Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/125

 04 MANETTI—MANTEGNA. louring; but in some he exhibits the force and brilliancy of Guercino; his forms and his architecture are good. He painted for several of the churches at Siena; and for the Certosa, of Flo- rence. In the cathedral of Pisa is Ellas under the Juniper Tree : in San Pietro di Gastelvecchio, at Siena, is a ^'Biposo," reckoned by Lanzi among the best of Manetti's works ; there are Rome in the Florentine galleries. MANFREDI, Bartolomeo, b. at Ustiano, near Mantua, about 1580, d, at Borne, 1617. Boman School. Pu- pil of Gristofano Boncalli ; but became a follower of Michelangelo da Cara- yaggio, though more refined in his composition, according to Lanzi. He painted commonly half figures, and usually represented banditti, soldiers, groups of gamesters, concerts, &c. His works are rare, as they have been, and are, attributed to Garavaggio, or to Moise Valentin ; he has been called a second Garavaggio. In the Louvre are Four Men carousing; a Fortune- teller; and Judith with the Head of Holoph ernes. ( Baglione. ) MANSUETI, Giovanni, painted in 1600. Venetian School. A pupil of Vittore Garpaccio, and his imitator, though he adhered obstinately to the ancient type. In composition he re- sembles his master with much genuine. simplicity, but with a less lively treat- ment, and less power; in colour he was more intense or positive. He was one of the best of the Venetian quat- trocento painters. Works. Venice, Academy, subjects relating to the Miracles of the Holy Gross. Berlin Gallery, Christ with his Bight Hand upraised to bless; marked, Joannes de Manstutis pinxit, {Zanetti.) MANTEGNA, Cav. Andrea, b, near Padua, 1431, d. at Mantua, Sept. 13, 1506. Paduan and Venetian Schools. The School of Padua, although founded by Francesco Squarcione, owes its full development to his > pupil Mantegna, whose taste was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the antique, and through Squarcione's example and col- lections, so great was his admiration for ancient statues and bassi-relievij that he at once manifested his pre- ference of the antique to Nature ; and hence the peculiarity of his after-style. The youth of Mantegna was some- thing like that of Giotto ; he was, says Vasari, a shepherd-boy; and having early displayed his ability for draw- ing, was placed with the then cele- brated Francesco Squarcione, who be- came so attached to him, that he eventually adopted him, with the in- tention of making him his heir. He appears to have been remarkably pre- cocious ; he was entered of the Society of Painters of Padua when only ten years old ; and when eighteen painted an altar-piece in Santa Sofia, of Padua. Mantegna married Nicolosia, a sister of the Bellini, by which connection he lost the friendship of Squai'cione. He entered the service of Lodovico Gon- zaga, at Mantua, in 1468, for a monthly pay of 75 lire, or francs, a sum then worth, perhaps, twenty times its pre- sent value. His outline was always hard, although his style was by no means wanting in freedom in his maturer works ; and his earlier man- ner was severe, simple, and masculine, frequently exhibiting in his figures a character of austere beauty, not seldom unmixed with a sorrowful expression. This peculiarity of style arose exclu- sively from his close attention to the antique, which apparently superseded with him the study of- Nature. His colouring was, however, strong ; in this respect alone does he show any afiSnity with the Venetian School; in his ac- cessories — ^architecture and landscape — he displays unusual knowledge and power. Mantegna was one of the