Andreas Mantegna – Painter of the Italian Renaissance

Andreas Mantegna:

Andreas Mantegna is one of the greatest of the Italian Renaissance Artists. A virtuoso, who was deeply inspired by Classical Art and Literature, he was highly skilled in Foreshortening, Perspective, and creating magnificent visual illusions that draw the viewer in to participate in the painted scene.

Early Life:

Born in 1431 in the North Italian village of Isola di Carturo, Andreas Mantegna was the son of a carpenter called Bagio. It was usual then for sons to follow their father's trade, but Mantegna's talent must have become apparent at a very young age and he was earmarked for an artistic career. When he was ten, he came to the notice of Francisco Squarcione, an artist from Padua, and was formally adopted by him.

Francesco Squarcione had several other adopted sons. His motive was not a fondness of children, but a cold, business-minded outlook. He took in talented youngsters, put them to work on art projects undertaken by his Studio, and kept their earnings.

Art Studies:

Life with Squarcione was not easy. Mantegna was too bright not to realize he was being exploited and was already too much of a forceful personality to take it lying down for long. They had plenty of bitter squabbles and finally, when Mantegna was seventeen, ended up in court to have the legal adoption rescinded. This enabled Mantegna to keep all the money he earned and move on to better prospects.

Still, the years spent in Squarcione's studio provided Mantegna with valuable training and also exposure to the culturally rich atmosphere of Padua. This famous University town attracted intellectuals, artists, and writers from around Italy and beyond, all converging to work, learn and exchange ideas. Living in this exciting hub had a profound effect on young Mantegna.

At the time, there was considerable revived interest in the antiquities of Ancient Rome and Greece, and many of these statues and paintings found their way to Padua where Mantegna saw them and fell immediately under their spell. His interest in classical antiquities was to be a life-long one.

He preferred studying classical statues to observing from nature, a habit that Squarcione greatly derided. According to him, this made Mantegna's figures appear hard and lifeless, like they were made of marble. It seems this criticism really stung Mantegna, and much later, when he painted the famous painting 'St. Sebastian', he painted a marble sculpted foot beside the Saint's flesh and blood foot, and we can see for ourselves the non-validity of Squarcione's assertions.

Influences:

Aside from his passion for the art of the ancient world, Mantegna was greatly influenced by the works of Jacopo Bellini and his sons Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Rogier van der Weyden, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, and Donatello.

Career:

Mantegna really came out on his own as an artist after splitting with Squarcione. Shortly afterwards, he was given the very important commission of working on frescoes for the Ovetari Family Chapel in the Eremitani Church. The project initially included three other older artists, but they dropped out one after the other, and, in the end, it was Mantegna alone that completed the work. The Eremitani Fresco Series, completed in 1457 and showing an extraordinary grasp of perspective and composition, included the works 'Baptism of Hermogenes', 'St. James before Herod Agrippa', 'St. James Led to Execution', and 'Matyrdom of St. James'. These masterpieces were destroyed during the Second World War, when American bombs, as usual, got the wrong target – the Eremitani Church instead of the Padua Railway Yards.

Mantegna next worked on the 'Cruxifixion' altarpiece for the Church of San Zeno.

Around this time, Mantegna got married to Jacopo Bellini's daughter Niccolosia and was offered the prestigious position of Court Artist to Lodovico Gonzaga II, the Marquis of Mantua. After much deliberation and hesitation, Mantegna accepted and, except for a brief stay in Rome to work for Pope Innocent VIII, remained in the service of the Mantuan Court for the rest of his life.

Famous Artworks:

Mantegna really flourished in Mantua. Although he could be a rather temperamental and problematic individual, Lodovico and his successors, Frederico and Gianfrancesco, always held him in the very highest esteem, and, well paid, he was able at last to indulge in his passion for collecting classical antiquities. He built up quite a collection, and, well inspired, painted some of his best works here, trying out his hand at everything from religious altarpieces and frescoes to purely allegorical paintings.

Some notable mentions are his panels for the Gonzaga Castle Chapel - 'Adoration of the Magi', 'Ascension', and 'Circumcision'.

Two study trips to Florence inspired him to paint the famously foreshortened 'Dead Christ', a remarkable work that leads one to be somewhat prepared for the grand ceiling illusion of the 'Camera degli Sposi'. This fresco, finished in 1474, gives the impression of a very high ceiling with circular sky opening, from which Court Ladies, Putti and even a peacock look back down at us; there is a heavy tub of plants balanced rather precariously overhead on a rod, all set to tumble down on Mantegna's critics, no doubt.

Other remarkable paintings of this period include 'Lodovico Gonzaga, his Family and Court' and 'Servants with Horse and Dog', both works giving us an insight into the life at the Mantuan Court.

After this success, came the 'Triumph of Caesar' series, a body of work that Mantegna himself considered the high point of his career. It was while he was painting these series that he was summoned, in 1488, by the Pope to Rome. He remained two years to paint a chapel that was, unfortunately, destroyed in 1780.

On his return to Mantua, where the Court was now dominated by Gianfrancesco Gonzaga's new and intellectually brilliant wife Isabelle d'Este, he was asked to paint the mythological paintings ''Parnassus' and 'The Triumph of Virtue' for her study. He also painted many sculpture-like monochrome works like 'Samson and Delilah' and 'Introduction of the Cult of Cybele into Rome'.

End:

In his last years, Mantegna was troubled by financial concerns and was forced to sell some of his Classical collection to Isabelle d'Este; most heart-breakingly of all, his beloved Roman bust of the Empress Faustina. A few weeks later, on 13 September 1506, Mantegna died at the age of 75.

References:

Mantegna, The Great Artists, Marshall Cavendish Ltd, 1985

History of Italian Renaissance Art, by Frederick Hartt, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1979