Crocifissione

Bellini painted this small panel around 1455, when he was still in his early twenties and working in the shadow of two older men — his father Jacopo and his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna, whose hard, sculptural manner you can feel in the crisp rocks and the pale, drawn body of Christ. It is an early work in tempera on wood, no larger than a big book. The cross stands against a wide landscape and a deep blue sky, with small angels weeping among the clouds and Mary and Saint John below. The picture was originally made for the church of San Salvador in Venice. Bellini would go on painting for another 60 years and would teach both Giorgione and Titian.