Mantegna and Bellini. A Renaissance Family 1857096347, 9781857096347

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iii Director of Collections I

•

is Curator of Italian and Kupferstichkabinett,

is Curatorc of Early; Italian Paintings ancl SculP.ture, Gemaldegalerie and SkulP.turensammlung und Museum fur BY.zantinisclie Kunst, Staatliche Museeh zu Berlin.

•

is Hamish'Swanston Curator of Italian and

Frendi Prints and Drawings, tlie British' Museum,

I

I I

the National Galler}; G,

Head'of Paintings Conservation, and

K,JocH; Associate Curator, are based at Gemaldegalerie, Staatliclie\Mii"seen zu'Berlin.

MANTEGNA BELLINI Caroline Campbell, Dagmar Korbacher, Neville Rowley and Sarah Vowles WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY

Andrea De Marchi, Jill Dunkerton, Babette Hartwieg and Katharina Weick,Joch

Published by NATIONAL GALLERY COMPANY, LONDON

in association with STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN DISTRIBUTED BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Published to accompany the exhibition

CONTE N TS

/

MANTEGNA & BELLINI

The National Gallery, London 1 October 2018 to 27 January 2019 MANTEGNA und BELLINI

Meister der Renaissance Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin March to 30 June 2019

1

Exhibition generously supported by

Directors' Preface

Saint Jerome

9

The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust Curators ' Introduction

The Thompson Family Charitable Trust

Standing Saints: The Young Mantegna and Bellini as Draughtsmen r30

ro

CAR OLI NE CAM PBELL , DAGMAR KORBA C HER ,

T he Robert Lehman Foundation With additional supportJi'om

NEV ILL E ROWLEY AND S ARAH VOWLES

T he Agony in the Garden

Maps and Family Tree

When Bellini traced Mantegna: Two Paintings of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple r40

r2

Graham and Amanda Hutton Elizabeth and Daniel Peltz o BE The Tavolozza Foundation - Katrin Bellinger The Vaseppi Trust

The Descent of Christ into Limbo

CA ROLI NE CAM PBELL

Between Suffering and Redemption: The Motif of the Dead Christ r 56

rr Mantegna I Bellini: Invention versus Poetry

29

ANDREA DE MARCHI

Exhibition sponsored by Italian National Tourist Board

m

r35

A Tale of Two Artists and Two Cities: Mantegna, Be!Hni; Padua, Venice 15

Andrew Bentley and Fiona Garland And other donors

127

'Bellini stands higher .. . than Mantegna ' 4r

r48

Between Mantegna and Bellini: Marco Zoppo and the Invention of the sacra conversazione r70 The Virgin and Child : Small,Scale Devotional Works r8o

NEV ILLE ROWLEY

Iv

© National Gallery Company Lim ited 2018

H B 978 1 85709 634 7 I 1046329 PB

The Authors have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Authors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical , includi ng photocopy, recording, or any storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in

writing from the publisher. This exh ibition has been made possible by the provision of insurance through the Government Indemnity Scheme. The National Gallery would like to thank HM Government for providing Govern ment Indemnity and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for arrangi ng the indemnity. First published in 2018 by National Gallery Company Limited St Vincent House 30 Orange Street London WC2H 7HH www. nationalgallery.co.uk

978 1 85709 635 4 I 1046330

British Library Cataloguing,in,Publication Data A catalogue record is available fro m the Briti sh Library Library of Congress Control Number: 2018943342

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Silverpoint on a grey chalk ground, w ith pen and brown ink, on vellum,

38 x 26 cm Musee du Louvre, Paris (RF 1540,9 1 f. 72v)

resource for a studio who produced so many variants on the subject. Instead, this Book has been convincingly interpreted as a demonstration ofJacopo's lngegno or inventiveness , which could be used to impress potential clients with the intellectual capacity of the studio. 26 It is particularly notable for its extravagant architectural drawings which allowed Jacopo to demonstrate his skill in using perspective. This interest seems to have been encouraged among his followers, as can be seen in the drawing of Two arcades,figures and view (fig. 93), with its sharply receding colonnades. T he Book was probably put together in the mid,145os, as two studies of e~estrian monuments indicate Jacopo's awareness of Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua (fig. r), and the figural

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types are close to those of paintings produced in the / " ' -..1

workshop at this period (figs 85, 86, 87). W hile a wider

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range of dates has been argued for the Paris Book, it may well have been compiled at the same date as the London Book. T he two Drawing Books had a powerful impact

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JA CO PO BELLINI AND THE FORMATION OF GIOVANNI

on the young Giovanni, who found the seeds of many aspects of his later work in his father's drawings. Jacopo's

SARAH VOWLES AND D AGMAR KORBACHER

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FIG.93 Schoolof JACO P O BELL I NI

Two arcades,.figures and view, about1470-80 Pen and b rown ink on vellum, 14.2 x 14.1 cm Kupferstichka binett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Kd Z 418)

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studies already strove to reduce narrative to its barest,

FIG. 92

JA COPO BELL INI

A courtyard of a palace with a staircase on the left and a basin in the foreground (left), The Flagellation of Chnst (right) , from The London Drawing Book ofJacopo Bellini, 1440-70 Lead point, some of the architecture drawn w ith the aid of a ruler and a compass, 41.5 x 33-6 cm each page.

The London Book, testament to Jacopo's intellectual

most powerful elements and to evoke emotion through

fertility, remained in the family for half a century and

stressing the humanity of the Holy Family. His holy

was passed down fromJacopo's widow Anna to Gentile

scenes were set within broader landscapes , which he

and then, in 1507, to Giovanni. By 1530 it was in the

often extended even further onto the facing pages and in

possession of the connoisseur Gabriele Vendramin, a

which he added incidental details of rural or courtly life.

patron of Titian, who also owned an album that included

Yet these landscapes preserve an enigmatic, half,sacred

drawings for or after Mantegna's Triumphs. The fate of the

Q_uality of their own and become part of the storytelling,

Paris Book is less clear, however. Instead of remaining at

as in the haunted wastelands ofJacopo's Saint Jeromes. '

the core of workshop practice, where its archaic motifs

7

may no longer have been useful, it seems to have been

Rich in inspiration and meaning, the Books remained treasured objects in the studio even after Jacopo's death

presented to Sultan Mehmet II by Gentile Bellini during

and Gentile and Giovanni probably strengthened and

his time in Constantinople in 1479- 80, perhaps as a

retouched drawings which had faded , as they were also prepared to do with their father's stand,alone drawings.

28

cherished example ofVenetian artistry. It remained in Turkey until 1728. 2 9

The British Museum, London ( 1855,08n .69v and r855,081r.7or)

!02

JA COPO BELL INI AND THE FORMATION OF GIOVANNI

SARAH VOWLES AND DAGMAR KO R BACHER

Miniature painting

FIG . 94 Attributed to JACO PO BEL LI r I Saint Maurice, 1453 Miniature from Jacopo Anto nio Marcello,

As the next generation of the Bellini family grew to manhood, J acopo could reassure himself that the

on an extremely small scale in the backgrounds of their pictures. 33There is no doubt that they were both capable

Tempera, gum or glue on vellum , 18 .7 x 14 cm

future of the family workshop was secure. In Gentile

of executing miniature works on vellum, even though

and Giovanni, he had two talented painters who could

conclusive proof is lacking. It is likely, however, that their

Bibliothe'm.

iii

gcr:ofaiu t f.-u.ffua,,: (