around 1459 -1517 · Conegliano, Venice and Venetian Renaissance

Serene madonnas, bright altarpieces and landscapes of the Venetian hills make Cima da Conegliano one of the great sacred painters of Renaissance Venice.

Giovanni Battista Cima was born around 1459 -1460 in Conegliano, a small town in Veneto whose name he adopted. He settled in Venice in the 1480s and his first dated painting, the Madonna dell'Arancio from 1489, already shows a deep knowledge of Giovanni Bellini and Antonello of Messina. Cima constructs his figures with clear light, precise contours and bold colors. He often places the Virgin, Child and saints in front of a recognizable landscape: hills, rocks, castles and transparent sky evoke the surroundings of Conegliano. This nature is not a simple background. It prolongs the spiritual calm of the figures and gives the sacred image a breath real. Cima became one of the most prolific painters in Venice at the end of the 15th century. More than thirty large altarpieces have survived, an exceptional number for his generation. The Pala de Conegliano, commissioned in 1492, brings together the Virgin, saints and musical angels in stable and luminous architecture. It also produces numerous Madonnas of private devotion, sometimes repeated with variations by an efficient workshop. His subjects include Saint Jerome in the Desert, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Saint John the Baptist and several mythological episodes. Cima also works for Venice but also for Parma, Treviso and the mainland towns, helping to spread the venetian altarpiece in the provinces. He maintained a close link with his hometown until the end of his life, around 1517 -1518. His art unites Bellinian monumentality, luminous precision and poetic attachment to the Veneto landscape. The selection "Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano" notably compares Annunciation and Blessing of Christ. His reading favors color.

At Cima, the landscape shares the serenity of the saints: hills, rocks and clear skies become a second form of spiritual presence.