Logline
Andrea Mantegna was the first to establish the cult of antiquity in Florentine art during the early Renaissance period. His brother-in-law, Giovanni Bellini, is considered the inventor of Venetian art. Both are among the most important artists of that period. They met in their studios in Venice and influenced each other in their creative work over many years, yet remained competitors for a lifetime. The works and biographies of both painters are full of mysteries not yet unveiled to date. Dr Neville Rowley, curator of the exhibition “Bellini – Mantegna” in London and Berlin, is following the tracks of these exceptional artists.
DEPOT OF WORKS:
The National Gallery in London and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin have an exceptionally large number of works of an exceptional quality of Mantegna and Bellini; their collections include masterpieces of both artists from all their creative periods.
The Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, and especially the British Museum, host an unusually comprehensive collection of works on paper of Mantegna, Bellini, their family, as well as of their successors and artists of their circles. For this exhibition, number of outstanding loans will complement this core stock; the focus will be on the differences, but also the similarities in the artistic work of these two great Renaissance artists, who will be represented in this exhibition in an exemplary manner: the extremely charming juxtaposition of excellent works of these two artists, who were so close to each other and yet so different in their art, embodies the extraordinary appeal of this exhibition.
SHOOTING LOCATIONS Berlin, Venice, Padua, Mantua, London