ITALY,
14001500
GARDNER CHAPTER 21-5
PP. 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