Keith Christiansen

A clear and helpful basic introduction to Mantegna, breaking down his career into chunks defined by key projects: the Overtari Chapel; the San Zeno Altarpiece; the Camera Picta; and the Triumphs of Caesar. There is also a short discussion of the artist's involvement with printmaking at the end, which lays out the academic debate in this area. At only 64 pages it does not pretend to be an exhaustive monograph and there are many works which are not considered: unsurprisingly, the focus is very show more much on the Mantegnas in the Met's own collection. Nevertheless, it's a helpful place to start, giving the reader a sense of Mantegna's innovations, his reception by contemporaries, and the way motifs and themes move between different aspects of his work. show less

Of particular interest here are a number of birth-trays (trays used and displayed in the lying-in room in Renaissance Italy:

* One with scenes from Bocaccio's Comedia delle Ninfe Fiorentine showing hunters conversing with nymphs in a garden/sylvan setting
* A 1428 Florentine tray with a birthscene on one side and on the other, a naked child with coral amulet,pinwheel and hobbyhorse, urinating silver and gold, in a forest setting along with 2 inset coats of arms and the motto, being show more translated, "May God grant health to every woman who gives birth and to their father... may [the child] be born without fatigue or peril. I am an infant who lives on a [rock?] and I make urine of silver and gold."
* a Medici birth tray with a triumph, to commemorate the birth of Lorenzo il Magnifico in 1449.

Also a number of painted cassones, or chests, including a number with battle scenes, the story of Jason and the Argonauts, the labors of Hercules, and a 1460-70 depiction of the book of Esther, with a dinner scene. Another cassone depicting Plutarch's life of Publicola shows a wide variety of circa 1480 women's clothing, as well as maidens (fully clothed) swimming the Tiber. Another set of fragments depict a handsome young man and a beautiful young woman (both with the huge blonde hair fashion) playing chess surrounded by a crowd of onlookers of both sexes.

A set of panels (probably for wall display) depicting the Old Testament story of Jospeh is especially vivid and entrancing, though the story of the queen of Sheba might be of interest to those curious about triumphal city entries. Also of interest would be fragments of a cassone panel showing the Triumph of Chaste Love.

For jewelers and scholars of hairdressing, the portraits included here are especially interesting though there are less than 10-- in one case, the critics comment, "it is as though the painter had been invited to prepare a visual catalogue of the jewels owned by the Scolari" (59).

NOTE: I did not read all the text, but browsed it along with the images. show less