today Gentile is often seen in the shadow of his more famous family members, in his own time he was considered among the greatest living painters in Venice and had no shortage of commissions; his talent as a portraitist revealed itself at an early age.

Paintings Doge Giovanni Mocenigo, c. 1478; Tempera on panel; Museo Correr, Venice

Gentile's earliest signed work is The Blessed Lorenzo Giustinian (1445), one of the oldest surviving oil paintings in Venice (now at the Accademia Museum). During the 1450s, Bellini worked on a commission for the Scuola Grande di San Marco and painted in conjunction with his brother, Giovanni Bellini. From 1454 he was also the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice, (for example, see image of the Doge Giovanni Mocenigo at right).

Much of Gentile Bellini's surviving work consists of very large paintings for public buildings, including those for the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. Along with Lazzaro Bastiani, Vittore Carpaccio, Giovanni Mansueti, and Benedetto Rusconi, Bellini was one of the artists hired to paint the 10-painting narrative cycle known as The Miracles of the Relic of the Cross. The commission was intended to celebrate the relic of the Holy Cross, which the confraternity had received in 1369. Gentile's contributions include the Procession of the True Cross in Piazza San Marco, which dates from 1496, and the Miracle of the True Cross at the S. Lorenzo Bridge, dating from 1500 and featuring Gentile's self-portrait and that of his brother Giovanni.

Bellini and the East Venice was, at that time, a very important point where cultures and trade bordered on the eastern Mediterranean Sea and provided gateways to Asia and Africa. As noted, in his lifetime, Gentile was the most prestigious painter in Venice. Therefore, in 1479, he was chosen by the government of Venice to work for Sultan Mehmed II in Constantinople. However, in addition to his work at the Ottoman Court, Gentile's work also responded to other aspects of the East, including the Byzantine Empire.

Constantinople Gentile Bellini's Madonna and Child Enthroned, late 15th century. Note the Islamic prayer rug at the feet of the Virgin Mary, an example of Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting.

In September 1479, Gentile was sent by the Venetian Senate to the new Ottoman capital Constantinople as part of the peace settlement between Venice and the Turks. His role was not only as a visiting painter but also as a cultural ambassador for Venice. This was important to Mehmed II, as he was particularly interested in the art and culture of Italy, and he attempted on several occasions to have himself portrayed by Italian artists. He finally reached his goal with Gentile, who is believed to have painted the portrait of Mehmed II now in the National Gallery, London, (but largely overpainted).

Subsequently, an Oriental flavour appears in several of his paintings, including the portrait of a Turkish artist and St. Mark Preaching at Alexandria (above). The last was completed by his brother, Giovanni Bellini.

According to Carlo Ridolfi (who was born 87 years after Bellini's death) in his 1648 history of the Venetian painters:Bellini made a painting of the head of John the Baptist on a charger, the saint being revered by the Turks as a prophet. When the picture was brought before the Sultan, he praised the skill exhibited there, but drew Gentile's attention nonetheless to an error, which was that the neck stretched out too far from the head, and as it appeared to him that Gentile appeared unconvinced, to enable him to see the natural effect, he had a slave brought to him and had his head chopped off, demonstrating to him how, once separated from the chest, the neck contracted. Gentile, fearful at such barbarities, immediately tried in every way to be released from his contract in case one day he himself should be the victim of such a joke.This anecdote is likely apocryphal, as a similar story had been told by Seneca of Parrhasius, as well as of Michelangelo via a dubious source.

Greece Queen Caterina Cornaro, c. 1500; Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest Gentile responded to other aspects of the East, including the Byzantine Greek Empire,

He was interred in the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo, a traditional burial place of the doges.

In recent years, Gentile has once again generated interest, especially in a recent spate of scholarly publications and exhibitions on the subject of cross-cultural exchange between Europe and the Levant.

Selected works Madonna Enthroned with Child (1475–1485) - National Gallery, London Portrait of the Doge Giovanni Mocenigo (1478–1485) - Museo Correr, Venice Portrait of Mehmet II (1480) - National Gallery, London Procession in St. Mark's Square (1496) - Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice Miracle of the True Cross at the Bridge of S. Lorenzo (1500) - Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice Miracle of the Reliquary of the Cross (1500) Portrait of Catherine Cornaro (c. 1500) - Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria (1504–1507) - Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan Man with a Pair of Dividers St. Dominic The Annunciation , Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain.