Andrea Mantegna

Master of the Early Italian Renaissance

Andrea Mantegna is born on Isola di Carturo (now called Isola di Mantegna after him) in 1431, the son of a carpenter from a modest background. Highly talented, he is admitted to the art school of Francesco Squarcione in Padua at the age of 10, where he stays for 7 years.

In 1447 he leaves his mentor after a falling out, travels to Mantua and opens his own painting school. Correggio is supposedly his most famous pupil. He marries Nicolosia Bellini, Giovanni Bellini’s sister, in 1453. His brother-in-law is quick to recognise Mantegna’s potential and conflict is unavoidable. Driven away by Bellini’s jealousy, the artist finds a new creative centre in Mantua. Important works are produced here, such as the Triumphs of Caesar series. Or the frescoes for the bridal chamber of the ducal palace, where Mantegna produces the first illusionistic room painting in Italian art.

Even after his appointment as court artist by Marquis Luigi III Gonzaga in 1460 and despite commitments in Florence, Pisa and Rome, Mantegna stays loyal to Mantua and helps the city grow considerably artistically. Andrea Mantegna dies in Mantua in 1506 and next to his brother-in-law Giovanni Bellini he is recognised today as the most important painter of the Early Italian Renaissance.