
The Renaissance in Venice: c. 1400-1585

Mantegna was fascinated by perspective. His radical foreshortening and realism focus attention on Christ’s wounds.

Artistic exchanges between Venice and Crete at that time contributed to the formation of an artistic environment unique in the Italian renaissance.
Greek painters in renaissance Venice

Titian's works are his attempt to represent the unruly supernatural forces of the ancient world and the strife they inflict on human beings, which remain as relevant as ever.
Titian, Diana and Actaeon

Bellini zooms in on three figures—the Virgin Mary, Christ, and John—to create a sense of our being with them after Christ's death
Giovanni Bellini, Brera Pietà

Gentile Bellini's portrait of Mehmed II has been re-interpreted and understood many times since it was produced nearly 550 years ago.
Gentile Bellini, Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II

The female nude emerged as a genre in the Renaissance.
Titian, Venus of Urbino

From seductive centerfolds to noble savages, images of the naked human body played a complex and sometimes troubling role in European culture.
Confronting power and violence in the renaissance ...

The first Ghetto, Jews in Renaissance Venice
Three synagogues in the Venetian Ghetto

In the distance, lightning strikes. What does it mean? Poetic and evocative, this painting invites interpretation.
Giorgione, The Tempest

Two portraits capture the ambition and impudence of Titian's close friend and publicist.
Titian, two portraits of Pietro Aretino

Brotherhoods lent stability to religious and civic life. These wealthy institutions also commissioned paintings.
Devotional confraternities (scuole) in Renaissance Venice

10 inches—that’s how far Venice has sunk. As sea levels and tourism rise, can this historic city survive?
Saving Venice

This canvas was rolled, varnished, reworked, and revised again. A classical scene, it once hung in a study.
Giovanni Bellini and Titian,The Feast of the ...

As it recesses, Tintoretto’s strange space collapses time. No wonder Saint Mark multiplies.
Jacopo Tintoretto, The Finding of the Body ...

Now in Technicolor! Mantegna’s saturated paint and vivid illusionism bring the Court of Heaven to life.
Andrea Mantegna, San Zeno Altarpiece

This personal image was destined for Titian’s tomb, but he may also appear in it as St. Jerome.
Titian and Jacopo Palma il Giovane, Pietà

Their island climate didn’t suit fresco, so the Venetians tried oils instead—these paints blend when wet.
Oil paint in Venice

Here, everything is askew. Form dissolves as Tintoretto unites Florentine line with Venetian color.
Jacopo Tintoretto, Last Supper

Bellini opens up this painting’s space, but holds the viewer at bay. The mood is calm, solemn, and contemplative.
Giovanni Bellini, San Zaccaria Altarpiece

Veronese described himself as a painter of figures. Judging by the throng depicted here, he clearly enjoyed it.