Monatsberichte über Kunstwissenschaft und Kunsthandel (1.1900/1901)

254

It need scarcely be said that the eleven drawings
here enumerated are not the only ones ascribed to
Mantegna. Many of the ample remainder we shall
meet while studying other masters; some are copies
of favourite Originals like the Judith of the Uffizi.
One copy so certainly is of an original now lost
that it merits special mention. It is ä sepia drawing
exhibited at the museum of the Ecole des Beaux Arts
in Paris, and represents the Descent of Christ to the
Shades. In all but quality this puerile production cor-
responds with Mantegna’s engraving of the same sub-
ject. In Ridolfi’s day the original of this drawing, or
perchance this example itself, was in the possession of
the Venetian Inquisitor, Anselmo Bresciano.1)
The list of Mantegna’s drawings would be length-
ened if we chose to include among them the master’s
other uncoloured works, such as the Triumph of Scipio.
This and the Samson have as much a place among
drawings as the Judgment of Solomon or the Mucius
Scaevola. But in the National Gallery both are placed
along with the paintings, and, as they have nothing
new to teach us, either by way of technique or touch,
there we shall let them remain.
II.
Pen and ink; pen, ink and sepia-wash, sepia, white
lead and touches of colour ; finally, grisaille with slight
application of colour, — these are all the varieties of
technique that we find in Mantegna’s drawings.
If we now look carefully at each of the more im-
portant of these productions, we shall find, as I have
already said, that, on the whole, the simpler and less
studied the sketch —- in other words, the more spon-
taneous it is — the more effective will be its mani-
festation of mass, and the less noteworthy its quality
of line. Let us begin with the simplest drawings to
end with the more elaborate.
As simple as any is the Madonna of the British
Museum. It happens to be the earliest also, dating
from Mantegna’s middle period, and not, like all the
other drawings, from his later years.2) For the tech-
nique it is in, it is somewhat stiff and laboured, leading
one to suspect that at the time of its execution Man-
tegna dared not yet allow himself liberties. But we
need only hold this little sketch at a certain distance
from the eye to perceive its essential features. General
effect of mass, scarcely surpassable plastic values, mus-
cular realization of movement, proper emphasis on points
of force — such are the marked traits of this drawing.
The technique is one aiming at light and shade alone,
and the line is completely subdued to this end. Look
at any line. It scarcely exists by itself. It is a series
of meeting-points between a mass of light and a mass
of shade. It wavers, it vanishes, it gains body and
grows puissant, the humble and always helpful minis-
tränt to the plastic effect. Look at the thick line -—-
if indeed we may not more correctly call it dense

’) Ridolfi. Meraviglie I, 72.
2) The Child is of the type that we find in such a characteristic
work of Mantegna’s middle period as Mr. Mond s Holy Family. The Ma-
donna’s right hand is long and slim — the hand Mantegna has in com-
mo:i with the young Gianibellino — like the hand of the young woman
in the Circumcision of the Uffizi Triptych. The Madonna’s leit hand, with
its thick fingers, is like the hand of the old Magian in the same Triptych,
and like the hand of the Madonna in a work even earlier, the San Zeno
Altar-piece of 1458.

shadow — outlining the right hand : we feel even more
fully what we can not see, the inside of wrist, palm
and fingers, than what we actually behold, the outside.
How pictorial is the depth of dense shade severing the
Madonna’s cheek from the Child’s head and shoulders,
or his leg from her mantle! Here also we are com-
pelled to an even keener realization of the unseen than
of the visible. Note how the masses of shadow along
the legs and the torso, and the flashes of light on the
knees and the shoulder, give us the exact visual equi-
valents of the various actual projections. Observe the
curls escaping from under the Madonna’s kerchief, and
see how the simple touches of light and shade convey
the effect not only of their mass but also of their move-
ment. Holding it always at the same distance, look
again and note how the shadow separating the Child’s
left foot from his leg makes you realize not only the
ripple of his chubby flesh but the pressure borne by
the ankie-joint supporting his whole body. Look once
again and see the dashing lines in the Madonna’s mantle,
and note how each, serving its double purpose, indi-
cates the firm frame of flesh and bone beneath, and
the pull of the tight-drawn drapery. Thus might one
wander over every detail of this small sketch and ac-
count for its function in producing the full pictorial
effect. Never a link of line for mere love of line, as
among the Florentines, or for an ideal of line, as in
Mantegna’s own more elaborated achievements.
The reader would weary if I were to make an
equally minute analysis of each and all of Mantegna’s
authentic drawings. Nor is it necessary. The qualities
with which we have made acquaintance in the Madonna
we shall find unfailingly in other sketches of equally
simple means. We should note however that as time
went on Mantegna learned to allow himself a looser
rein than we found him holding here.
How loose a rein he could permit himself, and
how justified by an all-saving sense for mass and plastic
effect, we shall see if we stop a moment over his Car-
toon for the engraving of the Marine Combat. In this,
his least elaborated drawing, which he seems to have
executed with the greatest ease and the least thought
of outline, Mantegna is in an unusual degree pictorial,
plastic and life-communicating. We have here also the
füllest roundness of relief, and, in addition, a rare effect
of circumfused air and water unifying the composition
atmospherically. At the same time, the fire and spirit
of the sea-horses and the energy of the onset sweep
us out into the tide of their fierce life.
Much of this evaporated with attention to line for
its own sake, as we shall readily perceive in comparing
this Cartoon with the finished engraving. The engraving
is not so plastic, the atmospheric effect has disappeared,
and, with it, the pictorial charm. What the line has
gained in continuity it certainly has lost in life and
force. Whither has the spirit fled from the horses?
You could hear them neigh and champ. It was a plea-
sure to pat their beautiful heads. The toss of their
manes made the air electric. How tarne all this has
grown in the engraving!
Yet one other sketch in the simple technique of
sepia demands attention. It is a drawing lacking none
of the qualities which make the cartoon for the Combat
delightful, and at the same time possessing attractiveness