Gentile Bellini

Gentile Bellini came from Venice's reigning painting dynasty, and by the early 1470s he'd eclipsed his younger brother Giovanni in reputation and appointment. In 1474 he became the Doges' official portrait artist, while his massive multi-figure canvases for Venice's Scuole Grandi — the powerful confraternities at the heart of patrician life — cemented his status. Then in 1479 the Venetian government sent him to Constantinople: Sultan Mehmed II had asked for a painter, and Gentile was the one they shipped east. He returned a year later with sketches, impressions, and a portrait of the Sultan th…