Mantegna has painted this small woman naturalistically, which is part of the
Humanism, as well as the humanity, of the artist.
The oculus is a vaulted room, which is largely covered with smaller ¿ gures
painted in monochrome, as if they were small sculptures. The center features
an illusion of an open oculus, a circular opening to the cloud-¿ lled blue sky
above. It is surrounded by female heads looking down at us and by small
putti standing on the cornice of the ¿ ctive balustrade around the opening.
This began a tradition of illusionistic ceiling painting that continued for
centuries. Many later artists who painted splendid illusionistic decorations
visited Mantua to see this initiator and paradigm of the type; Correggio,
Veronese, Titian, Rubens, and Tiepolo all found their model here.
Around 1460, Mantegna painted Christ on the Mount of Olives (Agony in the
Garden) (c. 1460). This event follows the Last Supper, when Jesus, Peter,
James, and John go to Gethsemane (the Mount of Olives). Jesus then asks
the three apostles to watch and wait, but they fall asleep while he prays for
the “cup” of approaching death to be taken from him. The landscape is rocky
and expressive. A city meant to be Jerusalem can be seen in the distance. A
group of soldiers led by Judas makes its way up the path to capture Christ. In
the upper left-hand corner is a group of ¿ ve angels who bear the instruments
of Christ’s Passion.
Compare this rendition to Giovanni Bellini’s Christ on the Mount of Olives
(c. 1465–1470), which was painted a few years later. Bellini, a Venetian artist,
shows the same scene taking place at dawn. His painting features a sloping
landscape like that of Italy. Judas is again seen with a group of soldiers in the
background. Although there is an extraordinary stylistic contrast, the scenes
are similar in appearance. This similarity can be explained by the fact that
Mantegna married Bellini’s sister. The two artists were in direct contact, and
here Mantegna inspired Bellini.
Our next painting is useful to mark the transfer of the center of artistic
activity in northern Italy from Padua to Venice. Venice developed into
one of the most vital cities for the production of Renaissance art in the
16 th century. Our example shows an oil painting by Giovanni Bellini
(1430–1516), St. Francis in Ecstasy (c. 1480–1485).