Beyond the Madonna painter: reassessing the life, works, & reception of Giovanni Bellini

Abstract

I aim to write a critical cultural history of Venetian art in Giovanni Bellini's lifetime (1433 to 1516), focussing upon Bellini's intellectual position. In the most recent decade archival discoveries, containing new revelations about Bellini's patrons, his intellectual friendships with learned humanists, his probable illegitimacy, his certain homosexuality and his painting techniques, prompt a new investigation of how biography has infused representation in art. Multiple outcomes include a book, with the same title, and an exhibition at the National Gallery, Washington, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna in 2005-2006, where Bellini's oeuvre will be seen in context.