1505_Pieta_Bellini.txt

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Giovanni Bellini ca. 1430 – 1516
Pietà

oil on panel (65 × 87 cm) — c. 1505
Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice

Bellini was in his seventies when he made this pieta. Previously, in 1465, he had also depicted the subject of the mourning mother, but with a standing Mary.

The background shows several buildings in Venice.

Giovanni Bellini biography

Giovanni Bellini

ca. 1430 - 1516

Venetian painter, son of Jacopo Bellini (approx 1400–1471) brother of Gentile Bellini (approx 1429–1507), both painters.

At first Giovanni is influenced by the work of his contemporary and family-member Andrea Mantegna. Later he develops a style of his own, with softer shapes and exuding an almost poetic atmosphere.

Bellini paints mostly religious pieces, among which a series of lovely Madonnas. One of the most prominent painters in Venice of his time. As such put in charge of the fabrication of the decorations in the Doges Palace, lost in a fire in 1577.