Bellini
Bellini names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Bellini born in 1421
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
born in 1421, died in 1501, was distinguished as a portrait painter, and also as a medailleur . Along with his brother, he was commissioned to decorate the council chamber of the Venetian Senate. Mohammed II. invited Gentile to Constantinople, employed him to execute various historical works, and dismissed him laden with presents. The "Preaching of St. Mark" is his most famous piece. His more celebrated brother, GIOVANNI BELLINI, born in 1426, died in 1512, was the founder of the older Venetian school of painting , and contributed greatly to its progress . His best works are altar pieces . His picture of the "Infant Jesus" slumbering in the lap of the Madonna, and attended by angels, is full of beauty. His " Holy Virgin," "Baptism of the Lord," and " Christ and the Woman of Samaria," are also much admired.
Bellini VINCENZO, a musical composer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
VINCENZO, a musical composer, born in Catania, in Sicily, in 1802. He was educated at Naples, under Zingarelli, and, before he had completed his 20th year, he had produced "Bianca and Fernando" at the Theater St. Carlo. This was succeeded by various other operas, of which "Il Pirata," "La Somnambula," "Norma ," and "I Puritani" (1827-1834), are the best, and have gained for him an undying celebrity. He died near Paris, Sept. 23 , 1835.
Bellini the name of a Venetian family which produced several remarkable painters
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name of a Venetian family which produced several remarkable painters. The earliest was JACOPO BELLINI, who died in 1470. He was a pupil of the celebrated Gentile da Fabriano, and one of the first who painted in oil. His eldest son, GENTILE
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The pictures and the people are the same; the dates have moved. Collier's in 1921 has Gentile Bellini born 1421 and dead in 1501 and Giovanni dead in 1512, whereas modern scholarship puts Gentile's death in February 1507 and Giovanni's in November 1516, with both birth years only loosely fixed around 1429-1435. The claim that Jacopo was "one of the first who painted in oil" has also softened: the technique came to Venice from the north, and it is Antonello da Messina's visit of about 1475 that is now credited with turning Giovanni toward oil. Vincenzo Bellini's "undying celebrity" survived a long mid-century slump and was revived after 1950 by Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland in Norma and La sonnambula; the painter's name meanwhile attached to the Bellini cocktail, mixed at Harry's Bar in Venice in the years after the Second World War.
Written for this edition, 2026.