ANDREA MANTEGNA
22 Study of Four Saints: Peter)
Paul, John the Evangelist, and
Zeno
Pen and brown ink, traces of red chalk on book held by
Saint Zeno; H: 19.5 cm (yI][/i6in.); W: 13.1 cm (5^3 /i6in.)
84.00.9 1
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom right, collec-
tion mark of William, second duke of Devonshire
(L. 718).
PROVENANCE: William, second duke of Devonshire,
Chatsworth; by descent to the current duke (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, July 3, 1984, lot 26).
EXHIBITIONS: Drawings by Old Masters, Royal Academy
of Arts, London, 1953, no. 19 (catalogue by K. T. Parker
and J. Byam Shaw). Andrea Mantegna, Palazzo Ducale,
Mantua, 1961, no. 128 (catalogueby G. Paccagnini). Old
Master Drawings from Chatsworth, National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C., and other institutions, 1962-
1963 , no. 38 (catalogue by A. E. Popham). Old Master
Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the
Devonshire Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London,
July-August 1969, no. 38 (catalogue by A. E. Popham).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Morelli, Delia pittura italiana: Studi
storico-critici: Le Gallerie Borghese e Doria-Pamphili in Roma
(Milan, 1897), p. 275; 2ndedn. (1907), p. 271 ; J. P. Rich-
ter, Lectures on the National Gallery (London, 1898), p. 32;
P. Kristeller, Andrea Mantegna (London, 1901), pp. 153;
154, n. i; S. Strong, Reproductions of Drawings by Old Mas-
ters in the Collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth
(London, 1902), p. 9; A. Venturi, Storia delVarte italiana
(Milan, 1914), vol. 7, pt. 3, pp. 154-155; idem, "Sceltadi
rari disegni nei musei d'Europa," Larte 29 (1926), p. i;
R. Longhi, "Un chiaroscuro e un disegno di Giovanni
Bellini," Vita artistica (1927), p. 137; A. Venturi, Studi dal
vero (Milan, 1927), p. 226; H. Tietze and E. Tietze-
Conrat, The Drawings of the Venetian Painters (New York,
1944), no. A295; L. Dussler, Giovanni Bellini (Vienna,
1949), p. 80; G. Fiocco, "Disegni di Giambellino," Arte
veneta 3, nos. 9-12 (1949), p. 40; A. Mezzetti, "Un Er-
cole e Anteo del Mantegna," Bollettino d'arte 43, no. 4
(July-September 1958), p. 240, n. 3; E Heinemann, Gio-vanni Bellini e i Belliniani (Venice, 1959), vol. i, p. 84, no.
339 ; G. Robertson, Giovanni Bellini (Oxford, 1968), pp.
22—23; J- Wilde, Italian Paintings and Drawings at 56
Prince's Gate (Addendum), vol. 5 (London, 1969), p. 39;
L. Puppi, // trittico per la Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore in
Verona (Verona, 1972), p. 63, no. 23; J. Byam Shaw, Bi-
blioteca di disegni: Maestri veneti del Quattrocento (Florence,
1976), vol. 3 , no. 34a; C. D. Denison et al., Drawings from
the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw—Part II
(New York, 1985), p. 21.THE CONFUSION CONCERNING THE ATTRIBUTION OF
this (and other) drawings by Mantegna began with the
first publication of it, by Morelli (1897), as by Giovanni
Bellini. First to reassert the proper place of this sheet in
the work of Mantegna was Popham (1962-1963, no.
38), who was followed by Robertson (1968, pp. 22-23).
It was Wilde (1969), however, who offered the most con-
vincing analysis of the drawing, fully explaining its role
in Mantegna's creative development. It had been recog-
nized since the time of Richter (1898) that the drawing is
related to the left-hand panel of Mantegna's altarpiece for
the church of San Zeno, Verona, which dates from 1456-- Wilde showed that the drawing is a modello for this
section of the altarpiece and represents a relatively early
stage in its evolution. This point is reinforced by his ob-
servation that the individual saints in the drawing are
similar in proportion and pose to those of Mantegna's
Saint Luke altarpiece (1453-1454; Milan, Brera). Wilde
suggested that the modello was made for submission to
the patron and was made after the altar frame had already
been designed. Lastly, he pointed out that the compact
grouping of the drawing, which leaves an open space to
the right, perhaps for a landscape, was altered by the dif-
ferent and more isolated disposition of the figures across
the painted panel.
The drawing is closest to the compositional study
for Saint James Led to Execution in the church of the Er-
emitani, Padua, now in the British Museum, London
(inv. 1976-6-16-1). Like the Museum's drawing, the
sheet in London suffered a curious fate in the earlier lit-
erature and has been similarly restored by general con-
sensus to its rightful position as one of a small handful of
studies for known projects by Mantegna.
64 ITALIAN SCHOOL • MANTEGNA