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DOI Artikel:Berenson, Bernard: The drawings of Andrea Mantegna
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47723#0282
253
The Drawings of Andrea Mantegna.
By Bernhard Berenson.
The painted masterpieces of Andrea Mantegna
discover a feeling for line which leads one to suspect
that, casting aside the coarseness of the brush, Andrea
would attain his subtlest effects in drawings with pen,
pencil, or silver-point. I will not say that this expec-
tation is wholly disappointed, for it is not; its fulfill-
ment, however, is not found where we should have
looked for it. The inevitable speed and the unfailing
precision of line which we encounter in almost any of
Mantegna’s well-preserved paintings are not the quali-
ties which we find in his drawings. In these Mantegna
is, in fact, more pictorial than in his pictures, and he
is more pictorial in swift, unstudied sketches than in
carefully wrought-out Cartoons. His first thoughts are
those of an artist who perceives form in masses and
not in outlines — therein betraying his affinity with the
Venetians and with all born painters.
Mantegna is thus very different from the Floren-
tines, particularly from the two great painters with
whom in the past he has been frequently confounded,
Antonio Pollaiuolo and Sandro Botticelli. These were
in the first place linealists, and their freshest thoughts
flashed before them as effects in pure line, wherein
mass was not clearly indicated but left to be inferred,
while their colour, although it often ended by being
exquisite, came by way of Ornament to a design already
complete. Effects of mass and colour were obtained
by Botticelli precisely as effects of line were obtained
by Mantegna — they came not as the unsought expression
of a native energy, but as the spoils of hard-fought
battles. The less arduous, then, the attempt, and the
more freely Mantegna manifested his native power, the
less do we find him winning those triumphs of line
which he earned in his more carefully executed com-
positions. Proceeding from his most unlaboured draw-
ings to his most elaborately coloured canvases, we
can establish a ratio of effort to effect which would
sound like this: The slighter the effort, the greater
the effect of mass; the strenger the effort, the greater
the effect of line.
It is possible that in his earlier years Mantegna
was so dominated by his ideal of swift yet strenuous
line, that his spontaneous bent for mass completely
disappeared before it, not venturing to show itself
in even the most unpretending sketch. This is pos-
sible, I say, and a certain support for such a belief
will appear later. But by an accident as singulär as
it is unfortunate, the drawings by Mantegna that have
been wafted down to us through destroying centuries
all date from his later and even his latest years.
I.
These waifs are not many, if we single out the
genuine from the spurious; but a criticism at once
competent and cautious will scarcely refuse the title
of authenticity to the following drawings:
CHATSWORTH. Collection of the Duke of De-
vonshire. Sketch for the engraving representing a
Combat of Marine Deities. (Sepia ink on white paper.
H. 247z cm. W. 35'/» cm. Photo. Braun, no. 192.)
FLORENCE. Uffizi. No. 404, Cornice 295. Judith.
(Sepia ink on washed paper, originally white. H. 36 cm.
W. 24 cm. Photo. Braun, no. 191.) Signed along the
right margin in those beautiful square letters the intro-
duction of which we owe largely to Mantegna, one
letter over another, with an occasional ivy leaf daintily
interposed: ANDREAS MANTINIA MCCCCLXXXXI
FEBI.)
LONDON. British Museum. Madonna enthroned
with an Angel at her feet. (Sepia ink on brown paper.
H. 19 7» cm. W. 14 cm. Photo. Braun, no. 57.)
Dving Man reclining on a stone slab. (Sepia ink
on brownish paper. H. 19 cm. W. cm. Photo.
Braun, no. 56.) Apparently for the famous Pieta in
the Brera.
Mars, Venus and Diana. (Outline in brown ink,
shading in sepia wash and white, but touched up
— by a later hand, no doubt — with ultramarine and
lake; on brown paper. H. 351/2 cm. W. 31 '/a cm.
Photo. Braun, no. 58.)
Allegory of Folly, or perhaps, Calumny of Apelles.
(Background dark reddish brown, figures light brown
wash heightened with white. Woman, sphinx to left,
and fire heightened with red; ribbon entirely red. Below,
to left the monogram AA. H. 281/2 cm. W. 44 cm.
Photo. Braun, no. 59)
DUBLIN, NATIONAL GALLERY. Judith. (Gri-
saille, on canvas. H. 35 J/2 cm. W. 26 cm.)
MUNICH PRINT ROOM. A Muse. Sketch for
one of the figures in the Parnassu,s of the Louvre.
(Sepia, heightened with white, on brown paper. 526
X 260 mm.)
Mucius Scaevola. (Grisaille.)
Christ between Andrew and Longinus. Study for
engraving of same subject. (Pen and ink on white
paper.)
PARIS. LOUVRE. The Judgment of Solomon.
(Grisaille, on linen; background slightly coloured. 466
X 370 mm.)
The Drawings of Andrea Mantegna.
By Bernhard Berenson.
The painted masterpieces of Andrea Mantegna
discover a feeling for line which leads one to suspect
that, casting aside the coarseness of the brush, Andrea
would attain his subtlest effects in drawings with pen,
pencil, or silver-point. I will not say that this expec-
tation is wholly disappointed, for it is not; its fulfill-
ment, however, is not found where we should have
looked for it. The inevitable speed and the unfailing
precision of line which we encounter in almost any of
Mantegna’s well-preserved paintings are not the quali-
ties which we find in his drawings. In these Mantegna
is, in fact, more pictorial than in his pictures, and he
is more pictorial in swift, unstudied sketches than in
carefully wrought-out Cartoons. His first thoughts are
those of an artist who perceives form in masses and
not in outlines — therein betraying his affinity with the
Venetians and with all born painters.
Mantegna is thus very different from the Floren-
tines, particularly from the two great painters with
whom in the past he has been frequently confounded,
Antonio Pollaiuolo and Sandro Botticelli. These were
in the first place linealists, and their freshest thoughts
flashed before them as effects in pure line, wherein
mass was not clearly indicated but left to be inferred,
while their colour, although it often ended by being
exquisite, came by way of Ornament to a design already
complete. Effects of mass and colour were obtained
by Botticelli precisely as effects of line were obtained
by Mantegna — they came not as the unsought expression
of a native energy, but as the spoils of hard-fought
battles. The less arduous, then, the attempt, and the
more freely Mantegna manifested his native power, the
less do we find him winning those triumphs of line
which he earned in his more carefully executed com-
positions. Proceeding from his most unlaboured draw-
ings to his most elaborately coloured canvases, we
can establish a ratio of effort to effect which would
sound like this: The slighter the effort, the greater
the effect of mass; the strenger the effort, the greater
the effect of line.
It is possible that in his earlier years Mantegna
was so dominated by his ideal of swift yet strenuous
line, that his spontaneous bent for mass completely
disappeared before it, not venturing to show itself
in even the most unpretending sketch. This is pos-
sible, I say, and a certain support for such a belief
will appear later. But by an accident as singulär as
it is unfortunate, the drawings by Mantegna that have
been wafted down to us through destroying centuries
all date from his later and even his latest years.
I.
These waifs are not many, if we single out the
genuine from the spurious; but a criticism at once
competent and cautious will scarcely refuse the title
of authenticity to the following drawings:
CHATSWORTH. Collection of the Duke of De-
vonshire. Sketch for the engraving representing a
Combat of Marine Deities. (Sepia ink on white paper.
H. 247z cm. W. 35'/» cm. Photo. Braun, no. 192.)
FLORENCE. Uffizi. No. 404, Cornice 295. Judith.
(Sepia ink on washed paper, originally white. H. 36 cm.
W. 24 cm. Photo. Braun, no. 191.) Signed along the
right margin in those beautiful square letters the intro-
duction of which we owe largely to Mantegna, one
letter over another, with an occasional ivy leaf daintily
interposed: ANDREAS MANTINIA MCCCCLXXXXI
FEBI.)
LONDON. British Museum. Madonna enthroned
with an Angel at her feet. (Sepia ink on brown paper.
H. 19 7» cm. W. 14 cm. Photo. Braun, no. 57.)
Dving Man reclining on a stone slab. (Sepia ink
on brownish paper. H. 19 cm. W. cm. Photo.
Braun, no. 56.) Apparently for the famous Pieta in
the Brera.
Mars, Venus and Diana. (Outline in brown ink,
shading in sepia wash and white, but touched up
— by a later hand, no doubt — with ultramarine and
lake; on brown paper. H. 351/2 cm. W. 31 '/a cm.
Photo. Braun, no. 58.)
Allegory of Folly, or perhaps, Calumny of Apelles.
(Background dark reddish brown, figures light brown
wash heightened with white. Woman, sphinx to left,
and fire heightened with red; ribbon entirely red. Below,
to left the monogram AA. H. 281/2 cm. W. 44 cm.
Photo. Braun, no. 59)
DUBLIN, NATIONAL GALLERY. Judith. (Gri-
saille, on canvas. H. 35 J/2 cm. W. 26 cm.)
MUNICH PRINT ROOM. A Muse. Sketch for
one of the figures in the Parnassu,s of the Louvre.
(Sepia, heightened with white, on brown paper. 526
X 260 mm.)
Mucius Scaevola. (Grisaille.)
Christ between Andrew and Longinus. Study for
engraving of same subject. (Pen and ink on white
paper.)
PARIS. LOUVRE. The Judgment of Solomon.
(Grisaille, on linen; background slightly coloured. 466
X 370 mm.)