Giovanni Bellini's First Catalogue Raisonné Unveils New Attributions

Giovanni Bellini finally has his first catalogue raisonné, authored by Giovanni C. F. Villa, Peter Humfrey, and Mauro Lucco. Published by ZeL Edizioni, the 656-page volume analyzes 123 works by the Venetian Renaissance master and includes a pair of previously unpublished panels. The catalogue reveals three caricatures hidden beneath the Pala di Pesaro (1472–75), discovered in 1988, depicting a Moor, a disheveled old man, and a figure with an oversized nose—possibly Bellini's jokes. The newly attributed panels, Santo Stefano and San Lorenzo, were identified in 2018 through underdrawing analysis and linked to a polyptych whose central panel is likely the Madonna della Milizia da Mar at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Dated around 1475, the polyptych is dubbed the Polittico Venezia-Parigi. The catalogue also highlights the 1513 altarpiece with Saints Christopher, Jerome, and Louis of Toulouse as a pinnacle of Bellini's late work.