Depositing of John Bellini’s Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore, Venice
J. M. W. Turner·1841
Historical Context
This 1841 painting of Bellini's pictures being deposited in the Chiesa Redentore in Venice combines Turner's love of Venice with homage to his Venetian predecessor Giovanni Bellini. The subject celebrates the continuity of artistic tradition within Venice's sacred architecture. Turner's technique evolved from precise topographical watercolor toward atmospheric oil painting of radical freedom; his late works particularly dissolved architecture and nature into pure fields of colored light.
Technical Analysis
Turner renders the Venetian interior and canal with characteristic atmospheric luminosity, using the warm light of Venice to create a vision that honors both the city and its artistic heritage.
Look Closer
- ◆Look at the Venetian setting — the church of the Redentore on the Giudecca island, one of Palladio's great Renaissance churches, visible in Turner's characteristically luminous Venetian atmosphere.
- ◆Notice the ceremony of depositing Bellini's paintings — figures carrying the altarpieces into the church, connecting Turner's love of Venice to his respect for the great Venetian painters who preceded him.
- ◆Observe the quality of Venetian light that Turner creates — the warm, pearly atmosphere that made Venice the ideal setting for paying tribute to a painter whose color sense Turner deeply admired.
- ◆Find the Grand Canal in the composition — the reflective water that Turner uses to create the atmospheric luminosity that his Venice paintings share with Bellini's own warm, light-filled altarpieces.
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