Giovanni Bellini

Portrait of Giovanni Andrea Probi

Venice, 1474

Oil and tempera on wood

38 x 23 cm

Giovanni Andrea was the son of Angelo Probi (d. 1474), the Venetian ambassador for the King of Naples. This portrait formed the lid of an inheritance chest. In archived documents from the Probi property in Atri, Abruzzo (Central Italy), the inheritance chest is described as an Arabic casket containing a marble bust of Angelo Probi and a sonnet.

In the ledge is Giovanni Bellini’s name (OPVS BELLINI IOANNIS), followed by ‘Venice’ (VENETI). Beneath this is the phrase ‘NON ALITER’ (‘not otherwise’) painted in larger letters. This could be a family motto or a warning not to misattribute the portrait.

For this portrait, Bellini used a combination of egg tempera and oil paints. Oil painting was a new technique in Venice, influenced by the arrival of Netherlandish portraits to the city. These portraits emphasised naturalism and microscopic detailing. They frequently showed the sitter’s three-quarter profile as opposed to their side profile, which had been the standard Italian approach (see Signorelli’s Niccolò Vitelli, also in the Barber collection). Another detail that developed from Netherlandish painting was the inclusion of the ledge or parapet. This painting features the tallest and most imposing example of a parapet in any of Bellini’s portraits.

Purchased 1946 (No. 46.11)

Further reading:

Bätschmann, Oskar, Giovanni Bellini, Chicago, 2008, p. 8.

Benedicenti, Giovanbattista, ‘Giovanni Bellini: A New Essay on the Portrait in Birmingham’, Paragone, 43/ 573, 1992, pp. 3-9.

Humfrey, Peter, Giovanni Bellini: an introduction, Venice, 2021, p. 109.

Koos, Marian, Bildnisse des Begehrens, Berlin, 2006, p. 46.

Lucco, Mauro, ‘Gli anni giovanili’, in Giovanni Bellini, ed. Mauro Lucco and Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa, Silvana, 2009, pp. 268-427.

Rubin, Patricia Lee, The Renaissance Portrait: From Donatello to Bellini, New York, 2011, p. 57.