forget the formula

It is not a picture that follows any compositional formula very closely. Yet, it is still organized with a high degree of definition. A question to ask is how Mantegna has organized the multitude of precisely executed detail into a composition where each one has its proper place and emphasis.

---Mantegna, one of the prodigies of Italian painting, had already established his reputation by the age of eighteen. This work must have been painted when he was in his early twenties, and it already shows the painter's astonishing descriptive gifts fully developed. It may have been commissioned by Borso d'Este, duke of Ferrara, and its style seems to be a response to the ideas of Borso's court humanists, who admired detailed description. Although slightly cut down on the right side, and transferred from wood to canvas, the painting is in excellent condition.  ---click image for source...

—Mantegna, one of the prodigies of Italian painting, had already established his reputation by the age of eighteen. This work must have been painted when he was in his early twenties, and it already shows the painter’s astonishing descriptive gifts fully developed. It may have been commissioned by Borso d’Este, duke of Ferrara, and its style seems to be a response to the ideas of Borso’s court humanists, who admired detailed description. Although slightly cut down on the right side, and transferred from wood to canvas, the painting is in excellent condition.
—click image for source…

With Mantegna is was a particular form of classicism that was able to incorporate a taste for violence within the artistic expression. It was a vision of antiquity which as aggressively masculine in its animal like ferocity though carefully controlled. Here the composition is a variation on he triangular theme.

This entry was posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>