Son of the painter Jacopo, Giovanni Bellini began h
is career in his fatherÆs workshop, together with his brother Gentile. In the paintings of his early period Giovanni still adopted the late-Gothic manner of his father, but he soon came under the influence of the work of his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegn
a, though he developed a more intimate relationship between figures and landscape and a greater softness of tone and transitions between colors. There are also early signs of a familiarity with Piero della Francesca and contemporary Flemish artists. When
Antonello da Messina spent the period from 1474 to 1476 in Venice, the two painters established a relationship of mutual influence. A profound renewal took place in BelliniÆs art at the beginning of the sixteenth century, when he showed no hesitation in
accepting the challenge offered by the new generation, in particular Giorgione and the young Titian.
