Bellini is perhaps the better known of the two artists. He lived and worked in Venice for his whole life, and had an impressive career that spanned a lengthy 65 years.
Unlike Mantegna, Bellini was born into a well-regarded family of Venetian artists. Bellini’s formative years were very much influenced by the work of his father, Jacopo Bellini.
Bellini set up his own school of painting, in which he influenced a number of pupils with his atmospheric landscapes and interesting use of colour, many of whom would go on to achieve great fame, such as Giorgione and Titian.
Bellini
Mantegna and Niccolosa Bellini had seven children, and were married until Nicolosia’s death. Mantegna and Bellini’s in-law connection resulted in a competitive artistic relationship. This can be seen in the Bellini’s The Agony in the Garden in which Bellini imitates Mantegna’s masterful foreshortening technique (a method where the figure or object is depicted in depth). Mantegna on the other hand tried to emulate Bellini’s superb talent for creating detailed and stunning landscapes. Both artists pushed and inspired one another.
Nevertheless, there is a great deal of care and respect between the two artists. When Mantegna died in 1506 he left his final commission unfinished. Bellini was chosen to complete this and pays his respects to Mantegna’s achievements as an artist in finishing his last work.
Can in-laws get on?
Mantegna and Bellini certainly think so
ARTE E CULTURA
SOURCE: WILL HOLMES
BY: WILL HOLMES
W: So it must be a bit of a nerve-racking journey.
SV: [laughs] It can be, yes. But I’m very fortunate as I deal with works on paper, so we have much smaller crates and it’s much easier to deal with. Coming from the British Museum, as I do, it was just down the road, so my journey was much less stressful.
W: How lucky! So this brings us to something really interesting and new about the exhibition which is the sketches. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
SV: What we really wanted to do in this show, was to bring together paintings and drawings, because so often you’ll go to an exhibition, and there’ll be lots of beautiful paintings, and the drawings will be sort of ghettoised in the room. Because, of course, they’re more susceptible to light, so we wanted to try and avoid that, because drawings were, for Mantegna certainly, a hugely important part of his work. And also, Bellini is being more and more recognised as a draughtsman because… and I’m sorry if we make the discursive comment that the Venetians didn’t draw, but they painted. And that is now, obviously, proven to be wrong.
W: With Mategna being described as a Baroque artist 200 years before his time, do you think that it’s wrong for him to be ranked below the likes of Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian? How do you think the exhibition debunks this?
SV: Yes. The show makes the point that there are other artists along side the big three: Leonardo (da Vinci), Raphael and Michelangelo. But they should be taken into account, because they were doing really exciting things and I really hope that the exhibition gets that across.
W: So the big question, who do you prefer Mantegna or Bellini?
SV: [laughs] Its a really tough one because I have spent 2 years of my life working on both of these artists and they both have their own strengths. Personally, I would say that, because Mantegna is more productive as a draughtsman and so on the drawing side of things, which is my side, there is much more Mantegna. So he is probably my favourite in that respect. But, in terms of paintings I prefer Bellini!