later. Palladio’s design also created the illusion of three-dimensional
depth, an effect intensified by the strong projection of the central
columns and the shadows they cast. The play of shadow across the
building’s surfaces, its reflection in the water, and its gleaming white
against sea and sky create a remarkably colorful effect. The interior
of the church lacks the ambiguity of the facade and exhibits strong
roots in High Renaissance architectural style. Light floods the inte-
rior and crisply defines the contours of the rich wall decorations, all
beautifully and “correctly” profiled—the exemplar of what classical
architectural theory meant by “rational” organization.Venetian Painting
In the 16th century the Venetians developed a distinctive painting
style. Artists in the maritime republic showed a special interest in
recording the effect of Venice’s soft-colored light on figures and
landscapes, and Venetian paintings of the High and Late Renaissance
are easy to distinguish from contemporaneous works in Florence
and Rome.
GIOVANNI BELLINI One artist who contributed significantly
to creating the High Renaissance painting style in Venice was
Giovanni Bellini(ca. 1430–1516). Trained in the InternationalStyle (see Chapter 19) by his father Jacopo, a student of Gentile da
Fabriano, Bellini worked in the family shop and did not develop his
own style until after his father’s death in 1470. His early independent
works show the dominant influence of his brother-in-law Andrea
Mantegna. But in the late 1470s, he came into contact with the work
of the Sicilian-born painter Antonello da Messina (ca. 1430–1479).
Antonello received his early training in Naples, where he must have
become familiar with Flemish painting and mastered using mixed
oil (see “Tempera and Oil Painting,” Chapter 20, page 523). This
more flexible medium is wider in coloristic range than either tem-
pera or fresco. Antonello arrived in Venice in 1475 and during his
two-year stay introduced his Venetian colleagues to the possibilities
the new oil technique offered. As a direct result of contact with An-
tonello, Bellini abandoned Mantegna’s harsh linear style and devel-
oped a sensuous coloristic manner that was to characterize Venetian
painting for a century.SAN ZACCARIA ALTARPIECE Bellini earned great recogni-
tion for his many Madonnas, which he painted both in half-length
(with or without accompanying saints) on small devotional panels
and in full-length on large, monumental altarpieces of the sacra con-
versazione (holy conversation) type. In the sacra conversazione,
which gained great popularity as a theme for reli-
gious paintings from the middle of the 15th century
on, saints from different epochs occupy the same
space and seem to converse either with each other
or with the audience. (Raphael employed much the
same conceit in his School of Athens,FIG. 22-9,
where he gathered Greek philosophers of different
eras.) Bellini carried on the tradition in one of his
earliest major commissions, the San Zaccaria Altar-
piece (FIG. 22-33). As was conventional, the Virgin
Mary sits enthroned, holding the Christ Child, with
saints flanking her. Bellini placed the group in a
carefully painted shrine. Attributes aid the identifi-
cation of all the saints: Saint Lucy holding a tray
with her plucked-out eyes displayed on it; Saint Pe-
ter with his key and book; Saint Catherine with the
palm of martyrdom and the broken wheel; and
Saint Jerome with a book (representing his transla-
tion of the Bible into Latin). At the foot of the
throne sits an angel playing a viol. The painting ra-
diates a feeling of serenity and spiritual calm. View-
ers derive this sense less from the figures (no inter-
action occurs among them) than from Bellini’s
harmonious and balanced presentation of color
and light. Line is not the chief agent of form, as it
generally is in paintings produced in Rome and Flor-
ence. Indeed, outlines dissolve in light and shadow.
Glowing color produces a soft radiance that envelops
the forms with an atmospheric haze and enhances
their majestic serenity.604 Chapter 22 ITALY,1500 TO 160022-33Giovanni Bellini,San Zaccaria Altarpiece,- Oil on wood transferred to canvas, 16 5 –^12
7 9 . San Zaccaria, Venice.
In this sacra conversazioneuniting saints from different
eras, Bellini created a feeling of serenity and spiritual
calm through the harmonious and balanced
presentation of color and light.
1 ft.
22-33ABELLINI,
Saint Francis
in the Desert,
ca. 1470–1480.