Giovanni Bellini Oskar Bätschmann in Bergamo and the Virgin and Child with Seraphim (illus. 74) in Venice.35 72GiovanniBellini,Virginand Child(RogersMadonna),1485–90, Such practices may also involve continuous variations of the mother and wood.MetropolitanMuseumof childthemewithdiverselandscapesettings.Thecombinationofschemasfor Art,NewYork. the Virgin and Child must also be considered for their potential use in expanded compositions involving figures of saints. Appearing in the list of GiovanniBellini’sworksthatwaspublishedinAnchiseTempestini’smono- graph in 2000 are 36 half-figure depictions of the Virgin and Child and nine half-figure depictions with additional saints, as well as 31 attributed works on the same theme. The variations of body and head postures, of looks, of hands and of the setting with balustrade, landscape and curtain, along with variationsofillumination,shadowandcolour,combinetocreateanextraor- dinarilydiversityusingrelativelyfewelements. A New Genre Marcantonio Michiel lists a painting by Andrea Mantegna as having been presentinthehomeofthelearnedliteraryfigure–andlatercardinal–Pietro Bembo in Padua: ‘The little painting on wood, which shows Our Lady bringingthechildtobecircumcised,comesfromthehandofMantegna,and was executed as a half-figure.’36 The work by Mantegna to which Michiel refershaslongbeenidentifiedwiththePresentationintheTemple(illus.75)in Berlin, although the support consists of finely woven canvas, while Michiel explicitlymentionswood.Thisunexplaineddifficultyshouldnotbeneglected, forMichiel’snotationmightwellrefertoarepetitionbyMantegna.Visiblein thepictureinBerlinonadarkbackgroundandsetinapaintedmarbleframe arefourhalf-figuresofsaintsandtheheadsoftwoindividuals,onemaleand onefemale,oneithersideofthegroup.Mary,showninprofile,supportsher right elbow on the lower part of the frame and embraces the tightly swad- dled infant Jesus, who seems to stand on a green cushion. The high priest Simeon holds one hand under the feet of the child, ready to receive him. Between the high priest and Jesus is a small, elderly man, recognizable as Joseph. It has been proposed that the two individuals to the left and right should be identified respectively as a self-portrait of the artist and a portrait ofNiccolosiaBellini.Thiswouldmakeittemptingtoregardthispaintingas avotiveimageconnectedwitheitherafirstoradifficultbirth,whichwould suggestadatingof1455.37 ThePinacotecaQueriniStampaliainVeniceownsapanel(illus.76)con- taining half-figures on the same theme. The group of saints was copied after Mantegna,butthecontemporarywitnesseshavebeenmultiplied:totheleftwe overleaf: seetwowomen,totherighttwoyoungmen.GiovanniBellini–whoisgener- 73GiovanniBellini,VirginandChild allyregardedasthepainting’sauthor–omittedthepaintedmarbleframe,and (MorelliMadonna),c.1485–90,wood. Galleriadell’AccademiaCarrara, positioned his figural group behind a wide parapet of green breccia marble. Bergamo. NoneofthefiguresinBellini’spaintinghasahalo.Thefouradditionalfigures 74GiovanniBellini,VirginandChild havebeenassociatedwiththenamesoftheBellinifamilyinVeniceandiden- withSeraphim,c.1485–90,wood. tifiedasGentileandGiovanni,NiccolosiaandthemotherofGiovanni.38 Galleriadell’Accademia,Venice. Transformations | 83 75AndreaMantegna,Presentation intheTemple,c.1454/55,wood. Gemäldegalerie,Berlin. Mantegna’s painting in Berlin is the first known example of a half- figure composition with a narrative element. Compared with a painting containing entire figures, action, bodily movement and the rendering of the settinghavebeenreducedtoaminimum.39Expanded,ontheotherhand,is thebreadthofphysiognomicexpressiveness.TheinfantJesusgazesupwards with an expression of lament, while the face of Joseph expresses profound disquiet or agitated concern. The high priest knits his brows, while Mary’s demeanour, in contrast, is tranquil and gentle. The onlookers in the picture are neither integrated into the action nor emotionally involved. Mantegna does, however, establish contact between the space of the image and that of the beholder:the aesthetic boundary of the painted marble frame is empha- sizedtoanextraordinarydegree,whichmakestheprojectionatthecentreof the narrative – involving the cushion, Mary’s hands, Simeon and the feet of thechild–allthemoreconspicuous.InMantegna’sversion,toalesserdegree inBellini’sreshaping,itisapparentlyaquestionoftheemotionalintegration oftheviewer. The model provided by Mantegna was taken up by Giovanni Bellini and transformed into a successful new genre. Only on one occasion, in the AdorationoftheKingsofcirca1500–05,didMantegnareturntothehalf-figure, butBelliniandhisworkshopconvertedthegenreintoapermanentbranchof production, one that would also be exploited by imitators and successors.40 Exclusivelyreligioussubjectswereoffered,amongwhichthePresentationand the Circumcision were Giovanni Bellini’s favourite subjects, various versions ofwhichhavesurvived.TherearenumerousversionsofthePresentationinthe Templewithfivefigures,aswellasoftheCircumcision(illus.77).41Sinceithas 86 | Giovanni Bellini provedimpossibletoidentifytheoriginalamongthesenumerousvariants,we 76GiovanniBellini,Presentationinthe mustcontentourselveswiththeassumptionthatinthesetwocasesGiovanni Temple,c.1460–65,wood.Fondazione QueriniStampalia,Venice. Bellini’s original or primary version has been lost, and that the surviving exemplarsarereplicas,workshopreplicasorcopies. The heyday of the popularity of narrative paintings involving half- figuresamongRomancollectorswasreachedaround1600withtheachieve- ments of Caravaggio.42 While seventeenth-century collectors were greatly fond of half-figure narratives, there exists no confirmatory evidence for a similar enthusiasm on the part of contemporary clients following the intro- duction of this type by Mantegna and Bellini. In his important study Die Sammler (‘The Collector’) of 1897, Jacob Burckhardt classified paintings of half-figured saints among domestic devotional images, but regarded those pictures that display scenes from the Passion as ‘belonging to the domestic sphereratherthanservingdevotionalfunctions’.Withgreatcircumspection, Burckhardt sought to draw a distinction between the use that might be made of narrative images and the kind of attention normally bestowed upon images of the Virgin with additional figures of saints, among which he explicitly singles out ‘the celebrated picture by Giovanni Bellini in the Transformations | 87 77GiovanniBellini,Circumcision, academy’(illus.78).GiovanniBelliniisclassifiedbyBurckhardtas‘thecen- about1500,canvas.NationalGallery, tral master of this very large group of splendid images, displaying related London. contentsandstyles,whichhavebeenscatteredthroughouttheworld’,thatis to say, domestic devotional images. On the whole, Burckhardt was extraor- dinarily enthusiastic about these pictures and about Titian’s subsequent development of this type, praising its ‘character, the pride of Venice, which oftenattaineditsgreatestmaturityhere’.43 In his book Icon to Narrative, which first appeared in 1965, Sixten Ringbomdealscomprehensivelywiththenewgenreofthehalf-figureimage established by Mantegna and Bellini, images that present scenes without genuinely elaborating their narrative elements. With Bellini in particular, Ringbom notes the reduction of the action and the tranquil compositional type, which promotes elevated sentiments. Moreover, the Presentation in the TempleandtheCircumcisionwerefavouredsubjectsinpopulardevotional literature all the way from Jacopo da Voragine’s Legenda aurea to the MeditationesofthePseudo-Bonaventura.44Bybringingthesesaintlyprotago- niststolife,andthroughtheirportrait-stylepresenceandtranquillyspiritual expressions,thesefiguresdirectlyaddressthesentimentsandemotionsofthe beholder.Towardstheendofthe1460s,inhisimportantPietà(illus.83),now intheBrerainMilan,Bellinidevelopedtheemotionalresponseofthebeholder 88 | Giovanni Bellini intoavirtualinteractionbetweenviewerandimage.Theupliftingfunction 78GiovanniBellini,Virginand ofhalf-figureimagesofthePresentationandCircumcisiondidnothinderhis ChildwithStsCatherineand MaryMagdalen,1485–90,wood. artisticperformance,asseeninthebrilliantrenderingofpreciousgarments, Galleriadell’Accademia,Venice. whichdependsuponNetherlandishpainting. The Protection of Venice On 30 August 1486 Agostino Barbarigo was elected doge, and thereby suc- ceeded his deceased brother Marco, who had assumed office just one year earlier.Shortlyafterhiselection,MarcohadappointedhisbrotherAgostino as‘ProcuratorediS.Marco’,providinghimwithoneofthehighestofficesin the Venetian Republic.45 Upon his election as doge, Agostino Barbarigo, in accordance with his obligations, commissioned a votive image at his own expenseinordertomaintaintheVirgin’sprotectionofVenice.Hischoicefell on Giovanni Bellini, and the result was a large-format painting (illus. 79) showing the Virgin enthroned with the Holy Child, St Mark, who recom- mends the doge – shown kneeling before the throne – to the Virgin, and St Augustine, the doge’s patron saint. The Virgin’s throne stands upon the pedestal with two steps, whose front displays the Barbarigo coat of arms along with the corno dogale – the horn-shaped biretta of the doge. Standing at the left and right of the Virgin’s throne are two angels with musical instruments.Thesceneisframedbyawideredcurtainthathasbeendrawn to the sides; the group of the Virgin and Child is further distinguished by a green baldachin. The setting is an outdoor terrace enclosed by a balustrade. To the left, the view is delimited by a nearby wood, while to the right the Transformations | 89 79GiovanniBellini,VotivePicture landscapestretchesoutintothefardistancebeyondafortificationwithmany ofDogeAgostinoBarbarigo,1486/87, towersandasteppedmountain.Againstsegmentsofthecloud-filledskyand canvas.ChurchofS.PietroMartire, theredcurtainhoverfourgroupsofcherubs. isleofMurano,Venice. Itcanbededucedthatafter1478GentileandGiovanniBellinihadexe- cutedavotiveimageforDogeGiovanniMocenigo(illus.80).46Mocenigohad occupied the office of the doge from 1478 to 1485, and was the immediate predecessor of Marco Barberigo. The votive image for Doge Mocenigo retains the traditional asymmetrical arrangement of the enthroned Virgin andChild.Thedogekneelsdownontheright-handsideofthepicturewith the saint after whom he is named, John the Baptist, standing behind him. TheenthronedVirginissetontheleft-handside,andtheimageterminates withStChristopherandtheinfantJesus.ThefigureofChristopherisacita- tionfromthepolyptychofStVincentFerrer,whiletheenthronedVirginand ChildissimilartoapaintingbyGentile,andthedoge,showninprofile,cor- responds to a portrait by him. At first glance, this composition, assembled frompre-existingmotifs,seemstobeaworkshopproduction,butitdoesnot seem likely that Gentile and Giovanni would have failed personally to con- ceive a prestigious work intended for the new doge. It seems likely that Gentile, in his capacity as Pictor nostri Domini, began to work on this votive pictureshortlyafterGiovanniMocenigo’selectionin1478,andthatGiovanni Bellini completed the work after his brother’s departure in 1479 for Constantinople,whereheattendedthecourtoftheSultan.47 InthepaintingknownastheVotivePictureofDogeAgostinoBarbarigo, GiovanniBellinisituatestheenthronedVirginandChildatthecentreofthe 90 | Giovanni Bellini imagebeneathabaldachin,emphasizingthepicture’sbilateralsymmetryby means of the red curtain, the two music-making angels, the groups of cherubs and the lateral sections of landscape and sky. The colours and posi- tionsoftheotherfiguresimpartasubtledynamicqualitytothissymmetrical arrangement.StAugustineisshownstandingandwearingasplendidcloak ofwhitedamaskwithgoldandred.Hiscounterpartoppositeisthekneeling doge, who wears a gold habit with an ermine cloak and an extremely pre- cious version of the corno, the so-called zogia, worn by the doge at his coro- nation,andannuallyatEasterfortheprocessiontothechurchofSanZaccaria. Behind the kneeling doge wearing coronation robes stands St Mark, who repeats Mary’s colours. The asymmetry of this votive picture was readapted alreadybythisdoge’ssuccessor,LeonardoLoredan.48 Unusualforavotivepictureforadogeistheinclusionofthetwoangels with musical instruments. The motive for their inclusion was probably Agostino Barbarigo’s fondness for music, a trait that should be seen in the contextofthegrowingprestigeassociatedwithmusicandofthemultiplica- tion of musical activities at Italian cultural centres and courts during the final decadesofthefifteenthcentury.49On19September1485,whenMarco Barberigo was still a procurator of San Marco, Pietro de Fossis, born in FranceorFlanders,wasappointedasasingerandawardedanexceptionally high annual salary at the Cappella ducale in San Marco. In 1491 Agostino BarberigoappointedthesingerasthefirstmaestrooftheCappelladucale,ina 80GiovanniandGentileBellini,Votive bid to engage in competition with the pope’s Cappella pontificia in Rome. PictureofDogeMocenigo,after1478, With the appointment of Pietro de Fossis, the office of maestro di Cappella canvas.NationalGallery,London. Transformations | 91