Gentile Bellini

DESCRIPTION

Gentile Bellini was a prominent Venetian Renaissance painter and a member of the leading family of painters in Venice. He was the son of Jacopo Bellini and the elder brother of Giovanni Bellini. Known for his meticulous portraiture and large-scale narrative paintings of Venice, he served as the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice. In 1479, he was sent by the Venetian government to Constantinople to work for Sultan Mehmed II, an experience that influenced his later work.