National Gallery, London
THE DOGE LOREDANO. By Giovanni Bellini
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
GIOVANNI BELLINI
Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course
There were three famous painters in the Bellini family. Jacopo Bellini was the father, and his two sons were Gentile and Giovanni (Jo-van´-nee), the latter being the younger and the greater.
He is supposed to have been born at Venice either in 1430 or 1431, and was brought up in his father’s house, serving with his brother as his father’s assistant until he was nearly thirty years old. However, Giovanni seems to have been influenced more by his brother-in-law, Mantegna, than by his father. This influence lasted until Mantegna departed for the Court of Mantua in 1460. In 1470 Giovanni was commissioned to paint a Deluge with Noah’s Ark. After this he painted many pictures, among them the famous altar-piece for the Church of S. Giovanni e Paolo, which was destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1867, along with Titian’s “Peter Martyr” and “The Crucifixion” by Tintoretto.
After 1480 a great deal of Giovanni’s time and energy was taken up by his duties as conservator of the paintings in the great hall of the Ducal Palace at Venice. His duties were to repair and renew the works of his predecessors. In addition, he was commissioned to paint a number of new subjects himself. These pictures illustrated the part played by Venice in the wars of Barbarossa. The works were much admired, but none of them survived the fire of 1577.
About the end of the year 1505 Giovanni painted the portrait of the Doge Loredano. This is the only portrait of his which has been preserved. It is one of the most masterly in the whole range of painting. Loredano was the man who carried the Venetian republic through the most trying period of its existence. He became the doge, or ruler, in 1501. France and Spain combined in an attempt to destroy his power, but in vain. This firm man fought hard, although Venice was impoverished and deprived of many of its possessions.