Vittore Belliniano Biography

Vittore di Matteo, better known as Vittore Belliniano ( c.1456-1529), was an Italian painter, a citizen of the Republic of Venice, and active in the first decades of the 16th century.

Son of Matteo, pupil of Gentile Bellini, upon the latter's death in 1516, he inherited his workshop and the most prestigious commissions, and above all, he collaborated for a long time with Gentile's brother, Giovanni Bellini, of whom he was one of the continuators.

His first certified work, dating back to 1505, is the portrait of the master executed in the perfect Gentile style.

Two years later, he assisted Giovanni Bellini in the works on the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge's Palace (Venice).

During the year 1518, he created the Portrait of a young man imploring the Crucifix and two years later he signed the Sacred Conversation delivered to the Church of San Nicolò (Treviso).

In 1521 he executed one of his most significant works, the Portrait of a Gentleman, characterised by a valuable play of light and shadow in the sixteenth-century style.

In 1526 he delivered and signed the majestic canvas of the Martyrdom of St. Mark, commissioned from Giovanni Bellini by the Venetian Scuola Grande di San Marco, but unfinished by the master.