cture of _S. Mark Preaching at Alexandria_, now in the Brera Gallery
at Milan, begun by his brother Gentile. Within three years of his death,
namely in 1513, he could produce such a masterwork as the altar-piece in
S. Giovanni Crisostomo. His last work, the landscape in which was
finished by Titian, is dated 1514. This is the famous _Bacchanal_ now in
the collection of the Duke of Northumberland.

The influence of Bellini on the Venetian School was paramount, and his
noble example helped more than anything else to develop the excellences
observable in the works of Cimada Conegliano, Vincenzo Catena, Lorenzo
Lotto, Palma Vecchio and Basaiti, to say nothing of his great pupils
Titian and Giorgione. It is impossible to conjecture what course the
genius of this younger generation would have taken without his guidance,
but when we consider that in 1500 Bellini was seventy years old, and had
stored within his mind the experience of his early association with his
brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna in Padua, the introduction of the use of
oil paints by Antonello da Messina in 1475, since which date he had
sedulously developed the new practice; when we also take into account
the dignity and gravity of his own works, and the indication they afford
of the man himself, it is not difficult to judge how much his pupils and
successors owed to him.

The works of GENTILE BELLINI, the elder brother of Giovanni, are of less
importance, but of considerable interest, especially in view of his
journey to Constantinople in 1479 at the request of the Sultan, whose
portrait he painted there in the following year. A replica

[Illustration: PLATE XII.--GIOVANNI BELLINI

THE DOGE LOREDANO

_National Gallery, London_]

of this portrait has been bequeathed to the National Gallery by Sir
Henry Layard, and it is to be hoped that the difficulties raised by the
Italian government as to its removal from Venice will shortly be
overcome. The picture of _S. Mark Preaching at Alexandria_ already
mentioned as having been finished by Giovanni, is remarkable for the
Oriental costumes of all the figures in it. Gentile's pictures are often
ascribed to his brother; in two examples at the National Gallery (Nos.
808 and 1440) there is actually a false signature on a cartellino. In
the latter instance Messrs Ludwig and Molmenti are still of opinion that
the picture is the work of Giovanni.

VINCENZO CATENA (_c._ 1470-1530) is not known to have been a pupil of
Bel