The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD has one of the best collections of Renaissance Art in the US! Today we’re going to dive into one of my favorite Renaissance paintings in the collection…

Giovanni Bellini – Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Mark and Three Venetian Procurators, 1510

Giovanni Bellini is a favorite on Art Expeditions and a featured artists in the Masters of Venice course. Click here to learn more

Part of the powerhouse Bellini art family , Giovanni revolutionized art in The Veneto and was the one of the first artists in the area to make the shift to oil paints (from Antonello da Messina, whose work is also featured in the Walter’s Collection).

• The Bellini Family were The Who’s Who in the Art Scene of Early Renaissance in Venice…His father Jacopo trained with late Gothic Florentine artist Gentile da Fabriano. Giovanni often painted with his brother Gentile (pronounced Gen-tily), who was most likely named in honor of his father’s teacher.
• Fun fact: Giovanni’s brother-in-law was one of the first masters of perspective, Paduan artist Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna worked with Donatello during his time in Padua working on St. Anthony’s Basilica…

Giovanni Bellini – Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Mark and Three Venetian Procurators, 1510 shows Bellini’s finesse at perspective and making the viewer feel as they are part of the scene. Notice how Bellini illuminates the scene with shadow and light. The marble on the steps looks like a photograph in its perfect detail. St. Peter is identified holding ‘keys to the kingdom’ (In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells Peter: on this rock I will build my church)…St. Mark is a patron saint of Venice (buried in the city’s St. Mark’s Basilica) St. Mark is often featured in Venetian Sacra Conversazione scenes

• key term: Sacra Conversazione comes from the Italian meaning holy conversation; it is applied to an altarpiece in which attendant saints are grouped in a unified space around the centralised Virgin and Child in a single panel. It gradually replaced the polyptych form in the 15th century.
  • In Sacra Conversazione sometimes the saints are in conversation with each other but often they are painted side by side in deep meditation

In art, The Blessed Mother Mary is most often wearing red and blue.

• Blue was a color of royalty…before our modern age where we can create paint colors in labs at little costs, paint was mixed from ingredients like flowers, bugs, and stones, etc… Blue was often created by crushing the precious stone Lapis Lazuli, which was only mined in Afghanistan…it was one of the most expensive paints to acquire. Those who wore blue were wealthy nobles and royals. Mary as Queen of Heaven and Mother of Christ, was adorned with the Royal Blue.
• Red indicates the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and her own sacrifice (Luke 2:22 ‘Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”)

Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Mark and Three Venetian Procurators – A Treasure in Baltimore..

• Bellini and his workshop painted this 36 1/8 in x 49 1/8 in masterpiece as a commemorative work to adorn the rooms of th Procuratia di Ultra, one of the most important public offices in the Republic of Venice.
• The three procurators in the picture ( Tomaso Mocenigo, Luca Zeno and Domenico Trevisano) were high-ranking officials who administered public affairs and resolved judicial disputes. They are seen kneeling before the Madonna Child as donors.
  • Donors (those who funded religious art) are often seen in Medieval and Renaissance works kneeling before Jesus and/or The Blessed Mother Mary.
  • In Venice, which was a Republic with elected officials including The Doge (head of Republic of Venice) were to always be shown in submission to Jesus, Mary and also Venice’s patron saint – Saint Mark.
• The painting was commissioned in as a votive painting to thank The Virgin Mary for protecting the Venetian Republic.

The Walter’s Art Museum also features a gorgeous work by one of Bellini’s collaborators Antonello da Messina…(Read more about da Messina here)

Messina helped introduce oil paints to Venice; he was first introduced to oil paints in Naples via trade with The Netherlands. Antonella da Messina’s works are markedly inspired by Netherlandish artists like Jan Van Eyck in their use of detail and perspective.

Want to know more about Venetian art? Check out the free Art Expeditions course here.

Learn more about The Walter’s Museum here.