Departing from Constantinople, Gentile returned, after a most fortunate voyage, to Venice,[1] where he was received by Giovanni, his brother, and by almost the whole city, with the utmost gladness, every one rejoicing at the honours paid to his talents by Sultan Mahomet.[2] Proceeding on his arrival to present his duty to the Doge and the Signoria, he was very well received and commended, for that he had satisfied the Turkish emperor according to their desire. Furthermore, to the end that the great account in which they held the letters wherewith that prince had recommended him might be made manifest, they commanded a provision of 200 scudi a year to be made for him, which sum was paid him for the remainder of his life.
Gentile performed but few works after his return from Constantinople, and at length, having nearly attained to the age of 80, he passed to another life in the year 1501; and from his brother Giovanni he received honourable interment in the Church of San Giovanni e Paolo.[3]
Thus deprived of his brother Gentile, whom he had most tenderly loved, Giovanni, although very old, still continued to work a little, the better to pass his time, and having taken to execute portraits from the life, he introduced the custom into Venice, that whoever had attained to a certain degree of eminence should cause his likeness to be portrayed, either by himself or by some other master. Wherefore, in all Venetian houses, there are numerous portraits, and in many of those belonging to nobles, may be seen the fathers and grandfathers of the possessors, up to
- ↑ The same author (Ridolfi, ut supra) assures us that Gentile, from the time when he beheld the slave decapitated with so little ceremony, was very anxious to return to Venice.
- ↑ A portrait of Mahomet II., painted by Gentile, was formerly in the Casa Zeno, at Venice, but was sold and taken to England in 1825. See Zanotto, Pinacoteca Veneta, &c.
- ↑ Among the works of Gentile, not mentioned by Vasari, is the large picture of St. Mark, preaching at Alexandria, painted for the Brotherhood of St. Mark (Ridolfi, vol. i. p. 45.), but now in the Brera at Milan. See the Pinacoteca di Milan, vol. i. p 71.
painter that “the neck projected too much from the head, and as it appeared to the sovereign that Gentile still remained doubtful, by way of showing him the natural effect, he caused a slave to appear before him, whose head he instantly commanded an attendant to strike off, proving to the painter that, when divided, the neck immediately drew back.”
