Giovanni Bellini - Hardcover

Batschmann, Oskar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1861893574 ISBN 13: 9781861893574

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2007

Synopsis

Rare book

About this title

Review:

"A virtuosic analysis of the methods of one of the quattrocento's painterly superstars--Giovanni Bellini--but the general reader will perhaps gain the most pleasure from Bätschmann's insights into the fierce rivalries between artists, the chaos and clutter of the era's studios and workshops, and the hard-fought battles to secure patronage. . . . The great virtue of Bätschmann's book is that it combines this intimate portrayal of the artistic milieu with a scholarly examination of Bellini's career. . . . Oskar Bätschmann is to be applauded for producing a scholarly yet passionate book."-- (04/26/2008)

"Imaginative, rich in insights and exceptionally stimulating. . . . Admirable monograph which should invigorate Bellini studies. . . . An elegant volume which makes the products of many university presses look like desktop efforts."-- (07/30/2008)

"This splendid monograph is a thoughtful and carefully reasoned presentation of Bellini's career as an artist, with ancillary discussions of contemporary Venetian painting. Bätschmann has amassed an extraordinary amount of information--historical, stylistic, bibliographical--in a generally chronological presentation of Bellini's career that covers not only the artist's life and production, but also reconstructions of some of his lost works and references to others that were critical in establishing the artist's reputation . . . This book will interest not only students of Bellini, but also those who wish to understand the motivating factors in the history of Venetian Renaissance painting. Recommended."

--Choice

Synopsis:

In the 19th century, Giovanni Bellini (c. 1435/38-1516) regained his reputation as the leading painter of the Venetian Renaissance, a position he had attained in his lifetime. Jacob Burckhardt called him the 'saviour' of Venetian painting, while John Ruskin described Bellini's altarpiece in the Church of St Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and St Zaccaria as one of the most beautiful paintings in the world. In "Giovanni Bellini", Oskar Batschmann gives a fresh appraisal of the artist and his works. Among the important issues that Batschmann confronts is the problem, Bellini had in finding a personal style while working in the shadow of his father, Jacopo, and his father-in-law Andrea Mantegna. The author also shows how Bellini developed new types and genres of pictures, and new painting techniques, in his struggle to compete with the influx of Netherlandish painting into Venice. Batschmann describes the artist's innovative, poetic compositions, and how his singular harmony of colours presented a new aesthetic akin to music. Through this new, refined sensibility Bellini found a way of turning the onlooker into a knowledgeable admirer of art.

Bellini showed his independence from his patron Isabella d'Este by insisting on his right to his own artistic choices, and in this way his work took on a new significance for the role of the artist. Highly illustrated, this new account of Bellini by a leading art historian has much to say to specialists in the field, as well as to the wide audience for Renaissance art.

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1861893574
• ISBN 13: 9781861893574
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 324