Mantegna Funerary Chapel
History
Court painter to the Gonzagas for over 40 years, Mantegna's prestige meant he was granted a funerary chapel in the basilica which served their Marquisate of Mantua – this was the first side-chapel on the left beside Leon Battista Alberti's nave. Correggio was probably in Mantua at the time of Mantegna's death and probably came up with the overall scheme as well as doing much of the actual painting. In general the chapel was inspired by the plan for the chapel of pope Innocent VIII in the Belvedere in the Vatican, painted between 1488 and 1490 and destroyed in the 18th century. Historic descriptions record (among other things) its Stories of St John the Baptist and its trompe l'oeil marble fittings, vaulting, festoons, domes, putti and cherubs.
Description
Gallery
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Mantegna, Holy Family with Saints John the Baptist, Elizabeth and Zacharias
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Base of the dome
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Detail of the fresco
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Correggio, grisaille showing Beheading of St John the Baptist
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Correggio, St John the Evangelist with the eagle
Bibliography
- (in Italian) Giuseppe Adani, Correggio pittore universale, Silvana Editoriale, Correggio 2007. ISBN 9788836609772