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Giorgio Vasari
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,
Sculptors, and Architects
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Giorgio Vasari |
The Lives of the Artists |
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see collection:
Bellini
Mantegna Andrea
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The Bellini and Andrea Mantegna
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Jacopo Bellini
Italian painter, Venetian school
(b. ca. 1400, Venezia, d. 1470, Venezia)
Madonna and Child Blessing
c. 1455
Tempera on wood, 94 x 66 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
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Jacopo Bellini
Italian painter, Venetian school
(b. ca. 1400, Venezia, d. 1470, Venezia)
Madonna with Child
c. 1465
Panel
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
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JACOPO BELLINI, the Venetian painter, had been a pupil of Gentile
da Fabriano, and after the departure of Domenico Veniziano from
Venice, found himself without a rival there. He had also two sons of
fine genius, the one named Giovanni and the other Gentile, named
after Gentile da Fabriano, whom he held in memory as his loving
master and father. As his two sons grew up, Jacopo himself taught
them diligently the principles of drawing, but before long they both
surpassed their father greatly. This rejoiced him much, and he
constantly encouraged them, saying that as the Tuscans boasted that
they grew strong by conquering each other, so he desired that
Giovanni should first conquer him, and then that he and Gentile
should contend together.
He painted many pictures with the aid of his sons on canvas, as
they almost always do in that city, using very seldom the panels of
maple or poplar, which are so pleasant to work upon. For if they use
wood in Venice, it is always the wood of the firtree, which is
brought in abundance to that city down the river Adige from Germany.
But usually they paint on canvas, either because it does not crack
or because you can make the picture any size you will, or for the
convenience of sending them about.
Afterwards separating, they lived apart, but none the less did
the two sons re~erence each other, and both their father, praising
each the other, and each esteeming himself inferior, thus seeking to
surpass one another no less in kindness and courtesy than in the
excellence of their art.
The admiration excited by their paintings caused many of the
Venetian gentlemen to propose that they should take advantage of the
presence of such rare masters to have the Hall of the Great Council
painted with stories of the great deeds done by the city in war, and
other things worthy of memory. And this work was entrusted by those
in rule to Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, and the painter Vivarino;
but poor Vivarino, having accomplished part with great honour, died,
and it was necessary that Giovanni Bellini should complete his work.
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 Gentile Bellinl
Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of S. Lorenzo
1500
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
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Not long after, some portraits having been taken to Turkey to the
Grand Turk by an ambassador, that emperor was so struck with
astonishment that, although the Mahometan laws prohibit pictures, he
accepted them with great goodwill, praising the work without end,
and what is more, requesting that the master himself be sent to him.
But the senate, considering that Giovanni could ill support the
hardships, resolved to send Gentile his brother, and he was conveyed
safely in their galleys to Constantinople, where being presented to
Mahomet, he was received with much kindness as a new thing. He
presented a beautiful picture to the prince, who admired it much,
and could not persuade himself to believe that a mortal man had in
him so much of the divinity as to be able to express the things of
nature in such a lively manner. Gentile painted the Emperor Mahomet
himself from life so well that it was considered a miracle, and the
emperor, having seen many specimens of his art, asked Gentile if he
had the courage to paint himself; and Gentile having answered "Yes,"
before many days were over he finished a lifelike portrait by means
of a mirror, and brought it to the monarch, whose astonishment was
so great that he would have it a divine spirit dwelt in him. And had
not this art been forbidden by the law of the Turks, the emperor
would never have let him go. But either from fear that people would
murmur, or from some other cause, he sent for him one day, and
having thanked him, and given him great praise, he bade him to ask
whatever he would and it should be granted him without fail. Gentile
modestly asked for nothing more than that he would graciously give
him a letter of recommendation to the Senate and Signory of Venice.
His request was granted in as fervent words as possible, and then,
loaded with gifts and honours, and with the dignity of a cavalier,
he was sent away. Among the other gifts was a chain of gold of two
hundred and fifty crowns weight, worked in the Turkish manner. So,
leaving Constantinople, he came safely to Venice, where he was
received by his brother Giovanni and the whole city with joy, every
one rejoicing in the honors which Mahomet had paid him. When the
Doge and Signory the letters of the emperor, they ordered that a
provision of two hundred crowns a year should be paid him all the
rest of his life.
Gentile painted a few works after his return; but at last, being
near eighty, he passed away to another life, and was buried
honourably by his brother Giovanni. Giovanni, widowed of Gentile,
whom he had always loved tenderly, continued to work for some time,
and applied himself to painting portraits from life with such
success that it became the custom for every one whc attained to any
rank or position to have their portraits painted by him, last,
having attained to the and was buried bv the side of his brother.
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Giovanni Bellini
Transfiguration of Christ
c. 1487
Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
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Connected with this family by marriage was Andrea Mantegna, who
came of very low birth, and when a boy kept cattle in the country
round Mantua; but as he grew up, Jacopo Squarcione, a Paduan
painter, took him into his house and, perceiving his talents,
adopted him as a son. Squarcione, however, knowing himself to be not
the best painter in the world, and desiring that Andrea might learn
more than he knew himself, made him study from copies of antique
statues and pictures, which he fetched from different places,
particularly Tuscany and Rome. By these means Andrea learnt much,
and began to produce works of so great promise that Jacopo Bellini,
the father of Gentile and Giovanni, and the rival of Squarcione,
gave him for a wife one of his daughters. But when Squarcione heard
of it, he was so enraged with Andrea that he became his enemy,
always finding fault with his pictures publicly, saying it would be
better if he did not colour his pictures, but made them the colour
of marble, for they had no resemblance to life. These reproaches
stung Andrea much, but they were of use to him, for he perceived
that they were in great part true, and set himself therefore to
study from life. Nevertheless it was always Andrea's opinion that
for study good antique figures were better than life, because in
them the perfection of nature taken from many persons is united,
which is rarely the case in one body.
For Lodovico Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, who esteemed him
greatly, he painted much, representing for him the Triumph of
Caesar, which is the best thing he ever did. He gained so much fame
by it that Innocent VIII, hearing of him, sent for him to Rome. It
is said that the Pope, being much occupied, did not give money to
Mantegna as often as he wanted it, and therefore when he was
painting the Virtues he put among them Discretion. And the Pope,
going one day to see the work, asked Andrea what it was, and he
answered, "She is piscretion." So the Pope answered," If you would
have her well accompanied, put by her side Patience." And the
painter saw what the Holy Father meant, and said no morc. But when
the work was finished, the Pope sent him away with many rewards and
favours.
He delighted, as Pollaiuolo did, in engraving, and among other
things engraved his Triumph. He was a man of gentle manners, and
will be remembered not only in his country but through all the
world, so that he deserved to be celebrated by Ariosto, who at the
beginning of the 33rd canto, enumerating the most illustrious
painters of his time.
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Andrea Mantegna
Death of the Virgin
c. 1461
Museo del Prado, Madrid
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see collection:
Bellini
Mantegna Andrea
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