Gentile Bellini.
| London. | S. Peter Martyr; Portrait. |
| Milan. | Brera: Preaching of St. Mark. |
| Venice. | Doge Lorenzo Giustiniani; Miracle of True Cross; Procession of True Cross; Healing by True Cross. |
| Lady Layard. Portrait of Sultan. |
Antonello da Messina.
| Antwerp. | Crucifixion, 1475. |
| Berlin. | Three Portraits. |
| London. | The Saviour, 1465; Portrait; Crucifixion, 1477. |
| Messina. | Madonna and Saints, 1473. |
| Paris. | Condottiere. |
| Milan. | Portrait of a Humanist. |
| Venice. | Academy: Ecce Homo. |
| Vicenza. | Christ at the Column. |
CHAPTER IX
ALVISE VIVARINI
Contemporary with Giovanni Bellini were artists still firmly attached to the past, who were far from suspecting that he was to outstrip them.
One of Antonio de Murano’s sons, Luigi or Alvise Vivarini, grew up to follow his father’s profession, and was enrolled in the school of his uncle, Bartolommeo. The latter being an enthusiastic follower of Squarcione, Alvise was at first trained in Paduan principles. Jacopo Bellini’s efforts had done something to counteract the hard, statuesque Paduan manner, and had rendered Mantegna’s art more human and less stony, but Jacopo could not prevent Squarcionesque painters from importing into Venice the style which he disliked so much. Bartolommeo threw in his lot with the Paduans, and his school, especially when reinforced by Alvise, maintained its reputation as long as it only had to compete with local talent. The Vivarinis had now been firmly established in Venice for two generations, and were the best-known and most popular of her painters. Albert Dürer, on his first visit, admired them more than the Bellini. When, however, Gentile and his brother set up in Venice, a hot rivalry arose between them and the old Muranese School. The Bellini had come with their father from Padua, with all its new and scientific fashions. They had all the prestige of relationship with Mantegna, and they shared the patronage of his powerful employers. The striking historical compositions of Gentile were at once in demand by the great confraternities. Bartolommeo had never been very successful in his dealing with oil-painting, though he had dabbled in it for some years before Antonello da Messina came his way, but the perception with which the Bellini at once grasped the new technique gave them the victory. We have only to compare the formless contours of much of Bartolommeo Vivarini’s work, the bladder-like flesh-painting of the Holy Child, with the clear luminous colour and firm delicate touch of Gentile, to see that the one man is leagues ahead of the other.