Giovanni Bellini - Christ Blessing by Minh Nguyen

I went to Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and have a look around the galleries and after the whole tour; the painting which stand out to me the most was Christ Blessing by Giovanni Bellini. The reason I picked this painting is because Giovanni Bellini put so much meaning into this art work with color, light, and emphasis. This is a portrays of Jesus Christ resurrection from death. This when Jesus is fully human and fully divine, was sent to earth to redeem humankind.

I was very impressed with the color and light Bellini used in this painting to portray Jesus. The color of Jesus body is brighten up in the painting, which have many meanings. The first meaning is that Jesus is fully alive after he was crucified to death on the cross. This has a very significant meaning in the Christian faith, because this represents the light of the faith, Jesus has gained victory over death. The light comes from his body very unique, it looks very bright, but is does not make the skin looks pale. It is hard enough to just paint the skin color just to look right, but in this case Bellini added the light to the skin which makes it stand out tremendously. His body would be first thing the audience would focus on when looking at the painting. The color he used just makes sense in every way. Moreover, the red cross Jesus is holding is very bright, which denotes his triumph over death. You will also notice that there’s a white rabbit in painting, the used of white is because this signify regeneration. In the back ground you can see dark cloud, which represent the world is a dark place, but there is a bright light coming from above. The use of color and light in this art work is just brilliant.

Bellini emphasis in the painting was also brilliant. The focus point of this art work is Jesus body. As described above, this has many meaning in the Christian faith, which Bellini painted perfectly. He used light and color to perfection. As the audiences first look at the painting they will mainly focus on Jesus body. This is the begin point of the painting, and also the final point of the painting. As looking at the painting we can see many small details which represent significant meaning. For example, the lightly visible marks on Jesus hand and the marks on Jesus body. It is very light which the viewer have to look closely to see, Bellini wanted to say Jesus is human when he sacrificed for humankind. There is a withered tree behind the picture with a bird on it. This represents the Old Covenant which also where the New Covenant will grow.

Bellini painted the art work so simple but it has so many meaning to it. There are so many small pieces which put together a complete art work. The painting starts with Jesus body and end with it, but in between there are so many stories and meaning which accommodated by colors and lights.