Andrea Mantegna famous Italian painter and printmaker of the 15th century

Andrea Mantegna is a famous Italian painter and printmaker of the 15th century, a representative of the Padua art school. The paintings and frescoes of this master are distinguished by their sharpness of image, monumentality of forms and experiments in the field of perspective. The main genres in which he worked are biblical scenes and portraits.

Biography

Andrea Mantegna was born in 1431 in northern Italy. He always considered this city his homeland and called himself a Padua, although he spent most of his life in Mantua. The exact date of his birth is unknown, and the year was calculated only by the signature on one of the canvases. The future famous artist was the second son of a simple woodcutter and carpenter. At the age of 11, he became a student and adopted son of the local painter Francesco Squarcione. This master had over 130 disciples. He adopted the most talented ones for closer and lasting cooperation.

Andrea Mantegna learned a lot from Squarchone, who was fond of antique art, had a collection of antique vases. But already at the age of 17, the young artist leaves the teacher’s workshop, and is released from custody through the courts. He claimed that he received only a small portion of the profits from his work. His first works were the painting of local churches and chapels. In particular, the not preserved altarpiece in the Church of Hagia Sophia. After having already become famous, he became the court painter of the Marquis Ludovico III Gonzaga in Mantua. Modern researchers believe that the painted room served not as a sleeping quarters, but as an audience hall.

An important order, testifying to the high status of the artist, was received in 1488 from Pope Innocent VIII.

As a result of three years of work in Rome, a series of frescoes appeared, for which the author was awarded the knighthood. Unfortunately, this painting was destroyed in the 18th century by Pius VI. Subsequently, Andrea Mantegna returned to the estate of the Marquis of Gonzaga in Mantua and did not leave it until his death on September 13, 1506.

As a young man, Andrea Mantegna married the daughter of the Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini in 1453. Other famous masters, whose work has preserved echoes of Mantegna’s style, are Annibale Carracci, Albrecht Dürer.

The most famous paintings

Andrea Mantegna’s paintings are inspired by ancient culture they impress with patterns and shapes rather than color. In the works of this author, the asceticism of the Middle Ages is still preserved, and the use of perspective-based optical illusions becomes an innovation. Here are some of the artist’s most significant works:

• Camera degli Sposi (1465-1474). They depict the main pages from the history of the Gonzaga family. The ceiling is especially interesting: it is quite low, but the master gives it the appearance of a high dome with the help of the laws of perspective.
• Madonna and Sleeping Child (1470). The image of the Mother of God in this work turned out to be gentle and earthy. The author portrayed not external beauty, but spiritual sincerity and sadness. Perhaps the painting was painted from the artist’s wife and child.
• Parnassus (1497). In this allegorical work, the spouses Isabella d’Este and Francesco II Gonzaga are depicted as Venus and Mars. In the 17th century, the painting came to France and is now in the Louvre.
• The Dead Christ (1500). One of the main works of Mantegna was found in the workshop after his death, so the exact date of its creation is unknown. The likely interval is from 1466 to 1500. The traditional plot is originally executed due to the unusual position of the body of Christ and the deliberately distorted proportions of the figure.