Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431–1506) was born near Padua, the son of a carpenter, and at eleven was apprenticed to the Paduan painter Francesco Squarcione, whose enthusiasm for ancient Roman sculpture shaped his own. He left Squarcione at seventeen, married Nicolosia, daughter of Jacopo Bellini, in 1453, and in 1460 became court artist to Ludovico Gonzaga, settling with his family in Mantua in 1466. He died there in 1506. His early frescoes in the Ovetari Chapel at Padua, almost entirely destroyed by bombing in 1944, already showed the low viewpoints and stone-like, sculptural figures that define his work. At Mantua he painted the Camera degli Sposi, whose painted oculus in the ceiling influenced Correggio and opened a tradition of illusionistic ceiling decoration followed for almost three centuries. Later works include the Lamentation over the Dead Christ and several versions of St Sebastian. Giovanni Bellini, his brother-in-law, followed his lead in early works, and Dürer was influenced by him. Here: The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian.