Gentile Bellini, 'Cardinal Bessarion and Two Members of the Scuola della Carità in prayer with the Bessarion Reliquary', about 1472-3.
London, The National Gallery.

Recent Acquisition

'Cardinal Bessarion and Two Members of the Scuola della Carità in prayer with the Bessarion Reliquary'

about 1472-3

Gentile Bellini
(active about 1460; died 1507)

NG6590

The National Gallery has acquired at auction a unique Renaissance group portrait by Gentile Bellini (active about 1460; died 1507).

'Cardinal Bessarion and Two Members of the Scuola della Carità in prayer with the Bessarion Reliquary' is the earliest Venetian portrait in the collection. A recent generous legacy has helped towards its purchase.

Gentile Bellini belonged to the most important artistic dynasty in Renaissance Venice, which included his brother Giovanni and their brother-in-law Mantegna.

Gentile was famed for his incisive portraits, and his keen interest in the Near East. 'Cardinal Bessarion' combines both interests in Bellini's work, much of which was undertaken for the religious confraternities ('scuole') that dominated Venetian public life.

Bellini's painting of the Cardinal and his reliquary commemorates the gift of his most valuable possession to the Venetian confraternity of the Carità which he so admired. It handsomely complements works by Giovanni Bellini and Mantegna in Room 62.

Egg tempera with gold and silver on panel
102.3 x 37.2 cm

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