Presentation at the Temple

The presentation at the temple is a painting of a virgin holding a child and leaning on a foreground made of marble and the priest on the other hand stretching the hands towards the baby.

On the right side the two figures are Giovanni himself and Gentile Bellini the brother and at the centre a portrait of the father Jacopo Bellini. On the left the two characters the mother Ann and Nicolosia who is their sister and a wife to Andrea Mantegna. The medium used in the portrait on presentation at the temple is Tempera on panel .The group is fixed in a 80cm × 105cm a pale, marble frame that seems to separate them from the crowd as it shows them to be on a church altar.

The portrait by Giovanni looks like that of the brother in law Andrea Mantegna. He got the painting inspiration from this Italian artist who gave him the Donatellian ideas when the married the sister. The two paintings have similarities on the characters and the techniques used in painting. Giovanni's portrait is clearer as he placed a parapet on the frame and got rid of the haloes that made the characters blurred. The whole artistic skills of the artist are attributed to the father who was also a great painter.

Throughout he used oils that took time to dry and afterwards looked clearer. The portrait has a deep, fluent colour that makes it outstanding. He did a good plan in the portrait as can be seen by the effect of the romantic colours on the portrait. This is because he combined the idea from the brother in-law and Jacopo Bellini. The portrait shows his feeling on religious events.

Andrea Mantegna portrait on the presentation on the temple look like that of the brother in law but it has a bronze frame that makes the characters a bit blurred while in Giovanni work this is corrected. The portrait’s commission is not clearly known and also if the characters in the presentation at the temple are the Bellini family members but it is still attributed to this family of great painters.

They two paintings are thought to be done in different times but with painters that were close to each other. The portrait of presentation at the temple by Giovanni is housed in Venice, Italy at Fondazione Querini Stampalia.