Gentile Bellini

Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini, Self-portrait, 1496. Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (KdZ 5170)
Born	c. 1429 Venice, Republic of Venice, (now Veneto, Italy)
Died	23 February 1507 Venice, Republic of Venice, (now Veneto, Italy)
Resting place	Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo
Known for	Painter, noted for portraits and paintings of Middle Eastern scenes
Notable work	Sultan Mehmed II and others

Gentile Bellini (c. 1429 – 23 February 1507) was an Italian painter of the school of Venice. He came from Venice's leading family of painters, and at least in the early part of his career was more highly regarded than his younger brother Giovanni Bellini, the reverse of the case today. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice, and as well as his portraits he painted a number of very large subjects with multitudes of figures, especially for the Scuole Grandi of Venice, wealthy confraternities that were very important in Venetian patrician social life.^[1]

In 1479 he was sent to Constantinople by the Venetian government when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II requested an artist; he returned the next year. Thereafter a number of his subjects were set in the East, and he is one of the founders of the Orientalist tradition in Western painting. His portrait of the Sultan was also copied in paintings and prints and became known all over Europe.^[1]