Samantha Penenburgh

ARTH 346

April 13, 2011

Feast of the Gods: An Analysis of the Painting’s Complex History of Production and Its Function as the Ducal Court of Ferrara

A certain significance is given to apiece of artwork that is chosen to be the first painting

added to a gallery. This specific piece sets the tone, theme and idea for the rest of the artwork

that is later selected. Feast of the Gods by Giovanni Bellini was commissoned by Alfonso d’Este,

the Duke of Ferrara, for his art gallery, the Camerino in 1514 for this exact purpose. D’Este ruled

the city-state of Ferrara starting in 1505 and was married to the Pope’s daughter, Lucrezia

Borgia. With a shared love for mythological depictions and incredible artwork, the Feast of the

Gods was chosen to start the couple’s prestigious collection. This oil on canvas was later

reconstructed by two artist’s at the request of Alfonso d’Este; first Dosso Dossi and then by

Titian in 1529. After the Feast of the Gods resided in the National Gallery in London from 2003

to 2006, the painting was moved to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. where it still

is located today. The Feast of the God's is not only a fascinating painting because of its

iconographical meaning and reflection of the time period but also because the painting was

reconstructed twice, who altered its original ethos and sensibility combining the creativity of

three extremely talented artists altering the style and technique while still maintaining to capture

its original intent.

Classical Origins for the Iconography: Ovid’s Fasti

The Feast of the Gods is such a significant piece of art for the Renaissance time period

1

because it captures both the beliefs and styles of this era through the artist’s techniques and

iconology. The story behind the figures is more than just images frozen in time but rather a

sequence of events combined together to portray Ovid's Fasti. Ovid's Fasti is a twelve volume

book, “calendar” which accounts the Roman year and its religious festivals. These festivals are

described as they occur and are traced back to their legendary origins (Britannica, 2011). This

specific festival depicted in the Feast of the Gods tells the story of how Priapus, an ancient

woodland and fertility god watches the goddess, Lotus, fall asleep and then tries to rape her. He

would have succeeded in raping Lotus had it not been for the cry of a donkey, which awoke the

sleeping goddess. Priapus then takes revenge on the donkey, demanding it be used for an annual

sacrifice. Cybele, a fertility goddess, gave the feast, that is illustrated in the painting, to the gods.

She is shown wearing an orange dress and holding a quince in her hands. She sits next to

Neptune, the god of the sea, who has the trident laying at his feet and his hand on Cybele’s thigh.

The figures resting his hand on the donkey is Silenus, another woodland god. To Silenus' right

stands a figure that is half human, half animal, known as a faun. At Silenus's feet is Bacchus, the

infant god of wine, who wears a crown of grape leaves and is filling up his wine jug. Mercury

lies next to Bachus's left and is known as the messenger god. Mercury’s usual depiction displays

him with wings on his sandals and wearing a helmet but in the Feast of the Gods Bellini depicts

him with more humanistic footwear rather than his usual winged sandals (nga.gov, 2011). This

may be because Bellini usually painted more formal paintings and wanted to stray away from the

very mythical theme this painting portrays. To Mercury's left a middle-age god stands wreathed

in oak leaves, and an eagle on his left, represents Jupiter, the king of the gods. Apollo, the god of

music and the sun, is seen sipping from a golden bowl and holds a Renaissance stringed musical

instrument in one hand. The female with Apollo is Ceres, the goddess of grain because of the

2

wreath of wheat she wears around her neck. Right behind Cybele and Neptune is Pan, a satyr

with a grape wreath who plays a shepherd's pipe. Silvanus, the god of the forest, is distinguished

by wearing a grass wreath on his head (nga.gov, 2011).

The Occasion for the Commission and Ducal Politics

Alfonso married the Pope's daughter, Lucrezia Borgia in 1502 (theborgias.wetpaint.com,

2010), and inherited his rule of the city-state of Ferrara starting in 1505. The Camerino was one

of the most historically important galleries in Venice, during its time. As previously stated, the

first painting chosen for this gallery was Bellini's Feast of the Gods in 1514. By 1518 the gallery

continued to grow and Titian added the painting, The Worship of Venus, which depicts a festival

of love including illustrations of Venus, nymphs and cupids. Along the ceilings of the gallery ten

scenes were painted portraying the stories from The Aeneid painted by the Dossi brothers. The

Aeneid was a mythological story by Virgil, which continued the theme of the paintings in the

Camerino. As the gallery continued to grow throughout the years, Alfonso asked Dossi to repaint

Bellini's background of the Feast of Gods with a more contemporary style to match the rest of

the artwork that was being added to the Camerino. In 1522 Titian added another painting to

Alfonso's gallery, this one called the Bacchus and Ariadne. The scene depicts “bacchus leaping

from his chariot in his first encounter with Ariadne, princess of Crete, who had just been

abandoned by her lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. She ends up being captured by the god

Bacchus, taken for marriage and becomes an immortal goddess” (webexhibits.org, 2002). The

next year, 1523 Titian contributes to the Camerino again with The Andrians, which exemplifies

the miracle of Bacchus' wine replacing the spring water from the ground. It is evident that

Titian’s talent marveled Alfonso; in 1529 Titian was requested by Alfonso to do the final

3

reconstruction of the landscape in the Feast of the Gods to match the paintings next to it.

Unfortunately, the Camerino only stayed completely finished for five years after the final

reconstruction because this was the year Alfonso died and left no heir to his rule

(webexhibits.org, 2002). Soon after all of the paintings dispersed to different patrons of the arts.

Artistic Collaboration in the Feast of the Gods

One of the most unique aspects of art is that there are very little restrictions on an artist’s

creativity, style or technique. Because of this every artist has the ability to differentiate

themselves from other artists through these various outlets. When multiple artists are combined

on the same piece of work there can be a clashing of styles and ideas or a creation of balance

enhancing the artwork. To fully understand the Feast of the Gods, each artist’s style must be

understood and analyzed individually before the specific features of this painting can be

examined. Since this painting was reconstructed over multiple years, the styles of painting

changed which influenced Bellini, Dossi, and Titian in different ways.

The original creator of Feast of the Gods, Giovanni Bellini was born around 1430 into a

family of well-known Venetian painters. Bellini can be attributed to raising Venice to become the

center of Renaissance art due to his style of sensuousness realism and his use of form and color

and his founding of the Venetian school of painting. Initially he was trained to paint on wooden

panel, which required him to focus on all details. Later on in his career, when he began painting

on canvas he transferred this training and continued to focus on the minute details in his work

(Batschmann, 2008). Since Bellini mostly painted more religious, formal portraits, it is believed

that he may not have been comfortable painting such a mythological scene for the Feast of the

Gods, however, as a struggling artist he knew he needed to do it for the commission. Shortly

4

after his completion of this painting, Bellini passed away which lead to the first reconstruction of

the painting by Dosso Dossi.

To fully understand Bellini’s style for the Feast of the God’s, one must analyze his other

pieces of work. Bellini, coming from an extremely traditional Italian family, was known for his

religious paintings and his formal portraits. When looking at most of Bellini's work like the,

Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman c. 1500, the formal features of the figure allude to the ideas

that he is frozen in time. This same style is easily identified when looking at the figures from the

Feast of the Gods; they look frozen in time, expressionless, even statuesque (webexhibits.org,

2002). The statuesque feel makes it seem that the story of Priapus should be overlooked, and

does not enlighten its importance. The statuesque feel, although stiff, gives off a more

individualistic feel for each figure in painting. This allows the viewer to stop and focus on each

figure on its own and understand that each figure has its own personal story. Also, by using such

formal characteristics the importance of the individual figures in the painting is enhanced;

because, these figures are Gods and Bellini wants to highlight their strength’s and their power.

Bellini balances out the figures in the painting by having the major participants of the story,

Priapus, Lotus and the ass, at either end of the painting. The foliage surrounding the figures is the

only part of the painting that can be directly compared to the different artist's styles of painting.

Bellini's tree's seen in the Feast of the God's are comparable to those of his other painting,

Assassination of St. Peter Martyr c. 1504. In both of these paintings the trees are thin with leaves

done in fine details (webexhibits.org, 2002). It looks like each leaf was individual done, one

place on top another. When looking at Bellini's trees in the Feast of the God's the detailing is so

fine it almost seems to take away from the figures in the foreground, but at the same time also

enclosing the group of figures in together so that the viewer can focus on the story of the

5

painting.

The second artist to work on the Feast of the Gods was the court artist in residence at

Ferrara, Dosso Dossi. Alfonso d'Este had first just requested Dossi to submit his artwork to the

Camerino. However, when they were placed next to the Feast of the Gods it was easy to see the

styles were extremely conflicted. Alfonso admired Dossi’s work and wanted to incorporate his

pieces into the gallery; because of this, and the fact that Bellini had already passed away, it is

believed that Alfonso asked Dossi to repaint the background of the Feast of the Gods as a

compromise for the Camerino (webexhibits.org, 2002).

In analyzing both Dossi’s other works and his changes to the Feast of the Gods his style

is determined. Unlike Bellini, he was known for his allegorical scenes and mythological themes,

which creates a sense of softness in all of his artwork. When looking at Dossi's other paintings all

of his landscapes are impressionistic, almost surreal looking, with arching trees and bright leaves

(Fiorenza, 2008). Dossi's, Bacchanal of Men, which was also included in the Camerino,

landscape is bright with color (webexhibits.org, 2002). The trees seem to blend in together

allowing the landscape to not be the focus of the scene depicted in the painting but rather as dull

supplementary effect to the painting. After examining his style, Dossi wanted the landscape

painted in the Feast of the God's to have the same effect as his other works; to be a blend in the

background and allow the viewer to focus on the figures in the foreground.

Though, still not completely satisfied with the first reconstruction of the painting, Alfonso

asked the third artist, Titian, to repaint the background of Feast of the Gods. Titian, born in 1485,

is considered to be one of the greatest Venice painters of his time. Ironically, he received most of

his training from Bellini and another influential artist of the time, Giorgione. During his career he

created religious, mythological and portrait paintings that were original in style and vivid with

6

color and movement (Hope, 2003).

Titian, the last artist to reconstruct the landscape work of the Feast of the Gods, has a

style that falls in between his predecessors. As noted before Titian was a student of Bellini so

their styles are somewhat similar, though, Titians style is very evolved from Bellini's style. As

seen in Titian’s other works, such as The Worship of Venus, also included in the Camerino, there

is significant amount of depth that allows the viewer to focus on the crowded figures and add to

the scene rather than take away from its main message. When looking at Titian’s changes to the

Feast of the Gods this same style is exemplified. While Titian's trees do not look as soft as

Dossi's they are not as individualist as Bellini. Because of the depth added and the changes in the

shape of the trees Titian’s landscape focus on the figures in the painting while also not

contrasting to much with the stiffness of these figures. Titian’s style, present in the landscape of

the Feast of the Gods, created a happy medium that allowed this painting to fit in with all the

other paintings in the Camerino. Analyzing the style of each individual artist allows the viewer to

understand why these change where made.

Scientific Study and Understanding the Stages of Production

The reconstruction of The Feast of the Gods is probably one of the most mysterious

things about this painting. Why were there changes made by three different artists and what did

each artist change? Luckly because of x-ray and infrared light, the changes of this painting could

be discovered. X-ray light goes all the way through the painting and is absorbed by heavier

elements in paint pigments. Infrared light only goes halfway through the painting and reveals

photographs of layers beneath the surface and allows the human eye to see under drawings.

(webexhibits.org, 2002). The National Gallery of Art took on the large project of using x-ray and

7

infrared light to unveil the different layers of the Feast of the Gods in order to determine who

painted what in the painting.

Today the only remaining part of The Feast of the Gods that is Bellini’s original work are

the figures in the foreground. It seems that the initial background of this painting, was done with

a forested background with rows of trees. The tree trunks were thin with lush foliage at the top,

showing very close detail to every leaf of the trees. Through the trunks the audience was able to

see sky, mountains and fields which added to the depth of the painting. Like mentioned above the

trees resemble the trees Bellini painted in his, Assassination of St. Peter Martyr, but was soon

covered by the landscape made by Dossi.

Even the first artist, Bellini, had made substantial changes to the figures when he first

painted The Feast of the Gods. From the x-ray and infrared pictures there is evidence that at

some point three of the female nymphs were clothed and that Bellini had lowered their necklines

to reveal their breasts, because “the flesh tints cover only the underpainting, this confirms that

the alteration could not have been made by Titian” (Fiorenza, 2008). Why these nymphs were

more revealed cannot be determined, because of other changes to the figures one guess could be

that Bellini wanted to show more eroticism to the painting. Another major change made by

Bellini was the hand placements of some of the figures. Neptune and Cybele are placed right

next to each other, though infrared light and x-rays show, Neptune's right hand which now

resides on Cybele’s thigh was originally placed on his chest. An interesting theory is that these

two figures are actual portraits of Alfonso d'Este and his wife Lucrezia Borgia. Cybele is

holding a quince, a fruit that symbolizes marriage, and along with the placement of Neptune's

hand it seems that this could be the inclusion of the celebration of Alfonso and Lucrezia's

marriage (webexhibits.org, 2002). When looking at other portraits of Alfonso and Lucrezia and

8

comparing them to the image of Neptune and Cybele there is a striking resemblance. Because

Bellini was more known for his religious portraits it is not surprising that he wanted to include a

portrait within this pagan fantasy.

Since Dossi was the second painter to work on the Feast of the Gods it is harder to

identify which parts of the reconstruction of the landscape he completed. From the x-ray and

infrared pictures the only part that is completely sure to have been done by him was part of the

building ruins that was later covered by Titian's sky and trees. There is evidence of hills, building

ruins and trees done by Dossi but his actual intent and purpose is unknown. Assumptions,

however, can be made from these pictures, and from examining his other works about what he

had tried to contribute to the painting (webexhibits.org, 2002).

While Titian, being the final artist to work on this piece, completed most of the

background landscape, it is hard to distinguish between what Titian had left of Dossi and what he

covered up. Like Dossi, Titian was asked to change the landscape of the Feast of the Gods to

harmonize this painting with his other paintings in the Camerino, The Worship of Venus, Bacchus

and Ariadne, and Andrians. It is thought that Dossi did most of the landscape minus the tree

branch all the way to the left along with the bird and Titian left it that way. Titian changed

Dossi's main landscape to make it a more dense forest with the left part of the forest cascading

up a cliff. His landscape, “disrupted the uniform row of figures, gave the composition greater

depth, and made the improbable meeting of the gods more believable.” (Hope, 2003). Even

though changing the landscape did make a significant change in depiction of the painting, it does

not disrupt the theme and central focus Bellini had made for the painting.

Location and Analysis of the Feast of the Gods on display today

9

The Feast of the Gods is now located in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

The room in which the painting resides in is rather small with only five paintings in total with the

Feast of the Gods being in the center along with being significantly larger than any other

painting in the room. To the right of the Feast of the Gods is a painting done in the Venetian style

during the 16th century called Orpheus. This painting is also a mythological scene, which fits in

with the scene of the room. Surprising the landscape and color usage is similar to that of what

Bellini had done in the Feast of the Gods. The painting to the right of the Orpheus is another

painting done by Bellini, the Infant Bacchus. This is an important painting to have in the room to

compare with the Feast of the Gods since they both share the same creator and the figure of

Bacchus. In the Infant Bacchus the landscape is plain, symmetrical and balanced much of what

the landscape of the Feast of the Gods done by Bellini was suspected to have looked like.

Bacchus in the Feast of the Gods looks older, and is more clothed than in the painting of the

Infant Bacchus. To the left of the Feast of the Gods is a painting by Dosso Dossi, Aneas and

Achates on the Libyan Coast, this is also an interesting piece to compare to the Feast of the Gods

not only because Dossi is thought to have changed the landscape to the Feast of the Gods but this

painting also resided in Alfonso's Camerino. When looking at Dossi painting the use of loose,

blending brushstrokes does not match the style of Bellini technique at all. This is probably why

Alfonso had Dossi change the Feast of the Gods to better match his own work when hanging in

the Camerino. The painting to the left of Dossi's painting is the Portrait of a Young Women as a

Wise Virgin by Sebastiano del Pimbo. This painting does not seem to fit in with the theme of the

room, there seems to be no connection to the Feast of the Gods. Pimbo's style is very different

from Bellini and there is no background in this portrait. While some of the paintings seem to all

revolve around a central theme in the room, there are many other factors to the display of the

10

Feast of the Gods in its room.

The room is very small and includes no sitting area, which takes away from the

significance of the Feast of the God. There is a lot of natural lighting in the room in addition to

some spotlighting. The natural lighting is important because it does not disorient the colors of the

painting which artificial lighting can do. There is no educational label but does correspond to a

tape that visitors can listen to when going around the whole museum.

When actually being able to look at the Feast of the Gods in person the size and quality of

the painting is prevalent. There are many details that can easily be missed when looking at this

painting from an image on the internet. There is some white paint on top of the cliff that when

looking at the painting in real life seems to look like some type of building structure. Another

significant detail that could have been skipped over when looking at an image from the internet

is the waterfall that is behind Silenus and the donkey. When looking up close at the painting one

can see the water and the white splashes it creates.

The Feast of the Gods was the first mythological scene Bellini had ever painted. To

satisfy Alfonso d'Este this painting was reconstructed by two other artist Dossi and Titian. This

reconstruction is part of the story of this painting that makes it so interesting to the paintings

audience. These alterations changed the paintings original ethos and sensibility to then combine

the creativity of three extremely talented artists altering the style and technique, but continuing to

portray the Feast of the God's original intent.

11

Supplementary Images

Feast of the Gods – Giovanni Bellini, Dosso Dossi, and Titian

The Worship of Venus – Titian

12

Bacchus and Ariadne – Titian

Andrian – Titian

13

Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman – Giovanni Bellini

Assassination of St. Peter Martyr – Giovanni Bellini

14

Bacchanal of Men – Dosso Dossi

Orpheus – Venetian 16th Century

15

The Infant Bacchus – Giovanni Bellini

Aneas and Achates on the Libyan Coast – Dosso Dossi

16

Portrait of a Youn Women as a Wise Virgin – Sebastiano del Pimbo

Color code of the Feast of the Gods

17

Reconstruction of the first version of the Feast of the Gods – Giovanni Bellini

Reconstruction of the second version of the Feast of the Gods – Dosso Dossi

18

Bibliography

"Alfonso I D'Este Historical Profile." The Borgias Wiki. 2010. Accessed April 12, 2011.

http://theborgias.wetpaint.com/page/Alfonso+I+d'Este+Historical+Profile.

Batschmann, Oskar. Giovanni Bellini. London: Reaktion, 2008.

Douma, M. "Investigating Bellini's Feast of the Gods." Webexhibits. 2002. Accessed February

03, 2011. http://www.webexhibits.org/feast/.

Finley, David and John Walker. Works of Art from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of

Art, Washington 1942: 5, as by Giovanni Bellini.

Fiorenza, Giancarlo. Dosso Dossi: Paintings of Myth, Magic, and the Antique. University Park,

PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008.

Goffen, Rona. Titian's Women. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

Hope, Charles, Jennifer Fletcher, Jill Dunkerton, and Miguel Falomir. Titian. London: National

Gallery Company, 2003.

Humfrey, Peter, Mauro Lucco, and Andrea Bayer. Dosso Dossi: Court Painter in Renaissance

Ferrara. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998.

Humfrey, Peter. The Cambridge Companion to Giovanni Bellini. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2004.

Humfrey, Peter. Titian: the Complete Paintings. [Ghent, Belgium]: Ludion, 2007.

Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art

19

Historical Studies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

"Ovid (Roman Poet) :: Works -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica

Online Encyclopedia. 2011. Accessed April 15, 2011.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/436057/Ovid/5427/Works.

Robertson, Giles. Giovanni Bellini. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.

Sienkewicz, Thomas J. Classical Gods and Heroes in the National Gallery of Art. 1983. Accessed

February 3, 2011. http://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/

Clas230/MythDocuments/Bellini.FeastofGods.htm.

Tempestini, Anchise. Giovanni Bellini. New York: Abbeville Press, 1999.

"WebMuseum: Bellini, Giovanni." Ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Accessed

April 10, 2011. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bellini/.

20