633 



BELLINI, LAURENTIO. 



BELLOT, JOSEPH RENE. 



631 



the public edifices and churches of Venice and other cities of Italy 

 with a prodigious number of paintings, and continued his labours to 

 a very advanced age. Among his most distinguished works are altar- 

 pieces in the Sacristy of the Conventual! and at San Zaccaria at 

 Venice; and in the monastery of the Capuchins in that city is a 

 picture of the Infant Jesus slumbering in the lap of the Madonna and 

 attended by angels a work conspicuous for its grace, beauty, and 

 expression. To these may be added a Virgin in the cathedral of 

 Bergamo ; a Baptism of our Lord at Santa Corona, at Vicenza ; Christ 

 and the Woman of Samaria at the Well, in the Schiarra Palace at 

 Home ; and a Bacchanalian piece in the Cammucini collection in that 

 city. In all these works the elements of a finer style are more visible 

 than Lad been practised either by Perugino, Ghirlandaio, or any of 

 his immediate contemporaries. Bellini introduced a more ample style 

 of drapery, he generalised his colour, and gave breadth to his masses ; 

 and although he fell short of the excellence which was soon after 

 attained by Giorgioue and Titian, he claims the honour of having been 

 the teacher of those great masters. Some of bis small pictures are in 

 England ; but it is only by his large works in Italy that an adequate 

 idea of his powers can be formed. He died at the age of ninety, in 

 1510. A portrait of the Doge Loredano by Giovanni Bellini is in the 

 National Gallery. 



BELLl'NI, LAURENTIO, was born at Florence September 3, 1643. 

 After receiving in his native place the elements of a classical educa- 

 tion, he proceeded to Pisa, to enjoy the advantages which the Grand 

 Duke Ferdinand II. granted to those who were disposed to study the 

 sciences. At this time the doctrines adopted in order to explain the 

 functions of the human body were derived from the sect of mathe- 

 matical physicians., who ascribed them to mechanical principles. The 

 leader of this sect was Borelli, then professor of mechanics and anatomy 

 at Pisa. Under him, and also under Alexander Marchetti, professor 

 of mathematics, Bellini studied, and imbibed their opinions. The doc- 

 trines of this school were maintained for a considerable time, and 

 were partly adopted by Boerbave ; but since the writings of Haller 

 and Hunter, they have been exploded. Bellini however made such 

 rapid progress, that when only twenty years of age he was appointed 

 professor of philosophy at Pisa. Shortly afterwards he was made 

 professor of anatomy, and was frequently honoured with the attend- 

 ance of the grand duke at his lectures. He continued to teach anatomy 

 and to practise medicine at Pisa, with great success, for thirty years, 

 when he was invited to Florence, and made chief physician to the 

 Grand Duke Cosmo III. At the recommendation of Laucisi, phy- 

 sician to Pope Clement XI., he was nominated senior consulting 

 physician to that pontiff. His reputation was also extended to foreign 

 countries both by his writings and pupils, one of the most distin- 

 guished of whom was Dr. Archibald Pitcairn, successively professor 

 at Leyden and Edinburgh, who introduced and maintained the doc- 

 trines of his master in these celebrated schools, where they held sway 

 for a considerable time. Bellini died on the 6th of January 1704. 



The writings of Bellini are now little read. The bent is the treatise 

 'Gustus Organum novissime deprehensum,' Bononix, 1665, in which 

 he pointed out the papillae of the tongue to be the essential organ of 

 taste. The next most important is entitled ' De Urinis, Pulsibus, 

 Missione sanguinis, febribus,' &c., Bononia), 1683. His works have 

 been collected and published in two volumes, Ho, ' Opera Omnia,' 

 Venetiia, 1708, and reprinted in 1732. 



Bellini possessed a taste for music and poetry, and was the author 

 of a poem called ' Bucchereide,' which was published after his death 

 at Florence in 1729. 



(Sprengel, L'llistoire de la Mfdfcine ; Haller, Bibliotheca Medicince 

 Practices ; Fabroni Vitas ftalorum.) 



BELLINI, VINCENZO, a celebrated composer, was born in Novem- 

 ber 1802, at Catania, in Sicily, near the foot of Etna. The family were 

 musical, and the young Bellini showed so much talent that he was 

 sent to study at Naples, at the expense of the town of Catania. He 

 was admitted into the Conservatorio at Naples in 1819. His first efforts 

 at composition drew the attention of Zingarelli, the director of the insti- 

 tution, and he removed him into his own class. He however was disap- 

 pointed, for Bellini was idle, and inattentive to the orthodox rules of 

 harmonic combinations, though he subsequently made laudable efforts 

 to compensate for this neglect. He dissected the quartets of Haydn 

 and Mozart, a labour as interesting as useful to those who would 

 penetrate the secrets of modulation, and tho adjustments of parts. 

 He also composed symphonies and psalm-tunes. In 1825 he produced 

 an opera, ' Andelson e Salvina,' which was performed within the walls 

 of the Conservatorio, and which showed the germs of a genius not 

 yet developed. A cantata, ' Ismene'e,' received such applause, that 

 Barbaja, the manager of the San Carlos theatre at Naples, confided to 

 Bellini a libretto, ' liianca e Gernando,' for which he was to compose 

 the music. It was played in March 1826, and obtained a brilliant 

 success. He was now regularly engaged for the theatre of La Scala at 

 Milan. In 1827 ' II Pirati ' was produced there, and was warmly 

 received. It does uot however rank high s a work of art; the 

 instrumentation poor, the harmonies faulty, but some of the melodi. s 

 are delightful. ' Le Straniera ' followed at Milan ; 'Zaire ' was brought 

 out at Parma; and 'I Capuletti ed i Montecchi* at Venice. But 1831 

 aw Bellini's greatest triumph ; in this year was produced ' La Sonnam- 

 bula ' in March, and ' Norina ' in December, both of them at Milan. 



They were received with enthusiasm, and quickly became popular in 

 other parts of Europe. For a year Bellini rested, and in 1833 produced 

 ' Beatrice di Tenda ;' this was a comparative failure, a gloomy subject, 

 with a mournful ending, was not within the compass of Bellini's 

 genius. The story is the fate of Anne Bulleu, with Italian names. His 

 reputation however suffered little from this check, and the Acade'mie 

 Royale de Musique in Paris applied to him to compose an opera for 

 them. Bellini went to Paris, then crossed over to England to superin- 

 tend the performance of one of his owu operas, returned, and in 1834 

 produced 'I Puritani," in which he made great advances in the 

 knowledge and practice of his art. Shortly after this brilliant effort, 

 while residing at a house in tho country, he was attacked by a violent 

 intestinal disorder, which carried him off in a few days. He died at 

 Pateaux, near Paris, on the 23rd of September 1835, aged 32 years, 

 and was buried in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, after a solemn 

 funeral service had been performed in the church of the Iiivalides. 



Bellini's moral character stood high, and his manners and composi- 

 tions were in strict accordance ; agreeable, tender, and elegant. He 

 rarely attempted the brilliant, and never aspired to the sublime, or 

 even lofty, yet in moat of his productions are traits of genius. A 

 sweetness of melody, a fitness of harmony, and an adaptation of the 

 sound to the sense, characterise all those of his works which have come 

 under our notice. His constitutional tendencies seem to have been 

 adverse to that vigorous exertion of mind which in a more healthy 

 state he might have exhibited : and it may be, that had he not been 

 cut off in almost his youth, his ambition would have led him to 

 attempt something that might have secured to him the privilege of 

 being heard in future times. 



BELLMANN, CHARLES MICHEL, a Swedish poet, was born at 

 Stockholm in 1741, and died in 1796. He studied at the University 

 of Upsala, and after he had left it wai enabled to devote himself 

 entirely to his favourite pursuits of poetry and literature by the 

 liberality of Gustavus III., who appointed him to a nominal office, 

 with a competent income, and the title of Secretary of the Court. The 

 king had already favourably noticed Bellman's earliest productions, 

 which were a metrical translation from the German of Schweidnitz's 

 ' Evangelical Dying Thoughts ' (' Evangelisohe Todesgedanken '), 

 published when he was only sixteen; and a poem entitled 'Zion's 

 Hb'gtid ' (the ' Festival of Zion '). To these, some years afterwards, 

 were added ' Bachi Tempel ' (the ' Temple of Bacchus '), the most 

 important of his poems ; Friedmann's ' Epistler og Songer ; ' and a 

 Swedish translation from the German of Gellert's ' Fables.' His 

 posthumous works ' Skaldestykken ' (' Poems '), and Friedmann's 

 1 Handakrifter ' ('Manuscripts') were published, the first at Stock- 

 holm, 2 vols, 1812, and the second at Upsala, 1813. Bellmann's poetical 

 pictures generally represent scenes of the lowest life in Sweden ; but 

 they are so chaste, so true, so full of imagination, and their colours 

 are so lively, that the reader forgets the scenes of vulgarity to which 

 he is introduced, and finds himself suddenly transported from low 

 tap-rooms to cheerful habitations of joy and song. To enter however 

 fully into the spirit of Bellman's lyrical productions, it is necessary, 

 not only to rend them, but also to hear them sung to the tunes which 

 were composed expressly for them. Bellmann had a heart open to 

 friendship, he was a cheerful companion, and bore a good moral 

 character. 



BELLOT, JOSEPH RENfi, was born at Paris, in March 1826. His 

 father, who was in humble circumstances, removed to Rochefort when 

 Joseph was five years old. Joseph was placed in the elementary school 

 of that city, and so favourable a report was made by his schoolmaster 

 at the close of his term of instruction that the municipality at once 

 granted him a demiburse at the College of Rochefort. Here his pro- 

 gress was equally satisfactory ; so that when his college term ended, 

 in his 16th year, and he proceeded to the naval school at Brest, the 

 municipality of Rochefort continued to contribute a moiety of the 

 expense. He was two years at the naval school, and on quitting it 

 took rank as fifth on the list at the final examination. Having served 

 six months in port, he received his commission as '*Sleve de marine* 

 on board the corvette ' Berceau,' bound for the Isle of Bourbon. It 

 is worthy of remark, as characteristic of Bellot's excellent disposition, 

 that, before leaving France, out of his slender salary he assigned to 

 his family the sum of 20 francs a month. 



Bellot remained abroad somewhat over three years, returning homo 

 in November 1847. During this time, while steadily purstiing his 

 private studies, he had, by the diligent discharge of his official duties, 

 secured the esteem and approbation of his superior officers. M. llomam 

 Desfossds, the commodore, to whom Bellot had acted as aide-de-camp, 

 in his official dispatch to tha minister of marine, pronounced Bellot to 



be " the most distinguished clove on the station, and in every 



respect superior. to his age and position." Distinguished merit in a 

 young officer is seldom neglected by the French government. For his 

 conduct and bravery in the expedition against Tainative, Madagascar, 

 in July 1845, in which he had been wounded, he had been already 

 promoted to be an (Sieve of the first class, and, though under twenty, 

 created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour ; and now on returning 

 hume with the high commendation of M. Desfosae's, he was raised to 

 the rank of sub-lieutenant. 



The following summer Lieutenant Bellot sailed in the corvette 

 ' Triomphante ' to South America, where he remained for about two 



