Gentile Bellini, The Miraculous Healing of Pietro de’ Ludovici, ca. 1501, Tempera on canvas, 368 x 263 cm, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Marija Jaensch
94 7/8 x 107 1/4 x 2 3/4 in
Further images
In 'The Miraculous Healing', Marija Jaensch engages
with Gentile Bellini's Renaissance masterpiece of 1501, transforming the
narrative of the 'Miraculous Healing of Pietro de' Ludovici' into a geometric abstraction.
Through her precise cutting and arrangement of fabric, Jaensch creates a work
that responds to the intricate floor patterns in Bellini's painting,
commissioned for Venice's Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (now at the
Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia).
The artist reorients Bellini's composition in a
significant spatial shift. Where the Renaissance painting guides viewers from
the church entrance toward the distant miracle at the altar, Jaensch reverses
this perspective, placing us at the point of the miraculous healing looking
outward. This reversal transforms the viewer's role from observer to
participant, reflected in the simplified title that omits Pietro's name. Just as Bellini signed his painting on a 'cartellino',
Jaensch places her own 'cartellino' on the reverse of her work, bearing the
inscription ‘CONCEPTUM A GENTILIS BELLINI / SED NATUM EX Marija Jaensch' (‘Conceived
by Gentile Bellini / But born from Marija Jaensch’). This reference illustrates
how artistic ideas can be reimagined across time, while maintaining their
conceptual essence.
Mostre
'H2O Venezia: Diari d’acqua / Water Diaries', SPUMA – Space for the Arts, Giudecca, Venice, 18 April – 24 Nov. 2024.‘Glass Art in Dialogue / Arte del vetro in dialogo. Marjia Jaensch & Amy Thai’. Palazzo Barovier&Toso, Murano, Venice, 13 Feb. – 8 June 2025.