This painting formerly decorated the _camerino_ of Isabella d’Este at
Mantua. It was seized at the sack of Mantua by Cardinal Richelieu in
1630, together with the _Parnassus_ (No. 1375), Perugino’s _Combat of
Love and Chastity_ (No. 1567), and Lorenzo Costa’s _Court of Isabella
d’Este_ (No. 1261). _The Mythological Scene_ (No. 1262), which is not
now exhibited, represents the _Realm of Erotic Love_; it was begun by
Mantegna the year he died, and was gone over and completed by Lorenzo
Costa.
Mantegna became involved financially towards the end of his life, and
the collection he had formed was sold. His last years were clouded by
pecuniary embarrassment. His compositions are essentially classic in
spirit, his figures noble and painted in imitation of the antique,
while his pagan conceptions prepared the way for those of a later
generation in the art of Venice. By this process of gradual evolution
the school of Padua came to be distinguished among the other local
schools of Northern Italy in the lifetime of Mantegna, whose example
gave a new impulse to contemporary art.
A small _Adoration of the Magi_ (No. 1678), which is officially
unattributed, is regarded by Mr. Berenson as the work of Bernardo
Parenzano (1437-1531), who was influenced by Mantegna, and imitated the
methods of his contemporaries.
Many other artists bore their part in the work of this school, and
so contributed to the development of this movement which spread to
Veronese and Venetian territory. They are, however, unrepresented in
the Louvre.