The first Vicentine painter known to us is Battista da Vicenza (fl.
1450), but it was not until the last quarter of the fifteenth century
that Vicenza produced a painter of any note. Bartolommeo Montagna
(1460?-1523) studied the art of the Vivarini, and so became the central
figure in an unimportant school. His _Ecce Homo_ (No. 1393), which
bears the signature:
_Bartholomeus Montagna
Fecit_
in a _cartellino_ fastened to a twig, is a mature work. The delightful
and late picture of _Three Angel Musicians_ (No. 1394), which is signed
in a _cartellino_
_Opus Bartholomei
Montagna_,
shows the unmistakable influence of Gentile Bellini. The same motif is
found in the three musician angels in Montagna’s magnificent _Madonna
and Child, with St. Andrew, St. Monica, St. Ursula, and St. Sigismund_,
of 1498, in the Brera.
Montagna’s son, Benedetto (fl. 1500-1540), Giovanni Buonconsiglio
(1470?-1536?), and Giovanni Speranza (1480-1536) also practised as
painters; but Vicentine art from the middle of the sixteenth century
has little claim on our attention.