Alvise Vivarini
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Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
. Like Bellini, he was part of a dynasty of painters. His father was Antonio Vivarini
Antonio Vivarini
Antonio Vivarini was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance-late Gothic period, who worked mostly in the Republic of Venice...
and his uncle, with whom he may have trained, was Bartolomeo Vivarini. Another uncle, on his mother's side, was the artist known as Giovanni d'Alemagna
Giovanni d'Alemagna
Giovanni d'Alemagna was a German painter, active in Italy, who collaborated with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini on various important religious paintings in Venice and Padua....
, who worked with his brother-in-law Antonio. Alvise may have trained Jacopo de' Barbari
Jacopo de' Barbari
Jacopo de' Barbari, sometimes known or referred to as de'Barbari, de Barberi, de Barbari, Barbaro, Barberino, Barbarigo or Barberigo , was an Italian painter and printmaker with a highly individual style. He moved from Venice to Germany in 1500, thus becoming the first Italian Renaissance artist...
.
It has sometimes been supposed that, besides the Luigi who was the latest of this pictorial family, there had also been another Luigi who was the earliest (i.e. Antonio's father), this supposition being founded on the fact that one picture is signed with the name, with the date 1414. There is good ground, however, for considering this date to be a forgery of a later time.
The works of Vivarini show an advance on those of his predecessors, and some of them are productions of high attainment; one of the best was executed for the Scuola di San Girolamo in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, representing the saint caressing his lion, and some monks decamping in terror. The architecture and perspective in this work are superior.
Many churches in Venice have examples. Other works by Vivarini are in Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
. He painted some remarkable portraits.
The Adoration of Christ dated 1476, in the sacristy of the church of Montefiorentino, is one of his early productions. In 1480 he painted a Virgin and Saints for San Francesco, Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
, now in the Venice Accademia
Accademia
The Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th century art in Venice, northern Italy. Situated on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro, it gives its name to one of the three bridges across the canal, the Ponte dell'Accademia, and to the boat landing station for the...
. To about this date belong the SS. Matthew and John the Baptist, in the same collection; and the fresco of Christ Carrying His Cross in Santi Giovanni e Paolo
Santi Giovanni e Paolo
There are a number of churches in Italy named after the martyrs St. John and St. Paul , not the apostles, but two soldiers martyred for their faith in the years 361-363...
. In 1488, Alvise Vivarini wrote a letter to the Signory of Venice, requesting permission to share with Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
in the commission to decorate the Hall of Great Council in the Doge's Palace. To this he received a favorable reply, and thereupon executed two paintings, which were burned in the fire of 1577. The subjects, Vasari tells us, were Otho promising to mediate between Venice and Barbarossa
Barbarossa
Barbarossa, a name meaning red beard in Italian, may refer to any of these:-People:* Emperor Barbarossa or Frederick I , Holy Roman Emperor...
and Barbarossa receiving his Son. The Council were so pleased with the pictures that, in 1492, Alvise was named Depentor in Gran Conseio, with a salary of five ducats a month. Notwithstanding this work for the State, he continued to paint altar-pieces for private patrons. The Apotheosis of St. Ambrose (1503) in the Cappella Milimesi of the Frari, Venice, was probably the last production of Alvise, as the inscription tells us that it was completed after his death by Marco Basaiti
Marco Basaiti
Marco Basaiti was a Venetian Greek painter and a rival of Giovanni Bellini. His best known works are Christ Praying in the Garden and the Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew.- Biography :...
, one of his pupils.