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Gentile Bellini was born sometime between 1425 and 1430 in Venice. The son of Jacopo Bellini, he learned from his father and assisted him. He was influenced by the school of Padua; with a severe and scholarly feeling for draughtsmanship. In 1469 he received the title of Count because of his good reputation. He was regarded as the greatest artist in Venice.
Among Bellini's portraits that are particularly interesting are the painted profile portraits, popular during the second third of the fifteenth century. Here the influence came from the forceful linear style of Mantegna, who was Bellini's brother-in-law.
In 1475 he went to Constantinople and brought back many sketches which had a great influence on Venetian painters. He continued his father's connection with the school of St. Mark's. His fame as a painter was perhaps somewhat eclipsed by that of his brother Giovanni, but in their lifetime he held the higher position in Venice. He was a profound student of perspective. Subtle perfection of composition which, apparently free and naturalistic, is really controlled by delicate sense of balance and proportion and tonal harmony. He had a finer feeling for line that any other Venetian of the 15th Century.
Bellini died in Venice in 1507.
Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California. |