DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52600#0118
74 BARTOLOMEO MONTAGNA
right of it kneels the cardinal Guy de Montfort who
presided at the ceremony of the translation of the bones.
He holds in his right hand the saint’s lower jaw,
which he caused to be shut in a reliquary which is
kept in Sant’ Antonio at Padua, and a faithful rendering
of which is seen in the fresco behind the cardinal on a
pillar. The hall is crowded with people, men and
women, most of whom have fallen on their knees.1
A lively interest in what is going on is apparent ;
curious boys are climbing over the barrier which
borders the room and over which expands the view of a
landscape under an evening sky. There are certainly
many excellent heads in the crowd ; but regarded as a
whole, this big jumble of human bodies produces no
good effect. Montagna’s incapacity for dramatic
representation is here especially evident when one
remembers Donatello’s reliefs on subjects from the
legend of the same saint in the neighbouring church.—
We know that Titian had completed his part of the
decoration of the Scuola in 1511. His activity there
may thus well have preceded that of Montagna, and
the breadth and softness, which characterise the treat-
ment of the latter’s work, be largely due to the example
of the wonderful productions of ripe cinquecento art,
which he in that case had before his eyes while at
work.2
1 The man in a cloak of violet silk with fur border, who kneels opposite
to the cardinal, is perhaps meant for Jacopo II da Carrara, Lord of Padua,
and the richly dressed young beauty, kneeling in the foreground to the
right, for his wife Costanza.
2 Padua. Scuola del Santo. Sixth fresco. 2.87 x 4.41. Ph.
Alinari. The Anonimo Morelliano says that Montagna painted in the
Scuola del Santo, without giving particulars (Notizia d^opere di disegno,
p. 21). The true authorship of this fresco was, however, for a long
time in obscurity. In Patin’s 1 abelite selectee et explicatce, where it
is engraved by Hubert Vincent on p. 130 sq. we find it described as being
£C a Domenico Contareno ” ; here “ Contareno ” is obviously a slip for
“ Campagnola.” With Rossetti (op. cit. p. 84 sql) the artist then
right of it kneels the cardinal Guy de Montfort who
presided at the ceremony of the translation of the bones.
He holds in his right hand the saint’s lower jaw,
which he caused to be shut in a reliquary which is
kept in Sant’ Antonio at Padua, and a faithful rendering
of which is seen in the fresco behind the cardinal on a
pillar. The hall is crowded with people, men and
women, most of whom have fallen on their knees.1
A lively interest in what is going on is apparent ;
curious boys are climbing over the barrier which
borders the room and over which expands the view of a
landscape under an evening sky. There are certainly
many excellent heads in the crowd ; but regarded as a
whole, this big jumble of human bodies produces no
good effect. Montagna’s incapacity for dramatic
representation is here especially evident when one
remembers Donatello’s reliefs on subjects from the
legend of the same saint in the neighbouring church.—
We know that Titian had completed his part of the
decoration of the Scuola in 1511. His activity there
may thus well have preceded that of Montagna, and
the breadth and softness, which characterise the treat-
ment of the latter’s work, be largely due to the example
of the wonderful productions of ripe cinquecento art,
which he in that case had before his eyes while at
work.2
1 The man in a cloak of violet silk with fur border, who kneels opposite
to the cardinal, is perhaps meant for Jacopo II da Carrara, Lord of Padua,
and the richly dressed young beauty, kneeling in the foreground to the
right, for his wife Costanza.
2 Padua. Scuola del Santo. Sixth fresco. 2.87 x 4.41. Ph.
Alinari. The Anonimo Morelliano says that Montagna painted in the
Scuola del Santo, without giving particulars (Notizia d^opere di disegno,
p. 21). The true authorship of this fresco was, however, for a long
time in obscurity. In Patin’s 1 abelite selectee et explicatce, where it
is engraved by Hubert Vincent on p. 130 sq. we find it described as being
£C a Domenico Contareno ” ; here “ Contareno ” is obviously a slip for
“ Campagnola.” With Rossetti (op. cit. p. 84 sql) the artist then