Page:Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, 1887, vol 1.djvu/196

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BELLINI lazzo Ducale, reserving, however, a right to accept private commissions. When at the height of his fame he had among his pupils Giorgione and Titian, who were to perfect the rich system of colouring of which he must be regarded as the true founder. Kuskin says of Bellini that he is the only artist who united, in equal and magnificent measure, justness of drawing, nobleness of colouring, and perfect manliness of treatment, with the purest religious feeling. Among Gio- vanni's best works are : Transfiguration, Naples Museum ; Circumcision, Castle How- ard, England ; Madonna (1487), Madonna between SS. Paul and George, and the Ma- donna of the Admiralty Court, Venice Acad- emy ; Madonna with Saints and Angels (1488), Sacristy of the Frari, Venice ; Ma- donna and Doge Barberigo (1488), S. Pietro Martire, Murano ; Baptism of Christ (1501), S. Corona, Vicenza ; Madonna with Saints (1505), S. Zaccaria, Venice ; Madonna with Saints, Louvre. Early in the century Albert Diirer visited Venice, and a question after- ward arose whether he was influenced by Bellini or Bellini by him ; but it is doubtful if even Diirer could teach the Venetians any secrets of colour. Both he and Diirer had great respect for each other's talents, and were firm friends. Giovanni's pictures in the Sala del Gran Consiglio were burned in the fire of 1577. While engaged upon them he painted but few other pictures ; but there are a Madonna (1510) by him in the Brera, and a SS. Christopher, Augustin, and Jerome (1513), in S. Giovanni Crisos- tomo, Venice, the latter of which bears the impress of his assistant, Basaiti. In 1514 he began the Bacchanal, Ahiwick Castle, Eng- land ; and in 1515 he painted the Venus, Vienna Museum. His Portrait of the Doge Loredano, St. Peter Martyr, Christ's Ag- 10ANNES BELLINVS ony in the Garden, Landscape with Martyr- dom of St. Peter, Madonna and Adoration of the Magi, are in the National Gallery, London. C. & C., N. Italy, i. 139 ; Ch. Blanc, Ecole venitienne ; Seguier, 15 ; Dohme, 2iii.; Vasari, ed. Mil., iii. 149, 175 ; Ruskiii, Stones of Venice ; Meyer, Kiinst. Lex., iii. 400 ; Liibke, Gesch. ital. Mai., i. 523. BELLINI, JACOPO, born in Venice about 1400, died about 1464. Venetian school ; pupil of Gentile da Fabriano, whom he accompanied in 1422 to Florence, where he was known as Jacopo di Venetia. On account of a personal encounter with a young Florentine he took service on the gal- leys of the state. Criminal charges were pre- ferred against him in his absence, and on his return from sea he was imprisoned for con- tempt of court shown in non-appearance at the trial He was released in 1425 after doing penance and paying a fine, and five years after was in Venice, as is proved by an autograph note in his sketch-book, now in the British Museum. He is afterward found in Verona, and later at Padua, where he established a studio, in which his sons Gentile and Giovanni worked, and where his daughter Nicolosia married Andrea Mantegna. Jacopo was a draughtsman of quick hand and clear perception, and though his knowledge of anatomy was not profound, he gave fair proportions to his heads. He held a middle course between the conven- tionalism of his predecessors and the natu- ralism or classicism of the rising schools ; indeed, he worthily began what his sou Gio- | vanni and Titian perfected. He can scarcely be judged as a colourist, for only two greatly injured panel pictures of his early time remain : a half length of the Virgin and Child in the collection of the Counts Tadini at Lovere, and another of the same subject in the Venice Academy. A Crucified Saviour on canvas in the Museo Civico, Verona, is a good illustration of his style. His Crucifixion on the wall in the Cathedral of Verona, painted in 1436, was destroyed in 1759, but is preserved in a copy in the Casa Albrizzi, Venice. C. & C., N. Italy, i. 100 ; Vasari, ed. Mil., iii. 149, 175 ; Meyer, ! Kiiust. Lex., iii. 336. 132