'Mantegna and Bellini. Masters of the Renaissance' in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Image: Giovanni Bellini, Doge Leonardo Loredan, 1501-2, panel, 61,6 x 45,1 cm, bought 1844 © The National Gallery, London

“Mantegna and Bellini. Meister der Renaissance” is a special exhibition of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the National Gallery, London. It features around 100 works to compare and contrast two of the greatest Renaissance artists, who also happened to be brothers-in-law: Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431–1506) and Giovanni Bellini (c. 1435–1516).

Giovanni Bellini Resurrection of Christ, 1475/1479 poplar wood, 148 x 128 cm © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Jörg P. Anders

In 1452/3 the ambitious painter and printmaker Mantegna, who was active in Padua, married into the Bellini family, who were among the leading painters in nearby Venice. Mantegna’s brilliant compositional innovations and his deep interest in classical antiquity made a major impact on his youngest and most talented brother-in-law, Giovanni Bellini. In time, Bellini’s very different pictorial style also had a deep effect on Mantegna’s work.

Andrea Mantegna, The Agony in the Garden, about 1458-60, panel, 62.9 x 80 cm, bought 1894. © The National Gallery, London.

Mantegna and Bellini did not work in close proximity for long: In 1460 Mantegna moved to Mantua. He remained Court Painter to the ruling Gonzaga family until his death in 1506, and Bellini, who died ten years later, spent his whole career in Republican Venice.

Giovanni Bellini, Doge Leonardo Loredan, 1501-2, panel, 61,6 x 45,1 cm, bought 1844 © The National Gallery, London

They were active in very different environments, and their artistic styles developed in sometimes very different ways. Yet their work, for the rest of their long lives, provides evidence of their continuing creative artistic exchange.

1 March – 30 June 2019 in the Kulturforum, Gemäldegalerie