Who painted Pietà (Venice)?

Giovanni Bellini painted Pietà (Venice) in 1505.

What Bible passage does Pietà (Venice) depict?

Pietà (Venice) depicts the biblical scene from Matthew 27:45-56.

Where is Pietà (Venice) located?

Pietà (Venice) is housed at Gallerie dell'Accademia, Campo della Carità, Dorsoduro 1050, Venice.

Pietà (Venice) by Giovanni Bellini

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The Martinengo Pietà is a c.1505 oil on panel painting by Giovanni Bellini, signed on the rock to the left of Mary. It was previously in the collections of the Martinengo family and of Donà delle Rose and is now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

One of Bellini's last works, it still shows him adapting to innovations by Titian and Giorgione and incorporating elements of the 'Vesperbild', the German variant on the pietà - Albrecht Dürer was in Venice at this time and the work's contorted hands and sharply-defined drapery recall his work. It was the last pietà Bellini painted, around the same time as the San Zaccaria Altarpiece.

A lawn encloses the figures, suggesting the Marian symbol of the hortus conclusus. Behind it is a desert with a symbolic fig tree, as well as buildings based on the structures in Vicenza (the duomo, the Torre, the Basilica Palladiana), Ravenna (the bell tower of Sant'Apollinare) and Cividale (its Ponte del Diavolo bridge over the Natisone).

Details

Artist: Giovanni Bellini
Created: c. 1505
Medium: oil on panel
Dimension: 65cm × 87cm
Passage: Matthew 27:45-56
Housed at: Gallerie dell'Accademia Campo della Carità, Dorsoduro 1050, Venice

Found in: Matthew, Matthew 27, 16th century, Lamentation

Matthew 27:45-56

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

47 Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”

48 Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.

49 The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”

50 Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.

51 Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.

52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.

54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

55 Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him.

56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Matthew 27:45-56 · World English Bible

The artist

Giovanni Bellini

1430 - 1516

Venice, Italy

Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini (who was more highly regarded than Giovanni during his lifetime, although the reverse is true today), and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He was considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil…