Giovanni Bellini and Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna trained in Padua, while Giovanni Bellini stayed closely tied to his native Venice. More than just fellow Renaissance artists, they were also related: in 1453, Mantegna married Nicolosia, Bellini’s sister.

Another thing they shared was that both painted a Presentation of Jesus at the Temple with a very similar composition. The idea seems to have originated in Mantegna’s Paduan workshop, and his version is believed to have been painted about twenty years before Bellini’s.

In Mantegna’s "Presentation", a curious detail is the two figures on either side who appear to be himself and his wife Nicolosia. Perhaps the painting was inspired by the anticipation or birth of a child.

Bellini, on the other hand, expands the scene in his version, adding two more lateral figures whose identities are still uncertain today.

The differences between the two paintings are immediately evident. Mantegna’s has a robust format, a classic 4:3, while Bellini opts for a more modern and airy 16:9, almost cinematic.

They differ in style too: Mantegna frames the scene in a grand marble structure, with meticulous detail—halos, beards, fabrics—rendered with near-Gothic precision. Bold colors and a cushion that seems to protrude from the painting break the composition’s rigidity.

Bellini, instead, reinterprets the scene with a more classical and experimental grace. Light caresses the faces and brings the reds to life with vibrant shades.

Without the marble frame, only a simple stone parapet remains, while the black background opens up, giving the scene a touch of mystery and modernity.

Curiously, when Bellini’s painting entered the Querini Stampalia collection in 1809, it was attributed to Mantegna.

Only later, as scholarship advanced, did critics recognize the work as a creation of Giovanni Bellini’s genius.