Dreaming the Bellinis

Thingy in a recent comment on a post of mine (here) and my reference in that post to a Bellini sky, suggested I might write a poem "Dreaming the Bellini. So here it is:-


Dreaming the Bellinis           Jacopo and Giovanni
                                         dreaming a Masaccio       
                                         with wider sympathies
                                         inventing modern painting       
                                         bringing it about
                                         imbuing it with light
light of a great beauty         not fingering a form
                  a jewel in it's own right
as subject       
depth       
as something to display

It's not the light that ripples on a surface...
This light bends surface into form.
It's what Masaccio placed centre stage
                                         but could not find an actor with the depth
                                         so mixed it with an artificial light
                                         supplanting line
with lines half learnt, lines mimed
left silent on the stage
                                         until Bellini gave them voice
                                         invoked massed choirs
                                         to supersede line's single voice.
Bellini's love of nature
blossomed in the light
his colours were the colours of creation
                                         thus painting's Holy Trinity
                                         light
                                         colour
                                         form
became of age.

---

The painting is Giovanni Bellini's Agony in the Garden.