Bellini \bal-'le-ne\ family Family of Italian artists. Jacopo Bellini (c. 1400-70/71) was trained under Gentile da Fabriano, and by c. 1440 he had a thriving studio in Venice. More important than his paintings are his two surviving sketchbooks, which contain nearly 300 drawings. He was the father-in-law of Andrea Mantegna. His son Gentile Bellini (c. 1429-1507) inherited his father’s sketchbooks and took over as head of the studio. His most important extant works are two huge canvases. Procession of the Relic of the True Cross (1496) and Miracle at the Bridge of San Lorenzo (1500), depicting scenes of contemporary Venetian life. Gentile’s brother Giovanni Bellini (called Giambellino, c. 1430-1516) was the greatest and most prolific artist of the family. He transformed Venice into a Renais¬ sance centre rivaling Florence and Rome. Giovanni was an early master of oil painting. Primarily a religious painter, he also excelled at portraits, of which Doge Leonardo Loredan (c. 1501) is his best known. Titian and Giorgione were probably trained in his workshop. See also Venetian school.
Belloc \'bel-,ak\, (Joseph-Pierre) Hilaire (b. July 27, 1870, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France—d. July 16, 1953, Guildford, Surrey, Eng.) French-born British poet, historian, Catholic apologist, and essayist. A highly versatile writer, he is best remembered for his light verse, particu¬ larly for children, and for his lucid and graceful essays. His works include Verses and Sonnets (1895), The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts (1896), The Modern Traveller (1898), Mr. Burden (1904), and Cautionary Tales (1907). He also wrote several historical works, including a four-volume History of England (1925-31).
Bellotto \bel-'lot-to\, Bernardo known as Canaletto (b. Jan. 30, 1720, Venice—d. Oct. 17, 1780, Warsaw, Pol.) Italian painter of topo¬ graphical views, known as vedute (“view paintings”). He was the nephew
of Canaletto and was himself known by that name when painting outside Italy. In 1747 he left Italy to spend the rest of his life working at various European courts, most notably at Dresden for Frederick Augustus II (1747-66) and at Warsaw for Stanislaw II (1767-80). His detailed views of the Polish capital were used as guides to reconstruct the historic sec¬ tions of the city after their destruction in World War II. Bellotto’s style is distinguishable from his uncle’s by its Dutch characteristics (e.g., cast shadows, massed clouds, sombre tone and colour).
Bellow, Saul (b. June 10, 1915, Lachine, near Montreal, Que., Can.—d. April 5, 2005, Brookline, Mass., U.S.) Canadian-born U.S. novelist. Bom to an immigrant Russian Jewish family, he was fluent in Yiddish from childhood. His family moved to Chicago when he was nine; he grew up and attended college there and, after some years in New York, returned to teach in Chicago. His works, which make him representative of the Jewish American writers whose works became central to American lit¬ erature after World War II, deal with the modern urban dweller, disaf¬ fected by society but not destroyed in spirit; his originality lay partly in his combination of cultural sophistication and street wisdom. His works include The Adventures of Augie March (1953, National Book Award), Seize the Day (1956), Henderson the Rain King (1959), Herzog (1964, National Book Award), Mr. Sammler’s Planet (1970, National Book Award), Humboldt’s Gift (1975, Pulitzer Prize), The Dean’s December (1982), and Ravelstein (2000). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in
bellows Mechanical contrivance for creating a jet of air, consisting usually of a hinged box with flexible sides, which expands to draw in air through an inward opening valve and contracts to expel the air through a nozzle. Invented in medieval Europe, the bellows was commonly used to speed combustion, as in a blacksmith’s or ironworker’s forge, or to oper¬ ate reed or pipe organs.
Bellows, George Wesley (b. Aug. 12, 1882, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.—d. Jan. 8, 1925, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter and lithographer. He studied with Robert Henri at the New York School of Art and became associated with the artists of the Ash Can school. Best known for his box¬ ing scenes, he achieved notoriety with his painting Stag at Sharkey’s (1909), which depicts an illegal boxing match. He was one of the orga¬ nizers of the Armory Show. From 1916 until his death he produced a series of some 200 lithographs, including the well-known Dempsey and Firpo
(1924).
Stag at Sharkey's, oil on canvas by George Bellows, 1909; in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, U.S.
COURTESY OF THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART, OHIO, HINMAN B. HURLBUT COLLECTION
Belmondo \bel-mo n -'do\, Jean-Paul (b. April 9, 1933, Neuilly-sur- Seine, near Paris, France) French film actor. After studying in Paris and performing with provincial stage companies, he appeared in minor film roles before achieving international fame in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960). Though not conventionally handsome, he became the leading antihero of New Wave cinema, acting in 25 films by 1963, then went on to appear in such acclaimed films as Pierrot le Fou (1965), Mississippi Mermaid (1969), and Les Miserables (1995).
Bellflower ( Campanula)
W.H. HODGE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
196 I Belmont family ► Ben Ali
Belmont family U.S. family prominent in banking and finance, poli¬ tics, and patronage of the arts. Its founder in the U.S. was August Bel¬ mont (1816-90), a Prussian-bom Jewish banker and diplomat. Belmont entered the Rothschilds’ Frankfurt, Ger., banking house at age 14. In 1837 he moved to New York, where he acted as the Rothschilds’ agent and laid the foundation for his own banking house, which became one of the larg¬ est in the country. He took an active interest in politics. Strongly opposed to slavery, he influenced merchants and financiers in England and France in favour of the Union during the Civil War. He introduced Thoroughbred horse racing into the U.S. (see Belmont Stakes). He married the daughter of Commodore Matthew Perry. His son Perry (1850-1947) became a U.S. Congressman and wrote books on U.S. history and politics. Another son, August Belmont, Jr. (1853-1924), took over the banking house and financed the building of New York’s subway, while his wife, Eleanor, supported the Metropolitan Opera.
Belmont Stakes Oldest of the three U.S. horse races that constitute the Triple Crown. The Belmont originated in 1867 and is named after August Belmont (see Belmont family). The stakes is held in early June at Belmont Park, near Garden City, Long Island; the course is 1.5 mi (2,400 m).
Belmopan \ 1 bel-mo-'pan\ City (pop., 2000: 8,130), capital of Belize. It lies in the Belize River valley, 50 mi (80 km) inland from the former capital, Belize City. After a hurricane did extensive damage to low-lying Belize City, the new capital site was chosen far enough inland to avoid flooding. Construction began in 1966, and Belmopan became the capital in 1970.
Belo Horizonte \'ba-lo-re-'zo n n-te\ City (pop., 2003 est.: city, 2,305,800; metro, area, 5,100,359), southeastern Brazil. Capital of Minas Gerais state, it lies on the western slope of the Serra do Espinha^o at an elevation of 2,720 ft (830 m). The site was chosen in the late 19th cen¬ tury to accommodate expansions that the former capital could not. Bra¬ zil’s first planned city, it was laid out on a grid following the models of Washington, D.C., and La Plata, Arg. It is the hub of a large agricultural region and the area’s commercial and industrial centre.
Belorussia See Belarus
Belorussian language See Belarusian language Belsen See Bergen-Belsen