Giovanni Bellini

256 Pages·2008·1.96 MB·English

by  Oskar Batschmann

Giovanni Bellini
Oskar Bätschmann
in Bergamo and the Virgin and Child with Seraphim (illus. 74) in Venice.35 72GiovanniBellini,Virginand
Child(RogersMadonna),1485–90,
Such practices may also involve continuous variations of the mother and
wood.MetropolitanMuseumof
childthemewithdiverselandscapesettings.Thecombinationofschemasfor Art,NewYork.
the Virgin and Child must also be considered for their potential use in
expanded compositions involving figures of saints. Appearing in the list of
GiovanniBellini’sworksthatwaspublishedinAnchiseTempestini’smono-
graph in 2000 are 36 half-figure depictions of the Virgin and Child and nine
half-figure depictions with additional saints, as well as 31 attributed works
on the same theme. The variations of body and head postures, of looks, of
hands and of the setting with balustrade, landscape and curtain, along with
variationsofillumination,shadowandcolour,combinetocreateanextraor-
dinarilydiversityusingrelativelyfewelements.
A New Genre
Marcantonio Michiel lists a painting by Andrea Mantegna as having been
presentinthehomeofthelearnedliteraryfigure–andlatercardinal–Pietro
Bembo in Padua: ‘The little painting on wood, which shows Our Lady
bringingthechildtobecircumcised,comesfromthehandofMantegna,and
was executed as a half-figure.’36 The work by Mantegna to which Michiel
refershaslongbeenidentifiedwiththePresentationintheTemple(illus.75)in
Berlin, although the support consists of finely woven canvas, while Michiel
explicitlymentionswood.Thisunexplaineddifficultyshouldnotbeneglected,
forMichiel’snotationmightwellrefertoarepetitionbyMantegna.Visiblein
thepictureinBerlinonadarkbackgroundandsetinapaintedmarbleframe
arefourhalf-figuresofsaintsandtheheadsoftwoindividuals,onemaleand
onefemale,oneithersideofthegroup.Mary,showninprofile,supportsher
right elbow on the lower part of the frame and embraces the tightly swad-
dled infant Jesus, who seems to stand on a green cushion. The high priest
Simeon holds one hand under the feet of the child, ready to receive him.
Between the high priest and Jesus is a small, elderly man, recognizable as
Joseph. It has been proposed that the two individuals to the left and right
should be identified respectively as a self-portrait of the artist and a portrait
ofNiccolosiaBellini.Thiswouldmakeittemptingtoregardthispaintingas
avotiveimageconnectedwitheitherafirstoradifficultbirth,whichwould
suggestadatingof1455.37
ThePinacotecaQueriniStampaliainVeniceownsapanel(illus.76)con-
taining half-figures on the same theme. The group of saints was copied after
Mantegna,butthecontemporarywitnesseshavebeenmultiplied:totheleftwe
overleaf:
seetwowomen,totherighttwoyoungmen.GiovanniBellini–whoisgener- 73GiovanniBellini,VirginandChild
allyregardedasthepainting’sauthor–omittedthepaintedmarbleframe,and (MorelliMadonna),c.1485–90,wood.
Galleriadell’AccademiaCarrara,
positioned his figural group behind a wide parapet of green breccia marble.
Bergamo.
NoneofthefiguresinBellini’spaintinghasahalo.Thefouradditionalfigures
74GiovanniBellini,VirginandChild
havebeenassociatedwiththenamesoftheBellinifamilyinVeniceandiden-
withSeraphim,c.1485–90,wood.
tifiedasGentileandGiovanni,NiccolosiaandthemotherofGiovanni.38 Galleriadell’Accademia,Venice.
Transformations | 83

75AndreaMantegna,Presentation
intheTemple,c.1454/55,wood.
Gemäldegalerie,Berlin.
Mantegna’s painting in Berlin is the first known example of a half-
figure composition with a narrative element. Compared with a painting
containing entire figures, action, bodily movement and the rendering of the
settinghavebeenreducedtoaminimum.39Expanded,ontheotherhand,is
thebreadthofphysiognomicexpressiveness.TheinfantJesusgazesupwards
with an expression of lament, while the face of Joseph expresses profound
disquiet or agitated concern. The high priest knits his brows, while Mary’s
demeanour, in contrast, is tranquil and gentle. The onlookers in the picture
are neither integrated into the action nor emotionally involved. Mantegna
does, however, establish contact between the space of the image and that of
the beholder:the aesthetic boundary of the painted marble frame is empha-
sizedtoanextraordinarydegree,whichmakestheprojectionatthecentreof
the narrative – involving the cushion, Mary’s hands, Simeon and the feet of
thechild–allthemoreconspicuous.InMantegna’sversion,toalesserdegree
inBellini’sreshaping,itisapparentlyaquestionoftheemotionalintegration
oftheviewer.
The model provided by Mantegna was taken up by Giovanni Bellini
and transformed into a successful new genre. Only on one occasion, in the
AdorationoftheKingsofcirca1500–05,didMantegnareturntothehalf-figure,
butBelliniandhisworkshopconvertedthegenreintoapermanentbranchof
production, one that would also be exploited by imitators and successors.40
Exclusivelyreligioussubjectswereoffered,amongwhichthePresentationand
the Circumcision were Giovanni Bellini’s favourite subjects, various versions
ofwhichhavesurvived.TherearenumerousversionsofthePresentationinthe
Templewithfivefigures,aswellasoftheCircumcision(illus.77).41Sinceithas
86 | Giovanni Bellini
provedimpossibletoidentifytheoriginalamongthesenumerousvariants,we 76GiovanniBellini,Presentationinthe
mustcontentourselveswiththeassumptionthatinthesetwocasesGiovanni Temple,c.1460–65,wood.Fondazione
QueriniStampalia,Venice.
Bellini’s original or primary version has been lost, and that the surviving
exemplarsarereplicas,workshopreplicasorcopies.
The heyday of the popularity of narrative paintings involving half-
figuresamongRomancollectorswasreachedaround1600withtheachieve-
ments of Caravaggio.42 While seventeenth-century collectors were greatly
fond of half-figure narratives, there exists no confirmatory evidence for a
similar enthusiasm on the part of contemporary clients following the intro-
duction of this type by Mantegna and Bellini. In his important study Die
Sammler (‘The Collector’) of 1897, Jacob Burckhardt classified paintings of
half-figured saints among domestic devotional images, but regarded those
pictures that display scenes from the Passion as ‘belonging to the domestic
sphereratherthanservingdevotionalfunctions’.Withgreatcircumspection,
Burckhardt sought to draw a distinction between the use that might be
made of narrative images and the kind of attention normally bestowed
upon images of the Virgin with additional figures of saints, among which
he explicitly singles out ‘the celebrated picture by Giovanni Bellini in the
Transformations | 87
77GiovanniBellini,Circumcision, academy’(illus.78).GiovanniBelliniisclassifiedbyBurckhardtas‘thecen-
about1500,canvas.NationalGallery, tral master of this very large group of splendid images, displaying related
London.
contentsandstyles,whichhavebeenscatteredthroughouttheworld’,thatis
to say, domestic devotional images. On the whole, Burckhardt was extraor-
dinarily enthusiastic about these pictures and about Titian’s subsequent
development of this type, praising its ‘character, the pride of Venice, which
oftenattaineditsgreatestmaturityhere’.43
In his book Icon to Narrative, which first appeared in 1965, Sixten
Ringbomdealscomprehensivelywiththenewgenreofthehalf-figureimage
established by Mantegna and Bellini, images that present scenes without
genuinely elaborating their narrative elements. With Bellini in particular,
Ringbom notes the reduction of the action and the tranquil compositional
type, which promotes elevated sentiments. Moreover, the Presentation in the
TempleandtheCircumcisionwerefavouredsubjectsinpopulardevotional
literature all the way from Jacopo da Voragine’s Legenda aurea to the
MeditationesofthePseudo-Bonaventura.44Bybringingthesesaintlyprotago-
niststolife,andthroughtheirportrait-stylepresenceandtranquillyspiritual
expressions,thesefiguresdirectlyaddressthesentimentsandemotionsofthe
beholder.Towardstheendofthe1460s,inhisimportantPietà(illus.83),now
intheBrerainMilan,Bellinidevelopedtheemotionalresponseofthebeholder
88 | Giovanni Bellini
intoavirtualinteractionbetweenviewerandimage.Theupliftingfunction 78GiovanniBellini,Virginand
ofhalf-figureimagesofthePresentationandCircumcisiondidnothinderhis ChildwithStsCatherineand
MaryMagdalen,1485–90,wood.
artisticperformance,asseeninthebrilliantrenderingofpreciousgarments, Galleriadell’Accademia,Venice.
whichdependsuponNetherlandishpainting.
The Protection of Venice
On 30 August 1486 Agostino Barbarigo was elected doge, and thereby suc-
ceeded his deceased brother Marco, who had assumed office just one year
earlier.Shortlyafterhiselection,MarcohadappointedhisbrotherAgostino
as‘ProcuratorediS.Marco’,providinghimwithoneofthehighestofficesin
the Venetian Republic.45 Upon his election as doge, Agostino Barbarigo, in
accordance with his obligations, commissioned a votive image at his own
expenseinordertomaintaintheVirgin’sprotectionofVenice.Hischoicefell
on Giovanni Bellini, and the result was a large-format painting (illus. 79)
showing the Virgin enthroned with the Holy Child, St Mark, who recom-
mends the doge – shown kneeling before the throne – to the Virgin, and
St Augustine, the doge’s patron saint. The Virgin’s throne stands upon the
pedestal with two steps, whose front displays the Barbarigo coat of arms
along with the corno dogale – the horn-shaped biretta of the doge. Standing
at the left and right of the Virgin’s throne are two angels with musical
instruments.Thesceneisframedbyawideredcurtainthathasbeendrawn
to the sides; the group of the Virgin and Child is further distinguished by a
green baldachin. The setting is an outdoor terrace enclosed by a balustrade.
To the left, the view is delimited by a nearby wood, while to the right the
Transformations | 89
79GiovanniBellini,VotivePicture landscapestretchesoutintothefardistancebeyondafortificationwithmany
ofDogeAgostinoBarbarigo,1486/87, towersandasteppedmountain.Againstsegmentsofthecloud-filledskyand
canvas.ChurchofS.PietroMartire,
theredcurtainhoverfourgroupsofcherubs.
isleofMurano,Venice.
Itcanbededucedthatafter1478GentileandGiovanniBellinihadexe-
cutedavotiveimageforDogeGiovanniMocenigo(illus.80).46Mocenigohad
occupied the office of the doge from 1478 to 1485, and was the immediate
predecessor of Marco Barberigo. The votive image for Doge Mocenigo
retains the traditional asymmetrical arrangement of the enthroned Virgin
andChild.Thedogekneelsdownontheright-handsideofthepicturewith
the saint after whom he is named, John the Baptist, standing behind him.
TheenthronedVirginissetontheleft-handside,andtheimageterminates
withStChristopherandtheinfantJesus.ThefigureofChristopherisacita-
tionfromthepolyptychofStVincentFerrer,whiletheenthronedVirginand
ChildissimilartoapaintingbyGentile,andthedoge,showninprofile,cor-
responds to a portrait by him. At first glance, this composition, assembled
frompre-existingmotifs,seemstobeaworkshopproduction,butitdoesnot
seem likely that Gentile and Giovanni would have failed personally to con-
ceive a prestigious work intended for the new doge. It seems likely that
Gentile, in his capacity as Pictor nostri Domini, began to work on this votive
pictureshortlyafterGiovanniMocenigo’selectionin1478,andthatGiovanni
Bellini completed the work after his brother’s departure in 1479 for
Constantinople,whereheattendedthecourtoftheSultan.47
InthepaintingknownastheVotivePictureofDogeAgostinoBarbarigo,
GiovanniBellinisituatestheenthronedVirginandChildatthecentreofthe
90 | Giovanni Bellini
imagebeneathabaldachin,emphasizingthepicture’sbilateralsymmetryby
means of the red curtain, the two music-making angels, the groups of
cherubs and the lateral sections of landscape and sky. The colours and posi-
tionsoftheotherfiguresimpartasubtledynamicqualitytothissymmetrical
arrangement.StAugustineisshownstandingandwearingasplendidcloak
ofwhitedamaskwithgoldandred.Hiscounterpartoppositeisthekneeling
doge, who wears a gold habit with an ermine cloak and an extremely pre-
cious version of the corno, the so-called zogia, worn by the doge at his coro-
nation,andannuallyatEasterfortheprocessiontothechurchofSanZaccaria.
Behind the kneeling doge wearing coronation robes stands St Mark, who
repeats Mary’s colours. The asymmetry of this votive picture was readapted
alreadybythisdoge’ssuccessor,LeonardoLoredan.48
Unusualforavotivepictureforadogeistheinclusionofthetwoangels
with musical instruments. The motive for their inclusion was probably
Agostino Barbarigo’s fondness for music, a trait that should be seen in the
contextofthegrowingprestigeassociatedwithmusicandofthemultiplica-
tion of musical activities at Italian cultural centres and courts during the
final decadesofthefifteenthcentury.49On19September1485,whenMarco
Barberigo was still a procurator of San Marco, Pietro de Fossis, born in
FranceorFlanders,wasappointedasasingerandawardedanexceptionally
high annual salary at the Cappella ducale in San Marco. In 1491 Agostino
BarberigoappointedthesingerasthefirstmaestrooftheCappelladucale,ina
80GiovanniandGentileBellini,Votive
bid to engage in competition with the pope’s Cappella pontificia in Rome.
PictureofDogeMocenigo,after1478,
With the appointment of Pietro de Fossis, the office of maestro di Cappella canvas.NationalGallery,London.
Transformations | 91