DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62360#0098
58
ANDREA MANTEGNA
has suggested likewise the subtler aspects of a many-
sided nature, the lofty aspirations, the tragedy of
failure, and the latent nobility. It is the very essence
of a soul, strong as some fiery distillation, he has here
set down. Better than any historical document does
it interpret the character of the ambitious priest.
The excellence of the likeness is attested by com-
parison with the contemporary medal. There are the
same features, animated by the same stern purpose and
ambition, but the touch of nobility, and of pathos which
makes Mantegna’s portrait at once so sympathetic and
so terrible, the medallist has not observed.
At about the same time he was occupied in painting
the Altar-piece for the Protonotary Gregorio Corraro,
Abbot of S. Zeno in Verona, which, after many
vicissitudes, has been replaced in the church for which
it was intended. (Plate 13.) Taken to Paris in 1797
by Napoleon, it was afterwards returned, but without
the three predella pictures, which still remain in France,
one in the Louvre, the two others in the Museum of
Tours, copies of them filling the vacant spaces in the fine
original frame of blue and gold. In the centre panel, the
Virgin is seated in a stately hall, between the pillars of
which one sees fleecy clouds (Mantegna’s own peculiar
fleecy clouds, really like wool) sail across a dark blue sky.
The upright child stands on her knee, and over their
heads swing the usual heavy garlands of leaves and
fruits-, which are one of the most precious inheritances
of the Renaissance from antiquity. It must be confessed
that the face of the Virgin is somewhat insipid, and
that she depends less for her dignity on the strength
of her own personality than on her gorgeous surround-
ANDREA MANTEGNA
has suggested likewise the subtler aspects of a many-
sided nature, the lofty aspirations, the tragedy of
failure, and the latent nobility. It is the very essence
of a soul, strong as some fiery distillation, he has here
set down. Better than any historical document does
it interpret the character of the ambitious priest.
The excellence of the likeness is attested by com-
parison with the contemporary medal. There are the
same features, animated by the same stern purpose and
ambition, but the touch of nobility, and of pathos which
makes Mantegna’s portrait at once so sympathetic and
so terrible, the medallist has not observed.
At about the same time he was occupied in painting
the Altar-piece for the Protonotary Gregorio Corraro,
Abbot of S. Zeno in Verona, which, after many
vicissitudes, has been replaced in the church for which
it was intended. (Plate 13.) Taken to Paris in 1797
by Napoleon, it was afterwards returned, but without
the three predella pictures, which still remain in France,
one in the Louvre, the two others in the Museum of
Tours, copies of them filling the vacant spaces in the fine
original frame of blue and gold. In the centre panel, the
Virgin is seated in a stately hall, between the pillars of
which one sees fleecy clouds (Mantegna’s own peculiar
fleecy clouds, really like wool) sail across a dark blue sky.
The upright child stands on her knee, and over their
heads swing the usual heavy garlands of leaves and
fruits-, which are one of the most precious inheritances
of the Renaissance from antiquity. It must be confessed
that the face of the Virgin is somewhat insipid, and
that she depends less for her dignity on the strength
of her own personality than on her gorgeous surround-