Gentile Bellini: Painter of Peace
Description/Abstract/Artist Statement
Gentile and Giovanni Bellini’s Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria is representative of the artists’ final works, which were intended to demonstrate the mastery of Venetian style in the Scuola Grande di San Marco. Following Gentile’s visit to Constantinople, the Scuola Grande di San Marco commissioned him to paint Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria to be displayed in the Albergo, the meeting space of the Scuola. Scholarship on this painting largely focuses on the architectural and narrative elements. Letha Ch’ien, for instance, focuses on Venice’s legendary origins and explores the meanings of the visual art practices developed in Venice, providing information on the Scuola and the commission of historical narrative paintings that depict the cycle of Saint Mark. Historians have largely neglected to consider this painting within the context of Venice’s mythic identity and the function of the painting in Scuola Grande di San Marco. This paper argues that in Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini developed a wide range of strategies for creating a historical statement of Venice’s past in order to make the past something to which their contemporary Venetians might identify--thereby reinforcing peace in their city’s religious, political, and social worlds.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Anne Muraoka
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Department
Art Department
College Affiliation
College of Arts & Letters
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Disciplines
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture | Fine Arts
Session Title
Art History 3: New Interpretations & Connections
Location
Learning Commons @Perry Library, Room 1306
Start Date
3-25-2023 12:00 PM
End Date
3-25-2023 1:00 PM
Gentile Bellini: Painter of Peace
Learning Commons @Perry Library, Room 1306
Gentile and Giovanni Bellini’s Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria is representative of the artists’ final works, which were intended to demonstrate the mastery of Venetian style in the Scuola Grande di San Marco. Following Gentile’s visit to Constantinople, the Scuola Grande di San Marco commissioned him to paint Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria to be displayed in the Albergo, the meeting space of the Scuola. Scholarship on this painting largely focuses on the architectural and narrative elements. Letha Ch’ien, for instance, focuses on Venice’s legendary origins and explores the meanings of the visual art practices developed in Venice, providing information on the Scuola and the commission of historical narrative paintings that depict the cycle of Saint Mark. Historians have largely neglected to consider this painting within the context of Venice’s mythic identity and the function of the painting in Scuola Grande di San Marco. This paper argues that in Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini developed a wide range of strategies for creating a historical statement of Venice’s past in order to make the past something to which their contemporary Venetians might identify--thereby reinforcing peace in their city’s religious, political, and social worlds.