Bellini, GIOVANNI

1428-1516. Most distinguished Venetian painter of the transition period, representing the evolution of Venetian art from the School of Padua. Pupil and brother-inlaw of the Paduan Mantequa, whose grim and painstaking realism is reflected in his early work. Good illustrations of this style are Christ's Agony in the Garden, in the National Gallery, London, and the Pieta, in Milan. His later pictures show great beauty and lead in style to those of his pupils Giorgione and Titian.