Frari Triptych

Frari Triptych
ArtistGiovanni Bellini
Year1488
MediumOil on panel
Dimensions184 cm × 79 cm (72 in × 31 in)
Locationbasilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

The Frari Triptych or Pesaro Triptych is a 1488 oil-on-panel triptych painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini. It is signed and dated 1488 on the centre of the Virgin Mary's throne, though it may have taken several years to produce, meaning he started it in 1485.[1] On the reverse is a label dating its completion more precisely, to 15 February 1488.[2] It is in the basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice.[3]

Its central scene is the Madonna and Child enthroned with two angel musicians, flanked to the left by saint Nicholas of Bari and Saint Peter and to the right by Saint Mark (patron of Venice) and Saint Benedict. The work's division into compartments is rather old-fashioned and may have been explicitly demanded by the commissioner, but Bellini uses this to his advantage, integrating the painted architecture with the frame, which he designed himself. This develops the illusionism of his San Giobbe Altarpiece, again placing the Virgin in a deep blue mantle on a high marble throne, using a golden light and a Byzanto-Venetian-style apse. To the sides thin strips of landscape suggest a vast space behind the work, whilst the trompe-l'œil apse behind the Virgin bears an inscription reading IANUA CERTA POLI DUC MENTEM DIRIGE VITAM: QUAE PERAGAM COMMISSA TUAE SINT OMNIA CURAE ("Certain gate of heaven, guide [my] mind, direct [my] life: may everything I do be entrusted to your care").[4]

  • Central panel
    Central panel
  • Angel
    Angel
  • Angel
    Angel
  • Right-hand panel
    Right-hand panel

References

  1. ^ Fry
  2. ^ (in Italian) Anchise Tempestini, Giovanni Bellini, Catalogo Completo, Cantini, Firenze 1992. ISBN 88-7737-105-6, Kat. 60, p. 172
  3. ^ (in Italian) Mariolina Olivari, Giovanni Bellini, in AA.VV., Pittori del Rinascimento, Scala, Firenze 2007. ISBN 88-8117-099-X
  4. ^ (in Italian) Rona Goffen, Devozione e committenza. Bellini, Tiziano e i Frari [1986], Marsilio, Venezia 1991.