BELLINI (Gentil), a Venetian painter, born in the year 1421. He was employed by the republic of Venice, and to him and his brother the Venetians are indebted for the noble works which are to be seen in the council-hall. We are told that Mahomet II. emperor of the Turks, having seen some of his performances, was so struck with them, that he wrote to the republic, intreating them to send him. The painter accordingly went to Constantinople, where he did many excellent pieces. Amongst the rest, he painted the decollation of St John the Baptist, whom the Turks revere as a great prophet. Mahomet admired the proportion and shadowing of the work; but he remarked one defect in regard to the skin of the neck, from which the head was separated; and in order to prove the truth of his observation, he sent for a slave and ordered his head to be struck off. This sight so shocked the painter, that he could not be easy till he had obtained his dismissal; which the Grand Signior granted, and made him a present of a gold chain. The republic settled a pension upon him at his return, and made him a knight of St Mark. He died in 1501, in the 80th year of his age.
John Bellini, his brother, painted with more art and sweetness than he; and died in 1512, aged 90.