the
Old and New Testament; or, again, he paints a lovely intellectual face
with chiselled and refined features, and sad dark eyes, and contrasts it
dramatically with the bluff St. George in armour; and there is another
Madonna between St. Francis and St. Catherine, a picture which has a
curious effect of artificial light.

CHAPTER XII

GIOVANNI BELLINI (_continued_)

In 1497 the Maggior Consiglio of the Venetian Republic appointed Bellini
superintendent of the Great Hall, and conferred on him the honourable
title of State Painter. In this capacity he was the overseer of all
public works of painting, and was expected to devote a part of his
time to the decoration of the Hall. Sansovino enumerates nine of
his historical paintings, which had been painted before the State
appointment, all having reference to the visit of Pope Alexander; but
though he must have been much engrossed, he seems to have suspended the
work from time to time, for between 1485 and 1488 he painted the large
altarpiece in the Frari, that at San Pietro in Murano, and the one in
the Academy, which was painted for San Giobbe. Of these three, the last
shows the greatest advance and is fullest of experiment. The Madonna is
a grand ecclesiastical figure. It has been said with truth that it is
a picture which must have afforded great support and dignity to the
Church. The Infant has an expression of omniscience, and the Mother
gazes out of the picture, extending invitation and encouragement to the
advancing worshippers. The religious feeling is less profound; the
artist has been more absorbed in the contrast between the beautiful,
youthful body of St. Sebastian and that of St. Giobbe, older but not
emaciated, and with the exquisite surface that his now complete mastery
of oil-painting enabled him to produce. This technique has evidently
been a great delight, and is here carried to perfection; the skin of
St. Sebastian gleams with a gloss like the coat of a horse in high
condition. Everything that architecture, sculpture, and rich material
can supply is borrowed to enhance the grandeur of the group; but the
line of sight is still close to the bottom of the picture, and if it
were not for the exquisite grace with which the angels are placed, the
Madonna would have a broad, clumsy effect. The Madonna of the Frari is
the most splendid in colour of all his works. As he paints the rich
light of a golden interior and the fused and splendid colours, he se