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JACOPO BELLINI, the Venetian painter, had been a pupil of Gentile
da Fabriano, and after the departure of Domenico Veniziano from
Venice, found himself without a rival there. He had also two sons
of fine genius, the one named Giovanni and the other Gentile,
named after Gentile da Fabriano, whom he held in memory as his
loving master and father. As his two sons grew up, Jacopo himself
taught them diligently the principles of drawing, but before long
they both surpassed their father greatly. This rejoiced him much,
and he constantly encouraged them, saying that as the Tuscans
boasted that they grew strong by conquering each other, so he
desired that Giovanni should first conquer him, and then that
he and Gentile should contend together.
He painted many pictures with the aid of his sons on canvas, as
they almost always do in that city, using very seldom the panels
of maple or poplar, which are so pleasant to work upon. For if
they use wood in Venice, it is always the wood of the firtree,
which is brought in abundance to that city down the river Adige
from Germany. But usually they paint on canvas, either because
it does not crack or because you can make the picture any size
you will, or for the convenience of sending them about.
Afterwards separating, they lived apart, but none the less did
the two sons re~erence each other, and both their father, praising
each the other, and each esteeming himself inferior, thus seeking
to surpass one another no less in kindness and courtesy than in
the excellence of their art.
The admiration excited by their paintings caused many of the Venetian
gentlemen to propose that they should take advantage of the presence
of such rare masters to have the Hall of the Great Council painted
with stories of the great deeds done by the city in war, and other
things worthy of memory. And this work was entrusted by those
in rule to Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, and the painter Vivarino;
but poor Vivarino, having accomplished part with great honour,
died, and it was necessary that Giovanni Bellini should complete
his work.
Not long after, some portraits having been taken to Turkey to
the Grand Turk by an ambassador, that emperor was so struck with
astonishment that, although the Mahometan laws prohibit pictures,
he accepted them with great goodwill, praising the work without
end, and what is more, requesting that the master himself be sent
to him. But the senate, considering that Giovanni could ill support
the hardships, resolved to send Gentile his brother, and he was
conveyed safely in their galleys to Constantinople, where being
presented to Mahomet, he was received with much kindness as a
new thing. He presented a beautiful picture to the prince, who
admired it much, and could not persuade himself to believe that
a mortal man had in him so much of the divinity as to be able
to express the things of nature in such a lively manner. Gentile
painted the Emperor Mahomet himself from life so well that it
was considered a miracle, and the emperor, having seen many specimens
of his art, asked Gentile if he had the courage to paint himself;
and Gentile having answered "Yes," before many days
were over he finished a lifelike portrait by means of a mirror,
and brought it to the monarch, whose astonishment was so great
that he would have it a divine spirit dwelt in him. And had not
this art been forbidden by the law of the Turks, the emperor would
never have let him go. But either from fear that people would
murmur, or from some other cause, he sent for him one day, and
having thanked him, and given him great praise, he bade him to
ask whatever he would and it should be granted him without fail.
Gentile modestly asked for nothing more than that he would graciously
give him a letter of recommendation to the Senate and Signory
of Venice. His request was granted in as fervent words as possible,
and then, loaded with gifts and honours, and with the dignity
of a cavalier, he was sent away. Among the other gifts was a chain
of gold of two hundred and fifty crowns weight, worked in the
Turkish manner. So, leaving Constantinople, he came safely to
Venice, where he was received by his brother Giovanni and the
whole city with joy, every one rejoicing in the honors which Mahomet
had paid him. When the Doge and Signory the letters of the emperor,
they ordered that a provision of two hundred crowns a year should
be paid him all the rest of his life.
Gentile painted a few works after his return; but at last, being
near eighty, he passed away to another life, and was buried honourably
by his brother Giovanni. Giovanni, widowed of Gentile, whom he
had always loved tenderly, continued to work for some time, and
applied himself to painting portraits from life with such success
that it became the custom for every one whc attained to any rank
or position to have their portraits painted by him, last, having
attained to the and was buried bv the side of his brother.
Connected with this family by marriage was Andrea Mantegna, who
came of very low birth, and when a boy kept cattle in the country
round Mantua; but as he grew up, Jacopo Squarcione, a Paduan painter,
took him into his house and, perceiving his talents, adopted him
as a son. Squarcione, however, knowing himself to be not the best
painter in the world, and desiring that Andrea might learn more
than he knew himself, made him study from copies of antique statues
and pictures, which he fetched from different places, particularly
Tuscany and Rome. By these means Andrea learnt much, and began
to produce works of so great promise that Jacopo Bellini, the
father of Gentile and Giovanni, and the rival of Squarcione, gave
him for a wife one of his daughters. But when Squarcione heard
of it, he was so enraged with Andrea that he became his enemy,
always finding fault with his pictures publicly, saying it would
be better if he did not colour his pictures, but made them the
colour of marble, for they had no resemblance to life. These reproaches
stung Andrea much, but they were of use to him, for he perceived
that they were in great part true, and set himself therefore to
study from life. Nevertheless it was always Andrea's opinion that
for study good antique figures were better than life, because
in them the perfection of nature taken from many persons is united,
which is rarely the case in one body.
For Lodovico Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, who esteemed him greatly,
he painted much, representing for him the Triumph of Caesar, which
is the best thing he ever did. He gained so much fame by it that
Innocent VIII, hearing of him, sent for him to Rome. It is said
that the Pope, being much occupied, did not give money to Mantegna
as often as he wanted it, and therefore when he was painting the
Virtues he put among them Discretion. And the Pope, going one
day to see the work, asked Andrea what it was, and he answered,
"She is piscretion." So the Pope answered," If
you would have her well accompanied, put by her side Patience."
And the painter saw what the Holy Father meant, and said no morc.
But when the work was finished, the Pope sent him away with many
rewards and favours.
He delighted, as Pollaiuolo did, in engraving, and among other
things engraved his Triumph. He was a man of gentle manners, and
will be remembered not only in his country but through all the
world, so that he deserved to be celebrated by Ariosto, who at
the beginning of the 33rd canto, enumerating the most illustrious
painters of his time, says-
"Lionardo, Andrea Mantegna, Gian Bellino."
Source. These texts were at http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~pfitz/ART/REN/VASARI.HTM,but
vanished from the net, and so they have been restored here.
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors &
architects, by Giorgio Vasari: newly tr. by Gaston du C. de Vere. With five hundred
illustraiions, London, Macmillan and & The Medici society, 1912-15.
Other translations include:
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. The lives of the painters, sculptors and architects. London, J. M. Dent; New York, Dutton [1949-50]).
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors,
and architects. Abridged from the translation by Gaston DuC. DeVere. Edited, with an
introd., by Robert N. Linscott. New York, Modern Library [1959].
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the artists. Selected and translated by
E.L. Seeley. Introd. by Alfred Werner. (New York, Noonday Press, [1965, c1957]).
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Lives of the artists; a selection translated by
George Bull. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Eng. : Penguin Books, 1987.
Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. The lives of the artists; translated with an
introduction and notes by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. (Oxford ; New
York : Oxford University Press, 1991.).
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