St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria

St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria

This huge painting was commissioned from Gentile Bellini in 1504 as a decoration for the Scuola Grande di San Marco's reception room, one of the city’s most prestigious and powerful confraternities [1]. However, this painting was left incomplete upon Gentile Bellini’s death in 1507 [2]. Later on, his brother Giovanni Bellini was requested to finish this painting [2]. Although this painting's setting is in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, Gentile Bellini painted this city out of his imagination and his version of the celebrated Egyptian city[2]. Gentile Bellini even incorporated an image of the Basilica of San Marco in the background as the viewer can see. This painting's purpose was to capture a moment in time of St. Mark’s preaching and trying to convert the pagans from their ancient religion [1].

When Gentile Bellini tries to resemble the city of Alexandria out of his imagination, it is apparent that he combined factors from Venice and Egypt to achieve this goal. The red tiles on the ground and the arrangements of the buildings are very similar to the painting of Procession in St. Mark’s square, which is another painting in the same cycle. On the other hand, Gentile Bellini also added factors such as the palm tree in the background, exotic animals like giraffes and camels to convey the message to the viewers that this is in Egypt. Usually, in Bellini's brother’s painting, light is an essential factor to draw the viewer’s attention to a certain area. On the contrary, in this particular painting, the holy light did not reflect a certain person or area. It could be that the Bellini brother painted in this way on purpose so the painting can be viewed as a whole and let the viewer take in every detail.


[1] “St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria - Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini,” Pinacoteca di Brera, accessed November 19, 2020, https://pinacotecabrera.org/en/collezione-online/opere/saint-mark-preaching-in-a-square-of-alexandria-in-egypt/.

[2] “St Mark Preaching in Alexandria,” St Mark Preaching in Alexandria by Giovanni Bellini, accessed November 19, 2020, http://www.giovannibellini.org/st-mark-preaching-in-alexandria/.

Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini

“St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria - Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini.” Pinacoteca di Brera. Accessed November 19, 2020. https://pinacotecabrera.org/en/collezione-online/opere/saint-mark-preaching-in-a-square-of-alexandria-in-egypt/.

“St Mark Preaching in Alexandria.” St Mark Preaching in Alexandria by Giovanni Bellini. Accessed November 19, 2020. http://www.giovannibellini.org/st-mark-preaching-in-alexandria/.

Kren, Emil. “Mark Preaching in Alexandria.” Sermon of St Mark in Alexandria by BELLINI, Giovanni. Accessed November 19, 2020. https://www.wga.hu/html_m/b/bellini/giovanni/1500-09/185serm.html.

“Gentile Bellini.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., February 4, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gentile-Bellini.

Carrier, David. "A Renaissance Fantasy of the Egyptian Wrold"." Source: Notes in the History of Art 28, no. 1 (2008): 16-19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23207968.

Morse, Margaret A. "Domestic Portraiture in Early Modern Venice: Devotion to Family and Faith." In Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, edited by Corry Maya, Faini Marco, and Meneghin Alessia, 117-38. LEIDEN; BOSTON: Brill, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbqs499.12.

St Mark Preaching in Alexandria by Giovanni Bellini. Accessed November 19, 2020. http://www.giovannibellini.org/st-mark-preaching-in-alexandria/

1504-1507

Emily Song

For academic and non-profit use only

Oil on canvas, 347cm × 770cm

painting

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano, Italy