Similar to my previous post about Maurizio Catellan this one is about an odd memory that doesn’t seem to fade away. I saw the above painting in 1997 while studying architecture in Italy. On a trip to study the architecture of Venice I entered the church of San Zaccaria for no particular reason.

The first thing I noticed was that both the Western and Eastern walls were covered with beautiful paintings by Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Van Dyck and other famous artists; and almost every artist that had been commissioned by the church had chosen to portray the subject in a bright, lively and energetic manner, on sometimes colossal canvases.

Bellini was the only artist with a different approach, whose portrait of the Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints (also known as the San Angrazia Altarpiece) employed a classical composition, rehearsed to perfection, as if time stood still.

Personally what fascinated me about the painting is how I came to experience it. As I walked down the aisle studying the art pieces displayed on the walls I suddenly stumbled upon a painting so different from the rest that it got me immediately hooked.

What I noticed was that the paintings around it acted as an enhancer, almost a propeller, of the serenity, sometimes tenderness, that the San Angrazia Altarpiece yields, to a level that the painting alone wouldn’t be able to achieve.

It strikes me that after almost 15 years this incident is one of the first things I decided to write in my blog. I discovered later that the San Angrazia Altarpiece is one of the masterpieces of Bellini.