Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna (1431 – September 13, 1506) was a North Italian Renaissance painter, a student ofRoman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence of a fundamentally sculptural approach to painting. He also led a workshop that was the leading producer ofprints in Venice before 1500. Mantegna was born in Isola di Carturo, close to Padua in the Republic of Venice, second son of a carpenter, Biagio. At the age of eleven he became the apprentice of Francesco Squarcione, Paduanpainter. Squarcione, whose original vocation was tailoring, appears to have had a remarkable enthusiasm for ancient art, and a faculty for acting. Like his famous compatriot Petrarca, Squarcione was something of a fanatic for ancient Rome: he travelled in Italy, and perhaps Greece, amassing antique statues, reliefs, vases, etc., forming a collection of such works, then making drawings from them himself, and throwing open his stores for others to study. All the while, he continued undertaking works on commission for which his pupils no less than himself were made available (Mantegna,2011). As many as 137 painters and pictorial students passed through Squarcione 's school, which had been established towards 1440 and which became famous all over Italy. Padua was attractive for artists coming not only from Veneto but also from Tuscany, such as Paolo Uccello, Filippo Lippi and Donatello. Mantegna 's early career was shaped indeed by impressions of Florentine works. At the time, Mantegna was said to be a favorite pupil; Squarcione taught him the Latin language, and instructed him to study fragments of Roman sculpture. The master also preferred forced perspective, the lingering results of which may account for some of Mantegna 's later innovations. However, at the age of

Cited: 1. Art; London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1992) Grey, Charles Exhibition Catalog: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Royal Academy of Arts 2 3. Early Italian Engravings from the National Gallery of Art; J.A. Levinson (ed); National Gallery of Art, 1973,LOC 7379624, March 18, 1999 4 April 21, 2011