Focus on Pesaro Altarpiece (Bellini) and explore the Dating.
No documents survive to date the altarpiece definitively. Oils only became popular in Venice after the arrival of Antonello da Messina in 1475, so it is unlikely to have been produced before that date. In his will in 1476 the painter Giovanni Pizzimegli offered to make a payment to help meet the cost of a high altarpiece for the church of San Francesco, but does not specify if the work was planned, in progress or complete, meaning it cannot definitely be identified with the Pala of Pesaro. The oldest theories by Roger Fry, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle and Frizzone date it to around 1481, whereas in 1914, the critic Roberto Longhi initially dated it to 1465–1470; and then in a re-analysis performed in 1927, dated it to 1475. Most critics agreed with Longhi until Pallucchini (1959) and Meiss (1963) proposed 1470–1471, based on comparisons with the altarpiece's central scene of the Coronation of the Virgin with the Enthroned Madonna with Saints by Marco Zoppo (now in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin).
The work shows a number of forts, such as the one held by saint Terence of Pesaro on the predella, which Everett Fahy identified as Fortezza Costanza, planned by Francesco Laurana for the Sforza at Pesaro in 1474 and completed in 1479, although its final appearance had already been publicized on a medal by Gianfrancesco Enzola dated to 1475. The similarity is not precise enough to prove this hypothetical dating. In 1909 Vaccia stated that the fortress in the background of the Coronation scene was based on Rocca di Gradara, captured from Pesaro by Rimini in 1463, which would make the altarpiece a celebration of the capture itself or of an anniversary of it.
More recent studies by Battisti and Castelli have suggested the 1480s, linking the work's iconology to political events such as Camilla d'Aragona's regency from 1483 onwards or religious disputes of the period, such as those between the Franciscans and Dominicans. Another theory links the work to the marriage celebrations between Costanzo I Sforza and Camilla d'Aragona in 1474.
Roger Fry saint Terence of Pesaro Costanzo I Sforza Rocca di Gradara Dominicans Antonello da Messina Roberto Longhi Venice Sforza Francesco Laurana Pesaro Marco Zoppo predella Camilla d'Aragona Gianfrancesco Enzola Staatliche Museen Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle Coronation of the Virgin Franciscans Terence of Pesaro