Portrait of Queen Caterina Cornaro

Gentile Bellini was a Venetian painter of the school of Venice. He came from Venice's leading family of painters, and, at least in the early part of his career, was more highly regarded than his younger brother Giovanni Bellini - a reversal of the situation today. From 1474, he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice. In addition to his portraits, he painted a number of very large works with multitudes of figures, especially for the Scuole Grandi of Venice, wealthy confraternities that were very important in Venetian patrician social life.