BELLINI, Jacopo
(b. ca. 1400, Venezia, d. 1470, Venezia)

St John the Baptist Preaching

1440s
Leadpoint
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The father of Venetian painting is, unquestionably, Jacopo Bellini, even though little remains of his paintings. Fortunately, we have the extraordinary sketchbooks in Paris and London which include at the same time future projects and reference drawings, books which are both a personal collection and a functional archive. They confirm that Jacopo had learned much from Tuscan painters, fuelling his vocation for storytelling with volume and perspective, a feeling for antiquity, and a fascination with architecture.