his
picture, with its delicious landscape bathed in atmospheric light,
is a forerunner of those Giorgionesque compositions of "pure and
unquestioning delight in the sensuous charm of rare and beautiful
things" in which the artistic nature is even more engrossed than with
the intellectual conception, and within its small space Bellini seems to
have enshrined all his artistic creed. The allegories in the Academy are
also full of meaning. They are decorative works, and were probably
painted for some small cabinet. They seem too small for a cassone. They
are ruined by over-painting, but still full of grace and fancy. The
figure in the classic chariot, bearing fruit, in the encounter between
Luxury and Industry, is drawn from Jacopo's triumphant Bacchus. Fortune
floats in her barque, holding the globe, and the souls who gather round
her are some full of triumphant success, others clinging to her for
comfort, while several are sinking, overwhelmed in the dark waters.
"Prudence," the only example of a female nude in Bellini's works, holds
a looking-glass. Hypocrisy or Calumny is torn writhing from his refuge.
The Summa Virtus is an ugly representation of all the virtues; a
waddling deformity with eyes bound holds the scales of justice; the
pitcher in its hand means prudence, and the gold upon its feet
symbolises charity. The landscape, both of this and of the "Fortune,"
resembles that which he was painting in his larger works at the end of
the century. Soon after 1501 Bellini entered into relations with Isabela
d'Este, Marchioness of Gonzaga. That distinguished collector and
connoisseur writes through her agent to get the promise of a picture,
"a story or fable of antiquity," to be placed in position with the
allegories which Mantegna had contributed to her "Paradiso." Bellini
agreed to supply this, and received twenty-five ducats on account. He
seems, however, to have felt that he would be at a disadvantage in
competing with Mantegna on his own ground, and asks to be allowed to
choose his subject. Isabela was unwillingly obliged to content herself
with a sacred picture, and a "Nativity" was selected. She is at once
full of suggestions, desiring to add a St. John Baptist, whom Bellini
demurs at introducing except as a child, but in April 1504 the
commission is still unaccomplished, and Isabela angrily demands the
return of her money. This brings a letter of humble apology from
Bellini, and presently the picture is forwarded. Lo