MANTEGNA, ANDREA

born 1431?, near Vicenza, Republic of Venice died September 13, 1506, Mantua, March of Mantua Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, fresco by Andrea Mantegna, completed 1474; in painter and engraver, the first fully Renaissance artist of northern Italy. His best known surviving work is the Camera degli Sposi (Wedding Chamber; 1474 [see photograph]), the painted room in the Palazzo Ducale, in which he developed a self-consistent illusion of a total environment. Mantegna's other principal works include the Ovetari Chapel frescoes (144855), Eremitani Church, Padua, and the Triumph of Caesar (begun c. 1486; Hampton Court Palace, England), the pinnacle of his late style. Additional reading Paul Kristeller, Andrea Mantegna (1901), the first monograph on Mantegna in English, is a tremendous effort of scholarly achievement and synthesis. Many of Kristeller's conclusions remain unchallenged and all subsequent biographers have relied heavily on this book. Ilse Blum, Andrea Mantegna und die Antike (1936), is a thorough analysis of the appearance of antique motifs in Mantegna's work with identification of his sources. There is some subsequent work on this aspect in English but none supplanting this. Erica Tietze-Conrat, Mantegna (1955), is the best modern monograph in English, including a catalog of works, attributed works, drawings, and engravings (fully illustrated). Millard Meiss, Andrea Mantegna As Illuminator: An Episode in Renaissance Art, Humanism and Diplomacy (1957), an essential book for evaluating Mantegna's achievement in classical revival, explores hitherto uncharted areas such as the artist's activity in the field of miniature painting and his contributions to the revival of classical epigraphy. See also the same author's Toward a More Comprehensive Renaissance Palaeography, Art Bulletin, 42:97112 (1960), a continuation of his research in this area. Giovanni Paccagnini, Mantegna: La Camera degli Sposi (1957), is a monograph on Mantegna's best known work by the leading Italian authority, who also wrote Andrea Mantegna (1961), the catalog of the Mantegna show in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, 1961 (with a good bibliography through 1961). See also his article in the Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 9, col. 486498 (1964), an excellent summary of the artist's life and works including accounts of disagreement among scholars and a fair reflection of the latest consensus. Phyllis and Karl Lehmann, Samothracian Reflections: Aspects of the Revival of the Antique (1972), contains an essay on Mantegna's Parnassus that will most likely stand as the definitive analysis for many years to come. Major Works: Paintings. Ovetari Chapel frescoes (144855; Eremitani Church, Padua, Italy); The Agony in the Garden (c. 1450; National Gallery, London); The Virgin with Sleeping Child (c. 1450; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin); The Man of Sorrows with the Virgin and Saints (The St. Luke Polyptych, 1454; Brera, Milan); St. George (c. 145560; Accademia, Venice); Madonna Enthroned with Saints (145659; S. Zeno Maggiore, Verona, Italy); The Crucifixion (145659; Louvre, Paris); St. Sebastian (c. 1459; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna); The Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1460; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City); Portrait of Cardinal Lodovico Mezzarota (c. 1460; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz); Portrait of a Man (c. 1460; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.); Triptych with the Adoration of the Magi, the Circumcision, and the Ascension (c. 1465; Uffizi, Florence); The Death of the Virgin (c. 1465; Prado, Madrid); St. Sebastian (c. 1465; Louvre); The Dead Christ (c. 1466; Jacob M. Heimann Gallery, New York); frescoes of the Camera degli Sposi (147374; Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy); The Mourning over the Dead Christ (c. 1475?; Brera); The Madonna of the Caves (c. 1484?; Uffizi); Triumph of Caesar (begun c. 1486; Hampton Court Palace, England); St. Sebastian (c. 14901500; Ca d'Oro, Venice); Madonna della Vittoria (1495; Louvre); Parnassus (1497; Louvre); Wisdom Overcoming the Vices (1502; Louvre). Engravings. Battle of the Sea Gods (c. 1490); Bacchanal (c. 1490); Madonna and Child (c. 1490); The Entombment (1490s); The Risen Christ Between St. Andrew and Longinus (1490s). Prints of all are in the British Museum.