Giovanni Belini

Giovanni Bellini, like his brother Gentile Bellini, began his career as an assistant in the studio of his father, Jacopo Bellini. His early work, done in tempera, reflected a confluence of Byzantine stiffness and the analytical precision of the Flemish. Soon Bellini trained himself to become one of the early masters in the techniques of oil painting. He was later influenced by Donatello and by the work of his sister's husband, Andrea Mantegna. By 1479 Bellini …

…painter of his period. Upon visiting Venice in 1506, the German artist Albrecht Durer wrote: "He is the best painter of them all." The prominent writers of his time also joined in his praise, including Pietro Bembo in his verses and Ariosto in Orlando Furioso, Canto 33. Vasari says, "There is no lack at Venice of those who endeavored to honor him when dead with sonnets and epigrams, just as he had honored his country when alive."