Madonna and Child with Saints

Andrea Mantegna

Galleria Sabauda

DESCRIZIONE:
(ground floor, room 4)
This is a work by the Lombard master Andrea Mantegna, who was worthy of a place among the five greatest Italian painters (along with Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Giorgione) according to The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione. There is a large part of the top section missing. The central group with the Virgin, the Child and Saint John in particular clearly reveals the influence of the works of Giovanni Bellini, whose sister Nicolosia married Mantegna in 1454. It is not easy to recognize all of the other saints because of the lack of symbols, but they can probably be identified as John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene, Joachim, Anne and Catherine of Alexandria. The close forms of the figures suggest that the work was originally intended for private devotion.

LE OPERE