After painting the frescoes in the Church of the Eremitani at
Padua, Andrea in 1457 executed a large and striking altarpiece for
the Church of San Zeno in Verona. It was removed by Napoleon’s agents
to France in 1797, but only the principal panel was returned to that
church in 1815. The three predella panels were retained in France. The
centre one of these, depicting the _Calvary_, is now in the Louvre (No.
1373); the other two, representing the _Agony in the Garden_ and the
_Resurrection_, have long hung in the Museum at Tours. The severity of
the statuesque figures and the certainty of the drawing seen in the
_Calvary_ are characteristic of the early period of the master.
Mantegna now removed to Mantua, where he entered the service of
Lodovico II., Marquis of Mantua, as his Court Painter, remaining
there for the rest of his life. The _Madonna of Victory_ (No. 1374)
was painted to commemorate the victory gained at the Pass of Fornovo
on the Taro on July 6, 1495, by Giovanni Francesco III., Marquis of
Mantua, over Charles VIII. of France. In the centre of the picture the
Madonna and Child are enthroned. On the left kneels the Marquis, and
on the right is St. Elizabeth, the patron saint of Gonzaga’s wife,
Isabella d’Este, “at the sound of whose name all the Muses rise and do
reverence.” St. Michael standing behind the Duke, and St. George behind
St. Elizabeth, hold the robe of the Madonna, who is thus represented
as taking under her protection the two principal figures. In the
background on the left is St. Andrew, name-saint of the painter and one
of the patrons of Mantua. On the right is St. Longinus with the spear
with which he pierced the side of Christ. His relics were preserved
in the Church of St. Andrea in Mantua. The garlands of flowers and
festoons of fruit are a well-known device in Mantegna’s pictures.
Mantegna’s _Parnassus_ (No. 1375, Plate XIV.) illustrates the _amours_
of Mars and Venus, which were discovered by her husband, Vulcan. In
the foreground the Muses are dancing. The group of the Muses was
afterwards appropriated by Giulio Romano for his _Dance of Apollo
and the Muses_ in the Pitti Palace at Florence. This painting was
executed in 1497, just before the coming of the Renaissance feeling
into Venetian art and the representation of classical myth. Notice the
excellently drawn and highly characteristic shells and stones placed
in the foreground. In the same year Mantegna painted the _Triumph of
Wisdom and Virtue over the Vices_ (No. 1376), the last of the four
pictures by him in this Gallery. In the corner to the extreme left is
Virtus Deserta, who appears under the guise of a laurel tree with a
woman’s head; about the stem is wound a scroll with inscriptions in
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The Latin inscription reads:
AGITE PELLITE SEDIBUS NOSTRIS
FAEDA HAEC VICIORV̄ MONSTRA
VIRTUTVM COELITVS AD NOS REDEV̄TIVM
and on the inside of the scroll: