Giovanni Bellini is being published for the first time since 1901. Highly popular at the time of its original publication (three editions were published between 1899 and 1901), Roger Fry's monograph was instrumental in rescuing Bellini from the oblivion of a Victorian-era reputation by reinterpreting and revaluing his art for an early twentieth-century audience. Giving a succinct but definitive view of Bellini's career, Fry not only brought to bear the new "scientific" connoisseurship in his analysis of individual pictures and their chronology, but he also brought a keen interest into Bellini's innovative use of semi-transparent oil glazes, the psychological depth of his subjects, and Bellini's profound sensitivity to nature. As a painter himself, Fry had the critical advantage of studying Bellini with a sympathy deepened by his own close awareness of aesthetic problems
