ITALY,1400-1500GARDNER CHAPTER 21-5PP. 573-576

SANT’ANDREA LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, west façade of

Sant’Andrea, Mantua, 1470

Another great Renaissance prince and art patron was Ludovico Gonzaga, the ruler of Mantua

Alberti is commissioned to redesign the church of Sant’Andrea -> reflects his study of ancient Roman architecture -> combines a Roman triumphal arch and an ancient temple façade

Giant pilasters flank arch and support pediment

Size of the façade dictated by the small scale of the piazza in front -> height and width are identical

Interior of Sant’Andrea

Great coffered barrel vault -> reminiscent of the Pantheon and Constantine’s Basilica Nova

Alberti abandoned the medieval columnar arcade for the nave -> instead it is a single huge hall w/independent chapels branching off at right angles

Large barrel vault canopy hangs above the west façade and shields the west window of the nave from sunlight

ANDRE MANTEGNA – ROOM OF THE NEWLYWEDS

ANDREA MANTEGNA, Room of the Newlyweds, 1465-1474, Ducal Palace, Mantua

Painted in a room that was used as the Duke’s bedroom and reception room

Room is a cube in shape, “domed” with an illusionistically painted ceiling

Calls to mind the Second Style of Roman painting

MANTEGNA – CEILING OF THE CAMERA PICTA

Inside the Camera Picta/Room of the Newlyweds, the viewer becomes the viewed -> figures look down into the room from a painted oculus opening onto a blue sky

This is the first perspectival view of a ceiling from below = DI SOTTO IN SU = “from below upward”

Dramatic used of TROMPE L’OEIL = “deceives the eye”

Two groups of spectators, several putti, bird, flower pot

FORESHORTENED CHRIST ANDREA MANTEGNA, Dead Christ,

ca. 1500, tempera on canvas

Another example of the artist’s mastery of perspective

Seems to be a strikingly realistic study of foreshortening -> but the size of the feet are reduced to avoid blocking the body

A work of overwhelming emotional power and intensely poignant depiction of biblical tragedy