_Andrea Mantegna_ (Paduan: 1431-1506). _See 274._
A celebrated picture (painted in 1459 for Giacomo Marcello,
Podestà of Padua), and a specially interesting acquisition to our
Gallery--first, as belonging to an earlier period of the master than
his other important works here; and secondly, for its strong family
likeness to the picture of the same subject by his brother-in-law,
Giovanni Bellini, which, hangs in an adjoining room (No. 726). At
the time when these pictures were painted Giovanni and Andrea were
working at Padua under the influence of Giovanni's father, Jacopo
Bellini (Vasari has some family gossip on this subject, ii. 265);
and the original suggestion for the treatment of the subject in both
pictures appears in Jacopo's sketch-book, now in the British Museum.
A prominent object in the distance (an Italian version of Jerusalem)
is a little gilt equestrian statue, which was evidently suggested by
Donatello's equestrian statue of Gattamelata, still to be seen at
Padua. The foreshortening of the apostles suggests the work of Uccello
(see 583), who is known to have painted in that city. The picture
has been described as "a marvellous combination of the fantastic and
the realistic"; note for curious details the rabbits and storks, and
the cormorant on the withered tree. This picture is more quaint than
Bellini's; but Bellini's is the more original. "Mantegna's," says
Mr. Monkhouse, "exhibits only a strong personal treatment of old
conventions: Bellini's proclaims the dawn of a new world of art. What
was old in the pictures--the Christ kneeling on a little hill, with
the sleepy apostles in foreshortened attitudes in the foreground,
the angelic vision on a cloud, and the suggestion of a neighbouring
city--are common to both pictures. What was new--the fresh observation
of nature for its own sake--is found only in Bellini's. We see this
in the smouldering clouds of sunset, the light thrown on the distant
buildings, the half-shade on the cliffs, the bringing-out of the
figures into something like the real open, sun-illumined air, the
attempt at solution of the problem of the tone of a face and figure
relieved right against the sky" (_In the National Gallery_, 1895, p.
192).
1417a. ILLUMINATED INITIAL LETTER.
The letter D: enclosed within it is painted "The Agony in the Garden,"
copied from the preceding picture by Mantegna. The picture and this
letter were both in the collection of Lord Northbrook.