Representing Antiquity in the Renaissance: Paintings-Sculptures by Andrea Mantegna

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

He worked in the fifteenth century - when the canons of painting were still being laid, and there were simply no masters whose techniques could be adopted by young artists. Mantegna himself became a reference point for new generations of Renaissance artists, his paintings are a reflection of how antiquity looked for a Renaissance man.

Andrea Mantegna, son of a carpenter, apprentice of a former tailor, future court painter

One of the first and main achievements of Andrea Mantegna was that he was born during the Early Renaissance, or quattrocento, and besides, in Italy, which means that his talent was not so difficult to discover himself sooner or later. Andrea's childhood did not seem to be any more remarkable. The son of a carpenter from the town of Isola di Carturo near Padua, he was born around 1431. When he was about eleven, he was noticed by a very creative and passionate about art person - Francesco Squarchone, and here Mantegna, apparently, was lucky again. Squarchone, who once made a living by sewing clothes, became an artist and collector of ancient values, primarily antique statues, known throughout Italy, and in 1440 he opened a school in Padua, where he began to recruit students. Among them was young Mantegna.

Together with others, he studied the craft of a painter and fulfilled the teacher's assignments to create various works, mainly copying images of ancient monuments. Along the way, Squarchone taught him Latin. Apparently, he singled out the talented student especially. At the age of seventeen, Mantegna began an independent career in art, leaving the workshop of Squarchone and even achieving a return from that money for his works written earlier and sold by the teacher.

The first large order of Andrea Mantegna was the painting of the altar of the Church of Hagia Sophia in 1448 - this work has not survived to this day. Around the same time, work began on the frescoes of the Ovetari Chapel of the Eremitani Church in Padua. Mantegna worked on the painting of the walls together with a group of artists, but later it was found that it was his brush that belonged to the bulk of the work. In total, Mantegna worked on these frescoes for 9 years - having acquired the glory of an outstanding master by the end of the work. Most of the frescoes were destroyed by bombing during the Second World War.

The artist left Padua - forever, he will never return to this city. Ahead of Mantegna, real success awaited - and many brilliant works, and both contributed to both the successful marriage in 1453 to the daughter of the artist Jacopo Bellini. Rotating in the circle of eminent masters, Andrea Mantegna was introduced to the family of this Venetian, and after a while he asked him for Nikolosia's hand. So the young artist became not just a family man, but part of a clan of Renaissance creators - including the brothers Giovanni and Gentile Bellini. Of course, Mantegna's popularity has greatly benefited from this.

Mantegna's style of work

The point, of course, did not come down to just the "promotion" of the name. Mantegna's style was unique and outstanding in itself. As a follower of the Padua school, he at the same time blazed new trails in the art of the Renaissance, becoming a reference point for artists of the Quattrocento and later periods. His works draw attention to themselves with a special penchant for everything "stone". Architectural details - arches, aqueducts, ancient buildings in general - are written very carefully, and the characters in the paintings are as if images of ancient sculptures, and not living people.

This is what Mantegna sought, in this approach to painting his attitude to ancient Greek and Roman statues was expressed - as to the pinnacle of perfection in art. Another biographer of Renaissance artists, Giorgio Vasari, noted that in the works of Mantegna, "more a stone than a living body." As a result, the characteristic facial expressions of the characters are also harsh, domineering, aggressive or, conversely, alienated.

Contrary to the traditions of the time when profiles were depicted on portraits, Mantegna paints his customers full-face or in three-quarters. And again, a reference to antiquity - the same Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan in the portrait looks more like a bust of a Roman commander - in fact, he had to lead an army during the wars with the Ottomans. made of stone. Perhaps best of all, this effect is manifested in the relief painting "The Establishment of the Cult of Cybele in Rome" - the first in a series conceived by the artist and the only one that he managed to finish.

Mantegna also experimented with angles, subordinating new painting techniques to his design. In almost each of the works you can see something innovative, something that other masters will later adopt. Already after the death of the artist, the painting "Dead Christ" was found in his house, which depicts a fairly common plot in painting. Contrary to tradition, Mantegna depicted Christ in such a way that the viewer simultaneously sees both his face and wounds on his feet - for the sake of this effect, the artist somewhat violated the proportions of the figure, visually reducing the feet and making the head larger.

"Meeting" is distinguished by the absence of a background, the characters are written close to each other, and because of this crowding and cramped view, the viewer has a feeling of presence. It is believed that in this picture the artist depicted himself and his wife Nikolosia - these are figures without halos.

Expanding Space Experiments

In 1456, the twenty-five-year-old Mantegna was invited to the position of court painter by Ludovico II Gonzaga himself, the Mantuan ruler. After a while, the artist settled in Mantua. He served the ruling family until the end of his life - after Ludovico - Federico II, then Francesco II. Mantegna was a close friend of Duchess Isabella d'Este, fulfilling orders for her studio - collection of the cabinet of rarities.

Perhaps the main creation of the artist in his native Mantua, which eventually became to him, is considered to be the painting of the Camera degli Spozi, a room in the Palazzo Ducale. These frescoes - one of the few surviving works of the master - demonstrate his passion for experiments with space on a plane. Mantegna created the illusion of three-dimensionality, knew how to "expand" the room, add light to it, fill the work with optical illusions - and all this can be seen in a small room eight by eight meters, literally - the "Wedding Chamber", which at the time of the artist was simply called "painted rooms ".

The frescoes do not just place the viewer inside some illusory space, they also allow you to see a lot of representatives of the Gonzaga family at home, and with them - the king of Denmark and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Mantegna, depicting powerful persons without the external attributes of their status, as if emphasized their closeness to the Mantuan rulers, the informal nature of the relationship between them.

The artist earned a lot at the duke's court, but he also fulfilled orders on his travels, painted altars in the church of Verona, and fulfilled the order of Pope Innocent VIII. For the painting of the chapel in the Vatican, Mantegna was awarded the knighthood.

Andrea Mantegna died on September 13, 1506. He influenced many Renaissance artists, including Giovanni Bellini, and Albrecht Durer, and even Leonardo da Vinci, who adopted some of his techniques from Mantegna.

And here is how in the days of Mantegna it was customary to paint portraits: profile history.