Giovanni Bellini

‘Giambellino’, (c. 1431–1516), illegitimate son of Jacopo and younger brother of Gentile was the greatest early Renaissance painter of northern Italy.

Giovanni Bellini combined all the new influences and techniques that flowed into Venice in the 15th century: the lush oil techniques of Antonello di Messina, the drawing and perspective of his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna and the landscape painting of Cima da Conegliano to create some of the most lyrical, sensually poetic art of the Renaissance, all bathed in an iridescent rich golden autumnal light.

As a Venetian, living in the 'marketplace of the world' and centre of the European pigment trade, he was able to get his brush into the most gorgeous expensive colours: the deep blue of ground lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, ground gold, saffron and 'Venetian red' made from the red earth of the Veneto.