The Art of Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna (1430-31 – 1506) was born in Isola de Carturo, close to Venice, during the Gothic and Early Renaissance Era. His art is characterized by brilliant compositional solutions with the bold use of perspective and foreshortening. His innovative approach to composition was based on diagonals rather than traditional symmetry, which gave his paintings a certain emotional intensity.

 
(Mantegna, Andrea. The Lamentation over the Dead Christ. c. 1480. tempera on canvas. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.)

Mantegna was the second son to a carpenter named Biagio. He became the apprentice and adopted son of the painter, Francesco Squarcione from Paduan at the age of eleven. Squarcione taught him Latin and he became enthusiastic about the civilization of ancient Rome and was also became a student of Roman archaeology.

 
(Mantegna, Andrea. The Agony in the Garden. c. 1457-1459. oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris.)

Mantegna eventually had a falling out with Squarcione and decided to seek work elsewhere. He is then appointed as the court painter for the ruling Gonzaga family in Mantua, Italy. Here is where he spent the rest of his life producing work as one of the leading artists of his time.

 
(Mantegna, Andrea. Madonna of Victory. c. 1496. tempera on canvas. Louvre, Paris.)

His use of foreshortening in “The Lamentation over the Dead Christ” would have been a startling composition to the viewers of this painting at that time. Foreshortening makes an object look shorter than it really is to create the illusion of recession. The term is often applied to the human body when shown in poses that compress its length. It makes the part nearest to the viewer look larger than the parts farther away (i.e. the feet are larger than the head).

 
(Mantegna, Andrea. Ceiling Oculus. c. 1471-74. fresco. Camera degli Sposi, Ducal Palace, Mantua.)

Mantegna was brilliant at creating the illusion of depth at a time when the system of perspective was newborn to Western Civilization and his work is much appreciated here! 

Enjoy! :) 

Reference: King, R. Art. New York: DK Publishing. 2008.

The Art of Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli (1445 – 1510) was highly successful at the peak of his career, although he spent the last decade of his life in obscurity because he was considered outmoded compared to the new generation of artists, such as Leonardo. Botticelli’s work was eventually rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites almost 500 years later and he is now one of the best-loved painters of the 15th century early Italian Renaissance.

 
(Botticelli, Sandro. The Birth of Venus.c. 1485. tempera on canvas. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.)

During his apprenticeship with Filippo Lippi, Botticelli developed his graceful and ornamental linear style, harking back to elements of the Gothic period and ignoring anatomical realism. In his large-scale painting, including the famous Primavera and The Birth of Venus, he treated mythological subjects with as much seriousness as religious themes.

 
(Botticelli, Sandro. Portrait of a Young Woman.c. 1480. tempera on panel. Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt.)

Although Botticelli is most famous for his secular subjects, his late years were almost entirely devoted to religious themes, influenced by the Dominican friar and preacher Savonarola. Other than the two years in Rome spent on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, Botticelli remained in Florence all of his life.

 
(Botticelli, Sandro. Primavera.c. 1482. tempera on panel. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.)

Primavera was painted in tempera on a wooden panel, which was Botticelli’s usual technique, although sometimes he used a canvas instead as the media support and he often modified the standard tempera method by adding oil to the paint, perhaps to make it more fluid and transparent.

 
(Botticelli, Sandro. Cestello Annunciation.c. 1489-90. tempera on panel. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.)

By 1470 Botticelli was already established in Florence as an independent master with his own workshop. Absorbed in his art, he never married, and he lived with his family. He was a superb craftsman, who used only the finest available materials. He applied layer upon layer of paint to create extraordinary subtle effects of tone and luminosity and his work is much appreciated here! 

Enjoy :) 

Reference: King, R. Art. New York: DK Publishing, 2008.

The Art of Domenico Ghirlandaio

Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) was born Domenico di Curradi di Bigordi. He was nicknamed after the golden garland necklaces made by his father. Ghirlandaio was a religious painter first and foremost and was also one of the most popular and proficient portrait painters of the 15th century in Florence.

 
(Ghirlandaio, Domenico. Giovanna Tornabuoni nee Albizzi.
c. 1488. oil on panel. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid, Spain.)

Giovanna Tornabuoni is one of the few surviving portraits by Ghirlandaio. The posthumous portrayal of Giovanna Tornabuoni depicts her as an ideal of beauty informal profile, with her delicate features and sumptuous dress realistically highlighted against the dark background.

 
(Ghirlandaio, Domenico. The Birth of the Virgin.
c. 1486-90. fresco. Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy.)

The Birth of the Virgin was perhaps Ghirlandaio’s finest fresco. It is set in an architectural framework and painted in realistic detail. The setting owes more to contemporary Florence than to the Bible. He often incorporated portrayals of Florentine people and life into his religious works, such as the contemporary ships that are depicted in the background of the biblical painting, “ St. John the Baptist in the Desert.”

 
(Ghirlandaio, Domenico. Saint John the Baptist in the Desert.
c. 1486. fresco. Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella,
Florence, Italy.)

In the early 1480s, Ghirlandaio was commissioned to paint frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, and in the Sistine Chapel. On his return to Florence in 1485, the Medici’s banker Francesco Sassetti commissioned him to paint a cycle of frescoes in S. Trinita and employed him to replace the frescoes in the Sassetti‘s family chapel.

 
(Ghirlandaio, Domenico. Saint Barbara.
c. 1471. fresco. Parish Church of Santa Andrea, Cercina.)

Ghirlandaio’s busy workshop was located in Florence, the city that is often described as the cradle of the Renaissance. It produced a number of altarpieces and society portraits, painted with often startling realism. It was here that the young Michelangelo was apprenticed. Ghirlandaio's paintings would instigate realism and inspire many of the future high renaissance painters of Italy. His work is much appreciated here! 

Enjoy :) 

Reference: King, R. Art. New York: DK Publishing, 2008.