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The Feast of the Gods

Giovanni Bellini, 1529

The Feast of the Gods is a large mythological painting by the Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini, recorded with the date 1529 and measuring 170.2 x 188 cm. It shows the gods of antiquity at a woodland picnic, painted with the calm light and rich colour of Venetian art. This page explains where the work is held and what to look for when you stand in front of it.

Where to see it

The fact sheet records both the collection and the location of The Feast of the Gods only by the Wikidata identifier Q214867. It does not give the museum's name in words. Look up that identifier on Wikidata to confirm the holding museum before you plan a trip. Then check the museum's official website for current display status, opening hours and any temporary closures before visiting. The painting measures 170.2 x 188 cm, so it is large enough to view comfortably from a few steps back.

What to look for in person

A picnic of the gods, told as a joke

Start with the right-hand side of the picture. A nymph lies asleep, and a figure leans toward her and lifts her garment. Art historians generally link the scene to a story told by the Roman poet Ovid, in which Priapus tries to approach the sleeping nymph Lotis. He is foiled when a donkey brays and wakes the company. Find the donkey on the left. Then follow the glances and gestures across the group, and the comic moment that holds the whole composition together becomes clear.

Gods who look like country folk

Do not expect grand, idealised deities. Bellini shows the gods as relaxed, rather ordinary figures in everyday clothing, eating and drinking outdoors. Many are identified by small attributes rather than by heroic poses. Look for a winged helmet and a staff on one reclining figure, usually read as Mercury. Look for vessels of wine and simple bowls passed between the guests. Taking time to pick out these props is one of the pleasures of viewing the painting closely.

Colour, light and a reworked landscape

Step back and look at the band of figures set against the trees and the rising ground behind them. The warm reds, cool blues and soft flesh tones are typical of Venetian painting, where colour builds form as much as line does. Technical studies have shown that the landscape was changed after Bellini's original version, and the work of Titian is widely accepted in the later alterations. Notice how the dark, dramatic hillside on the left differs in mood from the calm, frieze-like row of figures.

About the painting

The Feast of the Gods is a mythological scene by Giovanni Bellini, the leading painter in Venice for much of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The record used here dates it to 1529 and gives its size as 170.2 x 188 cm. Bellini is best known for devotional images of the Madonna and for altarpieces. This canvas belongs to a less common side of his work: subjects drawn from classical poetry and painted for a private patron. It is widely accepted that the painting was made for Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. He assembled a series of mythological pictures for a private room in his palace, and Titian was among the other painters who contributed to that scheme. The Feast of the Gods was later altered, and the landscape in particular is generally attributed in part to Titian. Seen this way, the canvas records a meeting point between two generations of Venetian painters. Bellini's even, quiet arrangement of figures sits alongside a more dramatic setting associated with the younger artist. For visitors, the work rewards slow looking. Read the figures from left to right like a frieze. Pick out the attributes that identify individual gods. Then compare the treatment of the people with that of the landscape. Because the scene is a gentle comedy rather than a solemn myth, small details such as glances, gestures and the objects on the ground carry much of the story.

Key facts

More by Giovanni Bellini

• Madonna del Prato — National Gallery
• Holy Allegory — Uffizi Gallery

Sources

• Wikidata Q15008032
• www.nga.gov