Gentile Bellini
Venetian painter and founder of the Orientalist tradition.
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Gentile Bellini was a Venetian painter of the school of Venice who lived from 1429 to 23 February 1507.[1] Venice's most prominent painting family produced Gentile Bellini, and during his early career his reputation surpassed that of his younger sibling Giovanni Bellini.[1] Starting in 1474, the Doges of Venice employed him as their official portraitist.[1]
Life and work
Gentile was born into the leading family of painters in Venice and was christened after his father's master, Gentile da Fabriano.[2] His earliest signed work is The Blessed Lorenzo Giustinian (1445), one of the oldest surviving oil paintings in Venice.[3] Jacopo Bellini, a Venetian who pioneered oil paint usage, was Gentile's father, and Giovanni Bellini was his brother.[2] Gentile received his painting instruction within his father's workshop.[2]
As part of the peace agreement between Venice and the Turks, the Venetian Senate dispatched Gentile to Constantinople in September 1479.[4] He acted as a cultural envoy for Venice, and Mehmed II had long desired to be depicted by Italian painters.[4] The portrait of Mehmed II housed in London's National Gallery is thought to have been painted by Gentile.[5]
What the cited sources add
The Sultan criticized the neck's length and demonstrated his point by having a slave beheaded.[6] Gentile then tried to leave his contract, fearing such barbarities.[6] This anecdote is likely apocryphal, as similar stories were told of Parrhasius and Michelangelo.[6] Carlo Ridolfi's 1648 historical account states that Bellini created a depiction of John the Baptist's head on a platter for Mehmed II.[6]
Gentile created a portrait of Queen Caterina Cornaro of Cyprus, which is the second known likeness of her; this painting is located in Budapest's Szepmuveszeti Museum.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hartt, 397-398 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Italian Culture and History", Boglewood.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "MSN Encarta : Online Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Atlas, and Homework" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: :tr:Resim:Sarayi Album 10a.jpg (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Contemporary Art - Artist Portfolios - Art News", absolutearts.com; "The Sultan Mehmet II", Nationalgallery.org.uk (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Babinger, Franz. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gentile Bellini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Contemporary Art - Artist Portfolios - Art News", absolutearts.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gentile Bellini (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Gentile Bellini (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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