The Genius of Andrea MantegnaFew artists have managed to imprint their personality so indelibly on posterity as Andrea Mantegna (c. 1430-1506). Before he reached the age of twenty, Mantegna was already being praised for his "alto ingegno" (exalted genius), and he became the court artist for the Gonzaga family in Mantua before he was thirty. Yet, this book argues, Mantegna was not simply a great painter. Together with Donatello, he was the defining genius of the 15th century: the measure of what an artist could be. His highly original and deeply personal vision, the descriptive richness of his pictures, and his biting, hypercritical but always exalted mind gave Mantegna's art an extraordinary edge and earned him a preeminent place in the Renaissance. |
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Alberti ancient Andrea Mantegna Andrew and Longinus artist beautiful bronze bust Camera Picta ceiling century Christ between Saints Church of Sant'Andrea classical compositions court painter Dead Christ decoration depiction Descent into Limbo Detail enlarged Detail of fig Donatello drawing Entombment Eremitani Federico da Montefeltro Ferrara fictive figures foreshortening Francesco Gonzaga funerary chapel Garden genius Gian Marco Cavalli Giovanni Bellini gold on canvas humanist idea images Isabella d'Este Jacopo Bellini James the Greater Jerusalem Leonello Louvre Ludovico Gonzaga Madonna and Child Mantua marble marchese mastery Metropolitan Museum Musée Museum of Art narrative National Gallery oculus Ovetari Chapel Padua painting Palazzo Ducale picture Pinacoteca di Brera plate poetry poses predella Predella panel printmaking prints putti reliefs Renaissance Roman Rome Saint James Saint John San Zeno altarpiece Santi sculpture Sea Gods Shepherds Squarcione tegna Tempera and gold theme tion Triumphs of Caesar victory viewer Virgin wall Zeno altarpiece fig