Pala Priuli

With the soft modelling style of their works, Giovanni Bellini and his studio shaped the face of Venetian painting as of the Early Renaissance. The late works include the altar for the Sepulchre of Pietro Priuli (1420–1493) in the Camaldoli Church on the Venetian island of the dead, San Michele. The loss of the original frame and the predella have reduced the altar to the three main panels. They present St. Mary on her throne with the Infant Jesus, flanked by the kneeling donor, two monks from the Camaldoli Order, St. Peter as patron saint of Priuli and probably St. Mark as the patron saint of Venice. The historicizing frame subdivides the scene, in keeping with the original composition, into a shape reminiscent of a medieval triptych. Nevertheless, the spatial unity of the representation is preserved as the observer seems to look through an arcade at the assembly of saints and the Virgin Mary. Given its exemplary use of colour, the Pala Priuli was acquired for the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf on the recommendation of Director Wilhelm Schadow. (Nicole Roth)