DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62360#0123
68
ANDREA MANTEGNA
egoism receives our homage. Nothing petty or
insignificant enters into Mantegna’s conception of
humanity.
The fresco is little more than a ruin, irreparably
damaged through neglect and restoration. This wall
has suffered less than the other, the restoration being
more judicious ; but even here much of the drawing,
especially in the lower part, has been lost. I need
hardly point out that Mantegna, the scientific anatomist
and exquisite draughtsman, is not responsible for the
shapeless legs of some of the figures, nor for the
clumsy perspective in those of the ascending envoy.
Ruined as it is, something of the old magnificence
of colour still remains, colour so much deeper, more
resplendent than in the Paduan frescoes. Once it
was a blaze of gold, of deep crimson and lustrous
green, conceived on a scale of splendour in keeping
with the brilliance of the Mantuan court.
On the other wall is an outdoor scene set in a
beautiful landscape. (Plate 20.) The Marquis, in short
riding-coat, and wearing huge spurs, has dismounted
from his horse, and goes forward to meet his son on
his return from Rome with the honour of the Cardinal’s
hat. The composition brings into special prominence
those of the family who were dedicated to the church.
The Cardinal Francesco, the young Protonotary Lodo-
vico,1 and their little nephew, Sigismondo, afterwards
Bishop of Mantua, all holding hands, form the central
1 In the Gallery of Naples is a ruined portrait attributed to Giovanni
Bellini, which, even in its ruined state, retains the gravity and concentra-
tion peculiar to Mantegna’s work It seems undoubtedly to be a portrait
of this same Lodovico, as a comparison with these frescoes will show.
ANDREA MANTEGNA
egoism receives our homage. Nothing petty or
insignificant enters into Mantegna’s conception of
humanity.
The fresco is little more than a ruin, irreparably
damaged through neglect and restoration. This wall
has suffered less than the other, the restoration being
more judicious ; but even here much of the drawing,
especially in the lower part, has been lost. I need
hardly point out that Mantegna, the scientific anatomist
and exquisite draughtsman, is not responsible for the
shapeless legs of some of the figures, nor for the
clumsy perspective in those of the ascending envoy.
Ruined as it is, something of the old magnificence
of colour still remains, colour so much deeper, more
resplendent than in the Paduan frescoes. Once it
was a blaze of gold, of deep crimson and lustrous
green, conceived on a scale of splendour in keeping
with the brilliance of the Mantuan court.
On the other wall is an outdoor scene set in a
beautiful landscape. (Plate 20.) The Marquis, in short
riding-coat, and wearing huge spurs, has dismounted
from his horse, and goes forward to meet his son on
his return from Rome with the honour of the Cardinal’s
hat. The composition brings into special prominence
those of the family who were dedicated to the church.
The Cardinal Francesco, the young Protonotary Lodo-
vico,1 and their little nephew, Sigismondo, afterwards
Bishop of Mantua, all holding hands, form the central
1 In the Gallery of Naples is a ruined portrait attributed to Giovanni
Bellini, which, even in its ruined state, retains the gravity and concentra-
tion peculiar to Mantegna’s work It seems undoubtedly to be a portrait
of this same Lodovico, as a comparison with these frescoes will show.