Jacopo Bellini
(b Venice, c. 1400; d Venice, between 26 Aug
1470 and 25 Nov 1471).
Painter and draughtsman. His surviving work consists of some 20
paintings—mostly small-scale, intimate devotional pictures—and nearly
300 drawings, contained in two volumes (Paris, Louvre; London, BM). The
drawings constitute a unique oeuvre for a 15th-century artist, both in
regard to their number and their nature; most of them are finished,
independent compositions. Most of Jacopo’s large-scale picture cycles
and important commissioned works have been destroyed. Known only through
documentary evidence and contemporary sources, they are an indication of
the high esteem in which he was held both in Venice and beyond.