Mantegna, Andrea, 1431-1506, Italian painter of the Paduan school. He was adopted by Squarcione, whose apprentice he remained until 1456, when he procured his release. In 1454 he had married the daughter of Jacopo Bellini and by 1460 he had entered the service of the Gonzagas in Mantua, in which he continued all his life. Mantegna was one of the greatest and most celebrated artists of N Italy. His passion for the antique is evidenced in all his work, and he was one of the first artists to make an extensive collection of Greek and Roman works. A rigorous draftsman and anatomist and a perfectionist in perspective, he nevertheless gave to his statuesque forms an intense and dramatic life. Among his early works the most celebrated are his frescoes of the lives of St. James and St. Christopher (Church of the Eremitani, Padua, destroyed in World War II); St. Luke altarpiece (Milan); and San Zeno altarpiece (Verona; parts are at the Louvre and Tours). In Mantua he decorated the bridal chamber of the Gonzaga palace with frescoes portraying many members of the family and other notables (completed 1474). On the ceiling he created the illusion of sky, a form of decoration that became very popular in the baroque period. Mantegna also painted nine cartoons depicting the Triumph of Caesar (Hampton Court Palace) and a Pietà (Milan). About 1497 he executed for Isabella d'Este Parnassus and Triumph of Virtue (Louvre). The Metropolitan Museum has his Adoration of the Shepherds. Mantegna is also noted for his drawings and copper-plate engravings. Early in his career he illustrated two manuscripts intended for René, duke of Anjou. In his initial letters for Strabo's Geography, he recaptured the art of Roman inscriptions. His lettering had a great influence on the development of printing. Among his engravings are Virgin and Child, Battle of the Sea Gods, and the Entombment.

(born 1431, Isola di Cartura, near Vicenza, Republic of Venice [Italy]—died Sept. 13, 1506, Mantua, March of Mantua) Italian painter. The son of a woodworker, he was adopted by Francesco Squarcione, a tailor-turned-painter; Mantegna was one of several pupils who later sued him for exploitation. At about 17 he established his own workshop and received an important commission for an altarpiece, now lost. His frescoes in Padua's Eremitani Church (1448–57), with their monumental figures and detailed treatment of Classical architecture, show that he had fully mastered perspective and foreshortening and was successfully experimenting with illusionistic effects, best seen in his frescoes of the Gonzaga family (completed 1474) in the Palazzo Ducale's Camera degli Sposi in Mantua, which transform the small interior room into an open-air pavilion. He was the first artist in northern Italy to work fully in the Renaissance style. He married a daughter of the Bellini family in 1453 but did not join the Bellini studio. He later became court painter to Ludovico Gonzaga. His humanistic approach to antiquity and his spatial illusionism were to have far-reaching influence.

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(born 1431, Isola di Cartura, near Vicenza, Republic of Venice [Italy]—died Sept. 13, 1506, Mantua, March of Mantua) Italian painter. The son of a woodworker, he was adopted by Francesco Squarcione, a tailor-turned-painter; Mantegna was one of several pupils who later sued him for exploitation. At about 17 he established his own workshop and received an important commission for an altarpiece, now lost. His frescoes in Padua's Eremitani Church (1448–57), with their monumental figures and detailed treatment of Classical architecture, show that he had fully mastered perspective and foreshortening and was successfully experimenting with illusionistic effects, best seen in his frescoes of the Gonzaga family (completed 1474) in the Palazzo Ducale's Camera degli Sposi in Mantua, which transform the small interior room into an open-air pavilion. He was the first artist in northern Italy to work fully in the Renaissance style. He married a daughter of the Bellini family in 1453 but did not join the Bellini studio. He later became court painter to Ludovico Gonzaga. His humanistic approach to antiquity and his spatial illusionism were to have far-reaching influence.

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St. Sebastian

Andrea Mantegna, 1490

Panel, 68 × 30 cm

Ca' d'Oro, Venice

St. Sebastian

Andrea Mantegna, 1480

Canvas, 255 x 140 cm

Musée du Louvre, Paris

St. Sebastian

Andrea Mantegna, 1456-1459

Panel, 68 × 30 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum

St. Sebastian is the subject of three paintings by the Italian Early Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna. The Paduan artist lived in a period of frequent plagues; Sebastian was considered protector against the plague as having been killed by arrows, and it was thought that plague spread abroad through the air.

In his long stay in Mantua, furthermore, Mantegna resided near the San Sebastiano church dedicated to St. Sebastian.

The St. Sebastian of Vienna

It has been suggested that the picture was made after Mantegna had recovered from the plague in Padua (1456–1457). Probably commissioned by the city's podestà to celebrate the end of the pestilence, it was finished before the artist left the city for Mantua.

According to Battisti, the theme refers to the Book of Revelation. A rider is present in the clouds at the upper left corner. As specified in John's work, the cloud is white and the rider has a scythe, which he is using to cut the cloud. The rider has been interpreted as Saturn, the Roman-Greek god: in ancient times Saturn was identified with the Time that passed by and all left destroyed behind him.

Instead of the classical figure of Sebastian tied to a pole in the Rome's Campo Marzio ("Martial Field"), the painter portrayed the saint against an arch, whether a triumphal arch or the gate of the city. In 1457 the painter had been trialled for "artistical inadequacy" for having put only eight apostles in his fresco of the Assumption. As a reply, he therefore applied Alberti's Classicism principles in the following pictures, including this small St. Sebastian, though deformed by the nostalgic perspective of his own.

Characteristic of Mantegna is the clarity of the surface, the precision of an "archaeological" reproduction of the architectonical details, and the elegance of the martyr's posture.

The vertical inscription at the right side of the saint is the signature of Mantegna in Greek.

The St. Sebastian of the Louvre

The Louvre's St. Sebastian was once part of the Altar of San Zeno in Verona. In the late 17th century-early 18th century it was recorded in the Sainte Chapelle of Aigueperse, in the Auvergne region of France: its presence there is related to the marriage of Chiara Gonzaga, daughter of Federico I of Mantua, with Gilbert de Bourbon, Dauphin d'Auvergne (1486).

The picture presumably illustrates the theme of God's Athlete, inspired to a spurious sermon by St. Augustine. The saint, again tied to a classical arch, is observed from an unusual, low perspective, used by the artist to enhance the impression of solidity and dominance of his figure. The head and eyes turned toward Heaven confirm Sebastian's firmness in bearing the martyrdom. At his feet two iniquitous people (represented by a duo of archers) are shown: these are intended to create a contrast between the man of transcendent faith, and those who are only attracted by profane pleasures.

Apart from the symbolism, the picture is characterized by Mantegna's accuracy in the depictions of ancient ruins, as well as the detail in realistic particulars such as the fig tree next to the column and the description of Sebastian's body.

The St. Sebastian of Venice

The third St. Sebastian by Mantegna was painted some years later (c. 1490), and quite different from the previous compositions, shows a marked pessimism. The grandiose, tortured figure of the saint is depicted before a neutral, shallow background in brown colour. The artist's intentions for the work are explained by a banderol spiralling around an extinguished candle, in the lower right corner. Here, in Latin, it is written: Nihili nisi divinum stabile est. Coetera fumus ("Nothing is stable if not divine. The rest is smoke"). The inscription may have been necessary because the theme of life's fleetingness was not usually associated with pictures of Sebastian. The "M" letter formed by the crossing arrows over the saint's legs could stand for Morte ("Death") or Mantegna.

References

• Zuffi, Stefano (1991). Mantegna. Arnoldo Mondadori.

External links

• Discussion about the three pictures
• Louvre's St. Sebastian