Description
Book SynopsisAn innovative study of the relationship between Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, two masters of the Italian Renaissance Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431–1506) and Giovanni Bellini (active c. 1459; died 1516) each produced groundbreaking paintings, marked by pictorial and technical innovations, that are among the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Exploring the fruitful dynamic between Mantegna’s inventive compositional approach and interest in classical antiquity and Bellini’s passion for landscape painting, this fascinating volume examines how these two artists, who were also brothers-in-law, influenced and responded to each other’s work.
Full of new insights and captivating juxtapositions—including comparisons of each of the artist’s depictions of the Agony in the Garden and the Presentation to the Temple—this study reveals that neither Mantegna’s nor Bellini’s achievements can be fully understood in isolation and that their continuous creative exchanges shaped the work of both.
Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
National Gallery, London
(10/01/18–01/27/19)
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
(03/01/19–06/30/19)
Trade Review“The book published to accompany the exhibition
Mantegna and Bellini at London’s National Gallery, is not a catalogue in any traditional sense. It contains no discussion of the works on view in their order of display; and, apart from a listing of pictures and lenders, it pays little attention to the show or its purposes. Instead, we are treated to 20 essays that represent the latest scholarship on these two artists. The first five deal with general issues, but even the more specific essays that follow – such as the discussion of the portraits – are thorough investigations that bring new perspectives to long-studied themes. All this is contained in this sumptuous book, with over 250 good-sized illustrations.”—Theodore K. Rabb,
The Art Newspaper
