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Mantegna and Padua 1445 – 1460

At a time when Padua was in full artistic and cultural ferment, led by no less a figure than Donatello – whose presence in the city is documented as early as 1444 - Andrea Mantegna soon became the finest exponent of the extraordinary process of renewal of the figurative language, in the vanguard as far as knowledge of perspective is concerned, and with a good background in ancient culture through antiques, to the extent that the city of St. Anthony was, until 1460 and even later, one of the most advanced artistic centers of European Humanism and the hub from which the new Renaissance art of northern Italy radiated outward.

The years spend by Mantegna in Padua were fundamental for his training and for the great artistic revolution of which he became one of the leading exponents.
In those years, the city was the main crossroads of great artistic personalities and the site of important workshops.

In Padua, Mantegna had the opportunity to admire the works of some of the “modern” representatives of Florentine culture like Paolo Uccello and Filippo Lippi, to interact and work alongside artists like Squarcione, Zoppo and Schiavone, to compare his work with that of the Venetian workshops of Bellini and Vivarini and, above all, to enter into contact with the revolutionary movement led by Donatello, who was then at work in the Basilica of St. Anthony and producing some of the most amazing and exciting works of the time: the Crucifix, the equestrian monument to Gattamelata and the Altar of the Basilica.

This crucial period, characterized by intense artistic activity, will be the focus of the exhibition “Mantegna and Padua, 1445-1460”: a fundamental period and one that is essential to an understanding of the true significance of Mantegna's art. For the first time, this exhibition will bring together the surviving evidence of the renewal of figurative art in the early Renaissance in Padua. The exhibition was made possible by the generosity of the most important cultural institutions which lent works for the show from all over the world: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bucharest, Frankfurt, London, Munich, New York, Paris, Vienna, Washington, Venice, Milan, Florence, Naples.

There are paintings on canvas and wood, sculptures in stone, terracotta and bronze, manuscripts, drawings, prints, illuminated manuscripts: extraordinary works by Donatello, Bellini, Vivarini, Zoppo, Schiavone, Pollaiolo, Squarcione as well as Mantegna, of course, including, among the other masterpieces, his lovely Madonna with sleeping child lent by the Staatliche Museen-Gemldegalerie of Berlin and his St. Mark from the Stäedelsches in Frankfurt, never exhibited before in Italy.

The exhibition, organized exceptionally by Mario Botta, a famous name in contemporary architecture, will bring to a Padua, for the first time ever, a number of fundamental works for the reconstruction of Mantegna's development and that of the other artists who were influenced by him. Some of the works have never been seen before in Italy, like the precious Madonna and child with angels by Zoppo, exceptionally granted on loan by the Louvre in Paris, the Madonna with child and goldfinch by Schiavone lent by Amsterdam and the precious drawings by Mantegna kept at the British Museum in London.

But another event will make the celebration of Mantegna in Padua truly exceptional, enabling visitors to "reread" the groundbreaking effect that the master's art had in the early years of his activity, by bringing back to life the absolute masterpiece and his most revolutionary work, the Ovetari Chapel. Here, after years of study and investigation, it will be possible to admire the restored Ovetari Chapel – an integral part of the exhibition – with the recomposition and repositioning in their original place of part of the frescoes, reduced to fragments (over 70,000) by bombing during World War II, as well as a virtual reconstruction of the entire pictorial cycle, that completely covered the interior of the chapel.

The extraordinary discoveries for visitors to the exhibition in Padua do not end here.
The formerly unknown painting, Madonna della Tenerezza will appear for the first time in public – debuting in Padua on the occasion of these celebrations in honor of Mantegna. This lovely painting was only recently attributed to Mantegna by the art critic Lionello Puppi. It is a small, precious work of genius, a Madonna with Child on a background of a landscape and ancient ruins, painted on parchment, with the figures outlined in pen and brown ink, with gold highlights, on a background painted in tempera with glue and gold.

It is an exciting discovery, part of a private collection, that is added to the catalogue of original works by the master. It will be on view at Palazzo Zuckermann – part of the city museum complex of Padua, which can be visited with the same ticket for the exhibition “Mantegna and Padua 1445-1460” – from September 29 – as part of a new exhibition project experimenting new methods and arrangements. It will be particularly interesting for all those – scholars and art lovers – who wish to understand the complex procedure of philological and scientific study and historical-documentary investigation behind such an important attribution.

The entire city of Padua is involved in the homage to its great artist and for the occasion offers a number of tourist itineraries on themes linked to Mantegna and his time. Visitors can examine original documents that are normally not available for public viewing, from the city archives, concerning the artistic activity and private life of the master. The Loggia and Odeo Cornaro will feature, from September 29, 2006, an exhibition entitled Homage to Andrea Mantegna, organized by the State Archives of Padua, displaying notarized documents, handwritten contracts, wills, judicial deeds, etc. – all referring to the painter, in a reconstruction of artistic and social life in the city of St. Anthony during the 15th century.