born in Venice, Italy. His father, Jacopo, was a painter and his brother, Gentile, would become one, too. During his career, Giovanni painted portraits, allegories, altarpieces, landscapes, and pastorals. One of his most widely portrayed subjects was the Madonna, in which he instilled in her a romantic and secular charm. In his lifetime he painted more than 70.

Beginning to use tempera, Bellini learned the techniques from artist and brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna. He was very skilled at depicting outdoor scenes (The Feast of the Gods), marked by their luminosity and warm colors. His works had a Flemish feel due to their precision. His most famous were painted in the Hall of the Great Council in Venice. Unfortunately, in 1577 they were destroyed in a fire. Still, his ideas about art caught on and he became known as the founder of the Venetian school of painting. Titian and Giorgione were both instructed by him at his workshop. In 1506, Albrecht Durer, a pupil of Bellini's, called him "the grand old man of art, and the best and most courteous painter in Venice." In 1516, this master died there.

He [Giovanni Bellini] is very old, but is still the best painter of them all.
-Albrecht Durer, letter to Wilibald Pirckheimer, 1506

Jacopo himself taught them [his sons, Giovanni and Gentile] the principles of design with all diligence, but it was not long before they both surpassed him, to the delight of their father, who incited them to endeavour to surpass each other.
-Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Painters (1568)

Agony in the Garden
1459

Christ's Blessing
1460

Madonna in Adoration of the Sleeping Child
1475

Saint Francis in the Desert
1480

The Feast of the Gods
1514